Cleaning up some papers sitting atop my dresser this afternoon, I found a sheet that had the following three things on it.
1. In the center of the page was a statement of the eigenvalue problem: Lf = λ f, residue of a project that never got off the ground.
2. On the right side was the phone number of a friend I call when I have programming questions—the telecommuter’s equivalent of walking down the hall.
3. And then in the lower righthand corner was a list entitled, “externalities”:
- bags in the bushes
- oil spills
- pacific gyre (awash in plastics)
- Chernobyl
- non-union mines
- unregulated finance
- global warming
- nuclear waste
- highways instead of trains
- soda pop
- cutting down the trees on Easter Island
The eigenvalue problem and phone number sat on the page with this long curling list wrapping around the bottom of the page, threatening to overwhelm them with foul complaint. Â I don’t think I was in a good mood that day.