Another Friday Potpourri

ICYM any of these:

1)  The latest (124th) "Carnival of Mathematics":
http://gonitsora.com/carnival-of-mathematics-124/

2)  Rewriting (shortening) the proof of the classification of finite groups:
https://plus.maths.org/content/rewriting-enormous-theorem

3)  This NPR report from the World Rubik's Cube Championship:
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/20/424465069/for-the-rubiks-cube-world-champ-six-seconds-is-plenty-of-time

....and this fascinating, fun video on the world record:


4)  CONGRATS! For the first time in 21 years, the USA team won the International Mathematics Olympiad:
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/18/424122249/theyre-no-1-u-s-wins-math-olympiad-for-first-time-in-21-years
http://tinyurl.com/qfapvpt
...and The Atlantic magazine followed up here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/07/no-parade-for-us-math-olympians/399191/


5)  Gelman/Mayo on guess what... statistics (and a Government agency):
http://tinyurl.com/o4252gc

6)  Cathy O'Neil reports on an interesting tidbit about the Ulam Spiral and the number 17:
http://mathbabe.org/2015/07/22/the-17-armed-spiral-within-a-spiral/#comment-87548

7)  Using symmetry in math teaching:
http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/07/21/how-teaching-with-symmetry-improves-math-understanding/

8)  Scott Aaronson on a 5-min. British podcast of "The Naked Scientists" talking about P vs. NP, with other sundry topics:
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/interviews/interview/1001376/

9)  Natalie Wolchover on Navier-Stokes equations in Quanta:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20150721-famous-fluid-equations-are-incomplete/

10)  Nice little puzzle collection from Richard Wiseman here:
https://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/101-friday-puzzles/ 

11)  Interesting take on "statisticians" and "Big Data" (h/t Gary Davis):
http://blog.hackerrank.com/the-risky-eclipse-of-statisticians/ 

12)  Cathy O'Neil shares a recent 1-hr. David Kung talk on diversification in mathematics:
http://mathbabe.org/2015/07/24/gender-and-racial-achievement-gaps-in-math/

13)  ICYMI, my review of the delightful John Conway biography, "Genius At Play," earlier in the week:
http://mathtango.blogspot.com/2015/07/author-at-play-siobhan-roberts-reports.html

Lastly, just a cyber high-five to all the math-devotees attending (not me) "Twitter Math Camp" which is taking place now through the weekend on my old stomping grounds of the Claremont Colleges. Hooray! -- hope you're all able to get at least one shower in during the proceedings ;-) (...drought restrictions).


Potpourri BONUS! (extra NON-mathematical links of interest):

1)  NPR's RadioLab has done many touching stories over the years. And they did one last week:
http://www.radiolab.org/story/grays-donation/

2)  There actually is a bit of math involved in this surprising story about the latest victory of possibly the world's greatest Scrabble player:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/21/new-french-scrabble-champion-nigel-richards-doesnt-speak-french