Friday, December 28, 2012

Writers and Voting for Baseball's Hall of Fame

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T. J. Quinn has written a very nice and intelligent article about why he has given up his annual vote for Major League Baseball's Hall ...

"The Nonsense Math Effect"

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Courtesy of the Annals of Improbable Research, here is a discussion of the nonsense math effect . That is really depressing...
Thursday, December 27, 2012

How to Trap English Majors

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SMBC has some nice visual advice on how to catch English majors .

The Importance of Saving Throws

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Yup, saving throws are important . :)
Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Strange But True

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Jayson Stark has posted his annual strange-but-true article for the 2012 Major League Baseball season. I haven't yet read the whole ar...
Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Newton's Laws Still Work

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I have once again tested Newton's laws of motion (though not in as dramatic a fashion as at the 2004 American Physical Society March Mee...
Sunday, December 23, 2012

Darkened Cities

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Thierry Cohen has produced some awesome pictures of what a few cities would look like if they didn't have human-made lights. I especia...
Saturday, December 22, 2012

Sequel to "Who's on First?"

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And now, for your listening (and viewing) pleasure, here is a sequel to "Who's on First" starting Jimmy Fallon, Billy Crystal...
Friday, December 21, 2012

I am a Selective Luddite

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As some of you know, I am a luddite when it comes to cell phones. I don't want one, and I do my best not to have one. I had one for th...

2013 American Mathematical Society Prizes

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The 2013 American Mathematical Society have been announced . I don't remember seeing them announced this much before the Joint Mathemat...
Thursday, December 20, 2012

Cool Shirts and Cookie Monster Hat

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I am extremely amused by this pirate crossword shirt . There are quite a few other cool shirts on this page , where you can also see an awe...

She Fucking Loves Science

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Elise Andrew has done a huge amount good for science outreach with her Facebook page called "I Fucking Love Science". (I am a sub...

Tales from the ArXiv: "Cool for Cats"

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This paper , which is about Schrödinger cat states, is called "Cool for Cats". I approve! (I considered telling a similar jok...
Tuesday, December 18, 2012

What Happens in Palo Alto Stays in Palo Alto

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I am on sabbatical, and I will be spending the bulk of it based in Palo Alto. I'll have a desk to use in Stanford's math department...
Saturday, December 15, 2012

"The Extraordinary SVD"

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The final version of my article The Extraordinary SVD is now out. Title: The Extraordinary SVD Authors: Carla D. Martin and Mason A. ...

Distribution Plushies

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Those of you who are not satisfied with plush microbes or plush fundamental particles might be interested in buying statistical distributi...
Thursday, December 13, 2012

Christmas Parties and Alienation

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I went to our math department's Christmas party for 5 minutes but then left because of the Christmas music. I was going to try to prete...
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Achievement Unlocked: Break Expedia's Shortest-Path Algorithm

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No, Expedia, if I try to go between Ithaca and Newark with stops first to Philadelphia and then to Boston, it is not ok to insist that I do ...

A Mathematical Name

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Another one of my former students just became a father. As he writes, Kallisti Lemma [last name] was born at 11:41 PM CST on December 6, 20...

Tales from the ArXiv: Daft Punk and Ultracold Atoms

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The title of this article has a nice allusion to Daft Punk. The title is Production of quantum degenerate strontium gases: Larger, better,...