August 10, 2005
The Golden Ratio
It is one of those pub conversations. How do you define the Golden Ratio? And what it is?
All the answers, simply put, are here.
Think of any two numbers. Make a third by adding the first and second, a fourth by adding the second and third, and so on. When you have written down about 20 numbers, calculate the ratio of the last to the second from last. The answer should be close to 1.6180339887...
It is the most irrational of all irrational numbers, and the one that crops up most often in random and mysteriously linked contexts, like the clues left by a murderer. It is what links the face of the Mona Lisa to the physics of the black hole. It has any number of weird properties: you can square it by adding the number 1 to it. Puzzling and pleasing.
Posted by Mark at 3:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 3, 2005
The War on Drugs
A few years ago a jokey article in the Onion had the headline:
The War on Drugs is Over
- Drugs won
This article from the Washington Times would seem to support that idea. After the US has spent billions training Mexican soldiers to combat the drug trade, these folk - known as Zetas - are selling themselves as hired murderers to the Mexican drugs cartels, working both sides of the border. In Nuevo Laredo the last police chief was assassinated within seven hours of taking office. His successor was attacked in a drive-by shooting on day one which killed his bodyguard. Now the killings are spreading to Texas.
Posted by Mark at 10:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 2, 2005
Hamlet made easy - kinda
"No fear Shakespeare" is said to take the sting out of Shakespeare. This is his version of "To be or not to be" (Thanks to Mad Professor)
The question is: is it better to be alive or dead? Is it nobler to put up with all the nasty things that luck throws your way, or to fight against all those troubles by simply putting an end to them once and for all? Dying, sleeping—that’s all dying is—a sleep that ends all the heartache and shocks that life on earth gives us—that’s an achievement to wish for. To die, to sleep—to sleep, maybe to dream. Ah, but there’s the catch: in death’s sleep who knows what kind of dreams might come, after we’ve shaken off the flesh from our souls. That’s certainly something to worry about. That’s the consideration that makes us stretch out our sufferings so long. After all, who would put up with all life’s humiliations —the abuse from superiors, the insults of arrogant men, the pangs of unrequited love, the inefficiency of the legal system, the rudeness of people in office, and the mistreatment good people have to take from bad—when you could simply take out your knife and call it quits? Who would choose to grunt and sweat through an exhausting life, unless they were afraid of something dreadful after death, the undiscovered country from which no visitor returns, which we wonder about without getting any answers from and which makes us stick to the evils we know rather than rush off to seek the ones we don’t? Fear of death makes us all cowards, and our natural boldness becomes weak with too much thinking. Actions that should be carried out at once get misdirected, and stop being actions at all. But shh, here comes the beautiful Ophelia. Pretty lady, please remember me when you pray.
Favourite bits:
That's certainly something to worry about (no shit!)
Pretty lady (yeah, dude?)
Posted by Mark at 3:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack