LOS ANGELES — From "I'll be Back" to "Hasta La Vista, Baby", Arnold Schwarzenegger has always had a way with words.
But the charismatic California governor raised more than a few eyebrows with the wording of a recent letter to a political opponent announcing his intention to veto financing for a San Francisco waterfront project.
Viewed as a letter, Republican Schwarzenegger's missive to San Francisco assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a Democrat, appeared to convey a not-so-hidden message.
Read vertically, the first letter of each line spelt an obscene two-word insult, the first word beginning with "F" and the second word being "You."
Local media reports speculated that the message was the result of Ammiano's recent heckling of Schwarzenegger at a Democratic gala event.
Ammiano, who is gay, was reportedly angry at Schwarzenegger over state budget cuts which slashed funding to AIDS programs.
However Schwarzenegger's spokesman Aaron McClear said Wednesday that the odd wording was nothing more than a quirk of coincidence.
"It was a strange coincidence," McClear told AFP. "We draft hundreds of letters each year and it was just a coincidence, nothing more to it than that."
http://i.idnes.cz/09/103/gal/JB2ec45f_schwa.jpg
The language seems quite contrived, something that might be necessary to get a desired result. And string theory physicist Lubos Motl figures the odds of coming up with this by chance at 8 billion to one.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Arnold Schwarzenegger & probabilities
Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a bill about the funding of projects in the San Francisco area, proposed by an aggressive homosexual activist. That wouldn't be important enough a fact to be discussed at this blog. However:
http://i.idnes.cz/09/103/gal/JB2ec45f_schwa.jpg
Unlike other texts, Schwarzenegger's veto must be read vertically to get the key message. ;-) Now, the governor's office claims that it is just a coincidence. How likely is it? Well, 26^7 is equal to 8 billion or so.
That's like a 7-sigma evidence against the "noise" explanation. :-) And who knows - maybe we should also count the spaces and/or the initial "I" before the verb :-) which would make the odds even more spectacular. Moreover, there exists additional, microscopic circumstantial evidence supporting the "intelligent design" explanation in this case.
"Kicking the can" sounds too poetic for a political memorandum (they needed a "k"), "overwhelmingly" seems redundant for describing how Californians deserve something (they needed an "o"), and the repeated occurrence of "unnecessary" (they needed a "u" twice) would probably be adjusted away if the good style mattered more than the vertical message.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is pretty creative although we could have doubts whether he has created the letter himself. Good sense of humor.
The message could have been made excessively contrived, too. The end of the letter, from "Sincerely", could have said "Respectfully [newline] Arnold [newline] Schwarzenegger [newline] Sincerely". (Be sure that I could give a smoother solution to this problem, but this simple one is OK as a proof of a concept.)
Then the hidden vertical message would be much longer - "I *u** your *s*." That would bring us to 10-sigma evidence against noise.
Motl calculates the odds against this occurring by chance using a 1/26 probability for each beginning letter. But, of course, all letter are not equally likely and this message includes more than a few letters that are relatively uncommon so I think Motl is being generous.
As he says, it is highly unlikely the governator composed this letter himself but I do not buy the "coincidence" story.
kvrdave
10-29-09, 01:10 PM
I don't care as I think it is fantastic. :lol:
Groucho
10-29-09, 01:10 PM
It's obvious deliberate -- and hilarious.
orangecrush
10-29-09, 01:13 PM
What Groucho said.
Venusian
10-29-09, 01:17 PM
I'd guess a staffer did it.
Funny, but inappropriate.
wishbone
10-29-09, 01:24 PM
Arnold went with the last option.http://i33.tinypic.com/2d17ndx.jpg
JasonF
10-29-09, 01:37 PM
My favorite part of this story is the bolded part below:
Despite all of the Golden State’s woes, Arnold Schwarzenegger likes to have fun in his job as California governor. The star of comedic masterpieces such as “Jingle All the Way” and “Kindergarten Cop” enjoys flaunting his funny on Twitter.
Earlier this year, he gave a metal sculpture of bull testicles to California’s Senate leader, but now, it seems as if he’s carrying his often-crass sense of humor over to his veto messages.
Before we get into the latest mischief, some background: Earlier this month, the Republican governor crashed a San Francisco Democratic Party fund-raiser, where he was booed by Democrats still upset at the spending cuts he pushed this year. One attendee, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, yelled “You lie!” at him, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Then, Ammiano, a former standup comedian who is famous in San Francisco for his championing of liberal causes and gay rights, walked out on the speech, shouting a vulgarity.
Schwarzenegger has said he was unfazed by the incident.
Four days later, Assembly Bill 1176, which just happened to be sponsored by Ammiano, reached his desk. The bill would have expanded the financing powers of the Port of San Francisco. The state legislature didn’t have a problem with it; it cleared the Senate 40-0 and the Assembly 78-0.
Nonetheless, the former tough-talking “Terminator” star vetoed the bill, sending along a message. (Click here for the letter.)
At first, it seems innocuous, as veto messages tend to be. But as the San Francisco Bay Guardian points out, reading down the left margin shows it’s not as banal as it looks. Along the margin, the first word begins with the letter “f,” and the last word begins with “u.” The Bay Guardian article is here; please note it contains crude language.
When asked about the intent of the message, Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said that “like every veto message, it says why the governor vetoed the bill.”
Okay. What about the other message in the letter?
“As far as what it says on the left-hand margin, that’s just a strange coincidence,” McLear said. “When you do so many vetoes, that’s bound to happen.”
Then, less than a minute after hanging up the phone, McLear sent Washington Wire a list of other veto messages in which the letters on the left-side of the statement spell out different words. Senate Bill 115, about religious exemptions to public employees, spells out “ear.” Assembly Bill 1276, concerning international trade, says “poet.”
And Senate Bill 674, about oversight of fertility clinics and cosmetic surgery centers, spells out “soap.”
Ammiano said he didn’t notice the hidden message until the Bay Guardian pointed it out today. “It was a little bit of shock and awe,” he said, adding: “I thought it was pretty funny.”
He said he will reintroduce the bill next year. “Hopefully, we’ll have a clean slate,” Ammiano said.
So did they spell out "poet" and "ear" ahead of time to give themselves plausible deniability when they did this trick or (more likely) did they have some aide spend time scouring previous veto messages so they could find other ones that spelled words (I'm picturing the aide getting frustrated as he comes across one that almost, but doesn't quite, spell something -- "It was the blurst of times!? You stupid veto message!")
Groucho
10-29-09, 01:39 PM
The fact that he produced the other messages in less than a minute does suggest the pre-mediated plausible deniability scenario.
Norm de Plume
10-29-09, 01:42 PM
Funny, but, needless to say, completely unacceptable for a member of government.
Incidentally, anyone who has seen the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk will recognize the target, Ammiano, as a friend of Milk's who was interviewed extensively. A schoolteacher at the time, he was inspired to enter politics by Milk's murder.
The Bus
10-29-09, 01:42 PM
The fact that he produced the other messages in less than a minute does suggest the pre-mediated plausible deniability scenario.
"I was told to make myself available in case anyone needed my services."
Groucho
10-29-09, 01:44 PM
Damn you, Firefox spell check. Foiled again by your schemes!
JasonF
10-29-09, 02:14 PM
The fact that he produced the other messages in less than a minute does suggest the pre-mediated plausible deniability scenario.
I'm sure the "Fuck you" was premeditated, and I'm sure they had an answer ready to go when they sent the message. I'm just curious if they planned so far in advance that they were intentionally hiding words in veto messages for years, or just went back to look for some once they came up with the idea of hiding a message in this one. Probably the latter, but the former just strikes me as hilarious -- "See if you can get the first letters to spell something. Then, when we really want to stick it to someone, we can tell him to fuck himself and have a great example to point to so we can claim innocence!"
X
10-29-09, 02:21 PM
Funny, but, needless to say, completely unacceptable for a member of government.
Incidentally, anyone who has seen the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk will recognize the target, Ammiano, as a friend of Milk's who was interviewed extensively. A schoolteacher at the time, he was inspired to enter politics by Milk's murder.How about what Ammiano said that started it? Even harder to believe than Schwarzenegger being a member of government is that Ammiano is one as well.
Ammiano to Schwarzenegger: "Kiss my gay ass" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=49163)
[Edited to help out JasonF]
JasonF
10-29-09, 02:27 PM
:hscratch: I thought a legislator shouting "You lie!" at the chief executive was considered acceptable behavior these days?
(In case the sarcasm is lost, I think what Rep. Ammiano did was completely inappropriate and rude).
eXcentris
10-29-09, 02:50 PM
The language seems quite contrived, something that might be necessary to get a desired result. And string theory physicist Lubos Motl figures the odds of coming up with this by chance at 8 billion to one.
Another one of these wacko anti-grammar skeptics... -ohbfrank-
General Zod
10-29-09, 02:55 PM
Arnold is still on my bad list but this note cracks me up. Whoever
read it and made the connection was obviously aware that
notes from Arnold contain this type of thing. The guy he sent it to
often tries to push through all sorts of high-tax bills and deserved a
light smackdown. Hopefully Arnold won't be scared by the controversy and
decides to continue to send them these snide little notes.
Remember there is an extremely large percentages of Democrats
up in the Sacramento fighting him tooth and nail on just about everthing
labor unions would oppose so there's a lot of money and volunteers
eagerly awaiting Arnold to leave office so they work together to push
stupid legislation through. Hopefully our next Governor is stronger.
JasonF
10-29-09, 03:02 PM
Arnold is still on my bad list but this note cracks me up. Whoever
read it and made the connection was obviously aware that
notes from Arnold contain this type of thing. The guy he sent it to
often tries to push through all sorts of high-tax bills and deserved a
light smackdown. Hopefully Arnold won't be scared by the controversy and
decides to continue to send them these snide little notes.
Remember there is an extremely large percentages of Democrats
up in the Sacramento fighting him tooth and nail on just about everthing
labor unions would oppose so there's a lot of money and volunteers
eagerly awaiting Arnold to leave office so they work together to push
stupid legislation through. Hopefully our next Governor is stronger.
Remember the thread about California's budget crisis where you posted
exactly the same thing? Don't think that I didn't notice, because I
positively did. Cleverness is well and good, but I think that you really
ought to find a new way to be clever instead of putting the exact
same post in two different threads. Don't take this the wrong way, but
this kind of duplicate posting just wastes everyone's time.
Sean O'Hara
10-29-09, 03:02 PM
What Ammiano said was perfectly fine, and so was Ah-nuld's response.
Norm de Plume
10-29-09, 04:07 PM
How about what Ammiano said that started it? Even harder to believe than Schwarzenegger being a member of government is that Ammiano is one as well.
Ammiano to Schwarzenegger: "Kiss my gay ass" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=49163)
[Edited to help out JasonF]
OK, in that case they're both way out of line. What is this, Grade 5?
starman9000
10-29-09, 04:15 PM
Fantastic.
And The Bus' post made me lol.
JasonF
10-29-09, 04:17 PM
How about what Ammiano said that started it? Even harder to believe than Schwarzenegger being a member of government is that Ammiano is one as well.
Ammiano to Schwarzenegger: "Kiss my gay ass" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=49163)
[Edited to help out JasonF]
Just noticed the edit. "Kiss my gay ass" is also a rude and inappropriate thing for a legislator to say to a chief executive. Or, for that matter, for any politician to say to another.
Please tell me you didn't make that edit because you want to be able to condemn Ammiano and celebrate Joe Wilson.
DeputyDave
10-29-09, 04:45 PM
I'll defend Ammiano the same way I defended Wilson: although rude and inappropriate it is not without precedence in California politics. Also, like Wilson's, the statement doesn't seem to be incorrect. Armmiano is, in fact, gay and Arnold is a very handsome man.
General Zod
10-29-09, 04:56 PM
Remember the thread about California's budget crisis where you posted
exactly the same thing? Don't think that I didn't notice, because I
positively did. Cleverness is well and good, but I think that you really
ought to find a new way to be clever instead of putting the exact
same post in two different threads. Don't take this the wrong way, but
this kind of duplicate posting just wastes everyone's time.
:) Anything that took me more than 3 minutes to write out deserves a repost.
creekdipper
10-29-09, 09:23 PM
Y'all need to get a life. Threads such as this one suggest that
All some people need to concoct a "conspiracy" is too much time
When, in reality, close examination reveals that almost positively
No harm was intended by the Governator or his staff.
movielib
10-29-09, 10:40 PM
Y'all need to get a life. Threads such as this one suggest that
All some people need to concoct a "conspiracy" is too much time
When, in reality, close examination reveals that almost positively
No harm was intended by the Governator or his staff.
So 8 billion to one odds seem to be pretty good to you?
Josh-da-man
10-29-09, 11:56 PM
A couple of my friends and I would do stuff like this on our homework assignments back in junior high and high school. Generally slipping in things like [teacher's name] is an big whore and other stuff like that.
Never got caught doing it.
(Of course, we had to be discrete about it, and couldn't show the stuff to anybody else because someone would eventually let the cat out of the bag.)
Josh-da-man
10-30-09, 12:00 AM
So 8 billion to one odds seem to be pretty good to you?
And, yet, I have a feeling you don't believe in the Bible Code...
;)
spainlinx0
10-30-09, 08:02 AM
Remember the thread about California's budget crisis where you posted
exactly the same thing? Don't think that I didn't notice, because I
positively did. Cleverness is well and good, but I think that you really
ought to find a new way to be clever instead of putting the exact
same post in two different threads. Don't take this the wrong way, but
this kind of duplicate posting just wastes everyone's time.
Y'all need to get a life. Threads such as this one suggest that
All some people need to concoct a "conspiracy" is too much time
When, in reality, close examination reveals that almost positively
No harm was intended by the Governator or his staff.
Oh you two clever little posters.
orangecrush
10-30-09, 09:26 AM
Arnold is still on my bad list but this note cracks me up. Whoever
read it and made the connection was obviously aware that
notes from Arnold contain this type of thing. The guy he sent it to
often tries to push through all sorts of high-tax bills and deserved a
light smackdown. Hopefully Arnold won't be scared by the controversy and
decides to continue to send them these snide little notes.
Remember there is an extremely large percentages of Democrats
up in the Sacramento fighting him tooth and nail on just about everthing
labor unions would oppose so there's a lot of money and volunteers
eagerly awaiting Arnold to leave office so they work together to push
stupid legislation through. Hopefully our next Governor is stronger.
Remember the thread about California's budget crisis where you posted
exactly the same thing? Don't think that I didn't notice, because I
positively did. Cleverness is well and good, but I think that you really
ought to find a new way to be clever instead of putting the exact
same post in two different threads. Don't take this the wrong way, but
this kind of duplicate posting just wastes everyone's time.
Y'all need to get a life. Threads such as this one suggest that
All some people need to concoct a "conspiracy" is too much time
When, in reality, close examination reveals that almost positively
No harm was intended by the Governator or his staff.Thanks guys, now I am going to see secret messages in every post I read.
JasonF
10-30-09, 09:34 AM
Thanks guys, now I am going to see secret messages in every post I read.
Buy: