Author Archives: Anton

did Piaget cover kittens?

Posted on Saturday, 2005 December 10 by Anton

Pillow has a new trick: when he wants me to play with him, he approaches my chair and taps at my waist or elbow. A bit of laser-chasing satisfies him for a little while.

Posted in pets | Leave a comment

another one

Posted on Saturday, 2005 December 10 by Anton

Everyone’s doing it, and now David Friedman is doing it. What’s wild is that my bookmark chooser showed me his home page, with a prominent link to “My New Blog”, about eleven hours after his first post.

Posted in blogdom, economics, law | Leave a comment

education is for whom?

Posted on Tuesday, 2005 December 06 by Anton

Is education a public good? Does someone else’s learning algebra or Shakespeare make you better off? Well, there are network externalities — in reading this you benefit not only from my learning but from that of anyone from whom I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, humanities | 1 Comment

let’s get Physical

Posted on Tuesday, 2005 December 06 by Anton

A few months ago, a grad student at MIT asked permission to use my illustration of a diamond crystal in an article for Physics World. I got the December issue in today’s mail. Wow — my modest doodle (re-rendered, for … Continue reading →

Posted in me!me!me!, sciences | 1 Comment

warm globally, cool locally

Posted on Tuesday, 2005 December 06 by Anton

My car was covered with frost this morning. Its north-facing window had large crystal domains, looking like galvanized metal.

Posted in California | Leave a comment

pun history

Posted on Monday, 2005 December 05 by Anton

There are scholars of slang who hunt for earliest documentable uses. Does anyone do the same for puns? In 1971, Larry Niven and David Gerrold published a novel The Flying Sorcerors. Recently for the first time I found that pun … Continue reading →

Posted in language | 2 Comments

pseudosecurity watch

Posted on Monday, 2005 December 05 by Anton

papersplease.org has info on Deborah Davis (busted for refusing to show her papers when a city bus crossed Fed turf), Dudley Hiibel (busted under Nevada law for failing to comply with an arbitrary demand for his papers) and John Gilmore … Continue reading →

Posted in security theater | 1 Comment