My name is Mason Porter. I am a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at UCLA. Previously I was Professor of Nonlinear and Complex Systems in the Mathematical Institute at University of Oxford. I was also a Tutorial Fellow of Somerville College.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Trust Me: Google "Thanos" and Click on the Gauntlet
You're welcome.
Sunday, April 28, 2019
Friday, April 26, 2019
New XKCD: Probability that You'll be Killed by the Thing You Study
Update: Naturally, there is a line from Firefly to back me up. :)
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Upcoming Film: The VelociPastor
Naturally, the first thing that came to mind is that they are trying to give Black Sheep (the very baaaaaaaad "comedy" horror film) a run for it's money.
Here is how the movie is described on IMDB: After losing his parents, a priest travels to China, where he inherits a mysterious ability that allows him to turn into a dinosaur. At first horrified by this new power, a hooker convinces him to use it to fight crime. And ninjas.
So. Very. Wrong.
(Tip of the cap to Chris John.)
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Finding Identical Packs of Skittles
In my new lower-division mathematical modeling course (Math 42; "Introduction to Data-Driven Mathematical Modeling: Life, The Universe, and Everything"), we started our unit on discrete stochastic modeling today, so this post makes me very happy! I have, of course, e-mailed my students about this.
(Tip of the cap to Jeremy Jay.)
Friday, April 12, 2019
J-Pop Cover of Tom Lehrer's "The Elements"
You're welcome!
(Tip of the cap to Elliott Schiff.)
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Does Scientific Reports Correspond to an Outhouse?
Thinking of submitting to Nature, by which of course, I mean going deep into the woods to live in a cabin and never opening a laptop again.
— Amy Schwartz 🦇 (@lizardschwartz) April 10, 2019
Tuesday, April 09, 2019
Unzipping a House
(Also, straight out of Mario Odyssey! :) )
I wonder if it also comes in .gz format?
Meanwhile, in Milan https://t.co/rONtYrLuKG pic.twitter.com/A5fE5RvA2d
— Scott Kerr (@scott_kerr) April 9, 2019
Monday, April 08, 2019
My D & D Selfie
For my #DnDSelfie, here is (1) a shelf with lots of gaming materials (going back to first edition) and characters and stuff and of course (2) lots of dice, including d20s for all occasions (don't forget the small but deadly), and a plush mimic dice bag. pic.twitter.com/UYhHmnhcpR
— Mason Porter (@masonporter) April 8, 2019
Sunday, April 07, 2019
Beards or No Beards: A Victorian Thread from the 1890s
(The whole thread is amusing, by the way.)
The first sentence is cringeworthy, but then it gets to their focal discussion.
'Beards Or No Beards'? That was the question posed by this delightfully eccentric Victorian article. Brace yourselves for some interesting illustrations...
— Dr Bob Nicholson (@DigiVictorian) April 7, 2019
- Answers magazine (1890)
Thread 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/0aGMfKTWhT