"Here Come da Judge" was a regular sketch on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, done in the first season by Pigmeat Markham and in subsequent seasons by Sammy Davis, Jr. If that sketch were to be brought back to life today on a show like Saturday Night Live, perhaps a better name might be "Here Come da Algorithm". … Continue reading Here Come da Algorithm →

I just found out about this great 57-year old tradition at University of Illinois - just call (217)332-1882 and you can request any Christmas song you want, and student volunteers will sing it to you over the phone. Of course, as soon as I heard about it, I had to call. I requested a song … Continue reading Dial-A-Carol: Real Humans. Really Singing. For Free. Ends Midnight Dec. 20! →

Be careful when you ask for "just one more" glass of wine these days. According to a recent British study, in 1700, the average British wine glass held 66 milliliters of liquid. The wine glasses of 2017, on the other hand, hold a hefty 449 milliliters. That's nearly a seven-fold increase in the size of a … Continue reading No Wonder a Bottle of Wine Goes So Quickly →

I've been using WordPress every day for almost three years now, and I've always thought it required some complicated editing of the source code to change font size, font colors, and insert math symbols. But then today by accident I discovered the toolbar toggle button  and there it was, a whole new set of formatting buttons. … Continue reading It’s Taken Me Nearly Three Years, But I Think I’ve Discovered the Secret to Blogging Success →

I was in the car with my son today and he asked me if I had ever heard the song "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" by Paul Simon. I replied that I had not, but thanks to the magic of Spotify and Bluetooth, it was playing on the car speaker in less than … Continue reading Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes →

About two years ago, the person in charge of operations for our business school asked me if I would consider moving to a different office. He said it was my decision, but they thought the new Economics faculty member coming in would benefit from having people from his own department near him. He was offering … Continue reading I Might be Paranoid, But Is This Why They Asked Me to Switch Offices? →

Mental Floss had this delightful story today about 38 foreign words that have no equivalent in the English language, and I'd thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you, with my own comments, in italics. Tartle (Scots): that panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can't quite remember. I … Continue reading Some Wonderful Foreign Words with No Equivalent in English →

I got into my office about 8:00 today with one primary objective - make a significant dent in the 83 student papers I had left to grade. My goal was to get through about half of them by 2:00, when I had some other obligations. First though I had to take care of some faculty … Continue reading Today’s Goal: Grade Half of 83 Student Essays; Result: 0 →