I saw part of an episode of Numb3rs last week. The show is about a mathematician who solves crimes with the FBI, which, believe it or not, doesn’t actually appeal to me. It seems a bit sub-Monk and the 3 in the title is just wrong. Still, it had my favourite line from recent TV, spoken by Peter MacNicol, off of Ally McBeal and the upcoming sixth series of 24, as a geeky academic:

“I know a shortcut through Metallurgy.”

I’ve never been quite sure what metallurgy is, but I know I don’t want to catch it.