The by many measures best mathematician in the world married one of his students.

Grace Tao gave her son and his wife, Laura, the book after they were married. “Because I’m a terrible cook,” says Laura, who was a student in one of Tao’s classes at UCLA in 2000 and went on to work at the solar system research and development group JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) after graduating as an electrical engineer.

He is therefore irretrievably and incontrovertibly evil.

Historically speaking, sexual panics and paranoias last 30-50 years. We’re about 20 years into this one — it started in about 1994 or so — so at best we have another 10 years and at worst another 30.

I hope it is not the latter.

Sometimes, the Repubs are right and regulation does go too far.

Citing health concerns, the Environmental Protection Agency now is pressing ahead with regulations to significantly limit the pollution from newly manufactured residential wood heaters. But some of the states with the most wood smoke are refusing to go along, claiming that the EPA’s new rules could leave low-income residents in the cold.

When I was a kid, we burned wood because it was basically free to us other than the small cost of gas to haul it. At the time we could not have afforded anything else.

Though North Florida does not get all that cold, there are 30-40 nights in the 30s and there are 10-12 usually that get into the 20s — plenty chilly when you are in a non-insulated house.

This requirement if enforced would’ve made my family’s life much worse. I am sure there are families out there today where the same is true.