More Goodies From the Week...

In the event you need to cleanse yourself with some mathematics after last night's Republican sandbox fight:

1)  With Pi Day (3/14) approaching, one blogger offers a list of links appropriate to the celebration:
http://mathematicalmysterytour.blogspot.com/2016/03/resources-preparing-for-pi-day.html

2)  Keith Devlin reviews Andrew Hacker's new volume, "The Math Myth":
http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-math-myth-that-permeates-math-myth.html

...NPR also covered the topic, which as usual generated a lot of comments:
http://tinyurl.com/zpqlptt

3)  And of course Keith and Andrew aren't the only folks discussing math education these days... here's Ben Orlin's recent take on the topic, with caricatures that probably speak to a lot of us:
http://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016/03/02/why-the-math-curriculum-makes-no-sense/

4)  An older post on Bayesian analysis that Mike Lawler tweeted a link to during the week:
http://varianceexplained.org/r/empirical_bayes_baseball/

5)  Solely for those interested in set theory, this video (and YouTube channel) on semantics and set theory (h/t to Steven Pinker for this one):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1l3C_hmjqM

6)  Andrew Gelman again addressing psychology research and significance testing:
http://tinyurl.com/jsga4t3

 ...AND further followup post on the "replication crisis" in psychology:
http://andrewgelman.com/2016/03/03/more-on-replication-crisis/

7)  While it never mentions the phrase, I can't help but think this brief piece in Nautilus says something about the mathematically-controversial notion of having a "hot hand":
http://nautil.us/issue/33/attraction/how-to-learn-to-love-to-practice

“Being in the zone” or “in a groove,” or 'entering a state of flow' or simply "flow state," are all referenced in this psychology piece that touches on the elusive quality which most of us bear witness to, yet some statisticians have tried to debunk.

8)  Some mathematical physics from Michael Atiyah, via Quanta Magazine:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160303-michael-atiyahs-mathematical-dreams/

9)  In a post somewhat typifying his eclectic writing style in "Mathematics Without Apologies" (which I liked, but may drive some readers batty! ;-) Michael Harris closely analyzes a single "gendered" anecdote from the book:
http://tinyurl.com/zeguybj

10)  The number 15 has now been successfully factored... by quantum computing:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/physical-sciences/will-quantum-computer-take-down-internet-banking

11)  A reminder that Mike Lawler posts almost daily videos of young folks thinking mathematically at MikesMathPage:
https://mikesmathpage.wordpress.com/

12)  ICYMI, last weekend I talked with math podcaster/storyteller Samuel Hansen for Math-Frolic Interview #35:
http://mathtango.blogspot.com/2016/02/samuel-hansen-telling-math-stories.html

...and over at another blog, an interview with mathematician Richard Nowakowski:
https://anthonybonato.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/interview-with-a-mathematician-richard-j-nowakowski/


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

1)  A very powerful, unsettling hour of NPR's This American Life last week (on rape cases):
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/581/anatomy-of-doubt

2)  I don't usually follow a theme in the "bonus" links, let alone a despondent theme, but this week I will, with Lady Gaga's performance of "'Til It Happens to You" at the Academy Awards, for any who missed it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZhsJ1saExI