what do mathematicians do besides teach?

They fight crime!

[link]

We do research!

Other random question:

Anyone know of Mac based decent LJ archiving tools?

Anyone know of Mac based decent LJ archiving tools?

If you're comfortable using the command-line, you can use [link]

Obama on Check Please.

It's going to be on January 16th, the same day BSG comes back! A good TV day indeed.

The town with the most interesting smells, IMO, is Milwaukee, or at least it was back in the mid-'80s when I went to school there. If the wind came from the northeast, you got post-beer-blast from the Pabst brewery. If it came from the west, you got the horrific stench from the tanneries. If it was from the east, you got the lake and its vaguely fishy smell.

But, on a good day, you'd get it from the north, where the Ambrosia chocolate factory was. (Yes, the one that Jeffrey Dahlmer worked at, but we didn't know that at the time.) Yum, chocolate!

For the smell of chocolate, nothing beats any part of Hershey, Pennsylvania. But it's the headquarters of Hershey chocolate, so there's a reason.

And Calli, a few more thoughts on cats from our experience. The big food dividing line is probably wet/dry. Rigatoni is a "dry guy" -- don't know why, but he doesn't care for the wet stuff. Max, on the other hand, gobbles down the wet as soon as it's served. (Then there's Seamus, who just likes food and doesn't really care whether it's wet or dry.)

There are a lot of places to find a cat. No need to rely entirely on your local pound. Your local vet may know of cats that need homes. There are adoption fairs at our local Petsmart every weekend -- local rescue groups run them.

A cat's personality matters as much as its appearance. Trust does grow as time passes, but there are limits. It's very hard, maybe even impossible, to train the aloof prince/ss to curl up in your lap as you watch TV.

This is a great sentence: ""The poor little buggers have copped such a hiding," Mr Marsh said. "Oddy is really protective of the chooks, so to her the penguins were only chooks in dinner suits."

To follow up on Fred's cat recommendations, I'd see if you could go to a place with a lot of cats and just sit there and see who comes up to you. That's what I did at the local shelter, and after having lots of cats come and go, for some reason when this black cat walked on top of my chest, curled up, and started to clean herself, I was struck by how much at home she seemed. She had claimed me for her own, and I obliged.

Sorry about your car ita. Could you maybe take the battery to an auto parts store that does free testing? A clicking noise is just very consistent with a battery that can't pump out enough juice to get things going.

Kat, I bet Jilli could identify a maple syrupy scent from BPAL or similar. I think some of the ones she passed along to me (Jilli, the solid perfume in Golden Oak that I have no idea the maker of) kind of have it.