Curse of the Merengue

I have something to confess.  I do not like Latin music.  I know it's adored by most of the world's population, and I have tried to appreciate it, but it in no way speaks to me.  Many have asked, with the best of intentions: 

"Do you want to come hear this amazing Brazilian singer?" (No, I don't.) 

"We're going Salsa dancing, why don't you come along?"  (Because it will lead to great suffering.)

"Oh, but this band from Colombia is amazing - I'm certain you'll like them." (Your certainty is baseless.)

So, I'm visiting a friend in Washington DC, and she took me to her swanky office party at the World Bank. The party was fabulous - the food was amazing, from the red velvet cupcakes to the ridiculous array of martinis, and Santa was in attendance.  The dancing was also terrific because the DJ understood the crowd and played fun pop music from all over the world.  As one might expect, every fourth or fifth song was a Latin American number, and in the midst of it all, my friend admitted to me that she didn't much care for Latin music.  I was thrilled to tell her that I felt the same, and we spent the next ten minutes commiserating about being a misunderstood minority in a world where Salsa dancing is a default activity for the young professional demographic.  Then she turned around and introduced me to a colleague of hers.  We started chatting, and the colleague's friend asked me to dance.  Being in a party mood, I said yes, but then realized with horror what I had agreed to when he asked 

"Do you know the Merengue?" 

My heart sank. 

"No, no I don't." 

(Actually, I have been taught the Merengue many times, but my otherwise excellent physical memory fails me when it comes to Latin dancing.) So, I was polite and learned the Merengue.  Again.  It was not fun.  A mere two hours later, I do not remember the steps.  I think the ghost of Carmen Miranda heard my complaining and wanted to teach me a lesson, but I'm still not sure what the lesson is. Will this nightmare never end?  

Family Photos

My Dad has entered the Skype age, and he was so excited about our first video chat, he took a picture.  In a similar vein, the other day I was Skyping with another friend, and she held her digital camera's display screen up to her webcam so I could watch a video of her daughter doing cute stuff.  Why have two cameras when you can have eleven?

Consistency Counts

Today was the last day of classes for the semester, for which I am grateful.  One of my students made a memorable last impression by sleeping in and failing to show up for his oral presentation (at 2 in the afternoon).  He emailed me to apologize, but started his message by misspelling my name.  At least his performance has been consistent.  

Communication

Some of my students did a terrific presentation today on communications media, where they divided the class into groups, then gave them a math problem to solve together, with the restriction that they could only use one communications medium to collaborate.  

The question was: "You have the misfortune of having an unreliable clock.  You set the clock to the correct time at midnight, but it loses 24 minutes every hour, and it now says 3:00 am.  The clock stopped one hour ago, so what time is it now?"

To solve the problem, one group could talk to one another face-to-face but couldn't write anything down.  Another group could pass one another paper notes, but not speak, while another used a similar technique but with instant-messaging.  The last group could only use their cell phones to send text-messages, with hilarious results.  The face-to-face group finished first and won the challenge, with paper and internet coming in second and third.  The text messaging group was catastrophic.  Their initial text read:

"You have the misprint of having an unreliable block Your block to the correct time at midnight but it loses 24 switches our and now it says 3am The block is stopped hour ago, what time is it now#"