Archive for September 2010
Teach your children well…
It’s that time again: pencils, books, teachers’ dirty looks… Lest one forget that at least some students actually learn what they’re taught, Foreign Policy presents a round-up of “The World’s Worst Textbooks.”
There’s…
Saudi Arabia
“Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words (Islam, hellfire): Every religion other than ______________ is false. Whoever dies outside of Islam enters ____________.” — from a first-grade textbook
And then, there’s…
Texas, U.S.A.
“Explain how Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict.” And “Evaluate efforts by global organizations to undermine U.S. sovereignty.” — from study exercises proposed by the Texas School Board (thus, the “markers” to which textbook publishers create).
More on each of these examples, and others, at “The World’s Worst Textbooks.”
As we reach for our Zinn’s, we might recall that it was on this date in 2001 that, in an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declared a “war on terror.”
There’s no business like show business…
… there’s no business at all.
Consider Charlie Jane Anders’ wonderful collection of the “Most misleading and fanciful science fiction/fantasy movie posters ever!“– 55 gems, including one-sheets like…
Those frightening eyes? That "scuttling, shambling horde of creatures destroying all in their path"? Bunnies.
Or, from the “Video Homage” category…
... with a bonus extra leading man!!!
Peruse the 53 other films-that-might-have-been (in several cases, films-we’d-just-as-soon-they’d-made) here.
As we revisit Rotten Tomatoes, we might recall that it was on this date in 1888, in Spa (Belgium), that the first beauty contest was held. 21 finalists vied to be named “beauty queen”; the winner, 18- year-old Bertha Sukkar from Guadeloupe, took home 5,000 Francs.
Adventures in the Counterintuitive…
Your correspondent is headed away for a week or so, ranging more then ten times zones from home– the current limit to continuous timely posting of (R)D… So, while regular service will resume on-or-around the 20th, a little something to keep one occupied:
Readers will recall that, on the occasion of an earlier hiatus, your correspondent wheeled out “the Monty Hall Problem” (c.f., “Riddle Me This” and “Birdbrains“). This time, with thanks to Prof. Stan Wagon at Macalester College:
Alice and Bob face three doors marked 1, 2, 3. Behind the doors are placed, randomly, a car, a key, and a goat. The couple wins the car if Bob finds the car and Alice finds the key.
First Bob (with Alice removed from the scene) will open a door; if the car is not behind it he can open a second door. If he fails to find the car, they lose. If he does find the car, then all doors are closed and Alice gets to open a door in the hope of finding the key and, if not, trying again with a second door.
Alice and Bob do not communicate except to make a plan beforehand. What is their best strategy?
Source: A. S. Landsberg (Physics, Claremont Colleges, California), Letters, Spring 2009 issue of The Mathematical Intelligencer.
The answer is here— and more nifty puzzles, here.
As we craft our own strategies, we might solve a memorial problem for Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet, the French mathematician and physicist who is probably better known as Voltaire’s mistress; she died on this date in 1749. Fascinated by the work of Newton and Leibniz, she dressed as a man to frequent the cafes where the scientific discussions of the time were held. Her major work was a translation of Newton’s Principia, for which Voltaire wrote the preface. The work was published a decade after her death, and was for many years the only translation of the Principia into French.
Judge me for my own merits, or lack of them, but do not look upon me as a mere appendage to this great general or that great scholar, this star that shines at the court of France or that famed author. I am in my own right a whole person, responsible to myself alone for all that I am, all that I say, all that I do. it may be that there are metaphysicians and philosophers whose learning is greater than mine, although I have not met them. Yet, they are but frail humans, too, and have their faults; so, when I add the sum total of my graces, I confess I am inferior to no one.
– Mme du Châtelet to Frederick the Great of Prussia
Salting it away…
Medical authorities recommend that adults consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day– about 1,000 mg less than the average American actually ingests– lest one suffer high blood pressure, stroke, osteoporosis, and/or exercise-induced asthma.
From the folks at Rodale and Men’s Health, a cautionary guide to restaurant entrees across our heavily-salted nation: “30 Saltiest Foods in America.” Number 1? An offering that’s no slouch when it comes to calories and fat content, but that is an undisputed champion in the sodium sweepstakes:
P.F. Chang’s Wok Charred Beef
10,045 milligrams sodium
850 calories
30 g fat (15 g saturated)Sodium Equivalent = 31 Slabs of Hormel Canadian Style Bacon
Here are a few things with less salt than this sodium-sunk beef blowout: 244 Saltine crackers, 40 bags of Funyuns, 175 cups of Newman’s Butter popcorn, and 28 orders of McDonald’s large French fries.
As we aspire to life above the salt, we might recall that it was on this date in 1910 that Alice B. Toklas moved in with– and became the life-long house mate of– Gertrude Stein. Together, they turned their Parisian home at 22 rue de Fleurus into an artistic and literary salon, where they entertained Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald, among many others.
Toklas and Stein in the Piazza San Marco, Venice (source: Beinecke Library, Yale)
Among the eight million stories in the naked city…
found on the street in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago
From the inspirational (like the card above, and the note below)…
found on the street in Philadelphia (note: this page 6)
.. through the observational…
found in a gutter in Muncie, Indiana
… to the confessional…
found in the inside front cover of a Cook County (Chicago) Prison Library's discarded copy of Jean Genet's prison novel The Miracle of the Rose
… Found Magazine collects them.
As we aim more carefully at the recycling bin, we might recall that it was on this date in 1930 that Richard Gurley Brown invented Scotch Tape. Five years earlier, Brown had developed masking tape, which found an immediate market among painters. Applying the same approach to clear cellophane tape, Brown created the patriarch of what’s become a family of over 900 tapes.
“Scotch” was a reference to thrift. And indeed, Brown’s naming– and his timing– were exquisitely effective for his employer 3M (or Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, as then it was): during the Depression, Scotch tape became a hugely-popular mend-all, allowing millions of users to repair ripped, torn, or broken items– books, window shades, toys, clothing, and even paper currency– rather than buy new ones.
Richard Brown source: Invent Now
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