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Miscellany
Nov. 13th, 2010 10:08 am1. After a brief warm spell (it was actually hot Thursday afternoon), autumn appears to have returned. The trees are brilliantly colored, and leaves aplenty have fallen. On this morning's walk, Gracie had a grand time chasing leaves - at least as long as they ran from her; after we turned for home, the wind was in our faces, and she lost interest. When we passed Sweetie's place, he was in the yard but preoccupied, so he didn't notice us until we were almost past. In any event, he merely watched us, without barking or growling.
2. The bone of contention that so divided the department (and later divided the department from the administration) appears to have been resolved. We had one last faculty meeting to discuss it yesterday, and settled on a final draft; if it meets with the Dean's approval - which it should - we'll be done with that particular mare's nest.
3. The department has introduced a new graduate-level Math Ed track. Our new hire from last year, in addition to his mastery of abstruse set theory, is also interested in educational theory, so one of our first Math Ed grads asked him to direct her Master's project. For various reasons, he has asked me to be her advisor-of-record; we'll be working together in directing her thesis, me on the pure-math side, him on the ed side. It looks like it will be interesting. (I'm very pleased that we landed him. He already knows stuff about conversational implicature!)
4. I'm in the middle of a collection of short stories by H. G. Wells. They're fairly interesting, although - from a century-later perspective - more as foreshadowing of what was to come than in their own right. (One of his stories was Auel-before-Auel....) Other recent fiction reads have include Jennifer Crusie's Agnes and the Hitman (interesting, but nothing special), Jack McDevitt's Deep Six (a fairly nice puzzle story, though the resolution seems a bit deus ex and the underlying mystery of the planet goes unresolved), and Robin Hobbs' Assassin's Quest (melancholy overall, despite a rather too neat wrap-up).
2. The bone of contention that so divided the department (and later divided the department from the administration) appears to have been resolved. We had one last faculty meeting to discuss it yesterday, and settled on a final draft; if it meets with the Dean's approval - which it should - we'll be done with that particular mare's nest.
3. The department has introduced a new graduate-level Math Ed track. Our new hire from last year, in addition to his mastery of abstruse set theory, is also interested in educational theory, so one of our first Math Ed grads asked him to direct her Master's project. For various reasons, he has asked me to be her advisor-of-record; we'll be working together in directing her thesis, me on the pure-math side, him on the ed side. It looks like it will be interesting. (I'm very pleased that we landed him. He already knows stuff about conversational implicature!)
4. I'm in the middle of a collection of short stories by H. G. Wells. They're fairly interesting, although - from a century-later perspective - more as foreshadowing of what was to come than in their own right. (One of his stories was Auel-before-Auel....) Other recent fiction reads have include Jennifer Crusie's Agnes and the Hitman (interesting, but nothing special), Jack McDevitt's Deep Six (a fairly nice puzzle story, though the resolution seems a bit deus ex and the underlying mystery of the planet goes unresolved), and Robin Hobbs' Assassin's Quest (melancholy overall, despite a rather too neat wrap-up).
