I was going to write a post about the paradox of the card game War—the paradox being that it should always “end” (aka, “keep going forever”) in a draw with neither player receiving all the cards, even though games of War do in fact end. I found the solution to this online on Math Overflow,… Continue Reading »
My mother in law recently gave us two coffee pots, made by the WearEver company. They began around the turn of the century in the rust belt (Ohio, western Pennsylvania) and are still around in some form today. I imagine that these were some of the first things they produced. The company was closely related… Continue Reading »
On my way back from the optometrist this morning I walked up 4th avenue, which was one of the first streets on which I remember driving in Pittsburgh. It was some years ago after a job interview. 4th avenue starts (or ends) at PPG Place, a curious agglomeration of crystalline spires and shimmering glass. There… Continue Reading »
The Road is Cormac McCarthy’s tenth book, and it’s about a father and his son traveling through a post-apocalyptic America. It was panned by critics and by the crowning jewel of praise, Oprah, and has been already been shuffled out of Hollywood as a film. McCarthy’s other recent success which made it to film was… Continue Reading »
There’s colored yarn strings of stuttered graffiti phrases on the once-bare concrete walls that parallel the east busway on the ride into downtown. One of the legible phrases is “NO SET FUTURE”, set in half-serifed seafoam. Given the number of people that ride on those buses every day I’m estimating that more people will read… Continue Reading »
Saturday and Sunday were pretty busy for me, as it was Art All Night in Pittsburgh. I checked my “art” in (I goofed the process up a few times. Apparently I can’t follow simple written directions…) with Marcia and her husband Travis, came back to my place for some food, then hit up the actual… Continue Reading »