Toes on the finish line

It's down to getting signatures. Then I get a degree and a lollipop.

Something interesting, possibly

It may or may not be interesting or meaningful to anyone here -- but I have reasonable suspicion that I may be able to prove that Ptime and Pspace are different.

Question

So, after this mess with Helen Thomas, I have a question.

At the end of WW2, the world was in a cutting-up-Germany sort of mood, so I'm just going to declare, for some reason, that it was possible to carve out a piece of land (at least as the modern state of Israel) and just declare it a territory belonging to European Jews, put some kind of limit on non-Jewish immigration to it, and at a specified date declare it as an independent state. Would something like this have seem/seemed wrong to Jewish people?

Back to Portland

So's y'all can keep your files on who you can stay with where when up to date, I wanted to let you know that I am beginning a new job I am tremendously excited about on April 15, 2010 that has me moving back to Oregon. I am the new City of Portland Arts & Culture Policy Coordinator, working in the Office of Mayor Sam Adams.

Not coincidentally, my column "Our Town Could Be Your Life" for the Portland Mercury has come to an end after three years.

Meri's pediatrics residency in Seattle concludes at the end of June, 2011, so we'll be back to a long-distance commuting arrangement for most of the time until then, but we'll still have our place up in Washington, so feel free to come visit her and Reid and Megan (and, depending on timing, me).

What's news with you all? And where are you? Any exciting developments or plans around the bend?

What American English Sounds Like To Italians

This is really just too awesome.

I always wonder what English sounds like to foreigners. I remember asking Vasya (Zhenya's brother) what British English sounded like to him when we first met, and his answer was "Like a toilet flushing."

It's also interesting to speculate how a song like this might sound different if it were made today, as the sounds/phonemes are clearly influenced by American pop music (e.g. Dylan, the go-to slurrer of the time). I suspect we'd hear the influence of hip-hop and urbanized Southern black American speech patterns.

And isn't the song awesome, too?

Declaration

The year of the Cambot starts right now. No limit, niggaz.

The plan?

As I watch my DVDs of The West Wing, I am reminded of a pledge we all made back in the day. Are we still planning on taking over the world?

Belated congrats, Reid!