| Jan. 14, 1898: Math Just Didn't Add Up for Mr. Dodgson
1898: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson dies. Literature loses an inventive mind. Mathematics loses an indifferent one. Dodgson, better known to the world as Lewis Carroll (who devised his pen name by translating his first two names into the Latin "Carolus Lodovicus" and then anglicizing it), took his degree and lectured in mathematics at Oxford, but his heart was obviously elsewhere. Dodgson, the mathematician, was less interested than his colleagues in testing logic; he preferred playing with it to no particular end. Nevertheless, he did make some contributions to the field in the form of books (A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry and Euclid and His Modern Rivals) and as the aforementioned lecturer. Carroll, the creative writer, was a different matter altogether.
A Flip-Flopper’s Confession
Yes. I'm a flip-flopper. Of the first degree. Item #225 on the very long list of reasons I could never run for public office. The latest example: The proposed (and languishing, but not yet dead) expansion of the S-CHIP program. First, I was generally in favor of it. Then, I was soundly against it. And then … the factors that prompted me to change my position were challenged by certain astute TMV readers in the back-and-forth comments attached to the October 12 "Center of Attention" feature. So I decided to stop the lazy approach to forming an opinion on this subject (i.e., reading and borrowing the opinions of others) and do a little original homework of my own. Specifically, I decided to seek the input of Republicans who originally supported the expansion and still do, despite the President's veto.
Spammers use the Lord's name to part firewalls
Email recipients are being offered religious salvation through the power of spam, according to security company MessageLabs. The anti-spam company has intercepted a large number of spiritual emails in the last month, which it says are legal because they don't plug products, just religious ideals. Matt Sergeant, anti-spam technologist for MessageLabs, said: "It's on the rise for a number of reasons. It is exempt from spam laws and it's legal according to most national laws including CAN-SPAM. It's not commercial and that's interesting in a way, because there is a cost, yet no financial return. But they may believe there is a spiritual return." One of the emails read: Subject: "Only believe"
Body text: "Eternity is a really long time.
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