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Oh, by the way, if you’re shocked at the vitriol that I’ve aimed at Europe, just wait until I aim inside the Washington, DC beltway. As regards Israeli/Palestinian foreign policy, the White House has produced more waffles than your favorite breakfast joint. And that’s the nicest thing I have to say.

Quite frankly, I’ve almost stopped watching the news on this, electing instead to gather headlines from various sources with different biases. It’s too depressing to go into too much detail. Now that I’ve blown off a little steam about it, maybe I can think about something else. I’d like to, anyway. I can’t make any real contributions to this millennia-old feud.

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Man, what did they put in the water in Germany? First, a disgruntled former employee kills his former boss and two former coworkers, and now a disgruntled expelled student kills former classmates and teachers. This is beginning to sound like bad trends in the good ole USA.

Quite frankly, much of Europe is disturbing these days. Spout on about the joys of democracy, and then when the “wrong guy” wins, start whining. (No, I don’t agree with Le Pen’s fascist views either.) Better reaction: if you don’t like him, wake up and smell the coffee. Maybe not everybody in Europe likes socialism, or the EU, or the power that’s going to international pseudogovernments. Provide a more palatable alternative to the issues raised in this election.

Oh, and the anti-Semitism that’s at its highest levels since WWII–what’s up with that? It’s hard not to conclude that Europe is on the side of the Palestinians for the simple reason that they’re in direct conflict with Jews. I have to say, the evidence supporting this conclusion is mounting.

Apart from pure anti-Semitism, I cannot figure out why Ariel Sharon has earned the title of “war criminal” and Yassir Arafat, the (Egyptian) father of modern terrorism, has not. They both hold the blood of thousands of innocents in their hands.

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Have a moment of silence for the late Professor Indra M. Chakravarti (1928-2002).

He has made numerous contributions in the fields of statistics, combinatorics, and coding theory, including some results taking advantage of the mathematical overlaps in projective geometry, coding theory, and design of experiments. He was professionally active right up until his death, including work in coding theory and genomics.

He will be missed.

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Ah, blogging. Blowing off steam in the new millennium.