and no, still no visit to Ground Zero, despite several visits to New York. don’t feel any draw at all…

But seriously, you think that car styles have changed a ton in the last 20 years? I think they became… lozenges in the 1990s and never went back. I basically can’t tell a late model car from one that’s long in the tooth, except for the slight increase in hybrids and the recent entry of SmartCars, etc. SUVs showed up in that 15-20-years-ago era too. Would also be curious to know what you think has made film much different, style-wise (not, say, 3D technology) from 1992; again, I don’t really see it, except for a continuation of the gradual 50-year evolution toward faster pacing and assuming a savvier audience.

Part of what makes fashion seem to be changing more slowly is that the originally slow mode of “reimagining” fashions from previous decades sped up to such a rate that everything is pretty much present simultaneously right now (flared pants and skinny jeans, hipster drab and techno-funky, fuzzy sweaters and guaged ears) such that real discontinuous innovation would be hard to pick out without a crazy change to something like spacesuits. Also (or because of that?) tastes have fragmented to such a degree that I can’t really see a universally recognized new Style sweeping the country — some would love, some hate outright, blah blah. Rejecting the norm is a well established norm, to several levels of self-aware iteration…

Here’s an explanation on an internet message board:

What you are refering to is called a frit. It is the black band around modern auto glass. It’s purpose is more than aesthetic, it also protects the urethane sealant that is used in modern window systems from being degraded by the UV in sunlight. Any good glass supplier can get you the material to create one with. It is the same material that you use to prime the pinch weld before applying the adhesive. You mask up the rear of the window to leave just the area that you want to apply the material to and then you just apply the primer. It is usually supplied in a can with a dauber on the lid. Just run the dauber around the unmasked area.

See http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showpost.php?s=355cdfdccb4b93f24992ba33d67b3a82&p=2656510&postcount=3

Googling ‘frit auto windows’ seems to confirm this. For instance, http://www.wikihow.com/Replace-Your-Automobile-Windshield

Prepare the glass with a primer specially matched to the urethane adhesive. The purpose of the primer is to open the molecules of the frit band (the black band around the perimeter of the windshield) this is done to prepare the glass to accept the molecules of the urethane. If your installer is in a hurry, ignorant or just does not care if your windshield pops out he will skip this step. After the glass is activated, the molding is attached to the glass and the urethane is next.

By this same logic, all entertainment and communications providers who use satellite relays could take an “it came from outer space” markup.

And to go back the other direction: While watching the film my first thought was to my own rosacea which is exacerbated by direct sunlight, occasionally causing me to use an umbrella in the sun.

And, to flip-flop again: This example is perhaps the least of the many mysteries surrounding the Kennedy assassination so debunking it is relatively insignificant.

Happy Birthday! Many thanks for sharing so many wonderful posts. Just looked back in my e-mail and discovered that I’ve been following you since 2000! I still “Follow You Here” the old fashioned way (no RSS), and try to check in every day. I wish you many more years of good blogging, and the best to you and your family this Thanksgiving.

-Ray L. in the Bay Area

See also Greg Egan’s latest novel, The Clockwork Spaceship, for his take on a universe where the math of physics has a plus changed to a minus in one equation.

So we have a dominant thinking within physics that expresses like this: ‘is it really possible to derive the laws of physics from pure mathematics without any reference to empirical observations? If the Theory of Theories is correct then the answer should be yes.’ http://www.weburbia.com/pg/tot.htm

Personally, I am not convinced that maths is all thee is. I think the deeper problem is that physics has not yet found the right conceptual foundation on which to base its mathematical models. I’m not saying that our cordus conjecture is necessarily that foundation, but simply that it could be worth exploring new concepts at the foundational level. And we show one way to achieve that.

In Dr. Strangelove, the President of the United States was named Merkin Muffley.

Terry Southern had a wicked sense of humor.

@joely

If you hear someone complaining that the OccupyWallSt movement doesn’t have a plan, ask them if they base that belief on listening to OccupyWallSt OR on listening to the media talk about them.