November 2007

  • Barackology and Obamatics

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    Best use of a mathematical term in a political discussion: Consider this hypothetical. It’s November 2008. A young Pakistani Muslim is watching television and sees that this man—Barack Hussein Obama—is the new face of America. In one simple image, America’s soft power has been ratcheted up not a notch, but a logarithm.–Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic…

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  • Cosmic Rays

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    A few weeks ago, the Auger Project published results (with a news story here) from searching for the properties of the very highest-energy Cosmic Rays, determining that they seem to have come from nearby “Active Galactic Nuclei”, which are believed to be Super-Massive Black Holes at the centers of galaxies, surrounded by discs of accreting…

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  • Faith in Science

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    Paul Davies had an op-ed in the New York Times, comparing scientists’ reliance “on the the assumption that nature is ordered in a rational and intelligible way” with religious faith. He wants to eschew both in favor of regarding “the laws of physics and the universe they govern as part and parcel of a unitary…

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  • ·

    selling off the nj turnpike.

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  • Puryear’s Ladder

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    Here in New York for a collaboration meeting and, soon, Thanksgiving. Aside from old friends, fine food (and the exchange rates), a highlight was MOMA‘s Martin Puryear exhibit, and, particularly, “Ladder for Booker T. Washington”: Next up, the Auger observatory, cosmic rays, and the GZK Cutoff. And maybe Sesame Street and my new iPhone.

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  • Magazine article title of the year

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    “Ezra Pound — From Fascist to Fabulous” –Fine Books & Collections magazine

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  • The Handsome Family

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    On my flight out to Cleveland via Chicago, I sat next to a lovely, hip-looking couple watching The Sopranos on DVD, wedged into the cattle-class middle seats. They turned out to be Brett and Rennie Sparks — husband-and-wife band The Handsome Family. They actually started out in Chicago in the early 1990s back when I…

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  • This could be me

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    Imagine this. You are male, somewhere between 38 and 55, your recent purchases include recordings by the Hold Steady and that Robert Plant and Alison Krauss album, and you like to think you know about new world wine and the rough outlines of global warming. For nearly 30 years, your aesthetic universe has been constructed…

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