Links for Tuesday

• What’s that smell? It could be the latest in biometrics.
• At Slashdot, a discussion on combining computer science and philosophy. I think that, in general, there is a lot of really interesting yet uncharted territory in the liberal arts arising from combining computing with [fill in humanities subject here].
• Circuit City hits Chapter 11. The only reason I’m sorry to hear about this is because I know people who work for Circuit City who might lose their jobs. But that’s the only reason. There used to be a time, when I was a teenager, when going to Circuit City to paw over all the tech stuff was fun and exciting. Now when I go, it’s a game of “dodge the irritating service rep”.
• Some nice tips on getting the most out of Google Scholar. Especially useful if, like me, you’re in a place that doesn’t have access to a lot of technical journals.
• Mike at Walking Randomly is finding symbolic integrals that the new version of MATLAB can’t do. This is a really important series he’s doing, and his articles are a great resource for MATLAB users.
• Speaking of math, here’s Carnival of Mathematics #43.
• The University of Cincinnati is trying out a market-based approach to its various schools that might levy budget cuts on programs that don’t produce. What a concept! Of course the anti-free market people are running wild in the comments.
• Finally, make sure you thank an engineer today.

Filed under: Crypto, Engineering, Higher ed, Math, Technology , biometrics, cincinnati, circuit city, computer science, Engineering, free market, google scholar, links, mathematics, matlab, philosophy