Archive for December 2006
December 22, 2006 - 10:36 AM
I ran across a fun Flickr photoset today. It is a series of napkin drawings with quotes, made by artist Marty Coleman — one each day to send to school in his daughters' lunches over the span of 5 years.
This one made me chuckle out loud:
The entire set is viewable
here.
You may wonder how he managed to get them all back. It's kind of a touching story:
I started doing the napkins while I was unemployed and making their lunches for school. I did 3 a day, one for each daughter. After many months I felt sort of depressed because, as funny as it sounds, it was the my main creative outlet, the only artwork I was doing at the time, and they were all being thrown away every day. 'Oh well' I said, and went about doing them until the end of the year.
My wife at the time was not happy in the marriage (we later divorced) and took the girls to California to visit her family in the summer, and I was not invited. I was home alone on Father's day when the girls called to tell me they had hid their presents for me around the house. I walked around the house following their hints and found my oldest's and my youngest's presents.
My middle daughter directed me to a bottom drawer somewhere and there I found a napkin she had drawn for me (see above) and below it...there were all the napkins from the entire year! She had saved every one and given them back to me for Father's Day. It truly was the best present I ever got, I cried when I found them.
She really didn't, and couldn't, understand how much it meant to me to have her do that, and to have them still in existence.
I continued to draw the napkins for 4 more years, almost every day, until my youngest graduated from High School in 2004. I have them all now and am scanning them little by little.
Neat. It kind of inspires me to do something that Reilly and our future children will be able to collect and hold on to, to show their kids and grandkids.
December 7, 2006 - 10:00 AM
Via
Slashdot:
Professor Comes Up With a Way to Divide by Zero
"The BBC reports that Dr. James Anderson, of the University of Reading, has finally conquered the problem of dividing by zero. His new number, which he calls "nullity" solves the 1200 year old problem that niether Newton nor Pythagoras could solve, the problem of zero to the zero power. Story features video (Real Player only) of Dr. Anderson explaining the "simple" concept."
I read the BBC article, and watched the professor's short presentation defining his "new" number, Nullity. He uses the Greek letter Φ (Phi) to replace dividing zero by itself. (When dividing +1 and -1 by zero, we use +∞ and -∞.)
Seems to me like he's just doing a simple replacement of a meaningless expression (like "zero divided by zero") that you
don't like, with a symbol that you can move around in an equation but is still physically meaningless. That's what mathematicians did with the square root of -1... they just replaced it with
i and pretty much hoped that it dropped out when the equation was done. :) (Well, that's what
I did in college, anyway.)
Well, as readers will inform me,
i does have a meaning, when in context of various engineering or stats problems.
So, what problems does Nullity solve in the real world, I wonder? Any engineers or statistics people out there that wish they'd had Φ before?
December 7, 2006 - 09:34 AM
Got this in the mail from a dear friend yesterday. Here's my answers...
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Yes, please!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Mr. and Mrs. Santa follow the principle of "division of labor". She handles the wrapping and I do the sitting. (Of presents. Under the tree.)
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Yellow, but only in the summer. Those dumb things never keep the bugs away though, so I think it's a scam.
We don't have holiday lights outside this year, but our tree is in the front window. White lights are the favorite, but I sometimes sneak a colored one in there when no one's looking.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Nope. Not needed. ;)
5. When do you put your decorations up?
In ten- to fifteen-minute increments between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Larsen family butter rolls. Warm from the oven with strawberry jam. MmmmMMMMMMMm
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
Hanging out around the tree & fireplace at night, with only the light from those two items illuminating the room.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I really have no idea.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes, we all usually get to open one gift.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
White lights, then all of the "special" ornaments we've collected over the years. Then we fill in what few gaps there are with clear or colored balls. We have a couple strands of wooden beads too. No tinsel, though my family were expert tinsel hangers back in the day. (The secret is to do it one or two strands at a time.)
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love it unless I'm driving in it.
12. Can you ice skate?
Sort of. I took lessons a couple of years ago and can get around, but nothing fancy (or graceful). Can't go backwards. I sure enjoy it though.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Spiritual gifts (reason for the season) aside, I'd have to say that it was my first computer. Probably because I never got an Oscar Mayer Weenie Whistle. :)
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Three things are a tie: being with family, remembering Christ's birth, and keeping it simple.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Pie... you name it - pumpkin, cherry, cheese...
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Christmas breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'm stuffed just thinking about it.
17. What tops your tree?
An angel
18. Which do you prefer: giving or Receiving?
I'd rather see someone else receiving a much appreciated gift from me, than receive one myself. I hate having given a dud... that's no fun.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Probably the Christmas Waltz, sung by Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence.
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Yum!
