2019 Vacation: Mexico City, Mexico (Jan. 7-13)

I'll be on vacation from January 7-13, 2019, visiting Mexico City, Mexico to celebrate my 28th anniversary. Mexico City which is in the most populous metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere (approximately 21 million people). Posting on the blog will be relatively light, but you can see more of my adventures on Twitter (@madprofessah) and Instagram (@ronbuckmire).

2018 Vacation: Reykjavik, Iceland and Paris, France (May 18-30)

I'll be on vacation from May 18th through May 30th as I celebrate my birthday. The Other Half and I will be traveling to Reykjavik, Iceland (6 days) and Paris, France (5 days). On this trip I will be attending the 2018 French Open!

Posting on the blog will be light, but I invite you to follow me on Instagram (@ronbuckmire) and Twiiter (@madprofessah)

#vacay2017: Kauai, Hawaii (01.11.2017-01.18.2017)

The Other Half and I are leaving Kauai today after spending 7 days and nights on the oldest Hawaiian island. See my feeds on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for more information on what we have been up to.

The vacation continues (in Hawaii); we are returning to the Big Island of Hawaii for the next three days or so.

MadProfessah And Albert Einstein (in DC!)

I was at the National Academy of Science this week and took the opportunity to have my picture taken with this famous statue of Albert Einstein.

GRAPHIC: Crime Rate versus Stop-and-Frisk in NYC

Kevin Drum has an excellent post today describing the facts about stop-and-frisk in New York City which graphically shows the relationship between the crime rate and stop-and-frisk policy (which stopped doing in 2014 after a federal district court judge ruled the NYPD's policy was illegal racially profiling Black and Latino men).

Since a picture is worth a  thousand words, I'll let the graphic speak for itself! But you can also read Kevin Drum's piece yourself.

MadProfessah Is On Vacation (Maui, Hawaii)

I'm on a quick vacation before the beginning of  the Spring semester, celebrating my 25th(!) anniversary with The Other Half. We're on the Hawaii island of Maui, staying in the Ka'anapali section of the island until Monday January 19. Blogging will be light! (But look for my activity on Instagram, Twitter, Yelp, and Facebook)

Merry X-Mas!

This is a fun (mathematical) way to wish everyone Merry X-Mas!

2015 US OPEN: Order of Play For Today's In-Person Viewing!

The order of play for Sunday September 6th at the U.S. Open shows that there are some interesting and exciting matches on tap for me to see while I'm there. Unfortunately, most of them are in the behemoth that is Arthur Ashe Stadium. I just have a grounds pass today, but I couldn't afford a seat i Ashe that would let me view the play from the vantage point that would seem reasonable. But I'll still have fun watching those matches on the big screen On Grandstand there's the intriguing mixed doubles duo of Taylor Townsend and Donald Young at 130pm that I will check out before  the Venus match (I have never even heard of Anna Kontaveit, have you??) and the Serena-Madison match and then that's basically it for singles matches. I'm hoping for no upsets!

I'll try and post some updates about how the day is going either here or on Twitter later!

My 10th Blogiversary: A Decade Of Blogging!

Now that the 2015 Australian Open is starting I realize that it has been almost exactly 10 years since I started blogging regularly. My very first post was in 2003 but I didn't start posting updates regularly (basically every day) until January 14, 2005. So, consider this my decadal blogiversary post.

As I think about starting my eleventh year of blogging I am pretty sure I will not be blogging as frequently as I have in the past (i.e. more than 2 posts per day on average), but it will be my goal to average out to 1 post per day (30 or so per month or roughly 300-350 per year). There may be times when there are more posts (i.e. around Grand Slam tennis tournaments) and there may be times when there are fewer (like when I'm on vacation or busy with my day job). Very many of my peers have stopped posting regularly (like Craig Hickman, who is know an elected Maine State Representative and Pam Spaulding, primarily for health reasons) but I think my blog is still useful and I enjoy doing it. I have also become more active on Twitter, like Andres Duque of Blabbeando, who has also stopped blogging regularly.

I hope my readers will still read what I have to say, and provide feedback. I really appreciate every and all comments.

Thanks!

MadProfessah On Vacation January 4-12

This may be the last regular post for awhile as I and The Other Half will be on vacation for the next 8 days on the Big Island of Hawai'i! I will probably post some pictures of our adventures either here, or (more likely) on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Today is 12/13/14!

Today is December 13, 2014, or 12/13/14. It happens to be the last "sequential date" of the 21st century. The next one is more than 89 years away, January 2, 2103, or 01/02/03.

2014 US OPEN: Federer and Serena Favorites To Win

Sadly I spent an hour or two writing a post on the analysis of the men's and women's draw for the 2014 U.S. Open but Blogger ate it! I really don't have the time or energy to try to replicate that post, but the summary is that Roger Federer and Serena Williams are the favorites to both win their 18th major title.

MadProfessah Is On Vacation (SFO & SLC) June 6-16

I am on "vacation" from June 6-16th, visiting family and friends up in San Francisco, attending two academic workshops (one at Brigham Young University and one at Pepperdine University) related to my day job as a math professsor and in between  those workshops I will be checking out the natural beauty of the state of Utah, probably around Moab and Arches National Park.

Blogging may be (s)lower than usual during that time, but will probably accelerate again once Wimbledon begins!

Season 4 of Game Of Thrones Is Tonight!

Season 4 of HBO's Game of Thrones, my favorite television show returns to the airwaves tonight! Unfortunately, I am on a business trip so away from my home screen, but thanks to the technological miracle of HBOGO, I may be able to see the first episode on my laptop and post my reactions in the next few days. 

As I did for Season 3, I intend to blog every episode of Season 4. What are YOU looking forward to?

2013 HUGOS: Scalzi's Redshirts Wins Best Novel

In a not too surprising result, John Scalzi's comedic sci-fi novel Redshirts won the Award for Best Novel at the 2013 Hugo Awards at Worldcon in San Antonio, Texas this weekend. I had blogged about the nominations list when they were announced in April and lamented that his book was the only title I had even heard of. I didn't say then but I still think that James S.A. Corey's Caliban's War was the best science fiction book released in 2012. On the strength of the fact that all three of her books in her "Newsflesh" series have been nominated, I picked up Mira Grant's Feed and read it in electronic form. It was fine but I don't feel the desire to finish the series.

Anyway, Scalzi is very well-known in the sci-fi community and relatively prolific. He just finished serving a term as President of the Science Fiction Writers Association (SFWA), which runs the Hugo's, so it is somewhat fitting that he won. As he points out in his very popular blog, Whatever, he was also entering Susan Lucci category because even though he had previously won 2 Hugo awards, he was already at 0 for 6 in nominations in the fiction categories. including 3 nominations for Best Novel (Old Man's War, The Last Colony, Zoe's War). Generally his work is a bit too "light" for my taste but Old Man's War is a brilliant concept, reasonably well-executed and his books do bring something rare to science fiction, which is humor. I may just check out Redshirts (in paperback) sometime soon.

50 Years Later: Bayard Rustin Being Recognized

Bayard Rustin was the primary organizer responsible for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Justice which was held 50 years today. The march is considered one of the most important moments in the civil rights struggle for racial equality and the fact that an openly gay man was key in its organization and efficient execution is worth noting, but often has not been.

President Barack Obama recently announced he is awarding Rustin (posthumously) the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Secretary of Labor Tom Perez is also doing his part to acknowledge Rustin:

 I feel compelled, as secretary of labor, to pay tribute to him as well. My very first day on the job last month, I toured our department's Hall of Honor to see the heroic Americans enshrined there – Frances Perkins, A. Philip Randolph, Cesar Chavez and others. But where was Bayard Rustin?

He was one of our most tenacious fighters for the rights of workers, for collective bargaining, for the role unions play in expanding economic opportunity. The 1963 March on Washington that he organized – the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” as we all know, was the full name – was conceived as a demonstration against economic injustice. He understood as well as anyone that these two movements – civil rights and labor rights – are inextricably intertwined and their goals essentially the same.

So, I am correcting a longstanding oversight by formally inducting Bayard Rustin into the Labor Department's Hall of Honor.

Rustin was an openly gay man during a time of fear and intolerance. There was no Human Rights Campaign. There was no Pride Month. There was no “It Gets Better” campaign featuring some of the most visible public figures in America. Nope, “it gets better” was just something you had to believe when you told it to yourself.

This is great news!

Cross-posted from LGBT Rights in the Internet Era

08/08/08: Today is my 5th Wedding Anniversary

On the plane back from Barbados to Miami on May 30, 2013

Five years ago marriage equality was in effect in California and I got married to my Other Half on August 8, 2008. So, today is my 5th wedding anniversary and is the first time since then that other same-sex couples can also get legally married in California, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Hollingsworth. Generally, this is the only day of the year I post pictures of The Other Half. There are previous pictures for our 4th anniversary, our 2nd anniversary, and our 1st anniversary.

According to About.com, the traditional wedding anniversary gift for the 5th anniversary is wood, while the modern 5th anniversary gift is silverware.

Happy 5th anniversary, husband!

6,035 posts and counting...

Somehow I went right past the 6,000 post milestone without noticing it. This is very unlike what happened when I reached blog post 5,000 on June 3,  2012. This post is number 6,035! I have been blogging here regularly since 2005 and my very first post was March 25, 2003. I consider my "blogiversary" date to be January 14.

MadProfessah Is On Vacation (Grenada and Barbados)

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It's that time of year again! Last year I went off to Europe in May. The year before that I went to Cape Town, South Africa. Starting Wednesday May 15th until Thursday May 30th, I am officially on vacation. I am going to be visiting the Caribbean (Grenada, where I was born, and Barbados, where I went to secondary school). My husband is going as well, and it will be his first time in the Caribbean.

It should be a great trip!

I will have access to wireless internet and will of course bring devices with me but blogging will definitely be lighter than usual, maybe one post per day. My biggest peeve is that I will have to wait until I get back to see (S3E08) "Second Sons" episode of Game of Thrones.

Minimum Wage Goes Up In Multiple States

Hat/tip to Daily Kos