A few weeks ago a couple friends and I decided to hit the New York City nightlife, so we pulled up on the karaoking scene. I have a unfathomable love for karaoke. Where else can you go to get locked into a room with a group of friends knowing that no one cares how terribly […]
Last semester I wrote a post after Election Day about how Trump’s presidency has a great potential to invigorate organizing power amongst marginalized people around the country. When things are “good”—our president is black, no one’s coming after anyone’s rights, etc. etc.—no one bats an eye. We get too comfortable, and therefore complacent, about the […]
J. Cole once rapped “Everybody Dies.” As usual, J.Cole was wrong. The hip hop world has something to be angry about, and it’s more serious than Nicki Minaj’s lackluster response to Remy Ma. Alabama rapper Doe B is in the news. Which is surprising, considering he’s been dead for three years. Doe B, an up-and-coming rapper who […]
In many a high school math class, one student raises his hand and asks, “Why do we need to know this?”
Sometimes a teacher responds, “Because math teaches you how to think.”
Leaving the strengths and weaknesses of that answer aside, let’s talk about some books that can teach you something about how to think.
You won’t see many topics from your high school math classes in these books. but all of them deal with quantitative concepts. What’s more, all have helped me understand the world more clearly.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always cherished and appreciated my Romanian heritage – the one side of the family I was always eager to boast about. Growing up in New York City, I always found it to be more interesting to be from an immigrant family than from an all-American family. When […]
Chinatown has long been the frequent for many New Yorkers and tourists. Today, let us venture forth into Chinatown’s off beaten paths. Alleyways, bakeries, backstreets and yes, a store that only sells chopsticks. 1. Yunhoung’s Chopsticks (50 Mott Street, Chinatown) Chopsticks, chopsticks everywhere! If you love eating with chopsticks (as I do) you’ll find Yunhoung’s […]
There’s an old joke in Israel and it goes something like this: “In Israel, a third of the people go to the army, a third pay taxes, and another third go to work. The only problem is that it’s the same third.” This joke is often told by members of Israel’s secular Jewish population about […]
Most people have heard about π at some point, but I thought I’d talk a little bit about how I think mathematicians think about π.
Rare footage of Nicki Minaj listening to “shEther” image credit: Eva Rinaldi It’s been well-publicized that Nicki Minaj’s career might have ended this week. Then again, she was also pregnant last month. Nicki has managed her way around several public beefs in the past. She dismissed longtime nemesis Lil’ Kim with one of the most-scathing […]
As you all know, our government has been beset by a series of scandals since January 20th, 2017. As Trevor Noah of The Daily Show put it recently, “scandal is the new normal.” We are facing a stream of executive orders that incite fear and distrust and are then topped with ‘alternate facts.’ But I […]
