They Call Me Birdman

I wish I were Terence Tao...

Not because he's a better looking version of me. But because he's incredibly smart. Read the New York Times article about Mr. Tao here.

Oh, and a big shout out to the 6th grader in Mr. Levy's class who was able to memorize the first 80 (!) digits of pi in one class period. She may not be Daniel Tammet, but that's still mighty impressive!

Umi Says

I remember seeing Mos Def at a Lyricist Lounge concert when I was in college. He showed up two hours late, because he was coming from a movie premiere in NYC. The Philly crowd was ready to kill him (Philadelphia crowds are notoriously ill tempered -- they booed Santa Claus at an Eagles game), but then he blew everybody away with his performance. Mos Def is one of my heroes, not only for his flow and uplifting message, but because he puts his soul into what he does. Something, definitely, to aspire to.

Happy Belated B-Day, Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary."

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed."

"Many people fear nothing more terribly than to take a position which stands out sharply and clearly from the prevailing opinion. The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that it will include everything and so popular that it will include everybody. Not a few men who cherish lofty and noble ideals hide them under a bushel for fear of being called different."

Word.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Did you know that one of America's most famous astrophysicists grew up in the Bronx? You may have seen him hosting the PBS series "Origins," or appearing as a guest on "The Colbert Report," explaining the International Astronomical Union's decision to "downgrade" Pluto's planetary status.

Dr. Tyson is currently the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. I had the great fortune of hearing Neil deGrasse Tyson speak to a group of teachers (on several occasions) and he is even more "cool, classy, articulate, and brilliant" in person then he is on TV.

Learn more about Dr. Tyson on Wikipedia or check out his autobiography, The Sky is Not the Limit.

Mr. Rogers talks to the US senate