William is helping with the iPad:
Life
Puzzle of the Week
It’s a dark panel in a dark elevator, so I’m not sure how well you can see the details, but this is the elevator panel in the hotel where Barbara and I have been staying in NYC. The puzzle is… Read More ›
Some other favorite podcasts
Two days ago I wrote about my favorite linguistics podcasts. Now check out my five favorite non-linguistic ones, especially the first two: Pod Save America Stay Tuned with Preet Hidden Brain Serious Eats Unorthodox
An upcoming reunion — words and all
Yikes! My 50th college reunion is coming up! (You already know this if you happen to have read a certain post that I wrote a couple of months ago.) What was the famous class of 1969 like? “All happy graduating… Read More ›
The Israeli election, consciousness-raising, a potential Nobel Peace Prize winner, the college admissions scandal, the U.S. constitution, and mostly a Sierpinskitasch — all in one post
Six topics in a single blog post? How can that be? Well, it’s all because those are six of the topics discussed in a single blog post in Scott Aaronson’s interesting blog, Shtetl-Optimized — all being examples of things that make… Read More ›
Excellent carpentry, Verizon!
Coleman Road, Arlington (corner of Wildwood Ave). That looks like a first-rate job, safe and secure, doesn’t it? Excellent carpentry, Verizon!
Over the cliff
Douglas peers down over the edge of a scary cliff:
Friends of Dorothy
In my naive youth, I had no idea what a “friend of Dorothy” was; in-group descriptors, after all, are always known to members of the in group (and allies) long before they are known to the general public. “Friend of… Read More ›
Mollie on her kitty couch
That tiny little Mollie doesn’t look quite so tiny when she’s stretched out on her kitty couch:
“Libraries are a haven…”
For more reasons than one you need to read Angela Clarke’s story from six years ago. Shoutout to my sister-in-law Brenda for alerting me to this excerpt from Clarke’s account: My own fragility revealed that a library is not just… Read More ›
Happy Exelauno Day!
Schools in this entire area (not just Roxbury Latin!) are closed today in honor of Ἐξελαύνω (Exelauno) Day. Or maybe there’s some other reason.
How many Tater Tots? — the answer!
Yesterday I posted this problem: Great Fermi problem that I just heard on the Ask Me Another quiz show on NPR: Estimate how many Tater Tots were consumed in the U.S. during all of 2017. The answer (from CBS News)… Read More ›
How many Tater Tots?
Great Fermi problem that I just heard on the Ask Me Another quiz show on NPR: Estimate how many Tater Tots were consumed in the U.S. during all of 2017. Correct answer will be posted in this space tomorrow.
Wide William
William in his wide-body pose:
Douglas says he’s on vacation
Douglas says he’s on vacation, so it’s time to lie back and relax:
Here in the Northeast it’s not Virginia — or is it?
Virginia was the home of the capital of the Confederacy, so the recent events in Virginia might not have surprised you, but could they happen here in the Northeast? What follows is a lightly edited version of a true account… Read More ›
Are you Gen Z?
What’s Generation Z? I’m just starting to hear that terminology being used. We’re all familiar with the Baby Boomers (I’m near the older end of that generation), and I grew up hearing about the preceding ones, the Silent Generation and… Read More ›
Welcome, Flicka!
Please welcome the newest member of the Davidson-Bean household. Flicka was an abandoned cat who has lived on our front porch for two years now, and today’s weather report was enough to convince Barbara and me that it was time… Read More ›
Three cats
Three of our cats cuddled up together: do they love each other, or are they just heat-seeking mammals?
Am I related to George R.R. Martin? What does Skip Gates say?
George R.R. Martin Larry Davidson People have often claimed that I look like George R.R. Martin. I always thought that they were just paying attention to the beard, the suspenders, and the physique — but now I know of another… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 