Friday, June 5, 2026
The Facebook Question
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From this journal on November 7, 2003 . . . “Dr. Blind (pronounced ‘Blend’) was about ninety years old and had taught, for the past fifty years, a course called ‘Invariant Subspaces’ which was noted for its monotony and virtually absolute unintelligibility, as well as for the fact that the final exam, as long as anyone could remember, had consisted of the same single yes-or-no question. The question was three pages long but the answer was always ‘Yes’. That was all you needed to pass Invariant Subspaces.” — The Secret History, by Donna Tartt |
"What's on your mind, Steven?"
— Facebook, 10:16:16 AM today
"Invariant Subspaces."
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Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Comedy Team: Brickman and Martin
Steve Martin on Marshall Brickman
in The New Yorker on April 13, 2025 —
During his long, prolific career, Brickman co-wrote
movies with Woody Allen, including “Annie Hall”;
later, he co-wrote the books for Broadway’s “Jersey Boys”
and “The Addams Family.” When he died, last year, I
learned that he was the originator of Johnny Carson’s
eternally fresh routine “Carnac the Magnificent.”
Consider this a friendly, and even cheerful, salute to
Marshall Brickman. ♦
Related art —
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Saturday, July 2, 2022
Lancelot, Fellow of the Royal Society
Royalist poetry —
Not so royalist —
"Can you imagine the mathematical possibilities?"
Illustration of the not-so-royalist line —
"Carey and Chad Hayes…
are successful screenwriters now."
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Sunday, June 26, 2022
Twin Sixteens
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Sunday, August 1, 2021
The Savage Sixteens
"Savage ('wild,' 'undomesticated') modes of thought are primary
in human mentality. They are what we all have in common."
— "The Cerebral Savage: On the Work of Claude Lévi-Strauss,"
by Clifford Geertz (Encounter, vol. 28 no. 4, April 1967, pp. 25-32)
For more Geertz and some related art, see The Kaleidoscope Puzzle,
which lets you picture twin sixteens .
"Can you imagine the mathematical possibilities?"
— Line from "Annie Hall" (1977)
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Old Joke
"Can you imagine the mathematical possibilities?"
— Line from "Annie Hall"
Related joke —
The Catherine Hardwicke version —
More fun . . . A 26-year old Cara Delevingne.
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