Avoid a Steady March
Hi, everybody!
The latest YouCubed paper is a tornado of nonsense, and I wrote about how that makes me feel.
My first grader is enthusiastic about math, and I wrote about how we do serious math while trying to avoid a steady march through the k-12 curriculum.
I tried to figure out how the very short story "The Hostage" by Amelia Gray manages to balance comedy and narrative.
I paid Ben Orlin for his new book about mathematical games and so should you. (Also check out Ben's excellent list of math books with good drawings.)
The North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition has a huge collection of amazing language puzzles. I spent a loooong time working on "The Script of Your Dreams."
Rachel writes "Q and A: Fraction-Teaching Robots" about her experiences using robots to teach her students fractions. And maybe her students will teach the robots...to love?
I learned about Emitt Rhodes this week, a dead ringer for Paul McCartney whose career ended at age 24. (He stopped having fun.) "Somebody Made For Me" is a lovely and just a little bit wistful. "With My Face on The Floor" is solidly crafted, which is not faint praise, not even a little bit.
Some Jewish music: Rapp Snitch Knishes from MF Doom and Dunkin' Bagel from Slim Gaillard, who I learned of from the Black Sabbath project and the frequently remarkable Dust to Digital twitter account.
From my 4 year old, a joke: Why did the Elephant like to eat hair?
Because he was hairable.
Hope you're doing well. Be in touch, if you'd like to be in touch!
-Michael