If you read our recent column “The Mystery of the Yellow Cake” (in The Guardian) about a mathematics paper called “The Yellow Cake,” and were bemused or confused, here’s a remedy. The phrase “yellow cake” is not explained or even mentioned anywhere in “The Yellow Cake.” That is the mystery. We have just received a […]
Month: February 2004
March mini-AIR
The March issue of mini-AIR just went out. Read it here. Contents include, among other things: / Teaching: A New Spin / Hotheads, Buckets, and a Book / Non-Cosy Sticky Poet / Beauty and Truth: The Correction / Zweibeck’s Death Challenge / Survey Results: Astronomers vs. Moons / Watch What You Eat Limerick Contest / […]
Finger tips
Many people, especially academics and taxi drivers, take pride in having arcane knowledge at their fingertips. Dr William B Bean bested them all. Dr Bean’s arcane knowledge was not only at his fingertips; it was about them. Dr Bean spent much of his adult life monitoring the growth of his fingernails…. So begins this week’s […]
Chocolate Bunny Protection Complaint
Long-suffering investigator Jon Cramer is, on balance, not pleased with our coverage of chocolate bunny protective packaging research. He writes: While studying for the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (at the University of Washington-Seattle, WA) I was forced to endure “Dynamic Systems” (2nd quarter) where we studied the nearly identical problem-How much packing material […]