Apologies for absence

My computer has been acting up recently, freezing and going blank and so on. Michael vowed to fix it, saying "Your computer is less reliable than a windows box."

He upgraded it, and then took it apart to see what might be wrong. It was mostly fine, although one memory card wasn't seated properly, the fan was completely coated in dust. The real problem came in disconnecting the keyboard cable: Michael managed to snap a piece of plastic off the connector.

First he tried to fix it using electrical tape, a piece of kleenex, and a small piece of wood. That didn't work, and so he tried a piece of tagboard, which did work. The keyboard is slightly curved in the middle from the pressure of the cardboard, which I suppose might be more ergonomic =).

This will work for the time being, but we're still looking for a great deal for a new laptop.

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Why you should study the history of math

Why you should study the history of math In the mid 1300s a fad made its way around Italy. Mathematicians would challenge each other to “mathematical duels”. They would post problems for their opponents to solve, sometimes along with their solutions in coded poetry. The winners would get support and funding from rich patrons, the losers would descend into obscurity. One such contest, between Fiore and Tartaglia, involved a new method for solving the cubic. In order to win, Tartaglia worked day and night to find Fiore’s method---unfortunately, Fiore did not do the same and only knew his own method and no others. (*Recall that the formula for solutions to quadratic equations of the form use the quadratic formula, Giorlamo Cardano---physician, philosopher, astrologer and mathematician---convinced Tartaglia to share his method and promised never to reveal it. Then Cardano figured out a more general method, and wanted to share it, but was blocked by his promises. Fortunately (for Cardan

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After the last post, we started to be able to see what the fuss was about. The ones made with twice the butter were the best candy I have ever tasted. Ever. So then we started experimenting. How long do you pull it? Longer than you think. And then pull a minute or two after that. Suddenly every single batch was creaming, pretty much right after we would cut them. I tried adding less than double butter and I think they taste much better (more delicate, according to one taste tester). The latest experiment we did involved using Earth Balance instead of butter. It cooked pretty much the same as usual, although I was distracted right at the moment I had to pull it off the stove so it cooked maybe a bit longer than usual. Amanda and I each pulled a quarter, while Luke pulled the bigger half. Luke's really wasn't turning very fast---perhaps because it was too hot when he took it off the marble. Mine was turning faster than Amanda's so we traded for a while. Aman

Southern Butter Mints part 1

Some friends of ours have a granddaughter getting married (and she's a friend of ours as well) and so I agreed to help out with the shower. Apparently this is to be a "southern" shower, full of tradition and elegance, but not too far over the top. Among things that are needed for a shower are punch with great grandma's punch bowl, sandwiches with cream cheese and green pepper jelly, and southern pulled butter mints. "Ah, nobody can make those anymore. We used to know someone, but the tradition needs to be passed down." Like a fool, I said that I'd be happy to give it a try. I suffer greatly from "I got a PhD in math, how hard could X be?" where X is something like gardening, or quilting, or cleaning, etc. It's always harder than I think it will be. "We'll call Mrs. X who makes these, maybe she'll pass down the method. I hope you don't hate me!" I was actually planning on doing research online, watching a fe

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