In Washington, D.C., protesters planned to dump a million tea bags in Lafayette Square. But they promised to put the bags on tarps and clean up afterward so as not to make a mess.
Losers.
Update: Foiled by the man!! Apparently, the original tea party planners were smart enough to get the right permits before their act of civil disobedience.
“We did not try to exhort anyone to hate. What mattered to us was the mathematical model – the historical context was irrelevant. In order to solve the problem one needs to be acquainted with principles Maths, not the ways of murdering Turks.”
Or so said the co-author and publisher of a mathematics textbook used to train Polish school children who want to compete in an international mathematics competition.
The question in question:
"On board a sinking ship there are fifteen Christians and fifteen Turks. In order to save the ship from going to the bottom, half of the crew needs to be thrown overboard. One of the Christians proposes that the whole crew form a circle and every ninth person jump overboard. How should the Christians place themselves so that only the Turks are drowned?”
See? Perfectly innocent!
Tough question, too. The circle gets smaller after each one jumps, so you can't just do something simple like "make every 3rd person a Turk". It seems like it has to be an iterative solution. But is it? Is there a way to get the answer without drawing the circle and following it around, knocking-off people, until you're left with 15?
"...if you are planning simultaneous tea bagging all around the country, you’re going to need a Dick Armey."
David Schuster, of MSNBC.
Could you give up alcohol for a month ?
I've given-up booze from the day after Thanksgiving (a.k.a, the 4th Friday in November) till Christmas Eve, the past two years. The first year I did it because we had such a blowout at Thanksgiving that I felt I needed some detox time. The second year I did it ... for the same reason.
How was it? Well, it's boring. It makes parties difficult - and there are always a lot of parties in December. It takes a lot of the fun out of going out to eat - a steak and a Coke just isn't the same as a steak and a Cabernet. But it saves a lot of money! I don't really notice any physical or mental changes; I don't feel better, or smarter, or livelier. I just wake up a bit earlier on weekend mornings. It does lower my tolerance for alcohol tremendously, though; once the month ends, the first beer will give me a serious headrush.
So basically, it's a challenge: a test of willpower and stick-to-it-iveness. Worth it? I dunno.
There's a good interview with Béla Fleck over at Popdose. He talks mostly about a recent movie-making trip to Africa where he played with different groups of African musicians.