Author Archives: Anton

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

battling ampersands

Posted on Sunday, 2008 December 28 by Anton

Abercrombie & Kent, a travel agency that uses a Times Roman ampersand as a trademark, sued andBEYOND, a travel agency, not for the tacky capitalization but for using a Gill Sans ampersand as a trademark. I doubt that such a … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, heraldry | 1 Comment

Ladle Rat Rotten Hut with a straight face

Posted on Sunday, 2008 December 28 by Anton

Someone considered this passage, in “The Night of the Legion of Death” (an episode of The Wild Wild West), worth quoting on IMDb: You’re not the Governor. Your one of the down faith, commandor present, your value silver voice! Your … Continue reading →

Posted in cinema, language | Leave a comment

back in time

Posted on Sunday, 2008 December 28 by Anton

I wrecked my blog in trying to cure a Unicode display problem, and restored the site from a backup of December 11. A few posts and comments were lost.

Posted in me!me!me! | Leave a comment