Getting the Last Word

Sometimes, to get the last word, you have to put it on the epitaph of your tombstone.

I have seen a few of these before. Several of them are glorious.

(Tip of the cap to George Takei.)

"I Don't Want to be a Pie!"

The Improbable Research Blog has passed along a pie chart that tabulates (or perhaps 'pie-bulates'?) the various causes of death in Shakespeare's plays. (Being baked into a pie would have to suck.)

23 Unusual Ways to Die (Organized by US State)

This IFLS article shows a lovely plot that indicates 23 unusual ways to die, as organized by state in the US. Each state is colored by the most frequent of these unusual ways to die that occurs in that state. Several of the ones at the bottom of the list are particularly fantastic.

A Magical Land Called the 70s

Tonight, at dinner, I accidentally invented a new euphemism for death: "He went to a magical land called the 70s."

(I needed to think quickly when a child asked me a question following something I was discussing with another adult, and that was what I came up with. A couple of us had been talking about our grandfathers.)

Avoiding a Death Sentence with Coffee

Wow, this story is the first time that I have ever heard of the choice between drinking coffee regularly versus an immediate death sentence. (Eat your heart out, IRB?)

Early contender for best talk title: Accelerated Evolution in the Death Galaxy

Here is my opening contender for best talk title at the APS March Meeting: "A27.00002: Accelerated Evolution in the Death Galaxy"

Note that this talk is not in the psychoceramics session. I'm not going to see it, as it conflicts with a 'human mobility' session (which is a complex systems session), and I'll also need to use part of that session to set up my posters.

Oh, and here is a poster on psychoceramics. And another one. Um, do you think this person is generating these abstracts algorithmically? Why were these abstracts accepted? Does anybody read the submissions? (By the way, check out the first authors for these three posters---they include variants of familiar names---of at least one person who has been dead for several years---and allusions to mathematical formulas.)

P.S. Happy Pi Day!