Archive for October 2011
From The Annals of Overachievement…
Bilbao-based David Calvo juggles three Rubik’s Cubes, while solving one of them…
[TotH to Laughing Squid]
As we do the Twist, we might recall that it was on this date in 1926 that Erik Weisz (under his stage name, Harry Houdini, the most acclaimed magician and escape artist of the 20th century) passed away. Twelve days earlier, Houdini had been talking to a group of students after a lecture in Montreal when he remarked on the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows. One of the students spontaneously punched Houdini, who hadn’t had time to prepare, rupturing the magician’s appendix. He fell ill on the train to Detroit; and, after performing there one last time, was hospitalized. Doctors operated, but to no avail: the burst appendix poisoned Houdini’s system, and on Halloween he died.
Now you don’t; now you see it…
Though your correspondent is certain that it’s no problem for any of you, Dear Readers, it’s a sad fact that the craft of exploratory romantic communication– flirting– is, for many, fraught with the risk of misunderstanding, as it all-too-often-unsuccessfully tries to avoid the Scylla and Charibdys of misbehavior and missed opportunity.
Well, benighted bar-goers need fret no more: Dutch designers Studio Roosegaarde, in collaboration with V2_Lab and fashion designer Anouk Wipprecht, have come to the rescue with a line of dresses that telegraph a girl’s interest– or lack thereof. Co.Design reports:
So say you meet some guy who sends your heart aflutter. The dress responds to your elevated pulse by growing transparent around the (already plenty skimpy) plunging neckline. Conversely, if he’s such a snooze that you’re about two seconds away from flat-lining, the dress stays opaque, sending an instant “no, thanks!”
The line, “Intimacy 2.0,” is a series of sensor-enabled cocktail dresses that expose more (indeed, ultimately rather a lot of) skin the more excited the wearer becomes; a combination of embedded sensors and conductive “smart foils” (that become see-through conducting electricity) do the trick… as demonstrated in this– suitable for the club, if NSFW– video:
Readers may have a friend who would be interested to know that the dresses are, in fact, on sale.
As we ponder the impact of static electricity, we might recall that it was on this date in 1811 that a very different take on courtship emerged: a first novel entitled Sense and Sensibility was published. At the time, only a handful of folks knew the identity of its creator– who was presented to the reading public on the novel’s title page as “a Lady.” But as the author’s work caught on, she began to publish under her real name– Jane Austen– and later got credit for her inaugural effort.
Title page from the first edition (source)
Slicing the pi…
Calculating the value of pi, the mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, is a Sisyphean task– it goes on forever. And from a practical point of view, it’s silly: resolution to just 39 digits is enough to calculate the circumference of a circle the size of the observable universe with an error no larger than the radius of a hydrogen atom.
Still, the quest continues. As i09 reports…
A pair of pi enthusiasts have calculated the largest chunk of the mathematical constant yet, reaching just over 10 trillion digits. Alexander Yee and Shigeru Kondo, respectively a computer scientist in the US and a systems engineer in Japan, fought hard-drive failures and narrowly missed widespread technical disruptions due to the Japan earthquake to break their previous Guinness world record of 5 trillion digits…
Read the whole story (well, the story-to-date) at “Epic pi quest sets 10 trillion digit record.”
As we remember that “pi aren’t square, pie are round,” we might recall that it was on this date in 1675 that Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz first used the “long S” as the symbol of the integral in calculus. Leibnitz’s first such uses were in in private manuscripts; the first public appearance was in his paper “De Geometria,” published in (the appropriately-titled) Acta Eruditorum in June 1686.
The integral of a function of x over the interval [a,b] (source)
The Venn Piagram…
The pie chart one can eat… from Reddit, via the ever-illuminating Flowing Data…
As we reach for our forks, we might spare a reasoned thought for the Enlightenment giant John Locke; the physician and philosopher died on this date in 1704. An intellectual descendant of Francis Bacon, Locke was among the first empiricists. He spent over 20 years developing the ideas he published in his most significant work, Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), an analysis of the nature of human reason which promoted experimentation as the basis of knowledge. Locke established “primary qualities” (e.g., solidity, extension, number) as distinct from “secondary qualities” (sensuous attributes like color or sound). He recognized that science is made possible when the primary qualities, as apprehended, create ideas that faithfully represent reality.
Locke is, of course, also well-remembered as a key developer (with Hobbes, and later Rousseau) of the concept of the Social Contract. Locke’s theory of “natural rights” influenced Voltaire and Rosseau– and formed the intellectual basis of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum…
This exploration of the challenges of time travel and five other famous thought experiments (Schrödinger’s Cat, Hilbert’s Infinite Hotel, et al.), all animated in 60 thought-provoking seconds, at the Open University’s “60-Second Adventures in Thought.”
Cogito ergo sum libens…
[TotH to Maria Popova/Brainpickings]
As we lean back in our armchairs, we might recall that it was on this date in 1964 that Sonny and Cher were hitched, if not in fact married.. The duo’s official press information from the early Sixties to the mid-Seventies averred that Sonny & Cher married October 27, 1964 in Tijuana, Mexico. In the event, Cher herself “married” them in the bathroom of their first home, where they simply exchanged rings and vows without the presence of family, friends or witnesses, or a minister.
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