The Very Latest Updates

The essays that are most frequently updated  tend to be those of more than ephemeral interest.   The following are those that have received recent additions (in some case, as recently as ten minutes ago):

(A) Mathematics

* Consilience, right-side-up and upside-down

Now with a shout-out to our flippered friends  the porpoises !

* Too Much of Nothing

Added a mention of the Dylan song of that title;  plus a plea to the readership.   Anyone who can answer that plea will earn my -- well, not necessarily undying gratitude -- that would assume too much philosophically about the afterlife, a topic I have refrained from touching on in these posts -- but at least, gratitude with a long shelf-life.

* From Finitude to Infinity

This post has itself grown from scrawny to fitfully interesting, and is evolving week by week.

* Metrizable vs. Metric

An update to one installment of our Urysohn saga.

* André Weil

Now add his teacher Hadamard.

* Algebraic geometry

You won't learn a darn thing about algebraic geometry here, since I don't understand the subject myself;  but you will make the acquaintance of three intriguing algebraic geometers.

* The Ontology of Logic

… and of Set Theory, and Category Theory…

* Realism defined

Now with an appendix on Moral Realism and Aesthetic Realism.

*  Axiomatics in Math and in Life

This one’s a subtle exercise, difficult to characterize;  but I commend it to your attention.

* The Sheer Difficulty of Mathematics

The plight of the math-challenged.

* On Depth Itself

This essay is a pendant  to the post above;  but whereas the notion of “difficulty” is extrinsic,  and relativized to contingent human limitations, “depth” is intrinsic, and dwells within the very being of mathematics.

(B) Politics

*  Occupy-ers and altermondialistes

Rumbles from around the world, including today's events in Rome.

* A lexicographical assault on the Inevitable Candidate

Part of an attempt to prevent the phrase “President Romney” from ever entering our vocabulary.

* The Degradation of Education

Not simply by neglect and underfunding -- but by presenting expensive alternatives that are wolves in sheep's clothing.  Read this and get angry.