Today on Math and Musings my son and I celebrate the last day of school, 2025 edition. (Eventually you have so many “last” days you’ve got to start labeling them.)
For Franklin it’s his last day of elementary school. Kind of a big deal. This fall he starts middle school. For me it’s my last day of middle school… again. This fall I get to… do it all over again.
So not exactly my last day but still worth celebrating.
Enjoy.
The past few days I’ve been obsessed with Season Five of Phineas and Ferb. Released a decade after Season Four, the new season finds Phineas, Ferb, and the gang in the midst of summer yet again, and it hasn’t disappointed this long-time fan. The old gags are all there, and one really is rewarded for a knowledge of the earlier episodes. “Callbacks” aplenty, and music, sweet music.
Keep. These. Episodes. Coming.
I don’t do this much anymore (once a year, as a matter of fact), but I have done it 325 times. And now Episode #326 of Politics After Dark is live at a little corner of the Internet called YouTube, a website housing 30 or so of those 326. The first 318 aired on this thing called “TV,” and they were all half an hour each. (Tuesday nights from 8:30-9, as a matter of fact.) This one’s about eight minutes; well worth your eight minutes if I do say so myself.
And I do.
And for other old O’Connell bits, check out the episode here.
Today on Math and Musings Franklin and I preview a very exciting event happening tomorrow: one of us turning 43 years old.
Tune in to find out who.
“Things repeating 40 years later” has been a theme of this blog and its accompanying podcast for the better part of a year now. The Boston Celtics, a panoply of college basketball teams (Houston, Auburn, St. John’s, Duke), even my ol’ alma mater, Binghamton High School, and its boys’ basketball team.
Basketball has been the connection on all of this, but more than anything last year I wanted to see an Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup, shades of their 1984 triumph. Alas, it was not meant to be, but as goes one of my truisms, life always gives you a second chance.
Led by guys named Gretzky and Messier, the Oilers won it all in ’85 as well, meaning this could be a 40-year anniversary party too.
Tonight is Game One of Lord Stanley’s final round, a rematch of last year and the potential for some sweet revenge.
Or, whatever polite endeavor passes for sweet revenge in Canada.
An earlier incarnation of myself used to refer to weeks like this as “birthday weeks.” Yeah, it took a whole week to squeeze in birthday activities back then, back when we had to go places and do things in real life.
Now I could have a virtual birthday in pretty much any way I wanted and celebrate with people all over the world, and I’m a few quick photoshops away from making it look like I went everywhere for my birthday too.
But my real challenge these days is making sure no one finds out it’s my birthday or knows how old I’m turning.
That one actually gets easier every year.
Today on Math and Musings Franklin and I discuss two streaks which both started on May 30. One began in 1982, and one began in 2008. One is a little more well known than the other, but it’s the other one that’s still intact.
Intrigued?
Tune in to find out more.
The most useless and overrated word in the English language is please.
It’s polite and all, sometimes pretty, and can fool some people some of the time, sure.
Some even call it magic.
I never do, and like honor to Falstaff, I simply call it a word.
“Please” never sways my opinion, nor changes my action.
Would you do this for me? is the exact same thing as Would you do this for me, please?
If I wanted to do it, and were capable of doing it, the addendum wouldn’t change anything.
If I didn’t want to do it, or were incapable of so doing… same thing.
Would you move this mountain for me?
No.
Would you move this mountain for me, please?
Same answer.
But I said please.
See Rule #1.
“Thank you” is many times a useful phrase, often coupled with the aforementioned please.
Please and thank you could not be more dissimilar.
“Thank you” is a pleasant thing to say after someone has produced for you a good or rendered you a service.
I say it often, because why wouldn’t I? And I appreciate hearing it, because it does in fact make me more likely to produce for you a good or render you a service in the future.
Regardless of whether accompanied by the word please.
Today would have been my paternal grandfather’s one hundred-thirteenth birthday. He was born on May 26, 1912, not quite witnessing the Titanic wreck but catching two world wars, the Great Depression, the moon landing, etc. He also saw the New York Knicks win NBA Championships twice, in 1970 and again in 1973.
My grandfather died in 1987, and was therefore spared 38 years of near misses and not-even-close seasons.
I also think he was somewhat responsible for the magic that occurred last night, as his hometown Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit to win Game Three of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Okay, okay, it’s only one game, and Grandpa was actually from Hackensack, New Jersey, but he lived for many years in New York, and rooted for the team vociferously when they picked up a certain center from his alma mater. That would be Patrick Ewing of Georgetown University. See the tenuous connection?
I guess it’s better than my usual rationale of refs need to make this series close for TNT.
Today on Math and Musings Franklin and I discuss in full the tasty new dessert offering teased here last Wednesday. The Wendy’s Frosty has collaborated with Oreo, possibly out-Oreo’d the Oreo, and now been given the Franklin treatment as well.
That’s the food trifecta right there.