Mathematical Recreations; July 1994; Scientific American Magazine; by Staff Editor; 3 Page(s)

The hotel lobby was in a state of pandemonium, with suitcases and backpacks piled all over the place. I wondered for the hundredth time whether I'd been in my right mind even to consider attending the Quinquennial SPAM World Convention. I took one look at the check-in line and headed for the hotel bar. About half the participants at this meeting of the Society for Philosophizing about Mathematics had had the same idea.

Immediately to my left, a smartly dressed woman in her mid-sixties was engaged in a heated discussion with what appeared to be the epitome of teenage grunge. A thin woman with spiky hair wore a T-shirt labeled "Watch This Space." There was an overexcited fuzzicist who was busily explaining a flexible extension of conventional logic to three skeptical constructivists who wanted to make it more rigid. And a nerdish type in one corner was madly tapping the keys of a laptop computer.