P-p-p-potpourri

a few of the things that caught my eye this week:

1)  John Baez looks ahead at his future Web activity:
https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/azimuth-news-part-4/

2)  Over at Computational Complexity blog Bill Gasarch makes some predictions for the year ahead:
http://blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2016/01/predictions-of-new-year.html

3)  DataGenetics blog gives us more-than-the-usual detail on the Koch snowflake:
http://datagenetics.com/blog/january12016/index.html

4)  I've referenced "non-transitive dice" at Math-Frolic before, but they're usually comprised of the numbers/faces 1 through 6 that are used on standard dice. This week, Alexander Bogomolny tweeted five die utilizing numbers 1 through 30, that are also non-transitive:
https://twitter.com/CutTheKnotMath/status/683739373528068096/photo/1

...and at his own site he references a total of SEVEN sets of 5 non-transitive die:
http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Probability/NonTransitiveDice.shtml

5)  Presh Talwalkar's 'game theory' problem of the week will give your brain a workout:
http://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2016/01/05/the-test-takers-dilemma-game-theory-tuesdays/#.VovISlI4po4

6)  Terry Tao on the notion of "equality" (h/t to Patrick Honner for this one):
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TerenceTao27/posts/6diqmz1JQrB

7)  Andrew Gelman on the controversial PACE study (chronic fatigue syndrome) and yes/no, deterministic thinking:
http://andrewgelman.com/2016/01/06/pace-trial-failure-forward-causal-inference-resolve-reverse-causal-questions/

8)  Well, this probably isn't going to help calm down all the furor around Common Core:
http://dailycaller.com/2016/01/06/common-core-creator-dont-help-your-own-kids-with-math/

9)  Jason Rosenhouse tackles the Creationists' use of mathematics in their arguments:
http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2016/01/08/mathematical-anti-evolutionism/ 

10)  Yummm... tiling a pizza (with 'odd-gon' pieces):
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28743-mathematicians-invent-new-way-to-slice-pizza-into-exotic-shapes/

11)  Will just note that this year's Joint Math Meetings in Seattle run THROUGH TOMORROW (Sat.), and can be followed a bit via the Twitter hashtag #JMM16.


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

1)  A week ago, Krista Tippett re-ran an episode with folksinger, "prairie mystic" Carrie Newcomer (...a beautiful hour; listen for the conversation, or just for the music):
http://www.onbeing.org/program/carrie-newcomer-a-conversation-with-music/7049

2)  All the responses to the 2015 Edge annual question:
http://edge.org/contributors/what-do-you-consider-the-most-interesting-recent-scientific-news-what-makes-it