10 Sports and How I Would Change Them Basketball - play with 2 balls at once Football - eliminate "illegal formations" Soccer - make the goals 4 feet wider Golf - blindfold the golfers Baseball - eliminate "infield fly" rule Auto Racing - widen track to make passing easier Hockey - remove "offsides" rule Bowling - play with 15 pins instead of 10 Tennis - eliminate "tiebreakers" Track and Field - institute "obstacle course" in decathalon

10 Unusual Things I've Done Lived in Illinois for 3 days Got my Ph.D. in 4 years Sky dived Dressed up as a woman (3 times!) Slept on the 90th floor of a building Had something named after me Attended an all-male college Blew up a microwave oven Paid for my own college expenses Visited my mother in a mental institution

10 Favorite Songs of the 60's Son of a Preacher Man (Dusty Springfield) Under the Boardwalk (The Drifters) Chapel of Love (The Dixie Cups) If You Want to Be Happy (Jimmy Soul) In My Room (Beach Boys) Rocky Raccoon (Beatles) I'm Henry the VIII I Am (Herman's Hermits) Walk Away Renee (Left Banke) Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind? (Lovin' Spoonful) Venus (Shocking Blue)

10 Favorite Songs of the 70's Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell) Sympathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones) Dust in the Wind (Kansas) Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd) Candle in the Wind (Elton John) Life's Been Good (Joe Walsh) Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits) I'm a Train (Albert Hammond) Brandy (Looking Glass) At Seventeen (Janis Ian)

10 Favorite Songs of the 80's It's Still Rock and Roll to Me (Billy Joel) Dirty Laundry (Don Henley) Subdivisions (Rush) Land of Confusion (Genesis) Same Old Lang Syne (Dan Fogelberg) Allentown (Billy Joel) Don't Worry, Be Happy (Bobby McFerrin) Africa (Toto) Man in the Mirror (Michael Jackson) What's Love Got to do With It? (Tina Turner)

10 Favorite Songs of the 90's Lost in the Moment (Edie Brickell) A Hundred Lovers (Timbuk 3) Meet Virginia (Train) That Girl in the Corner (Lyle Lovett) True Companion (Marc Cohn) Indiana (Rockapella) Sam's Town (Kevin Welch) Baseball Song (Kenny Rogers) Closer to Fine (Indigo Girls) More Than Words (Extreme)

10 Favorite Songs of the 00's Lose Yourself (Eminem) Give Me Just One Night (98 Degrees) Forever And For Always (Shania Twain) Your Body Is A Wonderland (John Mayer) Picture (Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow) 100 Years (Five For Fighting) White Flag (Dido) Unwritten (Natasha Bedingfield) Black Horse & The Cherry Tree (KT Tunstall) When You're Falling (Afro Celt Sound System)

10 Goals of Mine Find love (1987) Earn a Ph.D. (1991) Write a computer game (1995) Get tenure (1998) Have something named after me (1998) Publish puzzles (1999) Sky dive (2005) Learn to play guitar or piano (still might happen) Learn to ride a unicycle (still might happen) Retire (will I live that long?)

10 Mathematicians That I Know Well Whom I've Never Met

Neil Sloane - maintains the Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences Nick Baxter - organizes the U. S. Puzzle Championship Ed Pegg - runs mathpuzzle.com Joseph DeVincentis, Trevor Green, and Brendan Owen - frequent contributors to MathMagic Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine, David Eppstein, and Greg Fredrickson - wrote a paper with them Mike Keith - wrote a paper with him Berend Jan van der Zwaag - wrote a paper with him Robert Pratt - wrote a paper with him that was never published George Sicherman - worked on some tiling problems Martin Gardner - my hero

10 Favorite Books Gödel, Escher, Bach (Douglas Hofstadter) Foundation (Isaac Asimov) Millennium (John Varley) The Hollow Man (Dan Simmons) Maus (Art Spiegelman) Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) Replay (Ken Grimwood) Winning Ways (Berlekamp, Conway, Guy) The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (Sloane, Plouffe) Inversions (Scott Kim)

10 Stupidest Olympic Events synchronized swimming equestrian events rhythmic gymnastics water polo ping pong sailing wheelchair racing hammer throw beach volleyball synchronized diving

10 Nicknames E-rich Enrique Thud Friedwoman Erk EJF Friedmanski E Dr. Erich Kinky

10 People Who Taught Me Something Henry Friedman, who taught me that few decisions are permanent. Mr. Watson, who taught me that a teacher does best by being himself. Kurt Friedman, who taught me to make the best of a bad situation. Liz Tanner, who taught me when to be selfish and when not to be. Barbara Graber, who taught me that my friends are more important than my work. Kendyl Linn, who taught me that sex is a good thing. Kelly Crone, who taught me that you can't please everyone, and you shouldn't bother trying. Margie Hale, who taught me how to love. Lynn Hatfield, who taught me not to use my childhood as an excuse. Barbara Stone, who taught me to enjoy attention, but not be attached to it.

10 Favorite Math Riddles Q: Why did the mathematician name his dog "Cauchy"? A: Because he left a residue at every pole.   Q: What's sado-masochism? A: The standard deviation of the mean.   Q: What do you get when you cross an elephant and a grape? A: I dunno, but its magnitude is Elephant, grape, sin theta.   Q: What do you get when you cross a mountain climber with a grape? A: You can't. A mountain climber is a scaler.   Q: What do farmers study in trigonometry? A: Swine and cow-swine.   Q: What's the contour integral around Western Europe? A: Zero, because all the Poles are in Eastern Europe.   Q: How many numerical analysts does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: 0.9973 after the first three iterations.   Q: How many statisticians does it take to change a lightbulb? A: Two plus or minus three.   Q: How many applied mathematicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: One, who gives it to two statisticians, thereby reducing it to an earlier riddle.   Q: How many topologists does it take to change a light bulb? A: It really doesn't matter, since they'd rather knot.

10 Favorite Authors Martin Gardner John Varley Orson Scott Card Douglas Hofstadter Sheri Tepper Greg Bear Stephen Jay Gould Bill Bryson David Brin Kurt Vonnegut   10 Favorite Games chess poker go backgammon bridge mah jongg bughouse pente scrabble pinochle

10 Things I Did Much Later Than Most People had sex (age 20) bought a car (age 29) went to a concert (age 30) bought a house (age 37) got a speeding ticket (age 38) bought a TV (age 40) bought a computer (age 41) bought a cell phone (age ?) attended a pro sports game (age ?) left the USA (age ?)

10 Things I'd Most Like To Know How the universe was created Who really killed JFK How long the human race will survive Whether 240 unit squares will fit inside a square of side 15.999 When my life will end Whether it's possible to travel faster than light What the best chess strategy is Why my life has been so lucky so far Whether Jesus was right-handed How many people actually read these lists

10 Things I Do or Mention To Show Off Solve the Rubik's Cube in 90 seconds Recite 50 digits of pi Juggle Reveal my Erdos number Do my favorite card trick Build tall structures with playing cards Disclose math contest victories Recite the periodic table Mention my World Championship puzzles Make web pages

10 Favorite Movies Groundhog Day The Shawshank Redemption North By Northwest Raiders of the Lost Ark Sleeper When Harry Met Sally Dead Poets Society Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan Airplane Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street