Final Math Potpourri of 2017

While tax, draft, and responsibility-evader Donald played President for another week I pieced together the last potpourri of the year:

1)  3blue1brown was joined by some of your favorite videographers last week for this topological puzzle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvCytJvd4H0

2)  As always, Brian Hayes continues to cover the most pressing issues of the day ;) :

http://bit-player.org/2017/sir-roger-penroses-toilet-paper

3)  News for KenKen fans:

https://mathjokes4mathyfolks.wordpress.com/2017/12/26/2017-kenken-international-championship/

4)  3 geometry puzzlers via Alex Bellos/Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/dec/18/can-you-solve-it-feast-on-these-mathematical-snacks

5)  Russell’s Paradox... and centuries earlier “Panza’s” paradox (from Don Quixote):

https://quantumfrontiers.com/2017/12/26/panzas-paradox/

6)  Fantastic and timely piece from Evelyn Lamb this week on the ABC conjecture:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/do-you-know-your-abcs/

7)  Luckily, since by now you all already follow Ben Orlin, there’s no need for me to link to this latest post of his looking ahead to 2018:

https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2017/12/27/things-to-know-about-the-year-2018/

8)  One overview of the year gone by in math:
https://blogs.ams.org/blogonmathblogs/2017/12/25/best-and-worst-of-2017/

9)  The final 2017 'My Favorite Theorem' podcast highlights a professor from my own alma mater:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/ami-radunskayas-favorite-theorem/

10)  And a lovely post about math entrancement (it's a couple of months old, but just tweeted out by Nalini Joshi & Peter Price this morning):
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/to-sir-with-love-the-story-of-a-maths-teacher-and-his-passion/article19820885.ece

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

1)  Too late for me and my mouthful of mercury-amalgam fillings, but thought this was interesting:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/10/scientists-have-found-a-drug-that-can-repair-cavities-and-regrow-teeth?

2)  Finally, since I often tout books here, I’ll add another, just not a math book — haven’t read it myself, but a well-read friend of mine tells me that Robert Sapolsky’s  (evolutionary biologist) “Behave” is THE best book, bar none, he has ever read. That’s good enough for me to give it a look. Just passing it along.

…also, currently reading/enjoying “The Jazz of Physics,” by Stephon Alexander, newly out in paperback.