A combination of morbid curiosity and masochism will see me parked in front of my TV on Sunday nights, watching Numb3rs (part of the word is a number – clever, eh?):” To help capture a serial rapist-turned-killer, FBI Special Agent Don Eppes recruits his genius brother Charlie, who uses a mathematical equation to identify the killer’s point of origin by working back from the crime scene locations.”Via Learning Curves, which provides the appropriate snark. Who knows, though. It’s inspired by actual events! And the Caltech head of mathematics is a consultant for the show – which may have something to do with the fact that the character of Charlie is a hottie who seems mentally stable and hygenic, unlike oh so many fictional mathematicians. We’ll see.”Update: Suresh at The GeomBlog shatters my optimism:” the preview is not encouraging. There are exchanges like