Everything One Needs To Know In Life Can be Learned by Reading mathNEWS

Yes, it's time once again to break out those issues from last term and discover all the sensational, thought-provoking articles that you missed the first time! (And after that you can check back over the other 59 pages.) Who knows, maybe you'll discover something so inpiring that it results in the discovery of a truth so profound that it will change the face of civilization as we know it! (Or at least you'll be entertained for a while.) But seriously, along with the continuing discussion on bell curves and course averages early last term, see if you can pick out some other useful odds and ends; for example:

1. Non-CS majors face a 9% tuition increase and CS majors face a 19% increase. [6]
2. Too much Freecell and Solitaire is definitely NOT a good thing. [2]
3. A cheesy-jalapeno bagel on the carpet doesn't taste very good. [3]
4. Can circular reasoning be flawed, and do poor initial assumptions lead to incorrect results? [5]
5. Failing a course is not the end of the world. [1]
6. Haggis consists of oatmeal, spices and ground-up beef or sheep heart and liver boiled up in a sheep or cow stomach or intestine. [4]
7. Society is run by humans, and humans make mistakes. [2]
8. Teachers are people too. [1]
9. Change is often frightening, sometimes painful, and most often beneficial only when seen in retrospect. [6]
10. It may be possible to survive for a month on tomato juice and canned fruits. [3]
11. The point of higher education is to be able to learn how to learn. [1]
12. Math rules all and there is a free lunch. [5]

Not that it's necessarily all true, or even what I happen to believe, but hey, everyone is entitled to an opinion (including you! write for mathNEWS! Rebel against subliminal advertising!) and you might learn something when you least expect it. So shame on you if you don't have issues from Winter 99! You have no idea what you've been missing! Go get some now! Or then again, wait until the end of your lecture; you might even learn something when you least expect it there too.

Greg "hologrami" Taylor