Joe Morello has rolled his last drum.
This version of the piece is faster than the recorded one, but I love Desmond’s sax solo on it. This is one of the tunes used as an example in my brief tutorial on time signatures a few years ago.
Category Archives: Mathematics
No Left Turns
Living without them. Having grown uplearned to drive in Michigan, I’m actually used to “Michigan left turns,” and will often make a right and then U. It really is a lot faster than waiting for traffic to clear in both directions.
[Via Geek Press]
That TSA Venn Diagram
For Gear Heads
Some amazing gears.
[Via Geek Press]
The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy
An interesting discussion of our ability to impose patterns on randomness.
Math Versus Bill Gates
Math wins.
I think that Warren Buffett was very foolish to outsource his philanthropy to Gates.
And yes, as long as you’re asking, I do in fact think that I’d be spending the money a lot smarter, and doing a lot more good with it, than the Bill and Melinda Foundation.
A Problem With Equality
I see articles like this, and can only shake my head in dismay and amazement.
Dewey’s project is complete. The entire public school system has to be razed and rebuilt from scratch.
Too Much Time On His Hands
And now for something completely different — an estimate of how fast the signal of the Beacon of Gondor propagated:
After the first signal is on fire, Gandalf sees the next signal only 6 seconds later. WHAT? The guys (or gals) at the next station must have just been sitting there staring and waiting for a signal. Oh, it was probably like 40 years since the last time it was used. I guess you can do stuff like that if you don’t have youtube. But wait, the more I think about this, the more upset I get. I am ok with invisible rings, flying dragons, glowing swords and stuff. However, it is beyond the bounds of reason to expect me to believe that some guys are sitting way on the other mountain with a hair-triggered lighting mechanism. Six seconds. Seriously.
[Via Geekpress]
Get Him Some Cleats
OK, not that it’s anything new, but Superman would seem to be defying him some physics here. You know, that basic Newton’s law thing?
Martin Gardner
RIP. I hadn’t realized that he’d retired so long ago.
[Update a few minutes later]
Some personal memories from John Derbyshire.