Three-Body Problem

This is pretty neat: a set of animations of various solutions of the Restricted Three-Body Problem. (That problem discusses the motion of three objects under the influence of gravitation, where one of the three is much smaller than the other two.) Hat tip to Doug Muir at Halfway down the Danube.

Of Mice and... Mice

Some months ago, I bought a wireless mouse. At first, the added convenience was a great pleasure. But then...

For the last month or more, its performance has been extremely erratic. On the one hand, clicks often fail to register. (:click: :click: :click-click: :click, goddamnit!: :CLICK:) On the other, there are frequent phantom clicks, making (for instance) playing FreeCell an exercise in frustration. (No, I didn't want that card put in the upper left stacks. Put it back. No! STOP THAT!)

I'm on the verge of giving up and going back to a traditional mouse. One last try, though: does anyone know of a brand of wireless mouse that isn't prone to this type of behavior? (No, it's not battery trouble. I just changed the batteries a couple of days ago, but the problem persists.) This worthless lump is a Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0.

Mama Bear

When I made my Waldorf salad last week, I used Braeburn apples, on a whim. I'd never tried them before.

Braeburn apples are the Mama Bear of apples, neither as tart as, say, Granny Smiths nor as sweet (and bland) as Delicious apples. Here, at least, they cost about twice as much as Delicious, but they're worth it.

This has been a Public Service Announcement.

White Stuff

I arrived on campus at about 2:00.

At about 3:00, word came down that evening classes had been cancelled.

The trip was not entirely bootless; I stopped off at Shop'n'Save on the way home to pick up a few near-depleted staples. I also got through a few more pages of Analytic Theory of Polynomials (ye gods, it's a long and difficult book!). I'm still a little peeved anyway.