I've been reading recently about how a 13 year-old who is going to graduate school in math at the University of Virginia after getting his undergraduate degree this spring.

This is great-- more power to him, especially for a person who was "solving math problems at 14 months," but it has gotten me thinking.

We occasionally hear about the meteoric rise of some children through the education system by superior achievement in math or, in fewer cases, in the sciences (a la Doogie Howser, MD). But how many examples have there been of similar young prodigies doing the same thing (like going to grad school on their 14th birthday) in the social sciences or humanities?

I have my own theories about this, but I just wanted you to think about it.

I think it's a good thing whenever equestrian anything gets into the news, personally, but damn-- you know it's a slow news day when two of the seven possible headlines on Yahoo's main page are about a gelding not winning a race. (please, no more bad jokes about that!)

I just saw Adaptation (thanks Tim, Stuart, et al) and have been doing a little thinking-- the character Charlie Kaufman is pretty much meant to be the general personification of Americans' foibles and awkwardness. The film was obviously directed at a large audience and the character was casted and played to fulfill that role for the maximum number of people (and hence sell that many tickets).

Charlie Kaufman is what they came up for the whole audience. But what about the individuals? Who or what do you think would be the personification of that part of yourself?

I haven't decided what it would be for me yet.....