Despite the title of this entry, I am not going to talk about supergravity outside of this: Cabot recently purchased a book I may’ve used for my thesis. However they processed my order over a week late. I’ve got it with me now, just for kicks — personal edification and so that I can impress you, the reader, and the people who see me with it at lunch, like Luke and Lixin. On my way back from the Science Center, I flipped through the table of contents, I came across a chapter called “Geometrical Gravitational Theories,” which is why I asked the library buy the book in the first place. This book,Geometry, Spinors, and Applications, makes heavy use of — wait for it — spinors. There are lots of books on geometry; tons on applications; a sizable number on both geometry and applications. But there are surprisingly few on geometry, application, and special mention of spinors. And under that chapter on gravity, there’s a subheading: Simple supergravity. It reminded me of a conversation I had with Eda a few weeks ago. She finds that mathematicians are superficially humble, but in an oblivious and therefore endearing way. The idea of supergravity ever being simple is sort like a slap in my face, but in an endearing kind of way.

I quit you now to take up a programming assignment Paul has given me. He has resurrected that automated inspection-announcement-general purpose-web-based-email-program-thing project for me. He doesn’t like me to admit to him that I can’t do things, like, we’ll say for example, program. I’ve got a copy of PHP3: Programming Browser-Based Applications to my right. Somehow I think the supergravity would be simpler.