Science Forums - Blogs http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/ Science forums with active discussion of current issues in science and technology. We welcome everyone. en Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:40:36 GMT vBulletin 60 http://hypography.com/forums/images/styles/new_facebook/images/misc/rss.jpg Science Forums - Blogs http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/ What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor? http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/pyrotex/what-do-you-do-drunken-sailor-221/ Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:41:04 GMT What do you do with a drunk-en sai-lor? What do you do with a drunk-en sai-lor? What do you do... What do you do with a drunk-en sai-lor?
What do you do with a drunk-en sai-lor?
What do you do with a drunk-en sai-lor?
So ear-ly in the mor-ning!

Thus goes an old navy ditty from the glorious days of sails and brass cannons. I never learned WHY they had to do "something" with the drunken sailor. Couldn't you just let him lie where he dropped? Or perhaps the ship was sinking--I can see where you might feel obligated to DO something with one of your rum-besotted fellows under that circumstance.

What do you do with a massive wheelchair? (I'll spare you the other three verses.)

Yesterday was one of those "sinking ship" days. We had a storm around 1 PM, and the power was knocked out by a nearby lightning hit. The power surge also damaged our emergency generator, so that when it tried to come back on, the lights would hold steady for 10 seconds, flicker, go out for 10 seconds. Repeat. Repeat.

Even if your PC is on a UPS as mine is, having the lights go on and off is too big a distraction to get anything done. And besides, the emergency generator did NOT operate the air conditioning. Temps would hit 90 in less than an hour. So management told us to go home.

Now, the emergency generator DID supply power to our two elevators. I'm on the second floor. But the generator wasn't working properly. No elevators. My wheelchair weighs 370 pounds. No elevators. Even four burly men could not lift my wheelchair because it doesn't have four hand-holds that can bear enough weight. No elevators. I was stuck.

What do you do with a drunk-en sai-lor? ...

So, we called the Fire Department. :lol:
The Nassau Bay Fire Department has a station only one block from the SAIC building!

My bosses and I (for by this time, my "problem" had attracted the department manager, contract manager, COO and Regional VP) went to the second floor lobby, out the front doors and waited at the top of the long flight of concrete stairs. Shortly, we had an ambulance pull up, and a team of five blue-shirted EMS folks stepped out. Reminded me vaguely of Ghost-Busters.

Their first problem was getting ME down the stairs. Their solution was a high-tech Stair Chair. All folded up, it's the size of an attache. Click all the red buttons and it unfolds to an average sized straight-back chair with castors and a "tank-tread" on the back.

They popped me over into it, rocked it back a little, unfolded the tread, shoved it down under the chair, and two EMS folks took me down that staircase as fast as they could have walked it without me. The treads literally "rolled" over the steps.

They advised me that I would soon get heat exhaustion, and suggested I retire to their ambulance which was air conditioned. I reluctantly accepted their offer.

Bingo, their next solution was to pull a "stretcher" out of the back of the ambulance. A Smart Stretcher, with lots of little motors hidden in odd places. The EMS person pushed it toward the curb, never slowed down, the stretcher somehow "climbed the curb" as if it were not there. :eek2:

They popped me over onto it, and with a finger, adjusted the back to a comfortable sitting position. The EMS person pushed it, with haste, toward the curb, never slowed down, the stretcher somehow "descended the curb" as if it were not there. :eek2:

They positioned the stretcher at the rear of the ambulance. Click. Click. Hard push! The stretcher was inside the ambulance without the slightest bump. Amazing! :eek2:

After the A/C was on, Renee (the very nice female EMS person) gave me a guided tour of the interior. It was all so well laid out and organized. The ambulance was a Frasier. She was very, very proud of it. She told me they are made in Houston.

Meanwhile, the other EPS persons eyeballed the wheelchair situation, came down to the ambulance, opened up some external cabinets and there was a complete selection of bars, rods, straps, crowbars, mallets, jaws of life, jaws of death, jaws of serious injury. They pulled out some rods, straps and harnesses, donned the harnesses, slipped the rods under the wheelchair, strapped the rods to harnesses, and four men carried the wheelchair down the staircase like it was a day on the beach.

Ten minutes later, I was in my van, ready to go home.

That was a fascinating experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially, I enjoyed getting to understand the technology behind the Smart Chair ($5,000) and the Smart Stretcher ($15,000) that enable any average person to transport a 350 pound incapacitated person down flights of stairs without breaking a sweat. Just for the record, I weigh 130 pounds.

It was a real adventure! :lol:

And THAT is what you do with a drunken sailor!!! :doh: ]]> Pyrotex http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/pyrotex/what-do-you-do-drunken-sailor-221/ A Note on Overdue Updates... http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/mercedes-benzene/a-note-on-overdue-updates-220/ Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:27:22 GMT Eeek. It's been far too long since I've last posted!:eek_big:
Anyway, my first year at university has been over for a month and a half.... and I've been doing essentially nothing. I have not been working, because the company I worked for last summer just got bought and isn't hiring interns this summer. Instead, they were able to offer me a 3 week job doing lab support in place for someone who's going on vacation. That's at least SOMETHING!

Otherwise, I've been occupying my time elsewhere. Meeting up with old high school friends. Keeping up with things here at Hypography. Reading. Gardening.
Super chill.:cool:

I'm going away for a few days this holiday weekend... to one of my favorite places on the Eastern Seaboard: Williamsburg, VA, but I would imagine I'll still pop in here in the evenings.

A quick plant update (with more to follow): I've received a BUNCH of new succulents over the past couple days, including a very large, mature Epiphyllum.
Other additions to my collection include Hylocereus undatus (dragon fruit) and a yet-unidentified spiny cactus.
Pictures and specifics to follow tomorrow in my Epiphyllum thread. ]]> Mercedes Benzene http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/mercedes-benzene/a-note-on-overdue-updates-220/ ethnobotony http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/turtle/ethnobotony-219/ Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:22:38 GMT the beautimous little flower you see, for now, aside this post is a plant native to my area, namely... the beautimous little flower you see, for now, aside this post is a plant native to my area, namely Fringecup - Tellima grandiflora. that it is fringed is obvious, but less so 'grandiflora', as it is a rather not grand but small flower. :clue: so this one i collected several years ago and grew in a pot, then put it in the yard in a shady corner last year. it's thriving & i spent the last couple days harvesting the ever-so tiny seeds now matured. of the maybe 40 seeds i got i have planted a few & will see how that goes. i looked up google to see if anyone had seeds for sale & find out what they go for; no seeds, but 4" potted plants go for about $7 US from the few suppliers i even found. specializers in native plants they be. :D so i went looking a little further for some academic data and came across the most decidedly strange & bizarre thing which is the subject of this post, that is, ethnobotony and Tellima grandiflora. so without further ado, i bid you sweet dreams. :bouquet: :hal_skeleton: :sleeps:

results of search
Quote:
Search for Tellima grandiflora found 4 matches:
Tellima grandiflora (Pursh) Dougl. ex Lindl.
Bigflower Tellima; Saxifragaceae
Nitinaht Drug (Psychological Aid)
Plants chewed as medicine to stop dreams of having sexual intercourse with the dead.
Turner, Nancy J., John Thomas, Barry F. Carlson and Robert T. Ogilvie 1983 Ethnobotany of the Nitinaht Indians of Vancouver Island. Victoria. British Columbia Provincial Museum (p. 127)
]]> Turtle http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/turtle/ethnobotony-219/ Growing Old is Not For Sissies http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/pyrotex/growing-old-is-not-for-sissies-218/ Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:55:48 GMT As the somewhat deranged bounty hunter in the television series, *Firefly*, said at the very end of... As the somewhat deranged bounty hunter in the television series, Firefly, said at the very end of one episode as he found himself in his space suit, alone, abandoned millions of kilometers from the nearest planet, station or ship: "Well. Here I am."

Here I am. Sixty-two years old. I swore I would never live this long. I never saw any reason why I would want to. But life happened, you know how that is. Or maybe you don't. You'll understand some day. Or you won't.

I guess the biggest part of why I am still alive is that, with one notable exception, I have been spectacularly healthy my entire life. There was a bit of asthma as a child but I outgrew that. There were a few cases of pneumonia. There was one leg fracture (which would make a great story by itself!). But, hey, that's it! I have all my teeth. I have NO allergies of any kind. I never get headaches. What little arthritis shows up in X-rays is (so far) totally painless.

The exception to this awesomely healthy record is, of course, polio. I caught that nasty virus at the age of five. I have lived in wheelchairs for 57 years now. I'm sure that's close to a world record. But before you fret over that, let me warn you that I've probably done more and had more fun than you ever will, so zip it.

This year, though, has been different. Two cases of pneumonia since January put me in the local hospital for a night, each. And last week, my left leg swelled up like a salami and began hurting. It is a blood clot. It is way high up in the thigh. And if that clot breaks loose... well... you probably won't see me around this website much.

(And if you DO see me, scream and run!) ;)

I've been giving myself two injections of blood thinners every day. I can't take pain killers (because of the blood thinners), but pain and me have been old friends for a long time, so it's not a big deal right now. I'm even typing this from my office computer. I'm back at work. Stiff upper lip and all that. :hihi:

Chances are (the ER bookies are giving 12 to 1) the clot will dissolve over the next month and all will be well. Modern medical science will have trumped the "will of God" once again.

But this does raise some serious questions about... [gulp!]... mortality. [deep organ chords in a minor key swell in the background]

We're all going to die. Eventually. But these precedings have alerted me to the fact that my own demise is not decades off, but mere years, if I'm lucky, and weeks, if I'm not. I don't have a will in place. (I want everything to go to my wife, Gwendolyn.) There are other legal arrangements that have been ignored far too long. I need to find someone to take possession of a fifty year old stamp collection, mostly 19th Century Europe. And I haven't won that Nobel Prize in Physics yet! :eek2:

"Dying is easy. Comedy is hard." Somebody ask Buffy who said that, she will know. Yeah, dying doesn't really take that much wherewithall. It's the Final Approach that is so nerve wrackiing. It's getting old, falling apart, springing leaks, rusting out -- these are the hard parts. These are the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that have to be "white-water rafted" before you can get to the ultimate release of Niagra Falls.

Have you ever been to Niagra Falls? Do it! Don't ask questions and don't make excuses, just go. I did. Three times. Facing your own personal death is so much easier if you've seen Niagra Falls. Or the Grand Canyon. Or you've jumped out of a perfectly good airplane and watched planet Earth hurtle upward towards you at 120 miles per hour. (I've done that, too.) Or you've gone across Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado on a motorcycle. (I've done that, too.)

Growing old is no picnic, no cakewalk, no bed of roses, and it is not for the timid, the cautious, the fearful, or the sissies. It hurts. If nothing else, it hurts your pride. It causes you to wonder if you have lived your life adequately, if it was all worth the trouble, if you will leave anything behind worth noting, if you will be remembered.

Blah, blah, blah. You don't want to hear this. And I feel too damn good right now to make you listen to any more of it. Life is too damned short to spend it in regrets, worries and philosophizing. But I just thought I owed you guys, my best friends, a heads-up just in case I didn't show up one day. Not that that is likely to happen.

Of course not. I'm industructible, just like you are! :hyper: Let me open this bottle of Cabernet Franc, 2003! Who wants a glass? Here's to you guys at Hypography! Here's to GAHD who gives me my infractions, and to InfiniteNow (who I want to be like when I grow up), and to TheBigDog who is my role model, and to Tormod who gave me all these wonderful friends, and to Turtle for reasons I do not understand.

And to Buffy. This toast is to you Buffy, for no reason at all. If there is ever anything I can do for you, just whistle.

You do know how to whistle, don't you? :singer:

:heart:
Nelson A. Thompson ]]> Pyrotex http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/pyrotex/growing-old-is-not-for-sissies-218/ Plumbing http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/turtle/plumbing-215/ Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:46:58 GMT the sink faucets in the bathrooms were starting to leak and you better believe i'm not about to pay for a bunch of drips doin' a whole lot of nothin'. the bastards! :rant: i did a fair amount of plumbin' back in the day and these are the new style 'gasket-less' faucets, although really that's a false advertising play on words to get folks to buy new stuff even though we didn't really have a problem with the old stuff other than people thinking the harder they turned the valve the better and they screwed them up doing it. :doh: . fact is, there are rubber bits in the new style and they wear out and need replaced. well, actually my faucets started leaking 6 months ago but i dipped into some plumbing experience working on rentals for a penny-pinching douche and i figured out how i could stretch the little spring out that pushes the 'gasket' into a sealing position and volia, no leak... for awhile anyway. sooner or later there's nothing to do but replace the seal and spring. so now, how to figure out which outlet chain carries your specific brand. save yourself some grief and go to where the contractors shop. :idea: anyway, buy enough for all the faucets cause if one is leaking the others are soon to follow. replace them all, then set back and suck some suds and think about how glad you are you're not plumbing anymore under a flooded crawlspace in february. :beer-fresh: :singer: ]]> Turtle http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/turtle/plumbing-215/ Letterman vs. Conan http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/turtle/letterman-vs-conan-212/ Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:31:19 GMT It used to be I'd watch Dave, then Conan, and virtually never watch Leno. Then, Leno out yay :bounce:, Conan gone, boo-hoo :cry:, Dave still here thank dog. :bow: :dog: Now, Conan back, yay :rotfl:, but on at same time as Dave, oh well :shrug:, and Conan good and all right wit da wold. :earth: But wait!!! :eek: Dave has a new war on with Miss Perky Palin starting 2 nights ago and it may shape up like the battle Dave got goin' wit Oprah in which for months he milked her for all she's worth and she's worth a chunk fo shizzle! One of these chuckle-headed clowns better bring their A-game tonight is alls I gotta say!! :oh_really: Two clowns enter, one clown leaves. :Clown: :joker: :gun4: ]]> Turtle http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/turtle/letterman-vs-conan-212/ Joined http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/lightfuzz/joined-211/ Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:11:15 GMT This is my first blog entry here. I've just got a quick question, what marks the failure of the preon theory? ]]> Lightfuzz http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/lightfuzz/joined-211/ Hola to Ollas: Saving Water in Your Desert Garden http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/maikeru/hola-ollas-saving-water-your-desert-206/ Sat, 30 May 2009 17:06:59 GMT For those living in hot and arid climates, maintaining a garden and watering it efficiently and... For those living in hot and arid climates, maintaining a garden and watering it efficiently and effectively can sometimes be a big problem. Here in Utah, we have 40-43 C days during July and August combined with the dry desert air. And increasingly like other places around the world, we are suffering from drought and water shortages, making water conservation more and more important. Every day I see ads on TV asking us to conserve water, and rightly so with such a precious, commonly overlooked commodity.

During my internet browsing this morning, I stumbled across something that might be useful for those of us living in desert and drought-prone regions, like the American Southwest or Australia.

Say hola to the olla:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olla

But in this case the waterwise gardener does not use the jar or clay vessel for cooking, but for watering those thirsty plants. This seems to have been introduced to the American Southwest and other desert areas by the Spanish, and it's an old, old technique.

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/20...-the-garden-2/

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/20...4/using-ollas/

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/05/29/ollas-2/

http://www.enewsbuilder.net/watercon...cbK,b2FRwTrq,w

http://www.oas.org/dsd/publications/...ea59e/ch28.htm

I've already noticed from using a lot of terra cotta pots that they wick water and allow for superb airflow to the roots of plants. My plants growing in terra cotta (with biochar) are often bigger, leafier, and healthier than plants not. But the same porosity that accounts for these marvellous properties of terra cotta or unglazed clay also allows water to slowly and gradually seep straight to the roots of the plants. I think that's absolutely fabulous. (And perhaps the porosity of terra cotta or unglazed clay is one of the reasons why it was included in original Amazonian terra preta. If it holds water and air so well and wicks the water straight to plant roots, this is very beneficial for the plant. Terra cotta sherds, in a sense, can act as an "underground water reservoirs," catching and gradually releasing water from irrigation, rain, or other sources. By holding air and allowing airflow, they prevent root rot without drying out roots. Roots need oxygen or else...) Apparently, using ollas with small necks and openings reduces evaporation and runoff to negligible amounts. I might include this in my forest garden, but it'll require more digging, and I thought I was done with the digging. I'll probably have to improvise cheap terra cotta pots into ollas as shown in one of the links.

Another plus is that if you break any ollas or terra cotta by accident, the sherds can be recycled into your terra preta/biochar mix. :hihi:

To avoid build up of mosquitoes or other possible pests in the water, I suggest dropping in mosquito dunks which contain Bacillus thuringiensis, sometimes known as the BT bacterium. I'm not advocating sticking BT in the water, but putting in this naturally occuring bacterium should help to avoid water problems in the future. I've been using mosquito-dunk water to kill fungus gnats living in indoor pots, and it seems to work well, although it takes some time. Standing water should never be allowed to become a health hazard to you or your neighbors. :naughty:

Have fun gardening. :hihi:


I have a drawing of an "improvised olla" I will make tomorrow. Maybe a few of them. Pardon my art skills. I was not born an artist. :eek_big:
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version Name: Improvised Olla.JPG Views: 21 Size: 82.3 KB ID: 8  
]]> maikeru http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/maikeru/hola-ollas-saving-water-your-desert-206/ The Best Memorial Day http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/pyrotex/the-best-memorial-day-205/ Tue, 26 May 2009 18:56:57 GMT Life is full of incidents. Well, that goes without saying. But some of those incidents are rather... Life is full of incidents. Well, that goes without saying. But some of those incidents are rather special, even memorable. And some of those memorable incidents actually occur on holidays. And so it was this past Monday, Memorial Day of 2009.

This coming June will mark the end, for me and my wife Gwen, of the third year in our new home in League City, Texas. By the way, League City was on the 2007 list of the Hundred Best Small Towns in America. No fooling. And our modest little 1,250 square foot domicile has got to be one of the reasons that League City made that list.

For one, it is 110 years old. It is only 25 miles due north of Galveston, Texas, and it survived the Great Hurricane of 1900. Nyah. For two, it is situated on a double lot, making for a big back yard, with established oak, ash, pecan and cottonwood trees that are at least fifty years old. For three, the entire neighborhood, some five blocks by ten blocks, have been designated a Historic Region by the town, and is just chock full of well-preserved old homes and hundred-year old massive oak trees lining the streets.

It's the kind of place where, after cycling through a few dozen TV channels in the evening, you turn to your wife and ask, "Honey, would you like to go for a walk?" -- and her face lights up and she says "Yes! We haven't walked around the neighborhood for days!"

Money has been tight. Every spare penny has been going to pay off our debt (almost done now!) and for the essentials of life: food, utilities, gasolene and good wines.

But last month, a few rays of financial sunshine broke through the economic cloudbursts, and I saw fit to begin the rebuilding of the backyard DECK. Yes, the house came with a "deck" when we bought it, but it was tiny -- about 15 feet wide and 7 feet deep. One end comes up flush against the garage, and it has no railings or benches, which makes the whole thing seem smaller and shabbier than it should.

Gwen found a neighbor who was a semi-retired carpenter, and we drew up plans. The idea was to completely dismantle the old deck, powerwash the lumber (so we could reuse it), extend the length and width of the foundation, add more horizontal struts to make it less "bouncy", water seal it all, stain it, and put in a really strong ramp leading down to ground level.

The carpenter promised to make it good and make it cheap. Which means, of course, that it cannot be built fast. But we were in no hurry.

And so, Memorial Day arrived. Except for a few details, and a few coats of Cedar stain, the deck was finished! All 12' x 24' of it! Gwen bought a 10' x 12' pavilion with netting all around, and discovered to our amazement that it fit EXACTLY on the half of the deck that abuts the side of the garage. While she set it up, and put a card table inside, I fired up the ol' gas grill for the first time this year, over on the other end of the deck.

I had two T-bone steaks and four ears of fresh corn on the cob that I had bought Saturday. I tossed a salad. I rubbed the steaks with a mix of pepper, garlic powder and lavendar. I opened a bottle of Argentinian Malbec, 2007, a deep, deep purplish-red wine somewhat like Merlot, only better.

In a blender I put a whole 'mess' of flat-leaf parsely, a handful of celantro, a large clove of garlic, one serano pepper and olive oil -- and pureed it to the consistency of those "foamy" shampoos that are popular now.

I put the steaks on the already hot grill at 7 PM, just as the sun was dipping down behind the trees in my neighbor's yard. Gwen had the table set in the pavilian, and all the netting in place to keep out the skeeters. The aroma from the grill caused great curiosity in our cats.

The sun just disappeared behind someone's roof, when all was ready. I poured the wine. Gwen lit the candles. I served the steaks on our plates. She served the salad in our bowls. I plopped a double spoonful of "green foam" on the steaks. We ceremoniously turned our cell phones off. We toasted the last six years of our marriage. We toasted our undying love for each other. We toasted our new deck.

As the evening dimmed, and the cicadas were replaced by tree frogs and crickets, we had the best damned home-cooked meal we have EVER had. A meal -- indeed, an evening -- to remember and cherish for a lifetime. ]]> Pyrotex http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/pyrotex/the-best-memorial-day-205/ Economic Downturn? http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/dannieyankee/economic-downturn-204/ Sun, 24 May 2009 19:29:44 GMT I can't quiet pinpoint the exact cause of the downturn, but what it appears to be to me is this: corporate greed, weak system of regulation, and international greed. ]]> dannieyankee http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/dannieyankee/economic-downturn-204/ Dead Blog Slogging http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/turtle/dead-blog-slogging-203/ Sat, 23 May 2009 23:17:21 GMT Web logs suck, and then they die. :hal_skeleton: :rip: Please stay tooned for a smiley... Web logs suck, and then they die. :hal_skeleton: :rip: Please stay tooned for a smiley cavalcade....
:xparty: :beaker::cyclops::piratesword::hi::shrugs: :alienhead: :alienhead::loser::agree::scratchchin::loco: :photos: :phone::Whistle::Crunk::smart::Tupac::Clown: :Guns::ebomb::ebomb::Nurse::esmoking: :Waldo::Unsure::edepress::Confused::ebaskbal: :ebaskbal: :eshy::tongue::kiss::beer::warped::bat::cocktail: :cocktail::girl_hug::boy_hug::love::cake: :camera::unlove::omg::note2:0.o:bwa: :weather_storm: :iamsmiling: :xmas_sheep::xmas_rudolph::bdaybiggrin: :crash::help::cheer::whip-new::hal_skeleton::censored::kuku::Bump2: :knit: :pain30::kick::tearhair::oh_really::bouquet: :jumpforjoy: :night_moon::flying::nahnahbooboo::applause: :mornincoffee: :sick::faint::hug::dogwalk: :sheepjump: :highfive::whp-pssh: :partycheers: :partyballoons::beer-fresh::eek3::yawn::friday::yeahthat::0001: :protest: :hypnodisk::heart::fan::popcorntub::twocents: :sheep::snowman: :pizza::turkeytalk::tree::lemon::trophy_bronze: :mail::turtle: ]]> Turtle http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/turtle/dead-blog-slogging-203/ <![CDATA[Turtle's troglodytes]]> http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/ben/turtles-troglodytes-200/ Wed, 13 May 2009 14:07:24 GMT Let me just remind you what these are: in his blog... Let me just remind you what these are: in his blog., Turtle asserted that, for any integer n = abcde (where we may have, say a=b) then n \equiv a+b+c+d+e \mod 9.

Now I confess I haven't read the whole article, so for all I know this may have been covered, but the proof of this is laughably easy.

Take an integer like, oh I dunno, say 467. Historically this notation means 400+60+7. So any integer can be written as 10^na+ 10^{n-1}b+10^{n-2}c + \cdots n.

It is true, almost by definition that 10^n \equiv 1 \mod 9 for any n, so it follows immediately that

n=abcde = 10^na+ 10^{n-1}b+10^{n-2}c + \cdots +n \equiv 1a+1b+1c +\cdots +1n \mod 9.

The very nice thing about this is that we see, also immediately, that, say abc \equiv bac \equiv cab, \cdots \equiv a+b+c \mod 9 by commutativity and associativity of arithmetic addition. ]]> Ben http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/ben/turtles-troglodytes-200/ The death of a long gone friend.... http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/theblackalchemist/the-death-of-long-gone-friend-199/ Fri, 08 May 2009 10:16:46 GMT
Greetings,

Today is a day, that might go down in the history books of the Alchemist's family, as a day when their long time friend departed a friendly world, to the cruel junk yard.

'Tis the day, when my beloved Pentax A3000, departed me forever.
The death was un-expected. though it had been known that he had been suffering from chronic shutter problems, due to which over exposure often took place.

sensing the danger, i took him to my neighbourhood friendly repai shop.

i saw as he opened up my camera, and to my horror.. the tumor.... the shutter had broken off completely and had damaged his brain ( the circuitry.

H e had suffered a slow degrading death, as his plight could not have been revealed.

He died magnificently, perched on the top of his trusty tripod, and silently bearing the weight of my Olympus 80-200.

his demise marks the death of a family heirloom, that has been passed down from 3 generations.

He is grieved by his four lenses, which were as close to him as his tripod, and of course not to mention the Alchemist family, who are so shocked by this sudden demise, that they cant bear to see the lenses and the tripod go alone.

Hence, they with all humility are asking the felon photographers, at hypography on what camera, would suit the lenses so well that the absence of the A3000 will not be felt.

May the body rest in peace....

Regards
TBA



 ]]> theblackalchemist http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/theblackalchemist/the-death-of-long-gone-friend-199/ <![CDATA[WTF is a "blog"?]]> http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/ben/wtf-is-a-blog-198/ Tue, 05 May 2009 19:20:31 GMT Yeah, I do know, of course I do - we are in 21C, right? I take it I may assume that anyone... Yeah, I do know, of course I do - we are in 21C, right?

I take it I may assume that anyone reading this my blog is slightly interested in what I have to say?

So. I have been learning category theory over the last few months. I am here to tell you it is the coolest subject EVER.

It is highly abstract, of course, that is why it is affectionately known as "abstract nonsense", but not that hard, I think.

Well it is hard, because it requires us to make an abstract connection between different "classes" of mathematical object; that is, there is a sense in which sets, rings, fields, orders, monoids, groups, vector spaces. topological spaces.... can all be thought of as being "the same sort of thing" in their relations among and between themselves.

Thing is, it doesn't really feel like math in the way that, say, calculus does. The "equations" are mostly diagrams, though these are beguilingly misleading at times.

Otherwise I am well, thank you for asking

PS So is Mrs Ben, should you wonder ]]> Ben http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/ben/wtf-is-a-blog-198/ Invasive Species http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/turtle/invasive-species-195/ Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:54:05 GMT Whether plant or animal or in-betweener, every who & every where is under invasion by non-native species. Knowing how little folks in general have time or motivation to take on yet another sacrifice in the name of the larger good, I suggest simply familiarizing one's self with just exactly what is and is not native that grows, crawls, walks, or flies in one's own yard. :clue: :sherlock:

Mean time, here's some info our taxes have paid for; money well spent in my estimation. :read:

National Invasive Species Information Center ]]> Turtle http://hypography.com/forums/blogs/turtle/invasive-species-195/