I need the Internet's help

So the standings for the speed demon tournament -- "a colorful way to display information so that you can see at a glance what's going on", or "garish"?

Amtrak and Airtran are conspiring against me (a/k/a ACPT travel woes)

I've been using Airtran to get to NYC every year since I got here (even when the ACPT was in Connecticut, nobody actually goes to Connecticut. How else would we get our Connecticut Limo horror stories?). So I'm trying to do some preliminary planning, on the assumption that Willz will only change the date once (which has already happened).

I'm pretty sure Airtran used to have a lot more flights than they do now; at least they're still the cheapest option I'm pretty sure ($62/72 each way, plus taxes). But there's only two flights a day each way now: I can leave here at 8 in the morning, and then think of something to do in NYC that day or leave at 6 in the evening and probably miss the Friday night stuff. And then the only possible flight home leaves at 7:30 pm. Delta doesn't even fly to New York from PHF any more; I'd either have to fly to Atlanta or drive to Norfolk and fly to JFK; that comes out to $168 (plus taxes).

I've done the train up to DC, and the Northeast still seems to have this idea that trains are good. Eight hours on a train each way isn't necessarily the fastest travel plan, but usually Amtrak isn't too bad. And if I could get both ways for $77, then that would not be that much worse than anything else. Unfortunately: 1) the return trip is $110, and 2) it leaves at 1pm, which means no lunch (although having a good reason to skip the generally over-priced and under-catered banquet may not be a bad thing). And I suppose 3) the 25%-off on the NPN-New York run expires December 28. I suppose someone would have to teach me how to use the NYC subway system to get from Penn Station to the hotel and back.

Strange Design Choices

So when you go to the GMail login page, your password is filled in for you and you can start typing your username. BUT: As soon as you hit tab or enter, the password is erased (meaning that at least you can't log in without actually typing your password). But what is the point of showing you what your password looks like filled in? "Oooh, that's a lot of dots, I must be using the long password here!"

Today's product of the day

Is here. (h/t Instapundit) I firmly agree with the first commenter: (1) this is a good idea and (2) this shouldn't be (or shouldn't have to be, perhaps) a good idea.

We'll call it a draw

So my slide rules need some definite attention paid to them, and part of providing that attention is slathering on some white petroleum jelly. The only difficulty here is that I do not actually possess any Vaseline and therefore had to acquire some. Even after 30 minutes in Walmart today, I still could not tell you where Vaseline is stocked there. Fortunately the mouthwash aisle had some in the little travel-size containers, which is more than I need anyway (since it's not as though I have that many slide rules). I am looking forward to soon having the slickest-moving slide rules this side of my front door.

It must be that time of year

I wandered into the kitchen just now, noticed a box of stuffing, and said "Oooh!" So I will have stuffing as a snack in about seven minutes.

Also if someone could find my fingernail clippers I'd appreciate it.

Today's Wikipediaism

So clearly [citation needed] is not really a bad thing in Wikipedia. But I'm guessing someone got a little too trigger happy on the "Kernel trick" page:

The origin of the term kernel trick is not known.^{[citation needed]}

If anyone can find a definitive reference for this, I for one would be happy to see it.

I guess you've been a Red Sox fan for a while then

The Lexus I was behind today coming home from work (well, not coming home so much as going to the Dairy Queen, but it's almost on the way) had three bumper stickers: New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, and "The most excellent jihad is the conquest of self."

Puzzles puzzles puzzles

Someday soon I'll finish up my Sites page with some tools. Someday.

We got some good weekends coming up: the first hints for P&A comes out this weekend (hey, I've already got one puzzle, and most of four others, that's not bad, right?). Eric Berlin's puzzles are coming out soon, and then there's DASH the weekend after that. But those actual, physical, hunts have never been my strong suit, and I don't know anybody local that would tolerate my presence for that (not that there's a huge number of people who would tolerate my presence anywhere), so maybe that one will be a miss.

The Return of the Puzzles

So, obviously, Google has webspace for people. For whatever reason (perhaps my ignorance, perhaps an oversight, perhaps a deliberate decision) you can't get there from Blogger so far as I can tell. So while the blog is still here, things that need to be posted will get posted at my new Google Sites page under Puzzles and Tools. Currently I've put up four crostics (which, alas, is currently my entire crostic output). The tools will go back up soon, and maybe one day I will post my utterly utterly pathetic puzzle suite.