Update 2.

I decided I really shouldn't cut out early, so I began Project 3 (Project 2 was just too much of a monster to think about starting it on a Friday afternoon). But I learned something. Thomas Dolby is alive and well. He is working with data sonification: he takes data and transforms it into music in order to better understand and interact with the data. Hmmm. Okay, if you say so. And this helps you understand the data better ... how, exactly?

Anyway, I also learned that he has a brother who teaches at the University College of London and works at Microsoft Research (blech to that!). Neat-o. You never think of 1980s pop sensations as doing anything "serious", nor of their having siblings who do real work in a related field. (Can you envision Adam Ant talking at academic conferences? No? Neither can I. Sorry, Adam.)