Notes

Short content: a microblog of status updates or short notes

Sabor a mi at Mijares Mexican Restaurant

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/49994369″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Recorded at brunch on 6/17/12 at Mijares Mexican Restaurant, Pasadena, CA.

Books have always been digital, not analog

Books have always been digital, not analog. Even when made of paper & ink, they are sequences of discrete symbols.

James Gleick (August 1, 1954 — ) American author and historian of science
on Twitter

 

You Cannot Learn Too Much Linear Algebra

Artin very wisely identifies these matrix groups as more fundamental–and they are. They come up much more in mathematics. Linear algebra is the central subject of mathematics. You cannot learn too much linear algebra. That’s the basic principle for all of you going on in mathematics.

Linear algebra is presented as sort of stupid stuff, [but] you cannot learn too much linear algebra.

Benedict Gross, Ph.D., George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Mathematics, Harvard University
in Abstract Algebra, Lecture 2 at 14:25 via Harvard Extension

 

Benedict Gross standing in front of chalkboard with equations from Abstract Algebra Class
Benedict Gross teaching abstract algebra

Phrase of the Week: “Disconfirmation Bias”

disconfirmation bias: n. The tendency to accept supportive evidence of a belief uncritically, but to actively refute or discount evidence that challenges that belief.

Wordspy definition of disconfirmation bias

 

Dictionary: A Malevolent Literary Device

DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic.

Ambrose Bierce (—), American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist
in The Devil’s Dictionary

 

The Response of the Schoolmaster

This must certainly be the quote of the week from English author Alan Bennett’s play Forty Years On:

Foster: I’m still a bit hazy about the Trinity, sir.
Schoolmaster: Three in one, one in three, perfectly straightforward.  Any doubts about that see your maths master.

 

HARASS SARAH is a PALINdrome, as well as a popular left-wing sport.

This is definitely the quote of the week:

Incidentally, I note that ‘HARASS SARAH’ is a PALINdrome, as well as a popular left-wing sport.

Sol Golomb, mathematician and information theorist
via personal communication while discussing a palindromic word puzzle
Finished reading Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought by P.B. Medawar

Originally published in 1969. This book explains what is wrong with the traditional methodology of “inductive” reasoning and shows that the alternative scheme of reasoning associated with Whewell, Pierce and Popper can give the scientist a useful insight into the way he thinks.

References:

Christopher J. Aldrich, Engr ’96, of Los Angeles, writes:
“I recently booked Bea Arthur into two episodes of the TV show “Malcolm in the Middle,” for which she received an Emmy nomination. Following this, I left Creative Artists Agency to join David Entertainment, where I helped to produce MGM’s Breakers, starring Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Now I’m preparing for production of Doctor Doolittle 2, starring Eddie Murphy and Behind Enemy Lines, with Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson.”