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Eight peg problem
My mom has a bunch of little games where pegs go in holes in a board, and you have to move them around via some rules to achieve a goal. One game goes like this ( Read more... ) -
Wacky biophysics of smell (TED talk)
Luca Turin talks about his theory of smell, and why he's able to make a bundle of cash by finding alternative molecules for perfumers using computational tools. -
Not near the fire
For those friends and family who are not quite sure whether we're near the Sylmar fire that's raging in LA, you can rest easy. We're about 20 miles south east of where the fire is, and it's heading west so away from us if I understand correctly. But we are getting a lot of smoke in the whole area. -
Book meme via Paul
Books that have been influential (see Paul's list for explanation). Building the list first, and tricking it out with links and explanations later:- The Feynman Lectures on Physics, esp. vol 1 and 2: Not just for their content, but also for their dramatically radical teaching style. Excessive for their original purpose (an undergrad course at ( Read more... )
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Government suckling
Just finished a strong application for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in Civil Engineering. One way to get back the taxes taken from previous paychecks ( Read more... ) -
Voting, like everything: the marginal cost = marginal benefit at equilibrium
Assume my model for elections is correct, it shows that as the number of people who vote decreases, the probability of affecting the outcome increases. Similarly, as the distribution of the voting probably p shifts away from 1/2 the probability decreases ( Read more... ) -
Does your vote matter?
The presidential election is a complicated process involving electoral votes and soforth. For an analysis of whether your vote matters to the presidential election, you might be interested in Andrew Gelman's analysis ( Read more... ) -
Profiled Display
For photography it's important to get some consistency in color rendering on your display ( Read more... ) -
Magazine Idea (humorous)
Idea for a new magazine ( Read more... ) -
Sphincters!
Come and get them (safe for work and anywhere else, I promise).