Today on Math and Musings Franklin and I discuss our recent trip to Medieval Times.
The dining reenactment, not actual time travel.
For once it was my son’s suggestion, not my own, to head here, and like his dad is wont to do, found a good way to spend a Saturday.
Squire off the old block.
Talk about the Commonwealth the past few days has concerned the sartorial choices of our new governor, Abigail Spanberger.
Spanberger is the first female to hold the position of Virginia governor, and apparently the first(?) not to wear something called a “morning coat” at her inauguration.
According to “A Guide to Virginia Protocols and Traditions” (yeah, that’s a thing I guess), “morning coat” is the proper attire for such occasions. (Yes, morning, not mourning.)
Spanberger wore a white coat. And apparently not “morning.”
The horrors.
My friends in the opposition jumped on the opportunity to criticize. (Never miss a chance, right?) But let’s wait a minute, folks. Soon enough she’ll mess up something that’s actually real and let’s work on that one. Frankly I can’t believe I’m on the side of let’s-not-worry-about-what-a-woman-is-wearing-but-what-she-actually-does, but here I am.
Now let the criticism begin!
Yesterday I was in College Park, Maryland, seeing the 0-6 in conference Maryland Terrapins face off against the 0-6 in conference Nittany Lions of Penn State. Two bad teams means two cheap tickets. Nice.
In retrospect it wasn’t two bad teams. It was one bad team and one very bad team, as the Terrapins showed something that had been lacking all season. Penn State? They looked like a team that had hadn’t won a conference game all season.
The Terps dominated from basically the opening tip and led by thirty points at halftime. For once when my son asked if we could leave early I was like… yeah. We could leave early, but we should see if super-senior Diggy Coit would set the school’s single-game scoring record. (He had opportunities but came up one short, finishing with 43.)
Final score Maryland 96, Penn State 73.
A walk in the College Park.
Maryland puts its one-game winning streak on the line Wednesday at Illinois.
Today on Math and Musings Franklin and I discuss Disney World again, this time focusing on the rides and experiences that make for the happiest place on Earth.
Monday I noted that most of my students, when asked which team they thought would this year’s Super Bowl, responded with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Those who didn’t say Eagles said the Steelers.
So much for that.
Now, whom to jinx next?
Last week the “survey question” in math class was which team was going to win the Super Bowl.
Most of my students said the Eagles.
I was struggling with what this week’s survey question should be; sometimes the solution presents itself.
Today on Math and Musings Franklin and I discuss two of our favorite things, and for the first time from one of our favorite places.
Yeah, recorded on location in Walt Disney World, Franklin and I are talking about food… at Disney World.
Highlights include a discussion of the new Space 220 restaurant at EPCOT, also featured on the newly rekindled Franklin’s Food Review.
Enjoy!
I live in the United States, which means I meet a lot of people from Upstate New York.
(That joke takes a minute to sink in, so I’ll pause here momentarily.)
For a long time no one claimed to be from Upstate New York, but now in the Bills-are-actually-good era, folks are no longer embarrassed to admit it.
Me? I’m from the Southern Tier, not Western New York, so I just can’t.
I don’t like snow, I call it soda, not pop, and I still don’t like the Bills.
Most people, at the end of a vacation, regret having wasted time and think about all the cool things they could have done if only they’d been a bit more ambitious.
Not here.
Franklin and I have been calling it the “16 days of Christmas,” and God damn have we squeezed every last bit of it.
But there’s got to be a morning after, and today we return to school, but still basking in the glow of that epic fortnight plus.
I’ve been out of town on vacation the past few days so I’m not really certain, but word on the street is we have now crossed over into the year 2026.
Hmm.
For a review of 2025… check out today’s episode of Math and Musings.