Updates to math

Today I spent 4 hours doing research on math sites. I worked on the wiki and updated Alice's page to add some widgets that preview the sites she suggested.
I hope you all are having a great summer. Our summer has been very different from yours. Weather in the Interior of Alaska has been hot and dry with several days in the 90"s. We had no rain from the last week in June until yesterday. As a result the fire season has been bad.
Forest fires are burning in all of our favorite hiking places and around Fairbanks. Some days the smoke has been very bad, but if the wind is blowing right, we have had some beautiful days as well. My running is limited by the smoke but did manage to do the 16 mile Gold Didscovery trail run two weeks ago and hope to do the Santa Clause Half Marathon 12 miler tomorrow if the smoke allows. Cathy and I haven't done any backpacking due to the fires, but have done a lot of day hikes nearby. Photo at left is the Angel Rocks trail about 20 miles from our home.
Forest fires are part of the ecology here, and the years after a fire find the mountains a beautiful purple from a flower we call fireweed. The picture at the right is fireweed. Imagine a whole mountain thickly covered with this flower and you have an idea of what it is. Pictures dont do it justice. The wildlife adjusts quite well and even thrives after a fire. This year we have 2 million acres burning about the size of the state of Deleware. The worst year we had was 2004 when we burnt 6 million acres about the size of Vermont. That year he fires came within 8 miles of our home and that wasn't much fun. Otherwise it's all part of living in Alaska.





Cathy and I will be returning on August 20th, then leaving immediately for Virginia Beach to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Her family is throwing a party for us there.