Category Archives: sciences

fifty-two choose five

Posted on Thursday, 2005 December 22 by Anton

So I was writing a little allegorical paragraph which invited the reader to imagine a poker game in which a dispute arises over whether a flush beats a straight or not. “(The one holding the straight,” I explained, “is a … Continue reading →

Posted in mathematics | 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

wacky microgravity tricks

Posted on Wednesday, 2005 November 30 by Anton

Does this really work?

Posted in cartoons, sciences | 1 Comment

refractin’ back atcha

Posted on Friday, 2005 November 25 by Anton

A few of my Povray scenes include objects with negative indices of refraction; I’ve said of this one that three-quarters of it cannot exist in the real world. Now I read in The Economist that, because a negative-refractive slab could … Continue reading →