THE CURMUDGEON HALL OF FAME—by Steve Nadis
Stop the presses! I’ve just been nominated for the Curmudgeon Hall of Fame. This is, in my humble opinion, a great achievement. My nomination came from the most authoritative source–an anonymous...
View ArticleHOLLYWOOD’S CALLING AGAIN–by Steve Nadis
I got another call today from a Hollywood producer wanting to make my string theory book (or I should say the book I coauthored on string theory) into a movie. This Hollywood producer, however, is not...
View ArticleA JOB HALF DONE — by Steve Nadis
Upon coming inside after playing with the dog, our daughter told me that the pup liked to chase after the ball but was not good about bringing the ball back. I have a theory about that. Our dog is a...
View ArticleMy Zelig Moment — by Steve Nadis
It would be a stretch to call me a Harvard scholar, yet my name and picture appears on a website of portraits of Harvard professors and scholars, which I just discovered today. How did this come to...
View ArticleALL POPED OUT — by Steve Nadis
Sorry, I just don’t have much interest in those endless discussions about Pope Benedict and his potential successors. WBUR was devoting an hour on it today during On Point with Tom Ashbrook, so I...
View ArticleA RELUCTANT PAYDAY — by Steve Nadis
Everyone likes to be paid for their work, especially if the money is honestly come by. But today I received a check from a Greek publisher for rights to reprint the book on string theory I coauthored....
View ArticlePOSTDOC FOR A DAY — by Steve Nadis
I was invited to attend an astronomy conference the other day, as well as to attend the luncheon banquet. The department head, who sponsored this event, told me to enroll as a postdoc so that I...
View ArticleONCE MORE WITH FEELING — by Steve Nadis
On the way to our soccer game this morning, at around 8:15 a.m., we stopped in at an old-fashioned donut shop in Belmont called Linda’s that has a loyal following–the kind of place that is disappearing...
View ArticleSTRIKING A CHORD — by Steve Nadis
My “Conversation with a Lapsed Catholic,” which was published in the Cambridge Chronicle a week or so ago, has struck a chord in some quarters. Daniel Ford, the subject of that interview and author of...
View ArticleMY LATEST 15 SECONDS OF FAME, Part 246 — by Steve Nadis
I’ve made my way into some improbable places in cyberspace before (including the Annals of Improbable Research), but never—so far as I know—onto salon.com, which is pretty high up in the online world....
View ArticleLOCKDOWN IN CAMBRIDGE — by Steve Nadis
I don’t want to make light of the Boston Marathon bombing–the loss of lives and limbs and general devastation that that caused was truly horrific. What I did want to mention, however, pertains to...
View ArticleA LIGHT WORKOUT — by Steve Nadis
I’ve known a few older members of the Cambridge YMCA who’ve been unable to work out due to injuries, from time to time, but still come to hang out, maybe chat with some friends in the locker room, and...
View ArticleTHE FINAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE — by Steve Nadis
For the past three or so years, I’ve been working on a math history book. All the work on it was mostly finished early this year, but there has been a slow dribble of proofreading stuff over the last...
View ArticleCROSS CURRENTS IN CAMBRIDGE–by Steve Nadis
I am coming across all kinds of connections with the Boston Marathon bombers, who lived in Cambridge as I do. Both brothers graduated from the local high school that my daughter is going to next year....
View ArticleON THE DELICATE SUBJECT OF FACIAL HAIR…— by Steve Nadis
My brother’s klezmer band in Santa Barbara got a good write-up in the local paper. But something about the article threw me: The picture of the band revealed that my brother, whom I haven’t seen since...
View ArticleA TOUCH OF ROYALTY — by Steve Nadis
Out of the vast number of books published each year, only a tiny percent of them will sell enough copies to earn the author royalties. I’ve written quite a few books and never got a single royalty...
View ArticleTHE SHUTDOWN HITS HOME–by Steve Nadis
I don’t work for the government, although if I did, what I do would be classified as “extremely nonessential,” if not “quintessentially nonessential.” But I have seen signs of the government shutdown...
View ArticleOREOS–THE NEW CRACK? by Steve Nadis
This just in from neuroscientists at Connecticut College: The Oreo, aka “America’s favorite cookie, is just as addictive as cocaine – at least for lab rats. And just like most humans, rats go for the...
View ArticleFROM SHUT-DOWN TO SHUT-UP — by Steve Nadis
Yesterday, I interviewed a NASA scientist. I thought he would be annoyed by the government shutdown, but he said that he really enjoyed it. By staying home, rather than going into his NASA research...
View ArticleSUB-OPTIMAL — by Steve Nadis
Maybe my computer is getting old, but it is developing some undesirable features—features that in many ways resemble some of my own worst foibles: I have a hard time getting it to go to sleep, and it...
View Article
