For the 7.6666666666 of you who read this livejournal, I feel compelled obligated honored, some feeling to let you know that I am now posting on Word Press.  The new site is sleuthmilanowski.wordpress.com.  Now you have even more letters to type when trying to read my drivel.  You do not need to thank me now for that.

I would have kept ( Read more... )

Freshman year of college my room mate, dorm neighbors, and I watched nothing but peculiar things on television.  Jerry Springer was one such show.  I suspect we just wanted to feel better about our own lives.  "I may have failed the engineering 106 exam, but at least I am not dating my transvestite cousin."  We also watched Sesame Street.  This was ( Read more... )

There are many measures of manliness: how much weight you can lift, how many digits of π you can recall, or how many grapes you can cram in your mouth. But one longstanding, time tested, and true method is the ability to grow facial hair.

Last February I participated in Facial Hair February. Here are my results in pictographic form.
Before:

( Read more... )

As you look at your calendar and plan your long weekend, please remember you can plan your tomorrow because soldiers gave up theirs.  Have a happy, safe Memorial Day and please take a moment to consider the fallen.

On 25 April 2009, Corrie and I traveled to Bloomington, In.  Our main purpose was to come in peace and watch the Little 500 Bicycle Race.  Along the way, we wandered into a cryptography class, mainly because we followed Corrie's brother who was actually enrolled in the course.  Being the attentive student I took notes and being a mathematical ( Read more... )

“Four legs good, two legs bad” seems to be further from the truth as a result of the most recent iteration of swine flu (H1N1). Obviously, you cannot believe everything you read, although screaming, “Do it to Julia” still holds true.

Pigs, like birds and other mammals, can catch the flu. Typically the swine pass their flu amongst each other ( Read more... )

A skill I have long admired, but despised by its frequent unethical use, is cold reading.  Cold reading is the skill which allows a magician/mentalist or a psychic to apparently talk to the dead or perform other mental miracles.  Essentially, the magician casts a wide net with a general statement and reels the volunteer in by becoming more and more ( Read more... )

Never hook up with someone on February 13th.  There is no punch line here, it is just practical advice. 

A friend from college recommended I watch Flight of the Conchords.  Nine months later I finely watched half of the first season (I had a lot of other movies in my Netflix queue).  The show is absurd, it makes me laugh, but when I walk away I feel confused.  I'm not sure if a comedy is supposed to make me feel this way.  By comparison, I love Steve ( Read more... )

Have you ever wanted to see the Ship Of Fools, but were unable to make it to Purdue University?  Or Miami, Ohio?  Or Santa Claus, Indiana?  Or Hammond, Indiana - thrice?  Here is your chance to see the SoF perform for their fourth consecutive year at the Towle Theater in Hammond, Indiana.  They will be performing two nights, Friday, January 30th, ( Read more... )