Pizza Seminar

[stoutfellow]

In my department, we have an intermittent tradition of Pizza Seminars. Somebody from the faculty gives a talk; several large pizzas and quantities of soft drinks are provided for the audience. (The audience members have to pay for their pizza; the speaker gets his/hers free.) (I imported the idea; it was a popular custom among the graduate students at the University of Chicago when I was there.)

When I got back from vacation, I volunteered to give a seminar talk. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of interviewing candidates for new positions in the department, so I was backburnered. Today, the person who organizes these talks came by and asked if I could give the talk on Friday. (That's rather short notice, but I've been rehearsing the talk in my head from time to time all month, so it's okay.)

I've been looking forward to this.

Edit: I just realized that Lent starts tomorrow, so I guess it'll have to be veggie pizza for me...

Comments

[filkferengi]

And your topic is...?

It sounds like it could be lots of fun; enjoy your chance to look good. ;)

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Erm. The title of the talk is "The Harmonic Conics of a Quadrilateral"; it's based on my "New Year's paper". I identify two interesting[1] conic sections - the "harmonic conics" - associated with any quadrilateral, describe some of their properties, and identify which quadrilaterals have parabolas or circles as their harmonic conics. (Parabolas are special, in a sense in which neither ellipses nor hyperbolas are, and circles are very special, so it's to be expected that such quadrilaterals would likewise be special - and they are.)

[1]well, to me at least!

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

The talk sounds interesting; how nice to have it "solicited!"

Are you giving up *all* meat for the Lenten season?

[filkferengi]

So, you'll just be coning around, eh? [weg]

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

how nice to have it "solicited!"

Yeah, well, she's hoping my talk will encourage other people to volunteer. (As I said, the tradition is intermittent...)

Are you giving up *all* meat for the Lenten season?

This bit's not my choice. The traditional ban on meat during Lent has been officially relaxed, but it still applies on Fridays.