Sander's Weblog

Today the research project of our friend Oliver is featured on the front page of the MIT website. He recently received his Ph.D. in Physics from MIT and there is an article on his research into twodimensional electron systems. Congratulations, Oliver.

Image sourced from MIT website.

Big, bloated web server process hiding in the corner

“Giant Telescope Begins Scouring Space” writes the Associated Press in a story picked up unchanged by numerous news sources. My first thought: “Space will be so clean when it’s done.” Let’s go to the dictionary definition and have a look:

1. a : to rub hard especially with a rough material for cleansing b : to remove by rubbing hard and washing — How does one rub a void?
2. archaic : to clear (a region) of enemies or outlaws — SDI Redux!
3. to clean by purging : PURGE
4. to remove dirt and debris from (as a pipe or ditch) — Ooh! Ooh! We’re finally going to take care of space debris!
5. to free from foreign matter or impurities by or as if by washing <scour wool> — Once we are rid of the space junk, there better be none of that left up there.
6. to clear, dig, or remove by or as if by a powerful current of water

OK, so the other definition of scouring is “to go through or range over in or as if in a search”, which is clearly the one the author intended to use. But it’s still funny!

We saw Ratatouille the other day and had a great time. Wonderful to look at, great graphics and a good story. The humor is funny without being mean, and the rats are really well done. The way they move is just like you’d expect rats to scurry about. They are truly revolting, not by being gross, but by playing on our reflexive fear of rats in the kitchen. Go see it! Spoilers below…

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