September 11 Ambiguity
For a while I have been saying that one should not call Planeattack, the terrorist attacks of 2001 September 11, "September 11". This is because it maligns people who were born on a September 11. But there is another reason, too. "September 11" is inherently ambiguous. 57 days of my life have been called "September 11". This is why a major event should not be referred to by its month/day date. I found a headline in the newspaper this morning that read "Terror threat greatest since September 11." Which September 11? Both are plausible. 2002 September 11 was the last time that an Orange terrorism state was declared. 2001 September 11 was the date of Planeattack. The headline should have read "Terror threat greatest since terror attacks of 2001", or "Terror threat greatest since Planeattack", provided enough people understand "Planeattack". So please don't call the terror attacks of a year and a half ago "September 11". There's been another September 11.
A Journey through Blogrealm
Blogtrek
Blogtrek
2003/02/11
Politician Logic
It seems that much of what politicians say are lies. There are Clinton's denials of involvement with Monica, Nixon's denial of involvement in Watergate, Saddam's denial of possession of weapons of mass destruction, US Government's denial of health problems caused by nuclear testing in the 1950s, and so forth. It makes me think that there is a separate logic to people in power that says that the statements they make are false. An example of this logic would be:
Hypotheses:
1. A prominent US politician says that Iraq has biological weapons.
2. A prominent British politician says that Iraq has chemical weapons.
3. Saddam says that Iraq does not have any chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.
Conclusion:
Iraq has nuclear weapons.
Proof: In this type of logic we assume the negation of the hypotheses because, since they come from politicians, they are false. Therefore, Iraq does not have biological weapons from 1, and does not have chemical weapons from 2. Number 3 says that Iraq must have at least one of these, but since it does not have chemical or biological weapons, it must therefore have nuclear weapons. QED.
Remember now that the conclusion is reached only if the hypotheses are assumed.
It seems that much of what politicians say are lies. There are Clinton's denials of involvement with Monica, Nixon's denial of involvement in Watergate, Saddam's denial of possession of weapons of mass destruction, US Government's denial of health problems caused by nuclear testing in the 1950s, and so forth. It makes me think that there is a separate logic to people in power that says that the statements they make are false. An example of this logic would be:
Hypotheses:
1. A prominent US politician says that Iraq has biological weapons.
2. A prominent British politician says that Iraq has chemical weapons.
3. Saddam says that Iraq does not have any chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.
Conclusion:
Iraq has nuclear weapons.
Proof: In this type of logic we assume the negation of the hypotheses because, since they come from politicians, they are false. Therefore, Iraq does not have biological weapons from 1, and does not have chemical weapons from 2. Number 3 says that Iraq must have at least one of these, but since it does not have chemical or biological weapons, it must therefore have nuclear weapons. QED.
Remember now that the conclusion is reached only if the hypotheses are assumed.
2003/02/10
Missing the Demonstration
I thought the Valentine Tree service we had at our church on Sunday was one of the better services of the year. We honored the people that meant the most in our lives by constructing a tree that bore love hearts. We also had some great music - Lydia Adams Davis playing "Song of Life". I bought one of her CDs afterwards and played some of her music on the way to a meeting tonight. I heard some other good tunes, such as "There's a Moon out Waiting for You", but what struck me the most was "Did I Miss the Demonstration?" It was the lament of a Vietnam War veteran, S. Brian Wilson, whose legs were cut off by a train during a demonstration in 1987.
She sings about the splitting noise of helicopter blades, whether he would live through it all, and the blood on his hands from the people he killed in Vietnam - soldiers, women, babies, and elders, to a movie that readily caught my ear. The person she is singing about this has written several moving pieces of prose on the Internet. The song has meaning to us now because our government is about to engage us in yet another conflict - Persian Gulf War II. What will happen in this war?
I received an email today that said a study was made of this war using various mathematical formulas. It estimates US casualties at about 79 and Iraqi casualties as about 3000 with a max possible of about 19,000. It does not make any estimation of civilian dead. It predicts the US will win.
Maybe so, but I regard it as too dangerous. France, Germany and Russia are seeking to block US efforts. They are trying to prevent a war from taking place, and are trying to maneuver things so that the dispute can be settled diplomatically, perhaps with Saddam getting exile and Iraq becoming a UN protectorate or something else. This is because war is horror no matter how it takes place. The best that can happen is a wild prosperous oil party for America in the middle of this decade. The worst that can happen is a tremendous catastrophe. Is it worth taking the risk?
Lydia should sing this song everywhere she goes now until this crisis is settled. I don't know of any case where a song stopped a war, but maybe it will work this time. I think she should give it a try.
I thought the Valentine Tree service we had at our church on Sunday was one of the better services of the year. We honored the people that meant the most in our lives by constructing a tree that bore love hearts. We also had some great music - Lydia Adams Davis playing "Song of Life". I bought one of her CDs afterwards and played some of her music on the way to a meeting tonight. I heard some other good tunes, such as "There's a Moon out Waiting for You", but what struck me the most was "Did I Miss the Demonstration?" It was the lament of a Vietnam War veteran, S. Brian Wilson, whose legs were cut off by a train during a demonstration in 1987.
She sings about the splitting noise of helicopter blades, whether he would live through it all, and the blood on his hands from the people he killed in Vietnam - soldiers, women, babies, and elders, to a movie that readily caught my ear. The person she is singing about this has written several moving pieces of prose on the Internet. The song has meaning to us now because our government is about to engage us in yet another conflict - Persian Gulf War II. What will happen in this war?
I received an email today that said a study was made of this war using various mathematical formulas. It estimates US casualties at about 79 and Iraqi casualties as about 3000 with a max possible of about 19,000. It does not make any estimation of civilian dead. It predicts the US will win.
Maybe so, but I regard it as too dangerous. France, Germany and Russia are seeking to block US efforts. They are trying to prevent a war from taking place, and are trying to maneuver things so that the dispute can be settled diplomatically, perhaps with Saddam getting exile and Iraq becoming a UN protectorate or something else. This is because war is horror no matter how it takes place. The best that can happen is a wild prosperous oil party for America in the middle of this decade. The worst that can happen is a tremendous catastrophe. Is it worth taking the risk?
Lydia should sing this song everywhere she goes now until this crisis is settled. I don't know of any case where a song stopped a war, but maybe it will work this time. I think she should give it a try.
2003/02/09
SUUSI schedule
The Winter NUUS of SUUSI, the mountain retreat that I go to every summer, is out. The nature schedule is already out. I really enjoyed a trip to Dismal Falls last year. So I was disappointed to find that you have to be a woman to go on such a hike this year. The only Dismal Falls hike listed was Dismal Women. However, Falls of the Little River was listed for Friday (July 25) and since that was a good trip a few years ago, I will pick that one. I also met a singer (http://www.LydiaAdamsDavis.com) who I think would be fantastic at SUUSI, so I referred her to that place. I don't know if I will see her there, but I like her children's songs and loved the two songs she sang at today's service.
The Winter NUUS of SUUSI, the mountain retreat that I go to every summer, is out. The nature schedule is already out. I really enjoyed a trip to Dismal Falls last year. So I was disappointed to find that you have to be a woman to go on such a hike this year. The only Dismal Falls hike listed was Dismal Women. However, Falls of the Little River was listed for Friday (July 25) and since that was a good trip a few years ago, I will pick that one. I also met a singer (http://www.LydiaAdamsDavis.com) who I think would be fantastic at SUUSI, so I referred her to that place. I don't know if I will see her there, but I like her children's songs and loved the two songs she sang at today's service.
The Valentine Tree
My congregation had an interesting service today. To demonstrate our love for someone, we were each given a pen and a Valentine red heart, and asked to write down someone who meant a lot in your life. I put down my piano teacher when I was 7 years old, since she introduced me to the world of music. We then all got up and put our hearts on a tree up front. Afterwards, the tree looked like it had born Valentine fruit. But you can't plant one of those hearts and hope to get a Valentine tree. It is love among all of us that grows the tree.
My congregation had an interesting service today. To demonstrate our love for someone, we were each given a pen and a Valentine red heart, and asked to write down someone who meant a lot in your life. I put down my piano teacher when I was 7 years old, since she introduced me to the world of music. We then all got up and put our hearts on a tree up front. Afterwards, the tree looked like it had born Valentine fruit. But you can't plant one of those hearts and hope to get a Valentine tree. It is love among all of us that grows the tree.
2003/02/08
A Proof that Shoots its own Foot
Recently I began to get interested in odd perfect numbers. A perfect number is one that is equal to the sum of the divisors less than it. For example, 28 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 14 and these numbers sum to 28, so 28 is a perfect number. Euler proved that a number that is of the form 2n*(2n+1-1) is perfect, and that all even perfect numbers are produced from this formula for some n. It is not known if an odd number can be perfect; it would have to satisfy so many conditions that it would make a lawyer's head swim. But no one has proved that there isn't one.
So it surprised me when I found one on the Internet! The number is 198,585,576,189. This number's factorization is 32*72*112*132*22,021. It can easily be shown that an odd perfect number has to be an odd prime times a square number. This number certainly has this form, provided of course that 22,021 is prime. It is not readily obvious that 22,021 is prime; it looks like it may be. The interesting thing about it is that if you assume that 22,021 is prime, then you can show that 198,585,576,189 is indeed a perfect number. But when doing this, you do something else that undermines this proof altogether. The proof that 198,585,576,189 is perfect also implies that 22,021 is not prime! In fact, it shows that 22,021 = 192*61.
So here we have a case of proving the statement A -> B. But in so doing you also prove A -> ~A; i.e., that A implies not A, the statement that A is false. This destroys the proof altogether, because although it may be true that A -> B, that does not tell us anything, for if A -> ~A, then ~A must be true, and so A is false, so that A -> B is true but only because a false statement implies anything. It is the proof that shoots its own foot.
By the way, the page which shows the number 198,585,576,189 and shows that if 22,021 is assumed to be prime, then the number is perfect, is http://www.primepuzzles.net/puzzles/puzz_111.htm.
Recently I began to get interested in odd perfect numbers. A perfect number is one that is equal to the sum of the divisors less than it. For example, 28 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 14 and these numbers sum to 28, so 28 is a perfect number. Euler proved that a number that is of the form 2n*(2n+1-1) is perfect, and that all even perfect numbers are produced from this formula for some n. It is not known if an odd number can be perfect; it would have to satisfy so many conditions that it would make a lawyer's head swim. But no one has proved that there isn't one.
So it surprised me when I found one on the Internet! The number is 198,585,576,189. This number's factorization is 32*72*112*132*22,021. It can easily be shown that an odd perfect number has to be an odd prime times a square number. This number certainly has this form, provided of course that 22,021 is prime. It is not readily obvious that 22,021 is prime; it looks like it may be. The interesting thing about it is that if you assume that 22,021 is prime, then you can show that 198,585,576,189 is indeed a perfect number. But when doing this, you do something else that undermines this proof altogether. The proof that 198,585,576,189 is perfect also implies that 22,021 is not prime! In fact, it shows that 22,021 = 192*61.
So here we have a case of proving the statement A -> B. But in so doing you also prove A -> ~A; i.e., that A implies not A, the statement that A is false. This destroys the proof altogether, because although it may be true that A -> B, that does not tell us anything, for if A -> ~A, then ~A must be true, and so A is false, so that A -> B is true but only because a false statement implies anything. It is the proof that shoots its own foot.
By the way, the page which shows the number 198,585,576,189 and shows that if 22,021 is assumed to be prime, then the number is perfect, is http://www.primepuzzles.net/puzzles/puzz_111.htm.
2003/02/06
Redesign of Blogtrek
I decided to put some pizzazz to my Blogtrek page. I changed the colors of the sidebar and the top, and put a dark blue border around the entire page. This made some black text unreadable, so I changed it to white. Lastly, I designed a graphic meant to suggest infinity, in accord with my personal philosophy of "Just add one." I added in the phrase "...blogging where no one has blogged before...", in accordance with the similarity between Blogtrek and Startrek. Finally, I made the text area white, for maximum readability. The result is a nicer looking page, in my opinion.
I decided to put some pizzazz to my Blogtrek page. I changed the colors of the sidebar and the top, and put a dark blue border around the entire page. This made some black text unreadable, so I changed it to white. Lastly, I designed a graphic meant to suggest infinity, in accord with my personal philosophy of "Just add one." I added in the phrase "...blogging where no one has blogged before...", in accordance with the similarity between Blogtrek and Startrek. Finally, I made the text area white, for maximum readability. The result is a nicer looking page, in my opinion.
2003/02/02
Columbia Tragedy: Memorable or Full?
I rate news stories on their effect on the media. I have six ratings: Memorable, Full, Major, Front-Page, News, and Non-News. To qualify as full, the story must cover the entire newscast at night (hence the name full) and must cover half of the front page or more with a headline, but still leave room for the story. A Memorable event is noted by people asking each other in the future, "When were you when ___ occurred?" about the event. It will also fill the entire front page of a newspaper with a headline and will wipe out all other TV programming for at least 24 hours. Planeattack was certainly a Memorable Event. These are rare; so rare that only five have occurred in my lifetime.
So is the Columbia tragedy full or Memorable? It filled much of the front page of the newspaper but it left room for story. It dominated all the networks for times on 2003 Feb 1, but it left room for other programming later in the day. It did fill the entire news program on the 1st, so it is at least full. But is it memorable? I don't think so. Already other programming is coming back and the news coverage was only a few pages in the newspaper. So it rates as a high full event, somewhere between full and Memorable, but not quite memorable. It is about like the Challenger disaster was. But this is an event that we will remember for a long time, probably in the top 10 in my lifetime. I just hope that it does not put an end to space exploration.
I rate news stories on their effect on the media. I have six ratings: Memorable, Full, Major, Front-Page, News, and Non-News. To qualify as full, the story must cover the entire newscast at night (hence the name full) and must cover half of the front page or more with a headline, but still leave room for the story. A Memorable event is noted by people asking each other in the future, "When were you when ___ occurred?" about the event. It will also fill the entire front page of a newspaper with a headline and will wipe out all other TV programming for at least 24 hours. Planeattack was certainly a Memorable Event. These are rare; so rare that only five have occurred in my lifetime.
So is the Columbia tragedy full or Memorable? It filled much of the front page of the newspaper but it left room for story. It dominated all the networks for times on 2003 Feb 1, but it left room for other programming later in the day. It did fill the entire news program on the 1st, so it is at least full. But is it memorable? I don't think so. Already other programming is coming back and the news coverage was only a few pages in the newspaper. So it rates as a high full event, somewhere between full and Memorable, but not quite memorable. It is about like the Challenger disaster was. But this is an event that we will remember for a long time, probably in the top 10 in my lifetime. I just hope that it does not put an end to space exploration.
The Columbia Disaster
I watched with horror the asteroid-like streaks across the sky on TV that was the remains of Columbia, which catastrophically broke up over the skies of Texas yesterday. It gave me the "not again" feeling, and reminded me of Challenger in 1986. I grieve for those people who went out into space, risking their lives, to extend the depth of human knowledge. The question is whether this is the end of the Space Shuttle or of space exploration. I don't think space exploration should ever end. It may be the one thing that saves our species, and it helps to extend the breadth of human knowledge; look at all we found out about the universe through the Hubble Telescope. But the Shuttle may have seen its last days. There should be one more Shuttle flight - to get the astronauts in the Space Station down. Then it should be considered as to whether we should continue flying this 1970s-technology craft again. A suggestion has been made to do as much through unmanned probes and robots as possible, and to send humans up to space in a small space plane when they are needed. The technology is certainly available to fly an airplane, have it turn into a rocket and fly into space. I think it should be worth considering. In any case, the Shuttle is full of old technology, and we need to get something that is up to date, not premillennium.
I watched with horror the asteroid-like streaks across the sky on TV that was the remains of Columbia, which catastrophically broke up over the skies of Texas yesterday. It gave me the "not again" feeling, and reminded me of Challenger in 1986. I grieve for those people who went out into space, risking their lives, to extend the depth of human knowledge. The question is whether this is the end of the Space Shuttle or of space exploration. I don't think space exploration should ever end. It may be the one thing that saves our species, and it helps to extend the breadth of human knowledge; look at all we found out about the universe through the Hubble Telescope. But the Shuttle may have seen its last days. There should be one more Shuttle flight - to get the astronauts in the Space Station down. Then it should be considered as to whether we should continue flying this 1970s-technology craft again. A suggestion has been made to do as much through unmanned probes and robots as possible, and to send humans up to space in a small space plane when they are needed. The technology is certainly available to fly an airplane, have it turn into a rocket and fly into space. I think it should be worth considering. In any case, the Shuttle is full of old technology, and we need to get something that is up to date, not premillennium.
Heritage without Hate?
I saw a bumper sticker yesterday when shopping. It read "Heritage without Hate" and it had a Confederate battle flag on it. By this the author of the sticker presumably meant that he intended to celebrate and revere his Confederate ancestry; this is where he came from. He feels the flag symbolizes the heroism that Confederate soldiers displayed during the US Civil War. The problem is that he does not get the message across. I can see his point to some extent; after all, one of my ancestors fought on the Confederate side. But what means one thing to one person means another to another. Many African Americans feel that it does mean hate, even when the originator does not intend that. I feel that such a celebration of Confederate ancestry, including my own, needs to be done in a private manner, and that other heritages are more worthy of celebration. It is like Germans celebrating their heritage by displaying a swastika.
There is even a dispute in Volgograd, Russia, about the name of the place. It was called Stalingrad in one of the most stupendous battles in history, the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II. Many Russians want to change it back to Stalingrad because that is what their ancestors fought for. But like with the Confederate flag, I think this should be done in a more subdued fashion, for Stalin was one of the most brutal men in history. The town should remain Volgograd, naming it after a river, representing our planet Earth - a heritage certainly worth supporting.
I saw a bumper sticker yesterday when shopping. It read "Heritage without Hate" and it had a Confederate battle flag on it. By this the author of the sticker presumably meant that he intended to celebrate and revere his Confederate ancestry; this is where he came from. He feels the flag symbolizes the heroism that Confederate soldiers displayed during the US Civil War. The problem is that he does not get the message across. I can see his point to some extent; after all, one of my ancestors fought on the Confederate side. But what means one thing to one person means another to another. Many African Americans feel that it does mean hate, even when the originator does not intend that. I feel that such a celebration of Confederate ancestry, including my own, needs to be done in a private manner, and that other heritages are more worthy of celebration. It is like Germans celebrating their heritage by displaying a swastika.
There is even a dispute in Volgograd, Russia, about the name of the place. It was called Stalingrad in one of the most stupendous battles in history, the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II. Many Russians want to change it back to Stalingrad because that is what their ancestors fought for. But like with the Confederate flag, I think this should be done in a more subdued fashion, for Stalin was one of the most brutal men in history. The town should remain Volgograd, naming it after a river, representing our planet Earth - a heritage certainly worth supporting.
2003/01/26
Microsoft Slaves
At work someone asked if I knew C#, the programming language. C# is Microsoft's version of Java, a way of trying to dominate everything by taking away what Sun has. I said I could probably pick it up. People in the past 20 years have told me that certain programming languages have advantages. Usually it is because they like the language. I find they divide into two groups. One tells me I should use or learn Java, C++, Pascal, Perl, and Delphi. Mathematicians frequently fall into this group. The other group recommends ASP, Visual Basic, IIS, and Microsoft Access VBA. I call these people Microsoft Slaves. They use everything that Microsoft comes out with. I suppose that makes things easy, because Microsoft writes most of the operating system and other fundamental software today and you need to converse with these to work and be popular. But that makes Microsoft the dictator of everything. You have to do it the Microsoft way. That is one reason I never went for certification in using Microsoft products. The certification shows how much you have subserved yourself in Microsoft's favor. The problem with this is that competition is stifled, and the other is that Microsoft can at any time throw conniptions into your work by changing the operating system, the programming languages and so forth. Witness all the fuss that happened when Microsoft rolled out .NET.
So I want to be conversant in computer programming proficiency but I don't want to be a Microsoft slave. That is why I don't have Microsoft certification.
At work someone asked if I knew C#, the programming language. C# is Microsoft's version of Java, a way of trying to dominate everything by taking away what Sun has. I said I could probably pick it up. People in the past 20 years have told me that certain programming languages have advantages. Usually it is because they like the language. I find they divide into two groups. One tells me I should use or learn Java, C++, Pascal, Perl, and Delphi. Mathematicians frequently fall into this group. The other group recommends ASP, Visual Basic, IIS, and Microsoft Access VBA. I call these people Microsoft Slaves. They use everything that Microsoft comes out with. I suppose that makes things easy, because Microsoft writes most of the operating system and other fundamental software today and you need to converse with these to work and be popular. But that makes Microsoft the dictator of everything. You have to do it the Microsoft way. That is one reason I never went for certification in using Microsoft products. The certification shows how much you have subserved yourself in Microsoft's favor. The problem with this is that competition is stifled, and the other is that Microsoft can at any time throw conniptions into your work by changing the operating system, the programming languages and so forth. Witness all the fuss that happened when Microsoft rolled out .NET.
So I want to be conversant in computer programming proficiency but I don't want to be a Microsoft slave. That is why I don't have Microsoft certification.
Random stuff
Some more substituted clichés. This time I try "my * lies over the ocean" -bonny -bonnie. I get:
body - interesting twist
boner
gummi - this one does not seem to make sense
dollar
ocean - self-reference
commie
bunny
blogger
Barney
Duckie
father
There are a lot of them, but I find Barney the most interesting. You can always find solace in a purple dinosaur.
Some lyrics that suddenly stop. Suddenly stopping is nothing new. Some of these come from Hofstadter in his book Metamagical Themas. Take a look at these old limericks. All of them tended to
There was a young man named Hort
Whose limericks tend to be short
He wrote them and then
He proceeded to end
Suddenly.
There was a woman named Flor
Whose limericks end at line four.
When asked why she stopped
She said no ideas popped
There was a good man named Lee
Whose limericks end at line three.
When asked why he stopped
There was a young lass named Sue
Whose limericks end at line two.
There was a young man from Verdun
Here's another limerick:
End of limerick. It was supposed to have said something about ending at line zero.
Some more substituted clichés. This time I try "my * lies over the ocean" -bonny -bonnie. I get:
body - interesting twist
boner
gummi - this one does not seem to make sense
dollar
ocean - self-reference
commie
bunny
blogger
Barney
Duckie
father
There are a lot of them, but I find Barney the most interesting. You can always find solace in a purple dinosaur.
Some lyrics that suddenly stop. Suddenly stopping is nothing new. Some of these come from Hofstadter in his book Metamagical Themas. Take a look at these old limericks. All of them tended to
There was a young man named Hort
Whose limericks tend to be short
He wrote them and then
He proceeded to end
Suddenly.
There was a woman named Flor
Whose limericks end at line four.
When asked why she stopped
She said no ideas popped
There was a good man named Lee
Whose limericks end at line three.
When asked why he stopped
There was a young lass named Sue
Whose limericks end at line two.
There was a young man from Verdun
Here's another limerick:
End of limerick. It was supposed to have said something about ending at line zero.
2003/01/25
Contra Dancing and Mathematics
Last week I met Larry Copes at the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America joint meetings in Baltimore, MD, USA. He gave an presentation on the mathematics of contra dancing. He tried to find what I call an omnicontra dance, a dance that omninates through all of the possible dance positions. After some searching and discarding of dance steps that would be rather unnatural, he found 4 good dances.
I too have done some work with the mathematics of contra dancing. I relate it to group theory and compare it to changing a mattress. My article states that the contra dancing foursomes group is the group of symmetries of a square, also called D4. In addition, the overall procedure of passing down the line in contra dancing is also a group, Dn, where n is the number of foursomes in the dance. Today I tried to find the overall group of all of these actions, for eight contra dancers. I used some software to find a group with 384 elements in it; this contains some steps that would never occur in a contra dance, such as the next set of foursomes circling around before the previous set has finished its moves and switched the two partners. I think it may have 64 elements, but am not certain.
Then I actually went out contra dancing and danced in 6 of the dances. It is quite different actually dancing it then analyzing it. I met quite a few people tonight, mostly women. What struck me the most is that people from ordinary walks of life, with little or no knowledge of mathematics, are able to execute all these moves in the required order and move about in a group with maybe hundreds of elements in it. The band was good - a group named Orion. It is also a good way to introduce people to group theory. If I ever teach a course in college abstract algebra, when I get to the group theory part, I will invite my class to the local contra dance. The best way to learn mathematics may be to become a part of mathematics, and contra dancing certainly does that.
Last week I met Larry Copes at the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America joint meetings in Baltimore, MD, USA. He gave an presentation on the mathematics of contra dancing. He tried to find what I call an omnicontra dance, a dance that omninates through all of the possible dance positions. After some searching and discarding of dance steps that would be rather unnatural, he found 4 good dances.
I too have done some work with the mathematics of contra dancing. I relate it to group theory and compare it to changing a mattress. My article states that the contra dancing foursomes group is the group of symmetries of a square, also called D4. In addition, the overall procedure of passing down the line in contra dancing is also a group, Dn, where n is the number of foursomes in the dance. Today I tried to find the overall group of all of these actions, for eight contra dancers. I used some software to find a group with 384 elements in it; this contains some steps that would never occur in a contra dance, such as the next set of foursomes circling around before the previous set has finished its moves and switched the two partners. I think it may have 64 elements, but am not certain.
Then I actually went out contra dancing and danced in 6 of the dances. It is quite different actually dancing it then analyzing it. I met quite a few people tonight, mostly women. What struck me the most is that people from ordinary walks of life, with little or no knowledge of mathematics, are able to execute all these moves in the required order and move about in a group with maybe hundreds of elements in it. The band was good - a group named Orion. It is also a good way to introduce people to group theory. If I ever teach a course in college abstract algebra, when I get to the group theory part, I will invite my class to the local contra dance. The best way to learn mathematics may be to become a part of mathematics, and contra dancing certainly does that.
Internet Threat
I have seen my Internet service get worse and worse the past few months. On the web it seems that every site that you go to, other than personal sites like mine, throw uninvited popup windows in your face, as well as ads on the page. These slow down downloading of the web page, and can even lead to a weird looking page. If you use Norton Internet Security's ad blocking, and go to an editorial on the Washington Post, you will get a misshapen window. I suppose the ads are so tied to the structure of the page that eliminating them results in a weird page.
Viruses are becoming more threatening, too. Actually it is just one virus, w32.Klez.H @ mm, which sees fit to pull names off address books for both From: and To: blocks, and I get lots of virus messages accusing me of sending something I didn't send. And spam is getting worse. The latest spam atrocity was something that pulled names from address books and paired them with random email addresses. I then get squawks from places that can't receive the email saying that I, Linda Rodriguez (not a real name), with my correct email address, sent something to them and that it failed for some reason. In my opinion, spam such as this is a virus.
Today I could not get money out of a Bank of America ATM. That was probably due to an attack on servers by a Code Red like virus. Even non-Internet activities such as banking are affected. I think it would help if people put antivirus and site protection software on their computers and servers and use it. That would greatly limit the effectiveness of these Internet monsters. I checked my computer this morning and found no viruses.
I have seen my Internet service get worse and worse the past few months. On the web it seems that every site that you go to, other than personal sites like mine, throw uninvited popup windows in your face, as well as ads on the page. These slow down downloading of the web page, and can even lead to a weird looking page. If you use Norton Internet Security's ad blocking, and go to an editorial on the Washington Post, you will get a misshapen window. I suppose the ads are so tied to the structure of the page that eliminating them results in a weird page.
Viruses are becoming more threatening, too. Actually it is just one virus, w32.Klez.H @ mm, which sees fit to pull names off address books for both From: and To: blocks, and I get lots of virus messages accusing me of sending something I didn't send. And spam is getting worse. The latest spam atrocity was something that pulled names from address books and paired them with random email addresses. I then get squawks from places that can't receive the email saying that I, Linda Rodriguez (not a real name), with my correct email address, sent something to them and that it failed for some reason. In my opinion, spam such as this is a virus.
Today I could not get money out of a Bank of America ATM. That was probably due to an attack on servers by a Code Red like virus. Even non-Internet activities such as banking are affected. I think it would help if people put antivirus and site protection software on their computers and servers and use it. That would greatly limit the effectiveness of these Internet monsters. I checked my computer this morning and found no viruses.
2003/01/23
Influence, Honesty, and being to the point
Yesterday I attended a talk about the strategies of influence. He mentioned how you could influence people to buy toys in January, for instance. You bring the toy out into the market in November. Tout it as a good Christmas gift for your kids. Then suddenly terminate it on December 10 and send every parent to Scare City (because of scarcity of the toy). Then bring it out in the middle of January. All that pent-up demand explodes, and the toy sells in January. He also says that gasoline stations used to charge extra if a credit card was used to buy the gasoline. But then they offered cash discounts instead. That is like six of one and half a dozen of the other. A premium for credit card use is the same as a cash discount: you pay more by charging than by paying cash.
To me this is playing tricks on the public. Confronted with the gasoline station, I would tell them that cash discounts still mean that they are charging a premium for credit card use. When they say that is the usual price of gasoline, I would reply that there is no such thing as a usual price for gasoline!. All prices are relative to each other, and cash discounts are the same as credit card premiums. Tell them like it is. Expose their deception. I'm not sure why they are teaching people to behave like this.
Today we discussed table topics in Toastmasters, where a Topicsmaster gives you a subject to talk about in 1-2 minutes. You learn that if you don't know anything about the subject, that you make something up or change the subject. I.e., you be evasive. I am not sure this is proper training either. But I had to do it today. I was called to tell people what "pterion" meant. I told them honestly that I did not know, and that I could make a good guess by noticing that pter- means wing; for example, a rotating-wing flying machine is a helicopter. I was way off the mark this time (it is a medical term), but at least I was honest about it.
It even debases the language. It means that not has no meaning. It is just a filler word. When Nixon says "I am not a crook", he means that he is a crook. When Gary Hart denies an improper relationship with Donna Rice, that means he had such a relationship. When stock brokers tell customers that Enron is "Buy", they mean it's "Sell". When Iraq says it does not have weapons of mass destruction, and especially when it says it in 12,200 pages, that means that it does have weapons of mass destruction. So if you have a sexually free relationship with your wife, and you hold a public office, such as governor or senator, and you are asked if you had an "improper" relationship with a certain woman last night, change the subject or tell them that you prefer not to discuss it. For if you say you had an affair, then that means you had one. If you say you did not have an affair, that means you had one. The only way you can say you did not have one is not to comment on the subject. If Bill Clinton had done this when he was President, he would have been more effective, and our President today would be Al Gore.
Yesterday I attended a talk about the strategies of influence. He mentioned how you could influence people to buy toys in January, for instance. You bring the toy out into the market in November. Tout it as a good Christmas gift for your kids. Then suddenly terminate it on December 10 and send every parent to Scare City (because of scarcity of the toy). Then bring it out in the middle of January. All that pent-up demand explodes, and the toy sells in January. He also says that gasoline stations used to charge extra if a credit card was used to buy the gasoline. But then they offered cash discounts instead. That is like six of one and half a dozen of the other. A premium for credit card use is the same as a cash discount: you pay more by charging than by paying cash.
To me this is playing tricks on the public. Confronted with the gasoline station, I would tell them that cash discounts still mean that they are charging a premium for credit card use. When they say that is the usual price of gasoline, I would reply that there is no such thing as a usual price for gasoline!. All prices are relative to each other, and cash discounts are the same as credit card premiums. Tell them like it is. Expose their deception. I'm not sure why they are teaching people to behave like this.
Today we discussed table topics in Toastmasters, where a Topicsmaster gives you a subject to talk about in 1-2 minutes. You learn that if you don't know anything about the subject, that you make something up or change the subject. I.e., you be evasive. I am not sure this is proper training either. But I had to do it today. I was called to tell people what "pterion" meant. I told them honestly that I did not know, and that I could make a good guess by noticing that pter- means wing; for example, a rotating-wing flying machine is a helicopter. I was way off the mark this time (it is a medical term), but at least I was honest about it.
It even debases the language. It means that not has no meaning. It is just a filler word. When Nixon says "I am not a crook", he means that he is a crook. When Gary Hart denies an improper relationship with Donna Rice, that means he had such a relationship. When stock brokers tell customers that Enron is "Buy", they mean it's "Sell". When Iraq says it does not have weapons of mass destruction, and especially when it says it in 12,200 pages, that means that it does have weapons of mass destruction. So if you have a sexually free relationship with your wife, and you hold a public office, such as governor or senator, and you are asked if you had an "improper" relationship with a certain woman last night, change the subject or tell them that you prefer not to discuss it. For if you say you had an affair, then that means you had one. If you say you did not have an affair, that means you had one. The only way you can say you did not have one is not to comment on the subject. If Bill Clinton had done this when he was President, he would have been more effective, and our President today would be Al Gore.
2003/01/22
Copycat
The revelation that Cc, a genetic clone of a calico cat named Rainbow, not only does not look like Rainbow, but has a personality radically different from her, is of extraordinary importance. It says that cloning is not what we figured it was. One can't make a copy of a person simply by putting his genes into a zygote and bringing it to term. But identical twins are so much like each other that they can't be told apart. I know from experience, when I met a pair of such twins. They are certainly closer than Cc and Rainbow. This means the womb must have something to do with it. It seems that if two cats are genetically identical but grew in different wombs, they become two different looking cats. I would suspect the same if the two had grown in the same womb but not at the same time, but am not certain of this. Two identical twins grew in the same womb at the same time, so this accounts for their near identicalness. So it seems that people who want to make a copy of themselves for posterity can forget about it. It is a major finding in our understanding of life and of ourselves, and of course, of cats. Meow.
The revelation that Cc, a genetic clone of a calico cat named Rainbow, not only does not look like Rainbow, but has a personality radically different from her, is of extraordinary importance. It says that cloning is not what we figured it was. One can't make a copy of a person simply by putting his genes into a zygote and bringing it to term. But identical twins are so much like each other that they can't be told apart. I know from experience, when I met a pair of such twins. They are certainly closer than Cc and Rainbow. This means the womb must have something to do with it. It seems that if two cats are genetically identical but grew in different wombs, they become two different looking cats. I would suspect the same if the two had grown in the same womb but not at the same time, but am not certain of this. Two identical twins grew in the same womb at the same time, so this accounts for their near identicalness. So it seems that people who want to make a copy of themselves for posterity can forget about it. It is a major finding in our understanding of life and of ourselves, and of course, of cats. Meow.
Annual Leave Wars
Yesterday I got my paycheck and found that I had been charged for 9 more hours of leave than I had asked for. I had emailed my supervisor and her secretary several times that I was going to have Dec 30 be my regular day off, part of a 5-4 plan where I work 9 days of 9 hours each instead of 10 days of 8 hours in two weeks. I had intended to change the regular day off in the middle of the month, but for some reason they changed it at the end of the last month and charged me with 9 hours leave when I wanted a regular day off there. It seems that they want the official leave form instead of emails. A case of inflexible bureaucracy. But it gets worse. I had received an award of 16 hours off, and wanted to take 27 hours off to go to a conference. So I told them I wanted to take 11 hours of annual leave and 16 hours of award. But it seems they can't divide 16 by 9. It's true, 9 won't go into 16 evenly. So therefore I was going to take 9 hours of annual leave the first day, 2 hours of annual leave and 7 hours of award the next day, and 9 hours of award the last day. They could not get that second day straight.
My wife's workplace is no better. She works part time, so in 2 weeks she works 5 full-time days. This workplace can't do a 2 and 5 rhythm very well. For a while she worked 2 days one week and 3 the next, which is the same as 16 hours one week and 24 the next. That's reasonable. But the payroll people insist else Kingdom Come that each week must contain 20 hours of work. So now she is working one 4-hour day each week. She now goes to work 6 days instead of 5 in 2 weeks, with the same number of work hours, but spending more personal hours commuting, and consuming more oil.
It seems that mathematics is one discipline not well understood in today's society and we suffer because of it. By the way, did I say that 9 days of 9 hours was the same as 10 days of 8 hours above? That's 81=80. That doesn't match very well, but unless we can think of 81=80 at times, most of our music would never exist; see, for example, http://sonic-arts.org/dict/syncom.htm. At work they do let me have one hour off every two weeks.
Yesterday I got my paycheck and found that I had been charged for 9 more hours of leave than I had asked for. I had emailed my supervisor and her secretary several times that I was going to have Dec 30 be my regular day off, part of a 5-4 plan where I work 9 days of 9 hours each instead of 10 days of 8 hours in two weeks. I had intended to change the regular day off in the middle of the month, but for some reason they changed it at the end of the last month and charged me with 9 hours leave when I wanted a regular day off there. It seems that they want the official leave form instead of emails. A case of inflexible bureaucracy. But it gets worse. I had received an award of 16 hours off, and wanted to take 27 hours off to go to a conference. So I told them I wanted to take 11 hours of annual leave and 16 hours of award. But it seems they can't divide 16 by 9. It's true, 9 won't go into 16 evenly. So therefore I was going to take 9 hours of annual leave the first day, 2 hours of annual leave and 7 hours of award the next day, and 9 hours of award the last day. They could not get that second day straight.
My wife's workplace is no better. She works part time, so in 2 weeks she works 5 full-time days. This workplace can't do a 2 and 5 rhythm very well. For a while she worked 2 days one week and 3 the next, which is the same as 16 hours one week and 24 the next. That's reasonable. But the payroll people insist else Kingdom Come that each week must contain 20 hours of work. So now she is working one 4-hour day each week. She now goes to work 6 days instead of 5 in 2 weeks, with the same number of work hours, but spending more personal hours commuting, and consuming more oil.
It seems that mathematics is one discipline not well understood in today's society and we suffer because of it. By the way, did I say that 9 days of 9 hours was the same as 10 days of 8 hours above? That's 81=80. That doesn't match very well, but unless we can think of 81=80 at times, most of our music would never exist; see, for example, http://sonic-arts.org/dict/syncom.htm. At work they do let me have one hour off every two weeks.
Invade Iraq or no? What would Jesus do?
Pressure is developing to invade Iraq. Should the US do that? On the one hand, it seems that the US wants a favorable regime there so that it can get access to the 112 billion barrels of oil there. But on the other hand, Saddam Hussein has been one of the most threatening dictators in the region: he has invaded two neighboring countries and has used poison gas to kill about 5,000 Kurds. Further, he is suspected of harboring weapons of mass destruction. The world would be a better place without him.
Maybe Jesus would be of help here. He said, "Let he who has not sinned throw the first stone." That means that a force would be organized to overthrow the Iraqi government, but it would include only nations that don't themselves have weapons of mass destruction. This may be unrealistic since so many large nations have these weapons. So maybe if it is decided to go in and overthrow him, it would be a UN force that would do it, including French, German, and Russian troops. Iraq would then become a UN protectorate after the government is overthrown. This most likely would be a war, but it may be good not to call it one. Call it a police action. Saddam is a criminal, like the DC snipers were, and needs to be brought before justice. I foresee eventually a day in which war is just as unacceptable as ordinary crime to settle disputes, and I hope that the case of Iraq is a first step in that direction.
Pressure is developing to invade Iraq. Should the US do that? On the one hand, it seems that the US wants a favorable regime there so that it can get access to the 112 billion barrels of oil there. But on the other hand, Saddam Hussein has been one of the most threatening dictators in the region: he has invaded two neighboring countries and has used poison gas to kill about 5,000 Kurds. Further, he is suspected of harboring weapons of mass destruction. The world would be a better place without him.
Maybe Jesus would be of help here. He said, "Let he who has not sinned throw the first stone." That means that a force would be organized to overthrow the Iraqi government, but it would include only nations that don't themselves have weapons of mass destruction. This may be unrealistic since so many large nations have these weapons. So maybe if it is decided to go in and overthrow him, it would be a UN force that would do it, including French, German, and Russian troops. Iraq would then become a UN protectorate after the government is overthrown. This most likely would be a war, but it may be good not to call it one. Call it a police action. Saddam is a criminal, like the DC snipers were, and needs to be brought before justice. I foresee eventually a day in which war is just as unacceptable as ordinary crime to settle disputes, and I hope that the case of Iraq is a first step in that direction.
2003/01/20
Mathematics Conference
I took time out from my normal routine to go to a national mathematics conference in Baltimore last week. Baltimore's Inner Harbor is an attractive place. It is especially attractive at night where I saw the full moon hanging alongside the World Trade Center as a backdrop to the tall shafts of the frigate Constitution. The World Trade Center is an interesting building. It is five-sided, with a pentagon-shaped base, so that it looks attractive from any angle, since you always see at least two sides. It is unfortunate that its name and shape both remind us of a horror that occurred nearly a year and a half ago.
The conference brought me back to my graduate school days. I attended 44 talks, including three major addresses, and interviewed for several jobs. The most interesting talk was by Joe Silverman, who showed that elliptic curves occur all over the place in mathematics. The last presentation showed how laptop computers could be used to demonstrate mathematical concepts such as the graphs of quadratic and cubic equations. I wish I had access to some of those tools when I was growing up.
I took time out from my normal routine to go to a national mathematics conference in Baltimore last week. Baltimore's Inner Harbor is an attractive place. It is especially attractive at night where I saw the full moon hanging alongside the World Trade Center as a backdrop to the tall shafts of the frigate Constitution. The World Trade Center is an interesting building. It is five-sided, with a pentagon-shaped base, so that it looks attractive from any angle, since you always see at least two sides. It is unfortunate that its name and shape both remind us of a horror that occurred nearly a year and a half ago.
The conference brought me back to my graduate school days. I attended 44 talks, including three major addresses, and interviewed for several jobs. The most interesting talk was by Joe Silverman, who showed that elliptic curves occur all over the place in mathematics. The last presentation showed how laptop computers could be used to demonstrate mathematical concepts such as the graphs of quadratic and cubic equations. I wish I had access to some of those tools when I was growing up.
Martin Luther King Day
Today is a holiday in which we are to celebrate the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Workers get a day off. Children get a holiday from school, and many people attend celebrations in Rev. King's honor. Some think that this day is mainly for African Americans; after all, it was the treatment of African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s that led to Rev. King's movement and to his untimely death. This is not so. This day is for everyone. Rev. King's message is that the pursuit of happiness is something that belongs to everyone, regardless of religion, sexual orientation, race and so forth. It is a day to recognize that despite all our differences, we are all essentially alike. Children in Chesterfield County, Virginia, had to go to school today because it snowed in December. Why couldn't they have chosen some other day, such as a teacher workday? But teachers made the most of it anyway. They departed from their usual lessons to devote time in their classes to Dr. King and his message.
Today is a holiday in which we are to celebrate the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Workers get a day off. Children get a holiday from school, and many people attend celebrations in Rev. King's honor. Some think that this day is mainly for African Americans; after all, it was the treatment of African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s that led to Rev. King's movement and to his untimely death. This is not so. This day is for everyone. Rev. King's message is that the pursuit of happiness is something that belongs to everyone, regardless of religion, sexual orientation, race and so forth. It is a day to recognize that despite all our differences, we are all essentially alike. Children in Chesterfield County, Virginia, had to go to school today because it snowed in December. Why couldn't they have chosen some other day, such as a teacher workday? But teachers made the most of it anyway. They departed from their usual lessons to devote time in their classes to Dr. King and his message.
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