Gödel

I've accidentally typed Gogol in the search bar multiple times in my research on Kurt Gödel. Gogol, yes, Nikolai Gogol, the Ukrainian born Russian novelist who wrote "Dead Souls", a worthy read if you've not yet taken the time.

The work Kurt Gödel was nothing like the work of Gogol. Gödel, an Austrian mathematician credited with the incompleteness theorems which, essentially turned mathematics upside down. His work specifically devastated set theory. Gödel is considered one of the greatest minds ever to grace the earth. Never heard of him? Or maybe you did and his name just didn't stick the way say, Einstein's did? They were good friends, by the way. A few months ago Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, of Radiolab, enlightened me via an piece they did with the brilliant Steve Strogatz and Janna Levin.

I had to write a paper for a class on "the life and contributions of a noted mathematician, including how the individual and his/her work is interesting or relevant to you.", Since Gödel's name and the incompleteness theorem, stuck in my head, I chose him. I won't bore you with my paltry explanation of Gödel's work and the ideas that led up to his discoveries because Radiolab did it so, so well: Loops - Radiolab 

It all starts around minute 00:38:00. Oh, and seriously, the whole episode is fascinating. Then again, I'm pretty much mesmerized by everything the Radiolab team put together so...

Nalaga'at

This is so cool.

T-Day

Just one more reason to look forward to Thanksgiving.

The Muppets AND Jason Segal, such a wonderful world! I'm a little bummed that Amy Adams is one of the leads but, oh well, I guess you can't have it all. On the flip side there are lots of great people like Neil Patrick Harris and John Krasinski doing cameos!

Ramayana

Glenn Kotche (yeah, the drummer from Wilco) based this piece on the Indian narrative called Ramayana. It's percussive genius.

Prison

Two reasons to think about the criminal justice system:

First: the This American Life re-run of  Act V. If you haven't listened to the show, it's worth your time. Essentially the entire show is devoted to the St. Louis based Prison Performing Arts production of Hamlet. The show offers a really unique perspective on Hamlet from the view point of convicted criminals. As Jack Hitt puts it "It's a play about murder and its consequences, performed by murderers, living out the consequences."

Second: the movie Conviction.

Betty Ann Waters continues to put her education and experience to work by volunteering with The Innocence Project-an organization dedicated to "exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent further injustice."

Bein Green

Guess who's doing a cover of "Bein' Green"? Yep, that's right, Andrew Bird!!

Actually there are a whole bunch of people doing Muppet covers for "The Green Album". Here's hoping they're all as good as Bird's.

Shiver

What gives you the chills? 
That'll do it for me. There are so many creepy things...including Dave's hair.