March 2009
25 posts
1 tag
Some remarks on the impedance tomography problem... →
M. I. Belishev
2 tags
Recently read: The Parrot’s Theorem, by Denis Guedj
A ridiculous plot riddled with inconsistencies and wrapped around a semi-interesting history of mathematics that’s far too willing to indulge legend as fact. I assume it’s better in the original French since the translation is pretty obviously terrible, but that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.
nevenmrgan: June, I can just see it: Apple launches 2 new OS’s, a new phone, and Steve returns. Headlines: “NO TABLET. WORST KEYNOTE EVER.”
Any suggestions for sub-$100 iPhone-compatible earphones? My V-Modas broke and I’m not sure I want to just get the same thing again.
aedison: I’ll say it - the economic crisis has turned the internet into a series of essays about how money will soon grow legs and stomp us to death.
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Rejecta Mathematica →
An interesting experiment:
Rejecta Mathematica is a new, open access, online journal that publishes only papers that have been rejected from peer-reviewed journals (or conferences with comparable review standards) in the mathematical sciences.
Hopefully the editors have a high tolerance for crackpots. (via Marginal Revolution)
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Recently read: Good Book, by David Plotz
Insubstantial but amusing chronicle of the author’s impressions as he actually reads every word of the Old Testament (cf. Blogging the Bible).
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Weirdly, writing the “Background” chapter of my thesis is way more stressful than writing the chapters in which I prove my own theorems.
Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable →
Clay Shirky on the topic journalists can’t stop talking about:
When someone demands to know how we are going to replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that...
lonelysandwich: The thing about Texas is it’s so easy to forget you’re in Texas because they’re so bad about reminding you every damn where you go.
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On an inverse boundary value problem →
Alberto P. Calderón
Remind me not to agree to be on any committees in the future.
I hereby declare war on the English Department.
Seriously, English Department, is it really necessary to inflict 18 student letters on me?
Reading this many letters of recommendation in a row is probably a serious risk to my mental health.
gruber: I must have some weird strain of dyslexia. Whenever I see a link named “Next Page”, I think it says “Stop Reading and Close This Tab”.
1 tag
A new cohomological formula for helicity in... →
Jason Cantarella, Jason Parsley
adamisacson: I always forget that in the real world, “He’s like one of those people Malcolm Gladwell writes about” isn’t necessarily an insult.
Rebecca Traister is dismayed that some schadenfreude-pandering “spank the rich” stories indulge in outmoded gender caricatures: male as shallow, emotionally distant income stream, female as manipulative golddigger.
While these stories probably do, as Traister worries, resonate with many readers’ own gender stereotypes, they’re also appealing because they re-cast the...
Moltz: Every time I get one of those spam email misfires with code in the subject line I fear that some of my old code has found me.
The Unfinished →
The New Yorker’s profile of David Foster Wallace and his struggle to write The Pale King, his unfinished novel which will be published next year.
(via: Daring Fireball)
Somewhat miffed to learn that I paid for Tumblrette 4 days before it was bought by Tumblr and, after a name change, re-released as freeware.
essdogg: Here’s my daily dilemma: Before her coffee, my wife is totally useless. After her coffee, she realizes that I’m totally useless.
“You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.”
– Dorothy Parker, upon being challenged to use the word ‘horticulture’ in a sentence (via jessabelle2o7)