Embedded in Academia

Month: April 2010

  • C Compilers Disprove Fermat’s Last Theorem

    [Update: I wrote another post on this topic that may explain the underlying issues more clearly.] Obviously I’m not serious: compilers are bad at solving high-level math problems and also there is good reason to believe this theorem cannot be disproved. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Recently — for reasons that do not matter…

  • Into the Brooks Range, Part 3

    [Continued from Part 1 and Part 2.] August 6 — We See Bears Finally we were back to walking a wide river valley not unlike our first day hiking. To stay in the river bed, we had to pass through some dense thickets of willow brush. Since it’s very bad to surprise a brown bear,…

  • Into the Brooks Range, Part 2

    [Continued from Part 1, also see Part 3.] August 3 — Over the Arctic Divide Our third hiking day took us over a 5700′ mountain pass where the Wind, Ivishak, and Ribdon river drainages converge. Since the creek-bed of our side drainage was totally impassable, we climbed steep talus slopes, leaving the last tundra behind.…

  • Into the Brooks Range, Part 1

    [Also see Part 2 and Part 3.] In Summer 2009 I went on a 1.5-week backpacking trip in the Alaskan arctic with my brother Eric, my colleague and hiking buddy Bill, and our guides Shannon and Ben from Arctic Treks. It was an amazing trip through a very rugged part of the world. Not only…