Some Longreads et.al.

While I'm working on interviews other things have a way of building up... so another list of links to pick-and-choose from today:

1) Long but GREAT presentation of 'simple groups' by Richard Elwes (from a few years back) that I've been meaning to pass along:

http://plus.maths.org/content/enormous-theorem-classification-finite-simple-groups

2) Nice small collection of classic "counterintuitive conundrums" here:

http://datagenetics.com/blog/may12012/index.html

3) Interesting, recent long read on "insanely long proofs" from John Baez:

http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/insanely-long-proofs/

4) And if you're not too phobic of philosophical (and perhaps computational) discussion you may enjoy this longish post on the "many worlds" interpretation of mathematics:

http://math.andrej.com/2012/10/03/am-i-a-constructive-mathematician/

5) On the more practical side, a list of resources for math teachers, of possible interest (but I haven't checked them out thoroughly myself):

http://new-to-teaching.blogspot.com/p/web-20-tools.html

6) And lastly, some quickie visual entertainment... I don't often link to optical illusions, because there are just TOO MANY good ones on the Web, but I hadn't seen this simple, effective one before, so passing it along:

https://twitter.com/Todd_Roy/status/231144475290923008/photo/1

....late Mon. or early Tues. I'll have interview #5 up-and-running, and it's from someone I was especially delighted to have take part!... but I'll hold you in suspense 'til then! ;-)
[The tab below the blog header above, btw, will take you to an ongoing list of all the interviews conducted.]