math

Not All Asian People Are Tech Experts

Hamilton Nolan · 08/24/11 12:21PM

You think you're living in the year "2011," when America has long since left its ugly legacy of racism behind, until you read something like this: companies are still using Asian people as "tech experts," in commercials. Free your minds!

Woman Facing a Decade in Prison for Stealing One Can of Crappy Beer

Lauri Apple · 08/13/11 02:16PM

For allegedly stealing a 24-ounce can of Steel Reserve, Victoria Hill of Boise, Idaho now faces up to ten years behind bars. Officers charged her with felony burglary, because she stuck the beer in her purse and walked by some cash registers—thereby indicating "intent."

Do Not Sell Your Stocks

Hamilton Nolan · 08/08/11 11:01AM

It's only noon, and already the Dow has dropped by 325 241 336 points. Terror. Panic. Uncertainty. Fear. Should you dump all of your stocks and stash the cash while you still can? No. No. No!

New Infinity Math Is So Over Your Head, Just Forget It

Hamilton Nolan · 08/01/11 04:36PM

New math! Fancier chips! Higgs Boson! Humongous fungus! Acid bases! Sea monster! Asteroid pictures! Fecal bleed! And everyone's best friend is dropping in for the summer! It's your Monday Science Watch, where we watch science—not that you would understand!

The Formula for the Perfect Superhero Movie

Brian Moylan · 05/07/11 02:15PM

Gird your loins, everyone, because with Thor opening this weekend, the long summer slog of superhero movies is upon us. Some of them are so good, but some of them are so damn crappy. That's why I've devised a simple formula to figure out which is which.

Tyra Banks Says 5 - 1 = 3

Maureen O'Connor · 04/20/11 02:28PM

Apparently Tyra Banks and Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley have a web show called "Fa-Fa-Fa Fashion," in which they feint and shriek and perform trippy skits about Tyra pissing herself. (A reenactment of this?)

Why We Shouldn't Be Celebrating Pi Day

Lisa Gagliardi · 03/14/11 01:15PM

Prepare to feel very dumb while listening to this mathematician explain the problems with pi. Be warned, she talks very fast and makes tasty looking pies to illustrate her point.

Fun-Loving Scientists Invent 'Breast on a Chip'

Hamilton Nolan · 01/26/11 03:24PM

Old galaxies! Nabokov butterflies! Milk safety! Insomnia relief! Cell timers! Solar sails! Bat naps! Math extinctions! Ovulation dreams! Breast chips! It's your Wednesday Science Watch, where we watch science—wackily, come on!

Stock Market Forecasts: Total Crapola

Hamilton Nolan · 01/11/11 11:23AM

"What can you learn from the top performing stocks of 2010?" Since that headline is in USA Today, the answer is automatically "nothing." The bigger question: can we learn anything from any stock market forecast, at all?

Anthropology: More a Hobby Than a 'Science'

Hamilton Nolan · 12/10/10 03:41PM

Anthropology debate! Brain hearing! Jock myth! Unique fingerprints! Estrogen breast-rogen! Smallest battery! And gay mice marriage! It's your Friday Science Watch, where we watch science—if you can call it that!

Green Cards: Still a Good Bet

Hamilton Nolan · 11/22/10 12:17PM

The U.S. State Department's green card lottery this year drew a record 15 million applications for 50,000 available green cards. Which means this lottery's odds are approximately 150,000 times better than the New York Lottery's odds . [WSJ]

Don't Get Fooled Into Learning 'Math'

Hamilton Nolan · 11/19/10 04:58PM

The Way We Live Now: not studiously. We'll break it down as patriotically as possible: America wasn't built by a bunch of nerd boys in pocket protectors playing calculator games called "math." America was built by men! Poor, math-illiterate men.

You Can't Quantify an Attitude of Gratitude!

Hamilton Nolan · 08/20/10 02:55PM

The Way We Live Now: Quantifordably. We don't actually need to change our current situation; we simply need to become more satisfied with it. For what is money but a number? And what is a number but...magic? I don't know.