Thursday, February 13, 2014

 

F. Hollande and B. Obama Went for a Ride


Context

French President F. Hollande made a visit to Unitedstatesian (or should I write Unitedstatesofamerican?) President B. Obama this week. A few photos from the first day were published by the Elysée (French president's staff), including this one below and others taken on Air Force One. In another shot taken just before this one, Hollande appears to be speaking (back to camera) arms outstretched and hands spread, while Obama shows amusement. There has been some speculation as to the context, what was being said. Some joke that Hollande is describing his amorous escapades; I suspect not.

What if

What if F. Hollande were saying something like, "You know that bugged conversation that has Merkel upset, the one some claim the Russians leaked, of Vicky Nuland saying "f### the EU"? Well, it wasn't the Russians! There are lots of bugs in diplomatic systems these days!"

Just "what if?"

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Oblong Cubes?


Stimulus

A news bulletin about a prototype device surprised me today, describing the device as a "handheld cell counter the size of a Rubik’s Cube," then as "a simple, solid-white cube measuring 2x2x3 inches". (my emphasis).
It is dismaying to observe that cube may be following literally in the path to uselessness, if a cube no longer has to be cubic. That is, as every schooled person ought to know, a "regular polyhedron having six identical square faces."

Response


What should have been said is a block, or a cuboid, or--my preference--a square cylinder.

Conclusion

If the three-dimensional rectangle has edges of more than one length, i.e. one cannot say it is a some length cube but must say it is a width by depth by height something, it is not a cube.

References

A 'game-changer' for HIV/AIDS -- UC Berkeley College of Engineering


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Friday, February 07, 2014

 

Ms. Kagan-Nuland's Day Off?

The Commentary


I do not know why people are always finding things to publish to show Ms. Kagan-Nuland in an unfavorable way; does she worry them so much?  Here she is across the globe encouraging political protesters in a foreign country, a sort of humanitarian activist thing, right?  Not in an official capacity, as far as I know; what she does on her day off should be none of our business unless she wants it to be.

The Video

Original title of the video: Victoria Nuland (Mrs. Robert Kagan), Assistant Secretary State of Ukraine  

Update: This article initially had a YouTube video embedded; in fact, it was initiated in YouTube via a "share" function. I do not know why the video was no longer embedded, nor when exactly it disappeared. Hopefully it will stay embedded this time.

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