Last week I was finally tagged in one of those items: “Post a _____ every day for _____ days, without comment.” In this case, it was “Post an influential album every day for ten days, then tag someone else.” Right off the bat, by the way, I’m not tagging anyone else. Anyone who wants to…
Month: April 2020
Operations on Fractions
A tale of carts and horses. My child is in fifth grade. Last Friday, we received the second volume of his mathematics workbook. It starts with multiplication of fractions; the next chapter is division of fractions. Addition (and subtraction) of fractions with different denominators is in the first volume. I believe this order persists partly…
Witches, Candy, Monkeys, and Math
Mathematics isn’t about finding answers. It’s about asking questions. As a mathematician, here’s a question I usually find boring: What’s the answer? Consider this manifestation of a sort of meme that wanders the internet: The most likely intended answer is 73, just to get that out of the way. I’ll call this “Witch”. This is…
Talking Honestly About Genitals
Cisgender folks, we need to talk about language again. I’ll be talking about genitals, so some may consider this essay not safe for work (NSFW). The other day, I was writing a comparison between home-made face masks (low effectiveness against COVID-19) and penile condoms (high effectiveness against pregnancy and STD transfer). What struck me is…
Race and Class Privilege in the Age of COVID-19
Madonna recently referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as “the great equalizer”. In the sense that any infection itself doesn’t care about wealth, ethnicity, or background, she’s right. But the harsh reality is that our US culture is deeply steeped in inequities that impact our experiences, including during times of crisis like this. Both the mainstream news…