Weekly Look-back

For your weekend reading:

1)  Interview with John Baez (mathematical-physics stuff), in two parts:
https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2016/03/18/interview-part-1/
https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2016/03/21/interview-part-2/

...AND John has a fascinating little post on "common prime gaps" at "n-category Cafe" here:
https://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2016/03/the_most_common_prime_gaps.html

2)  For those into foundational issues, "Logic Matters" reports that philosopher Penelope Maddy (who I interviewed here last year) has a new paper available for download:
http://www.logicmatters.net/2016/03/21/penelope-maddy-on-set-theoretic-foundations/

3)  Plenty more links at the new (132nd) "Carnival of Mathematics":
http://mathlesstraveled.com/2016/03/21/carnival-of-mathematics-132/

4)  In this time of routine math-education criticism, another British piece "In Defence of Maths":
https://theconversation.com/in-defence-of-maths-56380

5)  John Cook offers an introductory take on category theory:
http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2016/03/22/categorical-products/

6)  Mike Lawler touts sphere-packing in 8 dimensions as a problem worth sharing with the public:
https://mikesmathpage.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/a-challenge-for-professional-mathematicians/

(of course this is only one of the 127 new videos Mike put up on his site this week.... ok, so I exaggerate a little -- actually, as referenced at Math-Frolic**, I'm even more intrigued by a post of Mike's that includes no video)

7)  This week Ben Orlin counsels us on fractions versus decimals, and doesn't hesitate to throw in bad drawings along the way:
http://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016/03/23/decimal-crazed-lunatics/

8)  Nassim Taleb uploads a YouTube clip on "Meta-Distribution of Standard P-Values":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrfSh07rT0

You can also subscribe to his YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uY6yLP9BS4BUc9BSc0Jww

9)  Vi Hart recommends this new Numberphile video on polytopes in higher dimensions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s4TqVAbfz4&feature=youtu.be

10)  An interesting Nature Backchat podcast this week, including several math-related topics:
http://www.acast.com/nature/natureextra-backchatmarch2016?autoplay

11)  Doron Zeilberger ruminates on checkers, chess, Go... and pure math:
http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~zeilberg/Opinion149.html

12)  ICYMI, last weekend I interviewed Katie Steckles of The Aperiodical HERE, and if you want to hear Katie's British accent (and see her purple hair), plus Magazine just ran a quick video with her yesterday talking about creativity in math:
https://plus.maths.org/content/mathematical-moments-katie-steckles


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

1)  Fascinating health tale from a neuroscientist recently in NY Times:
http://tinyurl.com/hlgztrd

2)  OK singles, if you're still using Tinder or OK Cupid, you are SOOOOO yesterday... get with the current program for gosh-sakes:
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/love-armpit-new-york-s-smell-dating-n544916

** Please will SOMEone explain this, before it drives me, and/or Mike, batty.