I forget which science fiction writer talked about time travel stories as an expression of that regretful wish of a child who’s done something wrong: “Make it didn’t happen!” Maybe Larry Niven, maybe Frederick Pohl, I read a lot of SF and can’t keep it straight any more. Anyway, I’m currently reading The Demon UnderContinue reading “The Early Wish”
Category Archives: Intellectual Curiosity
Let’s Play a Game
I like to play games. Who doesn’t? But not just any game, I’m actually kind of particular about what games I like. I happen not to like zero-sum games; my favorite games are those where, by careful maneuvering, the players can achieve a win for everyone. I also like games where there’s complexity, because thatContinue reading “Let’s Play a Game”
Next Homework Program: Ratio Exercise
The Badb just had a couple of weeks of reviewing ratios. This was a good limbering-up exercise, since the problem sets were all about converting between different units and manipulating fractions. After all, ratios are just a different way of writing fractions. The general form of the problems wound up being, “Given that the ratioContinue reading “Next Homework Program: Ratio Exercise”
I’m Worried about Truth
This morning I saw this headline: “Samaras advierte de que la situación de Grecia es similar a la que permitió el triunfo del nazismo en Alemania.” Hard on the heels of the presidential circus wherein Mitt Romney lied his way to “victory”, this has got me thinking about style versus substance. One of my friendsContinue reading “I’m Worried about Truth”
Miscellany
A lot of things have been going on, but I don’t have a lot to say about any one of them. On Saturday I played at the Dixon highland games. Dixon is about two hours away from Boulder Creek, so rather than driving out the night before and getting a hotel room, I figured I’dContinue reading “Miscellany”
Doomed by History
I’ve probably mentioned this before somewhere, but from about five years after I got out of college I’ve felt acutely my lack of education. I got four years of Catholic school (an important four years, too) but otherwise I went to public schools in California. As a result of my time in private school, IContinue reading “Doomed by History”