Vaguely Amusing

Oct 11

Takeaways from “Real Steel”

In 2050 there will be no more PETA.

There will be giant robots.

And there will still be Bing.

Oct 02

The best thing about Pacific time is that football can ruin my day three whole hours earlier than on the East Coast.

Sep 20

Actual Harvard Gazette headline / subhed: "In praise of ordinary people: They are sometimes overlooked assets during disaster response". -

Rejected: “Elitism: Why it’s beneath us”.

Apr 20

“The way I look at it, twenty years from now, who will really remember whether or not I did laundry today?”

Apr 16

Couldn’t find my watch this morning. I feel strangely naked without it…. Oh, right, pants!

Harvard Faculty Club News: Closing Temporarily? -

(via fumeblanc)

Two weeks ago I had a staff meeting (for CS1 with Leitner) scheduled there that got canceled because of the norovirus. Rather glad, come to think, it wasn’t three weeks ago.

Apr 08

As noises start up in the adjacent room, I leave the exam I'm proctoring and walk over:

Mar 31

Occupied. E-mail if you need me. Better yet, don’t need me.

Mar 23

When We’re Done, I’m Done

When we’re done, I’m done —
Giving up won’t be fun,
But it’s easier than convincing myself that you’re not the one.
There’ll be nothing left for you but breaking into a run,
So stick a fork in me, dear, ‘cause when we’re done, I’m done.

When you’re gone, I’m gone —
I’ve been hanging upon
Someone little bit committal and a little bit non.
There’ll be nothing left of me to look nostalgically on,
So don’t look back when you go, ‘cause when you go, I’m gone.

When we’re through, I’m through —
For I haven’t a clue
How I’d cast you from my mind and look for somebody new.
But there’s something tells us both that day is long overdue…
Just call a hearse when you’re through, ‘cause when we’re through, I’m through.

Mar 15

Dear my students, I am good at replying to class-related emails and bad at replying to class-related chats; please construct your Brian-contacting strategies accordingly.

Mar 13

I love my job. I really love my job. :) But I’m going to go do something else now for a bit. :D

Mar 03

Feb 23

Pedestrian’s Cadence

I am a proud pedestrian, and I have the right of way.
I do have, I do have, I do have, I do have, I do have the right of way.
You can run me over if you like,
You can crash into me on your bike,
But it won’t be much of a lucky strike
‘Cause I’ve got the right of way.

I am a proud pedestrian, so listen to what I say.
You’ll listen, you’ll listen, you’ll listen, you’ll listen, you’ll listen to what I say.
Many’s the day it’s rained or snowed
When I’ve bravely stridden (or maybe “strode”),
So look both ways when I cross the road,
‘Cause I’ve got the right of way!

(written in fifteen minutes on my walk to class)

Feb 20

Feb 19

Tell Me Pretty Things

I’m just a little lonesome —
Tell me pretty things.
Tell me that you’ve missed me
Through all my wanderings,
Say you loved my roses,
Say you had them dried,
Say you couldn’t leave me
If you tried.

I don’t know where I’m headed —
Tell me pretty things.
Sigh them sostenuto
Like a lover sings,
Say the spreading sunset
Darkened like the day
You said, “I’ll never leave you,
Come what may.”

Don’t make this any harder —
Tell me pretty things.
Tell me what the past holds
Is what the future brings,
Swear that you’ll be faithless,
Swear you won’t be true,
Swear to me you’ll leave him
Lonesome too.