Just read Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life by J. Sperber. At first it seemed dull, but then became really interesting - impressive

Just ran into a recent video of Roger Schank delivering his platitudes in the form of a diatribe. How fun!

What is the origin of the name Nocedal? Various people (e.g Gene Golub) suggested that it originates from converted Jews in Spain

The results of 23andme state that my father's genetic group "is found in nearly one-quarter of Sephardic Jewish men"

So "Nocedal" probably originated from converted Jews and that some of my ancestors married other converted Jews.

I recommend "Empress Dowager Cixi" by Jung Chang. Very well written, lots of interesting information.

Jung Chang is fanatical in her views (Mao was the worst person ever) but she manages to write great books.

"Empress Dowager Cixi" transports you to China, 18850-1908. Very entertaining. I assume that books is also banned in China...

Mexico now manufactures more cars than Detroit - in fact the whole Midwest - and its middle class is growing nytimes.com/2013/11/19/wor…

From the NYT article: "Around 40% of all auto-industry jobs in North America are in Mexico (the Midwest has about 30%)"

Ted Belytschko was one of the great engineering scholars of our generation. Inquisitive, profound, always original.