RIP Dolly Parton (1946–2026)

Music legend Dolly Parton died today. And she really was a legend.

RIP Tom Lehrer (1928–2025)

As started appearing in obituaries in many venues today, the great Tom Lehrer died yesterday.

There have been many published obituaries, and the New York Times one (which is the first one that I saw) has lots of nice snarky comments by Lehrer.

I first encountered Lehrer's music late in my high-school time when I found and started listening to The Dr. Demento Show. The first of Lehrer's songs that I heard was "The Masochism Tango", and it remains a favorite. I fell in love with Lehrer's darkly humorous muse, which naturally is a wonderful fit for my own snarky sense of humor. Some obituaries even described Lehrer tersely as a "satirist and mathematician", and that's definitely a terse description to aspire to.

2025 Inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced its 2025 inductees.

It's great to see Cyndi Lauper, Warren Zevon, and Joe Cocker take their place in the Hall among the greats!

RIP Martin Mull (1943–2024)

Comedic actor, musician, and painter Martin Mull dies yesterday.

I found out about him via the song "Dueling Tubas", which I first learned about in Physics 2a through an acoustics demo by now-Nobel Laureate David Politzer.

My musically-inclined classmates were in emotional pain.

RIP Sinéad O'Connor (1966–2023)

Sinéad O'Connor has died.

She was only 56. But, to be honest, I am surprised that she lasted this long. She seemed to always be struggling.

You can read more about her in her Wikipedia entry.

When a Math Problem Comes Along, You Must Whip it!

When I return to teaching offline, clearly I should go full Devo. pic.twitter.com/udqmPGZ9Kw

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) August 5, 2020

Topography Will Tear Us Apart

I feel like this tweet was written just for me.

Unknown Topographies https://t.co/uyNZF9G7TX

— Brian Glaser (@bsglaser) May 29, 2020

(Tip of the cap to Dave Richeson.)

An Otter's "Careless Whisper"

For the love of god UNMUTE THIS pic.twitter.com/MA48mit8MX

— Nerd Girl Says (@Rachael_Conrad) February 23, 2020

(Tip of the cap to Card Colm Mulcahy.)

A Comic-Book Café in Korea

Wow!

I want to go and hang out in this café.

(And I want to play "Take On Me" as background music while I am there.)

Love Will Tear Us Apart: Geographic Edition

Make elevation maps of any location in the world in the style of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album cover (i.e. a ridgeline map) https://t.co/FQ3KSvU0FU

— kottke.org (@kottke) January 8, 2020

(Tip of the cap to Dan Anderson.)

LaTeX Without Hats

Technically, with hats.

This is what we're supposed to do with this LaTeX package, right?

cc: @MenWithoutHats1 https://t.co/zBVHpjZ9qB pic.twitter.com/e3WGYXF9Cg

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) November 19, 2019

Note: I think that the official lyrics have "We can..." in the first line that I show, but when Men Without Hats sing it, it does sound somewhat like they include an extra de facto syllable.

Update (11/19/19): I did a copy-and-paste and clearly should have looked a bit more for a better website. I didn't even notice the "They're are" until I saw Ernie Barreto's comment on Facebook. Here is a better site.

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.)

RIP KFOG 104.5

It was announced today that KFOG 104.5 is soon going to stop playing its brand of music and will instead simulcast from its sister sports station KNBR.

After KSCA 101.9's brief adult-alternative format died (it too broadcast The Dr. Demento Show) and it was possible to get radio stations from around the country over the internet, I listened to KFOG (which had a similar format, as well as Dr. D) a good amount for a while. Whenever my Mac would die and I didn't have access to iTunes for a while, KFOG was a also a station that I sought out during the dry spells.

Alas, as announced today, KFOG is switching formats after many years. It's a pity. In many ways, it's a natural progression — I, and many others, meet our musical needs differently nowadays — but it still makes me feel a bit sad.

Incidentally, it was through 101.9 and the aforementioned format that I first heard a song by Loreena McKennitt.

"Callin' Oates"

You can call the phone number in this picture to get your Hall & Oates fix (in an emergency, of course). Oh, wow!

P.S. I called the number. This is wrong on many levels, but fantastic on many others!

(Tip of the cap to Angela Wilkerson Fitch.)

An XKCD Comic about Adjustments for High Altitude

On the heels of my return from the 2019 Snowbird conference late last night (and the fact that, at least for one year, we're finally changing the venue), I am highly amused by the xkcd comic about high altitude.

I especially like the Nena one ("Nuclear war can be triggered with only 94 red balloons") and the Scrabble one ("Scrabble letters are worth 16% more").

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

A Touching Song about a Matrix Entry that is not Well-Defined

This is a touching song about a matrix entry that is very sad because it is not well-defined.

A Buzzcock Conjecture

Just give me an excuse to make music-lyric (or certain other pop culture) jokes — any excuse at all.

You can also take a look on Twitter.

"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.

Ground Control to Major Tom: Perfect Photographic Timing

I approve!

Perfect timing. pic.twitter.com/4bVoqBHoH2

— You Had One Job (@_youhadonejob1) June 20, 2018