by Robb Seaton
From Luke’s recent interview of Scott Aaronson (theoretical compsci guy at MIT, who blogs here):
Things like linear algebra, group theory, and probability have so many uses throughout science that learning them is like installing a firmware upgrade to your brain — and even the math you don’t use will stretch you in helpful ways.
by Robb Seaton
The nurse recorded the time of death, 9:21 P.M. He discovered, oddly, that the clock had halted at that moment —just the sort of mystical phenomenon that appealed to unscientific people. Then an explanation occurred to him. He knew the clock was fragile, because he had repaired it several times, and he decided that the nurse must have stopped it by picking it up to check the time in the dim light.
—from James Gleick’s biography of Richard Feynman
I was sitting in my chair a couple of days ago when it started to shake. I googled earthquakes. Nothing. Was there a cat beneath my chair? Didn’t find anything. A couple of hours later, the news reports that a nearby quarry blast caused a seismic event.
So bring me the supernatural in a jar and we’ll find out that it is made out of quarks (or whatever quarks are made of).
by Robb Seaton
I thought about titling this as “Sir John Harington on Selection Effects,” but treason seemed more compelling.
Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
—Sir John Harington
by Robb Seaton
Mathematics is a process of staring hard enough with enough perseverance at at the fog of muddle and confusion to eventually break through to improved clarity. I’m happy when I can admit, at least to myself, that my thinking is muddled, and I try to overcome the embarrassment that I might reveal ignorance or confusion. Over the years, this has helped me develop clarity in some things, but I remain muddled in many others. I enjoy questions that seem honest, even when they admit or reveal confusion, in preference to questions that appear designed to project sophistication.
—William Thurston in his MathOverflow self-summary
by Robb Seaton
Kaprio, Koskenvuo, and Rita (1987) noted that in the week following the death of a spouse, suicide rates are elevated almost tenfold for women, and almost seventyfold for men.
—Well-Being: Foundations of Hedonic Psychology
The original study is here.
by Robb Seaton
Prior to [the mid-19th century], lobster was considered a mark of poverty or as a food for indentured servants or lower members of society in Maine, Massachusetts, and the Canadian Maritimes, and servants specified in employment agreements that they would not eat lobster more than twice per week. Lobster was also commonly served in prisons, much to the displeasure of inmates.