Category: Misc

Random Thoughts from a Nonlinear Mind: Volume 2: The Athena Chapters, Chapter Eight: Cinema Paradiso (Brenda’s Essay)   “Best dressed, my ass.” Those words, the ones you just read, are the only four words my high school principal ever spoke to me. ***** Buford Lister spied her across the room.  Shy (well, yeah), but not […]

One day when I was a graduate student at Harvard, I was given a sheet of paper, just a single sheet.  On this page were examples of common grammatical mistakes that we were to avoid at all costs.  There was a short paragraph about the difference between their, there, and they’re.  It was that kind […]

Random Thoughts from a Nonlinear Mind: Volume 2: The Athena Chapters, Chapter Seven: The Big Texas King Snake   When I was an undergraduate, I started off as a general mathematics and science major.  The university I attended allowed you to take a certain number of these courses, along with all the other required stuff, […]

Legos for Adults I made it through high school and my undergraduate degrees without ever using a PC.  How is that?  They were rare, few people had them.  If I recall correctly, I didn’t even see a PC until I was at Harvard. I arrived at Harvard in 1986, typing my papers on a typewriter.  […]

Bonus Eruptus Redux! A Few Thoughts on COVID-19 Testing SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19.  For what it is worth, SARS-CoV-2 stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.  This post is not about the virus, it is about the mathematical and probabilistic problems the virus presents to those who wish to test for […]

Random Thoughts from a Nonlinear Mind: Volume 2: The Athena Chapters, Chapter Six: Nuggets of “Wisoom” Don’t tell me he was a good writer; he had the worst penmanship I ever saw in my life. Mel Brooks, as the 2000-year-old man, commenting on the writing ability of William Shakespeare I have the collected works of […]

A Few Thoughts on Creating Lineups for NASCAR DFS I play NASCAR DFS (daily fantasy sports) on FanDuel and DraftKings.  I don’t have a gambling jones, I started playing because I was attracted to the mathematics underlying the lineup selection process.  On DraftKings, you are tasked with picking 6 drivers per lineup; on FanDuel, it […]

Give Me Some Space Redux! On 12/12/19, I posted an essay about spaces after sentences called Give Me Some Space! The other day I saw that there was a significant development in the story.  After reading about Microsoft’s decision to unilaterally “settle” the debate, I decided to update my original post. If you use Microsoft […]

Wouldn’t it be Wonderful? In April 1989, some people thought we were on the cusp of a worldwide revolution.  Energy was about to become free for anyone who wanted it.  Third world countries were going to be able to build and power infrastructure at virtually no cost.  Pollution was going to disappear.  Even nuclear power […]

Random Thoughts from a Nonlinear Mind: Volume 2: The Athena Chapters, Chapter Five: Random Pulses of Bliss   Buford Lister lives in a one-dimensional world.  His universe is a straight line, a simple number line; everyone, by necessity, lives somewhere on the line.  There is nowhere else to go, nowhere else to be.  Consequently, all […]