“How many authenticated ancient mathematical artifacts are known?” I recently asked myself this question while researching the history of mathematical proof. Ultimately, all historical theories must answer to the evidence. For mathematics, this means studying surviving parchment documents, cuneiform tablets, bamboo strips, bone markings, Stella inscriptions, calculating boards, and other objects, that inform our mathematical … Continue reading How Many Authenticated Ancient Mathematical Artifacts are Known?
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Ethanol is Excrement in the Gas Tank
Like many U.S. government programs, the blended corn ethanol mandate has done little to address its avowed goals, i.e., strengthen energy security, reduce carbon emissions, and lower prices for consumers. By some accounts it, consumes more energy than it produces, increases consumer prices, distorts food production, wastes vast tracts of arable land, and contributes to … Continue reading Ethanol is Excrement in the Gas Tank
For Me in Twenty Twenty-Three
Let’s get this over with! Every year I task myself with a list of publicly declared goals,1 and then in the next year, if I find myself among the living,2 I grade myself. How did 2022 go? Let’s start with my small goals. Goal: Observe as many Messier objects as weather permits and get my … Continue reading For Me in Twenty Twenty-Three
ChatGPT Comments on this Blog
In 2022 reality once again asserted dominance over wishful-thinking naked apes. Governments everywhere gave up on COVID. The virus won, as many cynics said it would three years ago. We now live with COVID, as if we had a choice, and it will kill some of us from time to time. Our transition to low … Continue reading ChatGPT Comments on this Blog
Mission Statements for this Blog
I have a weakness for how to improve your writing books.1 Lately, I’ve been reading Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark. Writing Tools is full of useful advice that I will make efforts to heed. Clark’s Tool 40 motivated this post. Tool 40 advises writers to craft short mission statements2 for their compositions. He provides … Continue reading Mission Statements for this Blog
Travel Diary: Sydney and Home (Part 4)
This is the final installment of my Australia New Zealand travel notes. Click on any of the images to jump to my photo gallery for this trip. Day 25 Nov 3, 2022, Hyatt Regency room 917, Sydney, Mac Today the ship belatedly returned to Sydney; rough seas delayed our arrival. The previous night the ship … Continue reading Travel Diary: Sydney and Home (Part 4)
Travel Diary: New Zealand Cruise (Part 3)
This is the third installment of my Australia New Zealand travel notes. Click on any of the images to jump to my photo gallery for this trip. Day 15 Oct 22, 2022 Sydney Harbor Dock, iPhone We are sitting on a dock bench beside the Celebrity Eclipse waiting to board. The ship is huge and … Continue reading Travel Diary: New Zealand Cruise (Part 3)
Travel Diary: Melbourne and Uluru (Part 2)
This is the second installment of my Australia New Zealand travel notes. Click on any of the images to jump to my photo gallery for this trip. Day 10 Oct 17, 2022 Park Hyatt, Melbourne Victoria, iPhone This morning we had breakfast at the Mantra Albury Hotel and then did a little bit of shopping. … Continue reading Travel Diary: Melbourne and Uluru (Part 2)
Travel Diary: Brisbane to Canberra (Part 1)
For most of October 2022, we were traveling in Australia and New Zealand: two countries that have long lingered on our bucket lists. While traveling I kept notes on my iPhone and Mac. The following four blog posts are slightly edited versions of my notes. I cleaned up my phrasing and inserted appropriate pictures but … Continue reading Travel Diary: Brisbane to Canberra (Part 1)
Ukraine Unknowns
This will be my sole posting about the ongoing clusterfuck in Ukraine. In 2014, shortly after Russia invaded Crimea, I posted this little ditty, Ukraine takeaway: Don’t give up your Nukes. I cynically observed that if the morons that constituted the first Ukrainian government after the dissolution of the Soviet Union had held onto a few … Continue reading Ukraine Unknowns
Analyze the Data not the Drivel 