Ernie's 3D Pancakes

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Nike Did It; Why Can't We?

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[via MeFi]

Toilet Paper Saves Lives

At the always brilliant Toilet Paper with Page Numbers, Jay Wood writes a letter to his former chemistry students. Now all he needs is a time machine.

Do you realize why you are in this class in the first place? I'll give you a hint. It's because the peckerwoods in the admissions office are too spineless use your transcripts and SATs to tell you straight up that you are not qualified (now hold on, I didn't say too stupid...yet) to enter college, much less a pre-med program. This is a weed-out course. And I have a big Black and Decker logo on my red pen. No, I'm not being judgmental. I'm telling you the cold, hard truth no one has bothered to rub your nose in yet. Believe me, I'm kinder than your first boss will be.

This reminds me of the old physics “joke” that I keep discretely taped to my wall in my office, in full view of anyone who comes to see me in office hours:

As a premed student at Washington University in St. Louis, I had to take a difficult class in physics. One day our professor was discussing a particularly complicated concept. A student rudely interrupted to ask “Why do we have to learn this stuff?” “To save lives,” the professor responded quickly and continued the lecture. A few minutes later, the same student spoke up again. “So how does physics save lives?” he persisted. Without missing a beat, the professor replied, “It usually keeps idiots like you out of medical school.”

Independence

I'm sitting in a cafe in my home town (named by German immigrants 150 years ago after a similar town in Ohio), drinking espresso, listening to Brazilian music, and working on a paper with a French co-author. The French woman sitting in the cafe next to me (I can tell from her AZERTY keyboard) is drinking San Pellegrino. Outside, legions of Urbanites line the streets waiting for the annual parade, eating bratwurst and waving flags made in China.

Two months ago, I was sitting in a Czech café two blocks from our apartment in Berlin. My cappuccino came with a glass of water with this stamped on the bottom:

Oh, shit.

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. Sandra Day O'Connor is retiring.

Why John Bull Can't Add

Graig Laughton at Gooseania discusses a recent series of articles on the decline of mathematics education in the UK, even at the postgraduate level. One of the articles he discusses was posted recently by the Beeb: Maths 'stuck in downward spiral'. And guess what picture does the Beeb choose to illustrate math—excuse me, maths—to the general public.

That's right, a calculator.

Hoo boy. Those Brits have their work cut out for them.