Erdös & Dijkstra Numbers and Other Metrics
Spaf's Erdös number is 2. I've co-authored at least three papers with people with Erdös number 1, including Sam Wagstaff.
Spaf's Dijkstra Number is 2, also. (Note that their measure of my Erdös number is incorrect.)
My Mathematics Genealogy Project page is online.
According to Google Scholar (ca May 2021) my h-index is 60 and my work has been cited more than 20,100 times. My SCOPUS entry has fewer, with a lower h-index score, because they don't count all my publications.) Not bad, considering that I have been mostly an administrator for much of the last few decades.
Some Outside Items
NB: My social media accounts are NOT in ANY WAY reflective of Purdue University of any other organization's position. They reflect my own, quirky personal views ONLY.
Spaf has an entry in Wikipedia! It appears fairly accurate (and no, I didn't enter it myself :-). It could use some updates, so if you need info to do that feel free to contact me.
Science Scouts
Science Scouts homepage is found online. If you read my bio and/or meet me, you know I have qualified for the following badges:
An April Fools Joke
I had a tradition of big April Fools jokes, although not every year. Here's one from 2008, along with pictures.
Some Philosophy
Here are the quotes from my old Unix .plan file. I used to add quotes when I found any that strongly resonate with my own world view. Your mileage may vary. I have a much longer collection I will put online someday.
TPILB Page
This website features a Blank Page according to the recommendations of the TPILB-Project.
Personality
According to the on-line Keirsey Temperament Sorter, I'm on the cusp between being a "Champion Idealist" (ENFP) and an "Inventor"(ENTP).
According to Myers-Briggs, I am ENTP (Extrovert-Intuitive-Thinking-Perceiving).
Of course, this is all nonsense, and is about as meaningful as saying I am an Aries (modern horoscope) and Isis (ancient Egyptian horoscope)
Geek Code
Spaf's Geek Code left over from the 1990s:
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.1 GCS/GP/GAT d++(-)@ s:++> a++>? C++@$ BUS*++++$ P++@ L+(++) E- W+++@ !N K+++ w@ !O M++ V-- PS++ PE-(+) Y+(++) PGP++ t(+) 5++(+++) X@ R* tv(++)>- b+$gt;++ DI++++ D--- g e++++(+++++)$ h---- r+++(--) y++++(--) ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
Places I've Been
I've had the opportunity to travel to a lot of places to speak, and simply to sight-see. Here's a list of a few places I've been.
United States
| Alabama | Arizona | Arkansas |
| California | Colorado | Connecticut |
| Delaware | Florida | Georgia |
| Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois |
| Indiana | Iowa | Kansas |
| Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine |
| Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan |
| Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri |
| Montana | Nebraska | Nevada |
| New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico |
| New York | North Carolina | North Dakota |
| Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon |
| Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina |
| South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas |
| Utah | Vermont | Virginia |
| Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin |
| Wyoming | Washington, D.C. |
Alaska is the only state in the US I have not yet visited.
Countries I Have Visited
| Australia | Austria | Bailiwick of Jersey |
| Belgium | Canada | Denmark |
| England | France | Germany |
| India | Ireland | Italy |
| Japan | Liechtenstein | Luxembourg |
| Mexico | Monoco | Netherlands |
| New Zealand | Norway | Poland |
| Puerto Rico | Scotland | South Korea |
| Sweden | Switzerland | Vatican City |
Lots more yet to see!
Some Humor(?)
Humor is very important in my life. I delight in the absurd and in the unexpected. i really enjoy puns and wordplay. However, as someone with few taboos, my humor may be a little edgy for many people.
- Spaf's Journal contains various narratives of my travels and experiences. Many people find these to be somewhat amusing as I tend to have ...er... adventures.
- The Yucks Digest was something I have been moderating since 1990. It is a digest of the peculiar, repulsive, bizarre, tasteless, ironic, and sometimes humorous. It has appeared sporadically in recent years, and is now a closed Google group.
- The web-heads list is something I started in late 1994 as an informal means of exchanging pointers to strange and interesting web sites. Many people seem to share my views. Several of the links are to sites with "adult" themes, so beware! (Converted to a Tumblr blog in about 2010.)
- Recycling. What do you do with your computer mice when they are worn out? Donate them to Purdue's Project Viper for recycling!
- What does Spaf look like in the morning before several cups of coffee? Not a pretty sight! Get some brewed!
The Spafford Family
I wrote up a long post with history of the Spafford/Spofforth/etc. family with my line of descent, and pictures of Spofforth castle. It distills all of the material I was able to find in my research, and presents the simplest overview.
Here's a page refering to the ancestral Viking origins.
Here's a Google map image of Spofforth castle ruins.
Here is a view of the Spafford family crest and motto, courtesy of Robert Whitlock. Here is a somewhat different version.
A book published in 1888 written by Jeremiah Spofford has some of the definitive early history of the Spafford/Spofford family. It is available online. There is also a slightly different history, with well-research additional material, was produced by Capt. Ralph Spofforth in the 1940s.
Spaf as the Net's Vegan
Back in the days when Usenet was actually interesting, and when people posting things spent time and effort to be creative and amusing, Spaf was known as the Net's resident extraterrestrial (from Vega). This led to many instances where confused people asked about Vegans (the ultra-orthodox vegetarians) and Spaf replied. This, of course, was back before Spaf basically quit the Usenet.
I have a large archive of amusing things from the early days on the net. These are a few of the postings that most people seem to remember for some reason. Interestingly, a search of Google does not find all of these.
- In my role as an alien on the net, I felt compelled to provide answers to questions that sometimes weren' even posed to me, for instance an essay on Vegans and honey.
- Vegans on gender
- Vegans on tonga plugs. This started when someone (either myself or Rich Rosen, the usual instigators of this form of nonsense) made a posting mentioning "tonga plugs" (the prior post). Several people who didn't know better inquired, and this is what they got (see also the followup).
- Vegan tonga plugs redux