Windmilling

Peck Young 1984 dad's newspaper ad I believe that no man installed more windmills than my father E. E. (Peck) Young. In the past few years I have written down some stories about him. And I describe some of the experiences I had as his teen aged helper during the 1950's. These are my windmilling stories: ....read more

The Piranha Bite

a bandage on the bitten finger piranha My finger was bitten by a piranha. OK, here is how it happened. I was fishing in an open boat with some other people on a tributary of the Amazon River in Peru. Our guide in the boat... read more

Carter's Windmill

we pose with Jimmy Carter the new windmill In the spring of 1998, I was watching the news from a Columbus Georgia television station. At the end of the segment, the reporter said that Park Service workers are interested in contacting someone who knows about old windmills. Did she say "old windmills"? .... read more

The Coward

burning my draftcard the Viet Nam memorial This picture was taken on August 12, 1972 on the porch of the old house, the house you grew up in. Those are your parents standing behind me. What I am doing is burning my draft card on my 35th birthday. It was a cowardly.... read more

My 55 Chevy

sam and his old 55 chev the old chevy under snow I was in my third year of graduate school at the University of Texas when I received an invitation from Auburn University ... the pay was pretty good ... it occurred to me that I might look at the possibility of buying a car. I only considered buying a 55 Chevy .... read more

The Bean Thing

rocks removed from the pintos Dove Creek, CO. Yesterday, Diane asked me if I would like to do my "bean thing". I said yes, and so today I am doing it. Several people have asked me for my recipe for beans and I have always intended to write it down .... read more

God Nose

God Nose, first edition Jack Jackson I had this plastic bag on the top of my bookcase. It was full of old comic books - old comic books. It had some comics that I purchased a long time ago .... read more

My Country Music Memories

The Texas Troubadour, Ernest Tubb Radio without a cover Ernest Tubb was my hero. I knew all the words to "Walking the Floor Over You" and "Detour". I was kind of obsessed with country music to tell the truth. The other kids and my siblings tolerated my obsession and I think my parents were a little puzzled by it.... read more

Austin Memories

newspaper picture grandparents house The Austin American Statesman ran a series of articles in the Sunday edition - stories sent in by people with a theme something like "Tales of Austin". I enjoyed reading those and decided to contribute one myself.... read more

My Invention

light bulb over head spider web decal In about 1995, I was reading a scientific magazine when I came across an article about "Spider Web Protection Through Visual Advertisement: Role of the Stabilimentum".

OK, go ahead and visualize a light bulb over my head. I immediately thought that this is the way to keep birds from flying into windows. Just put a stabilimentum on the window. This could be an invention! .... read more

The Mathematician.   Sorry, a password is required to read this. Contact Sam to obtain           the password.

Mobius strip Chainable continuum

Upon my completion of the PhD at the University of Texas in 1965, my career as a mathematics professor began at the University of Utah in 1965. Diane finished her PhD at Utah and we moved on from there. I retired from the faculty of Auburn University in 1997 after working there for 28 years. One day, towards the end of my time at Auburn, I was talking with two of my math friends, colleagues about our early years and why and how we wound up as mathematicians. ....read more