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The photo button on my cell phone is sensitive and goes off when it's confined within a bag or pocket. Usually, the result is a black image. Yesterday, it went off while inside a mesh pocket on my bag. The result is this. I think that's my silhouette or shadow? I sure do like it.

Algorithmic Serendipitous Verbiage

I'm working with a startup developing, among other things, an email archiving system. This requires a chunk of sample email data for testing and demonstration purposes. Our first pass just used greek filler, but that doesn't create particularly interesting search fodder. We're currently working with a Markov text chain generator (beloved of spammers everywhere!) to create email subject lines and headers.

Of course, what you get out depends on what you put in. Since our product is focused on regulatory compliance for small financial firms, we decided to feed it the industry regulations... and Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations... and Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class... and Plato's Republic... and a little Edgar Allen Poe and Cory Doctorow for spice:

All ritual has a piece of magnificence in Thomas Becket, that he generally proportions to the impositon of a state, and the regular payment of old, because in China, every way fitted for it is worth, in order to raise his wages appear to you with my lawyer and springing me from this fund, indeed, is frequently lent to the health and vigour to the order identifier assigned to the subject company's securities, provided that both Europe and every other nation, might have had any ports upon the valid exercise of traits in this manner yields no revenue to the provisions of paragraph a2 or 3 or 4, above, two times in their hearts and would try to find a reasonable effort to learn some particular classes of shares or a correspondent clearing arrangement with a transaction takes place in all places are causes of the State wise?

I think I shall retire to a hermitage and spend the rest of my days in contemplation.

the randomness of connectivity

I found this text message on my phone when I returned from vacation just now:

Aye this is rashad..
Brob told me u get
off at 930 .can u
get me and benson
into a movie at
945? Ill pick u up
4rm rainbow
...thanks dogg

I love the randomness of this. Rashad probably just mistyped one digit of his dogg's cell phone number so I got the message instead of him. I wonder if he and Benson ever got into their movie at 9:45.

I get random e-mails for other Lauries a lot at work. Some of them are quite, um, well, personal. I've left them in my e-mail account not wanting to throw them away because I love them so much, but I always feel like karma is about to stab me in the foot every time I think of posting one of them. I think about how embarrassed I would be if one of my e-mails fell into the wrong hands.