Author Archives: Anton

it’s been fun. well, sometimes.

Posted on Wednesday, 2009 February 25 by Anton

The domain ogre.nu expires next month, and I’m wondering how many people will notice if I let it go.

Posted in me!me!me! | 6 Comments

what could be simpler?

Posted on Wednesday, 2009 February 25 by Anton

I got yet another wacky idea for a Martian calendar. Start with 24 months of 28 days each. Drop one day from every seventh month (so that a given month is short in one year out of seven), and add … Continue reading →

Posted in calendars | Tagged | Leave a comment

one with everything

Posted on Wednesday, 2009 February 11 by Anton

Does Professor Carr, for example, realize, when he asserts that “we can no longer find much meaning in the distinction familiar to nineteenth-century thought between ‘society’ and ‘state,’” that this is precisely the doctrine of Professor Carl Schmitt, the leading … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Leave a comment

suggestion box

Posted on Sunday, 2009 January 25 by Anton

I’ve been out of work since September. I may yet be reinstated (the decision-maker has been stalling since November), but supposing otherwise, I need advice. My one known marketable skill is wordprocessing, which will eventually be obsolete as voice recognition … Continue reading →

Posted in me!me!me! | 4 Comments

ten times as ineffable

Posted on Thursday, 2009 January 22 by Anton

We’re miffed that our favorite catfood, Fancy Feast, has apparently changed its formula: both Fluffie and Pillow, who formerly ate it eagerly, now turn up their noses. To our relief, they’re usually content with Trader Joe’s tuna.

Posted in pets | Leave a comment

circles in ellipses

Posted on Thursday, 2009 January 08 by Anton

Many people have worked on the problem of packing equal circles efficiently in various regular shapes. David Cantrell asks, what is the ellipse of least area that can enclose n unit circles? Sometimes it’s a circle (n=1,7,19), sometimes it’s highly … Continue reading →

Posted in mathematics | Leave a comment

time and capacity

Posted on Sunday, 2008 December 28 by Anton

Malcolm Gladwell writes in his new book: . . . excellence at a complex task requires a critical, minimum level of practice – which surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is … Continue reading →

Posted in psychology | 2 Comments