Nicolas Bourbaki and The Traveling Wilburys

Nicolas Bourbaki was basically the mathematics version of The Traveling Wilburys.

A Band Called "f(x)"

I know nothing about the band — and K-Pop isn't exactly my style anyway — but I definitely like the band's name!

RIP Ric Ocasek (1944–2019)

Ric Ocasek, the lead singer of The Cars, died today.

He was older than I thought, although their debut album is from the 1970s, so this age does make sense. I like several of their songs quite a bit, and my favorite is probably "You Might Think".

(Tip of the cap to Misty Beaird‎.)

Update (9/16/19): There is a nice obituary in The New York Times. (Tip of the cap to Diana Thomas.)

Will the Authors of this Paper Look Back in Anger?

Key question: Will the authors look back in anger when they read their referee reports on this paper?

"Can high-density human collective motion be forecasted by spatiotemporal fluctuations?"

Eigenmodes of crowd dynamics at an Oasis concert. #moshmathhttps://t.co/srSG8Biyui pic.twitter.com/XxnlBQuDFJ

— Chris Danforth (@ChrisDanforth) September 24, 2018

"My" Eponymous Band

As some of you know, there is a band called Mason Porter. We both show up near the top of Google search for "Mason Porter" (and similar items). Over the years, I have been tagged on several Twitter posts instead of them. I am also followed by a few random people who are interested in folk and bluegrass music, and I have even had some good-natured Twitter battles with the band when I visit Philadelphia.

And now, on this occasion, even the band itself accidentally tagged me in their Facebook post instead of themselves!

Rock on! ("Folk on?")

One of these years, I seriously need to crash one of their shows with a short mathematics lecture.

Not "Atomic Blondie"

I saw a billboard for the movie Atomic Blonde from my apartment building, and I was really excited that there was going to be a biopic about the band Blondie. So I looked up the IMDB entry, and the movie is in fact rather different.

This, by the way, was a very natural mistake to make. I hope that the song "Atomic" is in the film, at least.

What Have People Been Googling Since the Election?

This probably says a lot about my sense of humor, but I think the funniest state googling lead, hands down, is Mississippi (especially in the context of what everybody else is asking about). People in that state have googled "3 Doors Down" more than any other state.

(Tip of the cap to George Takei.)

Me + OMD

I got to meet the members of the band OMD on Monday at the VIP part a few hours before their concert. I got them to sign the novel that I brought with me to read (as that is all that I had with me for them to sign).

(Hopefully you can see the other pictures. I have thus far failed to find a public link to the album that I posted on Facebook. For now, I am linking to the picture I took with the band.)

Ohio State Marching Band Plays Video Games

In a recent halftime show, the marching band from The Ohio State University---notice the 'The'!---had a video-game-themed performance. The video is a bit long (about 9 minutes), but it's pretty awesome.

(Tip of the cap to Prista Charuworn.)

Mason Porter and Me

Many moons ago, I found out via the magic of Google that there is a bluegrass band called "Mason Porter".

Friends of mine bring this up with me periodically (well, perhaps quasiperiodically or maybe just 'every so often'?), but the band doesn't appear to be that well known. It doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.

Moreover, it is a little-known fact that my twitter handle of 'masonporter' single-handedly prevented the band from using that handle, so they had to settle for 'masonporterband'. I purposely 'liked' the band's Facebook page just to give my friends a newsfeed item of 'Mason Porter likes Mason Porter', though I quickly hid the group because I didn't actually want to see the band's posts.

Today, I got a request from the MySpace page of Squid Music, who wanted to 'friend' me because they apparently thought that I was actually the band. In fact, I don't think that I have logged into MySpace since the day I set up my account (in around 2005, I think). Of course, if Squid Records wants to give me a free guitar---based on their website, they seem to sell guitars, among other things---then I might consider accepting their "friendship".

I think I am going to have the meet the band members someday, because I'm not sure if my life could ever possibly be complete without that. I wonder if they know who I am too?

Finally, just like the band Mason Porter, I like to believe that I "evoke[] the spirits of each and every person whose life [I] touch", because that's just the kind of guy I am.