Jordan Ellenberg covers a lot of ground in this exploration of applied mathematics. I found the chapters on probability and statistics most entertaining. The application of math to gambling has been going on for centuries. This book might not help you pick the Super Bowl winner, but it might prevent you from wasting your money buying lottery tickets or slinking home broke from a casino. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: When Am I Going To Use This?
Part I: LINEARITY
1. Less Like Sweden
2. Straight Locally, Curved Globally
3. Everyone is Obese
4. How Much is That in Dead Americans?
5. More Pie Than Plate
Part II: INFERENCE
6. The Baltimore Stockbroker and the Bible Code
7. Dead Fish Don’t Read Minds
8. Reductio ad Unlikely
9. The International Journal of Haruspicy
10. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Bayesian Inference
Part III: EXPECTATION
11. What To Expect When You’re Expecting To Win The Lottery
12. Miss More Planes!
13. Where the Train Tracks Meet
Part IV: REGRESSION
14. The Triumph of Mediocrity
15. Galton’s Ellipse
16. Does Lung Cancer Make You Smoke Cigarettes?
Part V: EXISTENCE
17. There Is No Such Thing As Public Opinion
18. “Out of nothing I have created a strange new universe”
Conclusion: How To Be Right

My favorite two stories of Alex Shvartsman are the title story, “Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma,” and “High-Tech Fairies and the Pandora Perplexity.” If you’re in the mood for some clever but silly stories, this book provides plenty of them. The quality is uneven. Some of these stories are funny, others not so much. I have the paperback edition published by UFO Publishing. The ebook version includes several more stories. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1.“Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma”
2.“The Rumination on What Isn’t”
3.“Doubt”
4.“Spidersong”
5.“Things We Leave Behind”
6.“The Epistolary History”
7.“A Shard Glows in Brooklyn”
8.“Requiem for a Druid”
9.“Nuclear Family”
10.“Bedtime Story on Christmas Eve, 1,000,000 AD”
11.“Seven Conversations in Locked Rooms”
12.“High-Tech Fairies and the Pandora Perplexity”
13.“The Keepsake Box”
14.“The Field Trip”
15.“Superior Firepower”
16.“Life at the Lake’s Shore”
17.“The Take”
18.“The Dragon Ships of Tycho”
19.“A Brief Respite from Eternity”
20.“A Thousand Cuts”
21.“Ravages of Time”
22.“Price of Allegiance”
23.“The Tell-Tale Ear”
24.“The Miracle on Tau Prime”
25.“The Tinker Bell Problem”
26.“True Love”
27.“You Bet”
28.“The Far Side of the Wilderness”
29.“Worldbuilding”
30.“In the Wake of the Storm”
31.“Putting It All Together”
32.“Dominoes Falling”
33.“Notes on the Game in Progress, Played Almost to a Draw”
34.“Small Magics (*)”
35.“Icarus Falls”
36.“Coffee in End Times”
37.“The Hourglass Brigade (*)”
38.“A One-Sided Argument”
39.“How Earth Narrowly Escaped an Invasion from Space”
40.“Fate and Other Variables”

The bonus content (in e-book only) also includes the following
41.“The Skeptic”
42.“Good Advice”
43.“In Service of a Greater Cause”
44.“The Sgovari Stratagem”
45.“A Gnomish Gift”
46.“Pel’s Crusade”
47.“A Better Tomorrow”
48.“Hunter”
49.“A Tear in the Web”
50.“The Traveling Fair”
51.“The Last Incantation”
52.“An Indelible Feast”
53.“The Storyteller”
54.“One Thousand and First”
55.“Manna From Heaven”
56.“On the Last Afternoon”
57.“Time Away”
58.“The Getaway”
59.“Those Who Can’t Do”
60.“Number Station”
61.“How to Locate and Capture Time Travelers: A Memo”
62.“Chill”
63.“Tales of the Elopus”

I came across these Perry Mason Double Feature DVDs in Sam’s Club. You might remember these made-for-TV movies from the 1980s and early 1990s. Raymond Burr was way past his prime so secondary characters carried these series. I had forgotten how many of these TV movies were made! Here’s the list:
Perry Mason Returns (1985) (TV)
2.Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun (1986) (TV)
3.Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star (1986) (TV)
4.Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam (1987) (TV)
5.Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love (1987) (TV)
6.Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel (1987) (TV)
7.Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit (1987) (TV)
8.Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace (1988) (TV)
9.Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake (1988) (TV)
10.Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson (1989) (TV)
11.Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder (1989) (TV)
12.Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin (1989) (TV)
13.Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer (1990) (TV)
14.Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter (1990) (TV)
15.Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception (1990) (TV)
16.Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen (1990) (TV)
17.Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion (1991) (TV)
18.Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin (1991) (TV)
19.Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster (1991) (TV)
20.Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter (1991) (TV)
21.Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing (1992) (TV)
22.Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride (1992) (TV)
23.Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo (1992) (TV)
24.Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal (1993) (TV)
25.Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host (1993) (TV)
26.Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss (1993) (TV)

I’ve been a big fan of Stewart O’Nan’s fiction for years. His new novel, West of Sunset is a fictional account of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s last three years. Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda, is institutionalized. Fitzgerald, loaded down with crushing debt, goes to Hollywood in hopes of making enough money to pay his bills and finish the novel he’s been working on (The Last Tycoon). Fitzgerald’s relationship with gossip columnist Sheilah Graham, his dealings with Humphrey Bogart, Dorothy Parker, and Ernest Hemingway, and the shenanigans on the MGM lot make for entertaining reading. If you’re a F. Scott Fitzgerald fan, you’ll love this book. If you like Hollywood stories, ditto. GRADE: A-

Will Durant (1885-1981) is best known for his eleven-volume The Story of Civilization. I have all eleven volumes, but I’ve only read the first three so far. Durant writes engaging history for a general audience. Fallen Leaves was written late in Durant’s life. It was supposed to be a summation of all he learned in his nine decades of learning and study. But, the manuscript was lost for years. Finally, it was found and this slim volume is the result. My favorite chapter is “On Education” where Durant discusses what would be most useful for students to learn. He considers drilling them in Latin and Greek (common for most of the 20th Century) a waste of time. I agree. Durant puts a lot of emphasis on learning about health and practical skills. I found Fallen Leaves thought-provoking and sensible. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreward
Preface
Chapter 1: Our Life Begins
Chapter 2: On Youth
Chapter 3: On Middle Age
Chapter 4: On Old Age
Chapter 5: On Death
Chapter 6: Our Souls
Chapter 7: Our Gods
Chapter 8: On Religion
Chapter 9: On A Different Second Advent
Chapter 10: On Religion and Morals
Chapter 11: On Morality
Chapter 12: On Race
Chapter 13: On Women
Chapter 14: On Sex
Chapter 15: On War
Chapter 16: On Vietnam
Chapter 17. On Politics
Chapter 18: On Capitalism & Communism
Chapter 19: On Art
Chapter 20: On Science
Chapter 21: On Education
Chapter 22: On the Insights of History
Notes

I own four or five complete sets of Mozart violin concertos but there’s always room for another set when it’s of this quality. Rachel Barton Pine and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Sir Neville Marriner deliver entertaining performances of these works. Matthew Lipman is excellent on the viola. Rachel Barton Pine wrote some informative liner notes that reveal how these concertos work. If you enjoy Mozart, you’ll enjoy this CD. GRADE: A-
Track Listings
1. Violin Concerto No. 4 in D, K. 218
2. Violin Concerto No. 1 in B flat, K. 207
3. Violin Concerto No. 3 in G, K. 216
4. Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, K. 219
5. Violin Concerto No. 2 in D, K. 211
6. Sinfonia Concertante in E flat, K. 364

Back in the early 1980s, talented mystery writer Loren D. Estleman started writing a series of novels about a hit man named Peter Macklin. Macklin works for a crime family in Detroit. However, the leader of the crime family is serving some jail time when terrorists seize a tour boat. In Kill Zone (1984) the Feds work out a deal with the crime lord to reduce his sentence if Macklin can “neutralize” the terrorists.

In Roses Are Dead (1985) Macklin has left the crime family and is working as an independent operator. But Macklin’s enemies haven’t gone away and Macklin finds himself hunted down by other hit men.

Any Man’s Death (1986) revolves around Reverend Sunsmith’s crusade against legalized gambling. Sunsmith opposes the casinos that both the politicians and Mafia support. After surviving an assassination attempt, Sunsmith stirs up the Detroit community as he decides to run for Congress. Macklin accepts a contract to “remove” a local crime boss, but complications intrude.

Something Borrowed, Something Black (2002) begins with Macklin and his new wife, Laurie. But Macklin’s past catches up to him as he’s forced to accept a hit on a bookie in San Antonio while the Bad Guys control his wife. This novel has a lot of twists to it.

Little Back Dress (2005) begins with Macklin and Laurie looking at real estate in Ohio. But Laurie’s mother (she’s Macklin’s age, 44) is dating a guy Macklin suspects is a “player.” Sure enough, there’s an explosive robbery that brings out the best in Macklin. If you’re looking for stories of a stone cold killer, check out these Peter Macklin novels.

One of the few appliances I brought to my marriage was a avocado green J.C. Penny hand mixer. I bought it in 1975 and it worked for 40 years. Sadly, it died last week. Consumer Reports estimates most appliances last from 5 to 7 years. I certainly got my money’s worth with that hand mixer! Diane and I embarked on a search for a replacement hand mixer. J. C. Penny doesn’t make hand mixers any more so that avenue was out. Diane loves her Kitchenaid stand mixer so we decided to look at the Kitchenaid hand mixers. They come in all sorts of colors. The 5-speed mixer we finally bought is lighter than our old mixer and much, much quieter. The Kitchenaid hand mixer is powerful and easy to use. We like it! If you’re looking for a new hand mixer, I recommend the Kitchenaid.

Once again, I want to thank you for your role in making this blog what it is today. I really welcome your insightful comments, humor, and knowledge. I appreciate Patti, Jeff, Deb, Rick, Beth, Todd, Art, Bill, Bob, Prashant, Sergio, Carl, Lauren, Steve, Jerry, Stan, Dan, Kelly, Scott, Jim, John, Randy, James, and Trishankupune as well as all of you who make this blog part of your day. As Voltaire once said, “Appreciation is a wonderful thing: it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”

Bradley Cooper’s performance as Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL sniper, rings true. Kyle just wants to be a cowboy, but feels compelled to enlist when the Middle East terrorists bomb our embassies. Clint Eastwood directs an affecting story of Chris Kyle’s four tours of duty in Iraq, each one seemingly more horrifying than the last. Sienna Miller is effective as Kyle’s wife who raises his son and his daughter as the years pass while he’s away fighting. The film shows vividly the toll repeated deployments take on military families. The scenes of urban warfare explode off the screen. You can’t walk away from watching American Sniper without some deep reflection. GRADE: A