Cap'n Clueless is bemoaning the poor allocation of university resources. Alas, spake the Cap'n, "It may be that there is good work going on in those departments [African American Studies, American Studies and Ethnicity, Asian American Studies, Chicano/Latino Studies, and Gender Studies]. But I cannot believe that there is anything like as much as we would get if those professorial seats and money were invested in more practical subjects. And I emphatically believe that those departments are a waste of good students, who would not only benefit this nation more but also benefit themselves more if they actually studied something that helped them get ahead in life with a real career."

I swear, the internet is pure magic. Literally within hours of Den Beste's crie de coeur, the inestimable Moira Breen has come to the rescue. Asks Moira, "Has anyone ever explored the mathematics of cord tangling, that most fascinating of household phenomena?"

A very good question, indeed. One with all the practicality needed to keep the Captain interested and happy, and one with nearly universal application in the information society. And if anyone can ever figure out how to prevent the rat's nest of cables perpetually residing under desks and behind VCRs throughout this fair land, it would be a boon of significant proportions to mankind.

Studying the tau of cord tangling: there's a career.

Now who's going to tell Cornell West that there's been a small change in plan?