Applications of Calculus to War

.. from a colleague:

Yesterday, in his statement to congress explaining the timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan, Robert Gates explained that the 2011 date was “an inflection point, if you will”.

Perhaps we can test our calculus students by having them explain what he meant by that.

Favorite recent NYT articles

Blogging has fallen by the wayside since starting my current job. Here’s something random.

The good people of ye-old university which employs me gives us free copies of the New York Times as well as other local papers. Here is a list of my favorite articles from the last little while.

1. Driving Tips From 68 Degrees North (Winter driving tips from a rally racing champion; well, champion co-driver, but who’s counting) [link]
2. Forgotten, Yes. But Happy Birthday Anyway (about the The Comte de Buffon, archnemesis to Carolus Linnaeus) [link]
   

   it is absurd to imagine God being “very busy with the way a beetle’s wing should fold.”

3. Bourbon’s Shot at the Big Time (Bourbon becomes legit) [link]
4. Happiness for $10 or Less (25 reds for under $10) [link]
5. China’s Turtles, Emblems of a Crisis (The last two Yangtze giant soft-shell turtles on earth) [link]