Friday Mix

Weekend reads, ICYM them:

1)  Stephen Wolfram expounds on teaching "computational thinking":

http://blog.wolfram.com/2016/09/07/how-to-teach-computational-thinking/

2)  A quick, fun essay on teaching math:

http://www.news-leader.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/09/04/ball-caps-mathematics/89874772/

3)  Monte Carlo methods and computer game-playing:

https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/how-do-game-playing-programs-choose-the-best-move

4)  New, free online issue of European Mathematical Society newsletter (including an interview with Andrew Wiles):

http://www.ems-ph.org/journals/newsletter/pdf/2016-09-101.pdf

5)  For the philosophically-and-math-foundations-inclined, this discussion from Mark Chu-Carroll on some "Cantor crackpottery":

http://www.goodmath.org/blog/2016/09/07/why-we-need-formality-in-mathematics/

6)  John Baez on the "Struggles With the Continuum":

https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2016/09/08/struggles-with-the-continuum-part-1/

https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/struggles-with-the-continuum-part-2/

...and, ICYMI, Baez is now on Twitter here: @JohnCarlosBaez

7)  For a couple of fun-reads:

a.  There's always Ben Orlin:

https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016/09/07/the-problem-with-infinite-timelines/

b.  and this on "Janitor Math":

http://mathscinotes.com/2016/09/janitor-math/

8) Today, at Math-Frolic, I'm looking at inference and language:
https://math-frolic.blogspot.com/2016/09/given-these-premisesinference.html

9)  p.s...: there's a rabid rumor going around that Mathbabe Cathy O'Neil has a new book out (something about mathematics intruding in our lives).... ;-)

https://mathbabe.org/2016/09/07/reviews-for-weapons-of-math-destruction/

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

1)  This "DNA Journey" video went semi-viral this week, but if you missed it, worth watching to the end:

http://boingboing.net/2016/09/06/a-simple-dna-journey-for.html

2)  This week's "On Being" episode on NPR with Krista Tippett is a great interview with Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales:
http://www.onbeing.org/program/jimmy-wales-the-sum-of-all-human-knowledge/8916