Mostly Poetry

Me and My Valentine

2012-02-14T22:40:00.001-08:00

Camellia

2012-02-06T18:26:00.001-08:00

I don't pay tons of attention to what's in my garden, but a friend was enjoying the camellia in the backyard. It was here when we moved in, so I can take no credit, but now they're catching my eye too, so I thought I'd share them.

Startled and Excited

2012-01-25T23:05:00.000-08:00

I walked out of my office and into the hallway yesterday and was startled by an image on the bulletin board that caught my attention. It took a moment to register that I was looking at a picture of myself! Yeah, I knew I was giving the talk; I just didn't know posters were ready or up yet, and there I was - staring myself in the face! So I was startled, but I'm excited about the talk - always fun to show people some cool mathematics! For a description of the talk see what I've written below the poster image.

"Young children know the truth. They know that numbers and shapes are fun. They play counting-out games like "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,"and they put numerical values to the letters of their names to play at predicting their futures. They doodle with geometric shapes, and they challenge each other to see who can name the biggest number. But that enjoyment of math fades for most people and is often replaced by boredom or even fear. In this talk we will explore together the playful side of mathematics through tracings, tilings and tangles. But be careful! This is more serious than you might think! It is often curiosity and play that give rise to powerful real-world applications."

African Fractals on TED

2012-01-22T21:20:00.001-08:00

to be sung by Niels Bohr

2012-01-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

Threes
by John Atherton
(to be sung by Niels Bohr)

Update

2012-01-15T22:32:00.000-08:00

Wow - can't believe I hadn't posted anything this year!

I have some great poems to put up, but I'm a bit hesitant because my hubby gets a little disconcerted when I post dark poetry.

Ah well . . .

Anthony has been back at college in Michigan for a week and a half for winter term. The rest of us have just finished up the first week of our new semester. I'm pleased to report I had what was probably the best first week of a semester ever! It's busy and overwhelming, of course, as beginnings of semesters always are, but all of my classes seem to have fun personalities, and that is the big thing! That makes all the difference.

I can't believe this is Jacob's last semester of high school - last semester here under our roof. I don't know what Caleb is going to do with just Mom and Dad to hang out with!

Let's see - other random stuff - David did his annual polar bear jump into the swimming pool on January 1, silly guy! - a couple of my colleagues came over yesterday and taught us a new board game, fun stuff! - I'm (re)reading That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis, hoping to finish before book club Thursday! - we get tomorrow off in observance of Martin Luther King Junior's birthday, yea! - along with teaching and heading up the tutoring center I'm spending a lot of time meticulously planning a talk I'll be giving in March - also, I've decided there's no point in putting off the items on my bucket list, so I've signed up to take organ lessons beginning in May. I'm pretty excited about that!

I'm also going to try to post here more often again, but it might be dark poetry! :-)

Prayer

2011-12-31T22:43:00.000-08:00

Another year is dawning, dear Father, let it be
In working or in waiting, another year with Thee.
Another year of progress, another year of praise,
Another year of proving Thy presence all the days.

... Another year of mercies, of faithfulness and grace,
Another year of gladness in the shining of Thy face;
Another year of leaning upon Thy loving breast;
Another year of trusting, of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service, of witness for Thy love,
Another year of training for holier work above.
Another year is dawning, dear Father, let it be
On earth, or else in Heaven, another year for Thee.

Christmas Eve Family Pics

2011-12-25T15:55:00.000-08:00

Real Analysis for Music Majors

2011-12-14T00:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess this is becoming "Mostly Math" instead of "Mostly Poetry." Of course, I think they're the same thing, so . . . . and right now I think this version of "poetry" is better as my husband was getting a little tired of and concerned about the series of dark poems I was putting up a while ago.

This post is actually in honor of Anthony who gets to take his Real Analysis final Thursday after taking his philosophy final later today. This video was recently created by the student of a friend of mine. My only question is how wealthy he must be to jump into a swimming pool with his Real Analysis book. Those things are EXPENSIVE!

Click here to see video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSBquYIXHns

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR FINALS ANTHONY!
AND JACOB! (who has calculus tomorrow - I mean later today!)
AND CALEB!

A Physicist Does Math

2011-11-27T20:08:00.001-08:00

Just for fun:

Escher

2011-11-18T17:36:00.000-08:00

I'll be giving a talk this spring titled "Infinite Possibility: The Importance of Mathematical Play." One of my three topics will be M. C. Escher's work with tessellations. I was sharing about this with a friend today and was surprised to learn that Escher is not universally known. His work has been a part of my life so long I thought everyone was familiar with it, so I decided to post a few of my favorites of his work - each having some mathematical aspect to it.

11

2011-11-11T12:58:00.001-08:00

Caleb let me borrow his digital watch so I wouldn't miss the moment :-)

Floods Have Slit the Hills

2011-11-07T08:29:00.001-08:00

The Brain, within its Groove
Runs evenly-and true-
But let a Splinter swerve-
'Twere easier for You-

To put a Current back-
When Floods have slit the Hills-
And scooped a Turnpike for Themselves-
And trodden out the Mills-

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

UH-HUH!

2011-10-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

It's All About Caleb!

2011-10-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

Caleb has taken on cross-country this year as well as his studies - in which he is maintaining excellence. I've been wanting to get a post up - but I've taken on a 33% overload at work and haven't had a chance to "celebrate" Caleb in this way as much as I'd like. So here's a beginning:

Looking sharp in his uniform.

With his teammates before the race.

Chillin' at the start line - getting ready to go.

And they're off!!

Cheering on his teammates!

We're proud of you Caleb!!! And we're cheering you on every step of the way!

More to come when I get another moment!

Found on Facebook

2011-10-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

My New Office :-)

2011-10-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

This semester - after a year in portables - we got to move into newly-remodeled "Founder's Hall." My new office is beautiful (and also my third move in as many years), so I'm sure hoping to stay in this one a while!

Teaching is a lot of work, but once in a while there's time for fun in the midst of it - gaming with my totally awesome colleague Ross:

Modern Telephone Game

2011-10-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Math

2011-09-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

Be as Branches

2011-09-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

Mortal flesh, is not your place in the ground?--Why do you stare so
At the bright planet serene in the clear green evening sky above the many-coloured streaked clouds?--
Your brows drawn together as if to chide, your mouth set as if in anger.

Learn to love blackness while there is yet time, blackness
Unpatterned, blackness without horizons.

Beautiful are the trees in autumn, the emerald pines
Dark among the light-red leaves of the maple and the dark-red
Leaves of the white oak and the indigo long
Leaves of the white ash.
But why do you stand so, staring with stern face of ecstasy at the autumn leaves,
At the boughs hung with banners along the road as if a procession were about to pass?

Learn to love roots instead, that soon above your head shall be as branches.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

Something

2011-09-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

"We're all lonely for something we don't know we're lonely for. How else to explain the curious feeling that goes around feeling like missing somebody we've never even met?”

― David Foster Wallace

Parker

2011-09-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

Résumé

Razors pain you; Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful; Nooses give;
Gas smells awful; You might as well live.

-- Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)

Millay

2011-09-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

“CURSE thee, Life, I will live with thee no more!
Thou hast mocked me, starved me, beat my body sore!
And all for a pledge that was not pledged by me,
I have kissed thy crust and eaten sparingly
That I might eat again, and met thy sneers
With deprecations, and thy blows with tears,—
Aye, from thy glutted lash, glad, crawled away,
As if spent passion were a holiday!
And now I go. Nor threat, nor easy vow
Of tardy kindness can avail thee now
With me, whence fear and faith alike are flown;
Lonely I came, and I depart alone,
And know not where nor unto whom I go;
But that thou canst not follow me I know.”

Thus I to Life, and ceased; but through my brain
My thought ran still, until I spake again:

“Ah, but I go not as I came,—no trace
Is mine to bear away of that old grace
I brought! I have been heated in thy fires,
Bent by thy hands, fashioned to thy desires,
Thy mark is on me! I am not the same
Nor ever more shall be, as when I came.
Ashes am I of all that once I seemed.
In me all’s sunk that leapt, and all that dreamed
Is wakeful for alarm,—oh, shame to thee,
For the ill change that thou hast wrought in me,
Who laugh no more nor lift my throat to sing!
Ah, life, I would have been a pleasant thing
To have about the house when I was grown
If thou hadst left my little joys alone!
I asked of thee no favor save this one:
That thou wouldst leave me playing in the sun!
And this thou didst deny, calling my name
Insistently, until I rose and came.
I saw the sun no more.—It were not well
So long on these unpleasant thoughts to dwell,
Need I arise to-morrow and renew
Again my hated tasks, but I am through
With all things save my thoughts and this one night,
So that in truth I seem already quite
Free and remote from thee,—I feel no haste
And no reluctance to depart; I taste
Merely, with thoughtful mien, an unknown draught,
That in a little while I shall have quaffed.”

Thus I to Life, and ceased, and slightly smiled,
Looking at nothing; and my thin dreams filed
Before me one by one till once again
I set new words unto an old refrain:

“Treasures thou hast that never have been mine!
Warm lights in many a secret chamber shine
Of thy gaunt house, and gusts of song have blown
Like blossoms out to me that sat alone!
And I have waited well for thee to show
If any share were mine,—and now I go!
Nothing I leave, and if I naught attain
I shall but come into mine own again!”
Thus I to Life, and ceased, and spake no more,
But turning, straightway, sought a certain door
In the rear wall. Heavy it was, and low
And dark,—a way by which none e’er would go
That other exit had, and never knock
Was heard thereat,—bearing a curious lock
Some chance had shown me fashioned faultily,
Whereof Life held content the useless key,
And great coarse hinges, thick and rough with rust,
Whose sudden voice across a silence must,
I knew, be harsh and horrible to hear,—
A strange door, ugly like a dwarf.—So near
I came I felt upon my feet the chill
Of acid wind creeping across the sill.
So stood longtime, till over me at last
Came weariness, and all things other passed
To make it room; the still night drifted deep
Like snow about me, and I longed for sleep.

But, suddenly, marking the morning hour,
Bayed the deep-throated bell within the tower!
Startled, I raised my head,—and with a shout
Laid hold upon the latch,—and was without.

. . . . . .

Ah, long-forgotten, well-remembered road,
Leading me back unto my old abode,
My father’s house! There in the night I came,
And found them feasting, and all things the same
As they had been before. A splendour hung
Upon the walls, and such sweet songs were sung
As, echoing out of very long ago,
Had called me from the house of Life, I know.
So fair their raiment shone I looked in shame
On the unlovely garb in which I came;
Then straightway at my hesitancy mocked:
“It is my father’s house!” I said and knocked;
And the door opened. To the shining crowd
Tattered and dark I entered, like a cloud,
Seeing no face but his; to him I crept,
And “Father!” I cried, and clasped his knees, and wept.

Ah, days of joy that followed! All alone
I wandered through the house. My own, my own,
My own to touch, my own to taste and smell,
All I had lacked so long and loved so well!
None shook me out of sleep, nor hushed my song,
Nor called me in from the sunlight all day long.

I know not when the wonder came to me
Of what my father’s business might be,
And whither fared and on what errands bent
The tall and gracious messengers he sent.
Yet one day with no song from dawn till night
Wondering, I sat, and watched them out of sight.
And the next day I called; and on the third
Asked them if I might go,—but no one heard.
Then, sick with longing, I arose at last
And went unto my father,—in that vast
Chamber wherein he for so many years
Has sat, surrounded by his charts and spheres.
“Father,” I said, “Father, I cannot play
The harp that thou didst give me, and all day
I sit in idleness, while to and fro
About me thy serene, grave servants go;
And I am weary of my lonely ease.
Better a perilous journey overseas
Away from thee, than this, the life I lead,
To sit all day in the sunshine like a weed
That grows to naught,—I love thee more than they
Who serve thee most; yet serve thee in no way.
Father, I beg of thee a little task
To dignify my days,—’tis all I ask
Forever, but forever, this denied,
I perish.”
“Child,” my father’s voice replied,
“All things thy fancy hath desired of me
Thou hast received. I have prepared for thee
Within my house a spacious chamber, where
Are delicate things to handle and to wear,
And all these things are thine. Dost thou love song?
My minstrels shall attend thee all day long.
Or sigh for flowers? My fairest gardens stand
Open as fields to thee on every hand.
And all thy days this word shall hold the same:
No pleasure shalt thou lack that thou shalt name.
But as for tasks—” he smiled, and shook his head;
“Thou hadst thy task, and laidst it by,” he said.

The Suicide by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

Fitting Tribute

2011-09-15T20:34:00.001-07:00

"To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived . . . this is to have succeeded." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

This quote fits Al so well, and he will be greatly missed.

It Yet Waves

2011-09-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

Gone Too Soon - EB and AH

2011-09-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

WITH rue my heart is laden
For golden friends I had,
For many a rose-lipt maiden
And many a lightfoot lad.

By brooks too broad for leaping
The lightfoot boys are laid;
The rose-lipt girls are sleeping
In fields where roses fade.

A. E. Housman 1896

Letting Go Again

2011-09-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

Well, last year at about this time I was scanning and posting pictures of Anthony from babyhood to age 5. This year I'm working from the other end and putting up recent ones - from this summer's excursions to one of his favorite places, Knight's Ferry. I guess this will be my annual mother's therapy session as I say "good-bye" and he travels a couple thousand miles away to go to college. I absolutely know he is going where he needs to be and is absolutely thriving there in every possible way - and I'm so excited for him, but I don't know if I'll ever get used to my kids leaving the "nest." I miss him like crazy!

Belated, Etc.

2011-08-28T22:36:00.001-07:00

Bet ya didn't know I was 451 years old, didja?! I owe my youthful appearance to large portions of dark chocolate consumed at regular intervals!

In my old age my memory is failing a bit, and I forgot to send birthday greetings to my "twins" before our shared birthday was over. Belatedly but wholeheartedly wishing a good new year of life to:

NETHE
KEITH
LAWERENCE
JOAN

And may you all live as long as I!

What Have We Done?!

2011-08-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

Click HERE to view video.

How it Should Have Ended

2011-08-20T22:57:00.001-07:00

L'Chaim!

2011-08-12T10:57:00.001-07:00

To life!

Destiny with Men

2011-08-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

'Tis all a Checker-board of Nights and Days
where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:
Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays,
and one by one back in the Closet lays.

Omar Khayyám (1048-1131)

Self-Abdication

2011-08-07T01:31:00.000-07:00

People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim.

What I've learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one's reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one's master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person's view requires to be faked. And if one gains the immediate purpose of the lie -- the price one pays is the destructions of that which the gain was intended to serve.

...there are no white lies, there is only the blackness of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.

Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged

True 60 Times Over (and then some)

2011-08-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes there's wisdom even in a card game.
The flavor text (italicized) says it all!

Church Sign

2011-08-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

"The ability to lie is a liability."

while i am away

2011-08-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

as any(men's hells having wrestled with)
man drops into his own paradise
thakfully
whole and the green whereless truth
of an eternal now welcomes each was
of whom among not numerable ams

(leaving a perfectly distinct unhe;
a ticking phantom by prodigious time's
mere brain contrived:a spook of stop and go)
may i achieve another steepest thing--

how more than sleep illimitably my
--being so very born no bird can sing
as easily creation up all sky

(really unreal world,will you perhaps do
the breathing for me while i am away?)

e. e. cummings (1894-1962)

Miles to Go

2011-07-27T23:53:00.000-07:00

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Monday Morning Humor

2011-07-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

Click to view:
Monday Morning Humor

I'd Rather

2011-07-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

I would not paint--a picture--
I'd rather be the One
Its bright impossibility
To dwell--delicious--on--
And wonder how the fingers feel
Whose rare--celestial--stir--
Evokes so sweet a Torment--
Such sumptuous--Despair--

I would not talk, like Cornets--
I'd rather be the One
Raised softly to the Ceilings--
And out, and easy on--
Through Villages of Ether--
Myself endued Balloon
By but a lip of Metal--
The pier to my Pontoon--

Nor would I be a Poet--
Its finer--own the Ear--
Enamored--impotent--content--
The License to revere,
A privilege so awful
What would the Dower be,
Had I the Art to stun myself
With Bolts of Melody!

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Summer Meyer Family Pics

2011-07-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

With all the configurations of pictures we took you'd think it was a wedding, but it was just the Fourth of July!

Here's the whole fam - well, sans Dale :-(
Siblings - with Mom then on their own: Grandkids - with Grandma, then on their own:
And my kids:

Leap Before You Look

2011-07-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

The sense of danger must not disappear:
The way is certainly both short and steep,
However gradual it looks from here;
Look if you like, but you will have to leap.

Tough-minded men get mushy in their sleep
And break the by-laws any fool can keep;
It is not the convention but the fear
That has a tendency to disappear.

The worried efforts of the busy heap,
The dirt, the imprecision, and the beer
Produce a few samrt wisecracke every year;
Laugh if you can, but you will have to leap.

The clothes that are considered right to wear
Will not be either sensible or cheap,
So long as we consent to live like sheep
And never mention those who disappear.

Much can be said for social savior-faire,
Bu to rejoice when no one else is there
Is even harder than it is to weep;
No one is watching, but you have to leap.

A solitude ten thousand fathoms deep
Sustains the bed on which we lie, my dear:
Although I love you, you will have to leap;
Our dream of safety has to disappear.

W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

Song Making

2011-06-22T00:03:00.000-07:00

My heart cried like a beaten child
Ceaselessly all night long;
I had to take my own cries
And thread them into song.

One was a cry at black midnight
And one when the first cock crew--
My heart was like a beaten child,
But no one ever knew.

Life, you have put me in your debt
And I must serve you long--
But oh, the debt is terrible
That must be paid in song.

Sara Teasdale, 1916

Nearly Silver

2011-06-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

24 years ago today:

Go Grand Rapids!

2011-06-03T18:30:00.001-07:00

This looks like a happenin' place. I think we'll take our vacation here this summer!

Caleb's 8th Grade Graduation

2011-05-31T17:32:00.001-07:00

Caleb Jon Meyer of the Hickman Middle School class of 2011! :-)

Caleb receiving the award from the Daughters of the American Revolution

Caleb receiving the President's Award for Academic Achievement

And now for the diploma

Brothers!

Buddies and fellow graduates: Curtis and Caleb

Yummy cake!

Universality?

2011-05-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

from xkcd: http://xkcd.com/638/

IT'S MAY TWENTY-TWO

2011-05-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

In case you somehow missed the recent hoopla, note the date on the billboard below and that supposed associated event:

Here's today's follow-up:

OK Go

2011-05-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad I have kids who bring such things to my attention!

Honor

2011-05-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

Caleb was in Washington DC last week on his 8th-grade trip. He was one of 3 students selected by virtue of an essay to have the honor of honoring our fallen heros who are "known but to God."

No New Taxes?

2011-05-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Click on image to enlarge:

Steps to Your Eternity

2011-05-08T15:11:00.001-07:00

You that seek what life is in death,
Now find it air that once was breath.
New names unknown, old names gone:
Till time end bodies, but souls none.
Reader! then make time, while you be,
But steps to your eternity.

Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke (1554-1628)

Mathematical Wrinkle

2011-05-03T23:03:00.000-07:00

Now that exams are over (see picture at bottom of post), I get to switch gears and am looking forward to a change of pace. I love teaching, but it doesn't leave much time for anything else, and I am so looking forward to reading and writing - doing my own study for a while instead of guiding others in theirs!

While moving into my new mode today I grabbed a book off my shelf that I had forgotten I had. It was first published in 1912, and I see by the markings inside that I purchased it at the local used bookstore, Yesterday's Books. It's called Mathematical Wrinkles and is by S. I. Jones "Formerly Professor of Mathematics, David Lipscomb College, and Assistant Secretary and Treasurer of Life and Casualty Insurance Company, Nashville Tennessee" (as it says behind his name on the title page) - a serious-sounding gentleman.

I paged through it and realize I must have picked it up for its collection of contest-type problems. I often write tests for math competitions, so I'm always looking for new or old or different ideas. I find I can use some of the ideas, but many problems are clearly from a more agricultural time in our nation and/or use archaic language:

"A square field contains 10 acres. What will it cost to fence it at $1.25 per rod?"

"A banker discounts a note at 9% per annum, thereby getting 10% per annum interest. How long does the note run?"

The author seemed to have two intents in publishing, one was to provide recreational problems for math clubs (which is why I picked it up) and another was to provide supplemental problems for classroom teachers. He puts it as follows:

"About the time the First Edition appeared, the first Mathematics Clubs in Secondary Schools in this country were being organized. Since that time greater interest has been aroused in the study of the by-paths of Mathematics and new emphasis has been placed on recreational values. The mind has always found pleasure in puzzles, tricks and curiosities of all kinds. This is true of both young and old, of every land, age, and clime."

And:

"This book is intended to be helpful to be a helpful companion to teachers, and to impart to students a knowledge of the applications of mathematical principles, which cannot be obtained from text-books. The present-day teacher has little time for selection of suitable problems of supplementary work. This book is designed to meet the requirements of teachers who feel such extra assignments essential to thorough work."

It is a quaint and lovely little volume, and (with appropriate changes) I have used some of the problems to inform my contest writing, but what really caught my attention in terms of change in our society is that in this serious little volume by this august-sounding author, written for public school teachers and math clubs in secondary schools, is a section on the fourth dimension which quotes a variety of Bible verses in a manner that clearly assumes everyone is familiar with them and speaks unabashedly of the spiritual implications of higher dimensional geometry. Here is a sample:

"The question now arises: Why may there not be a space of four dimensions and thus a geometry of four dimensions in which the exact position of a point may be determined by measuring in four perpendicular directions? This question is one we cannot escape. Paul may have had the fourth dimension in mind, when, speaking of spiritual life, he said, `That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height' (Eph. 3:17, 18); or when he wrote, `I knew a man whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell, how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words' (2 Cor. 12:2, 3). What did John mean when he `was in the spirit viewing the Heavenly Jerusalem' and said, `The city lieth foursquare' (Rev. 21:16)? Was Christ's transfigured body which appeared in the midst of a closed room a four-dimensional body? Was the ascension like a disappearance? Although these questions cannot be answered by man, we are certain that the term fourth-dimensional came to us from a firm believer in spiritual life."

"Now, if there be a four-dimensional world, our three-dimensional space must lie in its midst. All people would then be three-dimensional shadows of four-dimensional beings. We could only become endowed with four-dimensional knowledge or become four-dimensional beings by supernatural means. We could move in a four-dimensional being, and not understand how such a thing is possible. If there be such a thing as a four-dimensional being, it would perhaps assist us in understanding the following scripture, `That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being' (Acts 17:27, 28)"

Speaking of the fourth dimension, paging through this book has made me feel like I've traveled in time and had a glimpse of a very different era! I'm eager to read further! I'm also just eager to continue to peruse my book shelves, to discover and learn, to read and to write. Ahhhh...summer... :-)

As promised, here is a photo of what my very recent past contained. I think I will develop a new term for measure, and that term is "a tome of grading!" These are the final exams I graded this weekend juxtaposed with the longest novel I possess! The exams comprised somewhat more than a tome of grading!

April 20

2011-04-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

It is a crazy-busy time right now with school winding up as it winds down - cram night, exam writing, exam grading, finalizing records, trying to assuage student distress, etc., etc. It's also kind of a special day - my grandpa's 98th birthday, and the anniversary of the day David and I got engaged :-)

In the midst of the craziness I still couldn't resist driving 90-ish miles to go to a math lecture at Stanford. The title Linguistics, Poetry, and Mathematics (my three very most favorite topics) just made it too tempting to me to resist. Not only that but the speaker, Dr. Majul Bhargava of Princeton, got his Ph.D. under Andrew Wiles (of Fermat's Last Theorem fame), so that added to the draw for me. Besides, I hadn't been out of town in as long as I can remember, so it was time for an adventure.

As part of the adventure I arrived a bit early and just enjoyed Stanford's beautiful campus - with my eye and with my camera.

One thing I was very pleased to see is that the speaker used overhead projectors - my favorite, yet much maligned, mode of presentation! (Note the good-sized crowd.)

Here's a close-up (note that the poetry he focused on was Sanskrit poetry):

The Case for Obscurity (or Good Advice!)

2011-04-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

THE CASE FOR OBSCURITY
On Thoughts and Words I.

If no thought
your mind does visit,
make your speech
not too explicit.

Piet Hein (1905-1996)

MysteryGuitarMan Fractal

2011-04-08T18:37:00.001-07:00

...self-similarity...detail at all scales...hmm...seems MysteryGuitarMan is channeling fractals...

Music to Grade by

2011-04-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

After dinner, conversation and play with extended family tonight it was hard to come home and get into grading. I've been using YouTube as my "playlist" tonight - just searching as I went for what seemed would make me feel happy and take my mind off of work. Music to grade by:

Beethoven's 7th Symphony

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in d minor

Bach's Now Thank We All Our God

B. Marcello's Psalm 19

Lemmens' Fanfare and Toccata

And (thanks to Caleb) The Theme from Super Smash Bro's Luigi's Mansion (below). Does anybody know if this is based on a piece of classical/baroque music? It sure sounds like it (especially right around 0:40).

Cogito Ergo Sum?

2011-04-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

xkcd: original at http://xkcd.com/876/

OH NO!

2011-04-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

I opened the paper today and found this! How can it be?!
I LOVE the Jumble!

Huh?

2011-03-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

The stories I was hearing at work today were making me wonder if this were April 1 rather than March 21! These might be "had to be there" situations, but I'm gonna share them anyway.

STORY #1

One of my colleagues is particularly concerned about people smoking in non-smoking areas. He has a daughter who suffered terribly from asthma, and he spent many hours in ER with her throughout her childhood, so he knows what second-hand smoke can do, particularly to those with health issues. Whenever he sees a someone smoking in a non-designated area on campus, he points it out to them and asks them to stop.

This happened today. He was walking across campus, saw someone with smoke curling up from their fingers, and he let them know they couldn't smoke there. The person said to him:

"Oh . . . it's OK . . . I'm not smoking it, I'm just holding it."

HUH?

STORY #2

We have to be careful to protect student confidentiality in all areas - one of them being grades. This is a bit tricky, because students like to have instructors post grades so they can check what is officially recorded for them. We obviously can't use names, and we really aren't supposed to use ID numbers. One of my colleagues was looking for an idea of how to post grades while at the same time protecting privacy. He was given the idea of having students make up nicknames for themselves that others wouldn't guess and then posting the grades using the nicknames.

So off he went to class to implement this new idea. He asked the students to take out a piece of paper and write their name on it and then a nickname that could be used for posting purposes. More than one student turned in the paper with only their new nickname (apparently thinking he was psychic - in which case why turn it in at all?). Also while the students were at work on this one shouted out to him, "Can't you just pass around one piece of paper and have us all write our names and nicknames on it?!"

HUH?

CONCLUSION: We do our best as faculty to protect our students' health and privacy, but sometimes . . . sometimes . . . uh . . . you know . . . sometimes we're just left scratching our heads! (and maybe chuckling a bit too :-)

Pi Day Follow Up: Math Rocks!

2011-03-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

Happy PI Day!!

2011-03-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

- a shout out to Wade for sending this on - Thanks!!

And happy birthday to 3 of my favorite people: Sue, Carla and Einstein! :-)

Seeking Your Input!

2011-03-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

I always want to keep my classes lively. A topic coming up in my liberal arts math class is logic - you know, reasoning and statements and syllogisms and truth tables and so on. As I cover this topic I want to bring in some attention-grabbing, interesting items from popular culture. For instance there is the "Battle of Wits" in the movie The Princess Bride; there is the Ferry Scene in Batman: Dark Knight; there is a scene in the 1986 movie Labyrinth, where the heroine has to decide what door to choose (see clip at bottom of post).

There are examples in literature as well, what comes most immediately to mind is Lewis Carroll's work in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. There are the writings of philosopher, mathematician, pianist Raymond Smullyan.

I'm looking for any well-known books, movies, commercials, cartoons, comics, poems, games, and/or other items that involve logic puzzles in any way in order to bring this to life for my students - whether you are a math teacher, a student who saw something cool in class, or someone who has just come across something along these lines, please send it on to me in the comments section!

THANKS!!!

Renewed Hope

2011-03-05T22:36:00.000-08:00

I found myself in an oasis of hope today.

With the ongoing economic crisis and states making budget cuts and all the rancor and finger-pointing going on - much of it pointed at education and many negative things being said about teachers and schooling in general, I was so refreshed by being in the midst of a picture of all that's right and hopeful in education right now.

The county Science Olympiad was today, a competition for junior high and high school students. There were literally thousands of people involved. What struck me was all the volunteers and supporters. Many of my colleagues (science professors) were creating and running events - as were other volunteers including students from the college, teacher/coaches and parents were there supporting the kids - as were administrators from many of the schools involved as well as at the college hosting it (dean and VP of instruction) and the county superintendent of education, huge teams of kids from many schools were involved. That too was encouraging, as I too often read in the paper how we are falling behind other countries and as I too often hear from students such things as "Why do we have to learn this?" - not today - not with this group - and it was a BIG group. The kids were engaged and totally jazzed about what they were doing, and those who won (though cool teenagers) were not shy about showing their enthusiasm!

This gives me hope for our future!

Today I saw everything that was right about education - enthusiastic kids, administrators from all levels there all day on a Saturday to cheer the kids on, parents and other family members encouraging the kids and interacting with educators, college professors using their time and energy to make a difference for kids in grades 7-12, and teachers who go above and beyond their classroom responsibilities to take time throughout the year to coach the kids and then to be there all day with them, and I do mean all day. It was an 8am to 5:30pm even on a Saturday. Nobody got paid for this. It was all about the kids. All these people were there volunteering to promote education and science and for the benefit of these kids. Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!

Kudos to all involved.

Pictures yet to come (once I get the camera from David).

POP!

2011-02-23T16:26:00.001-08:00

Buds have been nearly bursting on the trees for a while now. I hadn't noticed any blossoms on ours until I left for work this morning. It seems like they popped just today. I love February in northern California!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T21:37:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Caleb we do it up big around here for Valentine's! A few years back he initiated the idea of "Valentine's Bags" (kinda like Christmas Stockings). We just opened ours tonight:

Here's my loot:
GET IT??

Would you ever have guessed he was such a romantic guy??

I love it that my hubby is such an artist! :-)

Heisenberg's at Home

2011-02-13T12:11:00.001-08:00

Click to enlarge - or go to the original at http://xkcd.com/824/ on Randall Munroe's site XKCD: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

To the Core of All

2011-02-12T22:35:00.000-08:00

Should something from the window fall
(and if it just the smallest be)
how jumps the law of gravity
as mighty as wind from the sea
at every ball or blueberry
and take them to the core of all.

from The Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke

The Belle of Amherst

2011-02-04T23:44:00.000-08:00

I was the slightest in the House—
I took the smallest Room—
At night, my little Lamp, and Book—
And one Geranium—

So stationed I could catch the Mint
That never ceased to fall—
And just my Basket—
Let me think—I'm sure—
That this was all—

I never spoke—unless addressed—
And then, 'twas brief and low—
I could not bear to live—aloud—
The Racket shamed me so—

And if it had not been so far—
And any one I knew
Were going—I had often thought
How noteless—I could die—

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Human Calculator

2011-01-26T22:13:00.000-08:00

(from Stan Lee's Superhuman Bios at History.com)

Convergence

2011-01-23T15:01:00.000-08:00

I picked up the paper today and found an article on what I posted about earlier this week - based on the texting woman falling into a fountain. The newspaper article, by David Bauer of the Associated Press is titled:

SMART PHONES, DUMB HABITS: New Yorker says talkers have replaced tourists as sidewalks' biggest headache.

Here are some quotes:

"It was a miserable morning in New York, rain falling heavily and a 30 mph wind that made holding an umbrella difficult. Yet a man walked briskly up Fifth Avenue, balancing his umbrella and dodging pedestrians as he texted from his smart phone.

As a sheer physical act, it was almost Olympian in the strength, dexterity and concentration required.

It was also completely ridiculous.

It was RAINING. And cold. The man was, let's presume, minutes from some destination. At any moment, he could spear a fellow pedestrian with his umbrella because he was only marginally paying attention to where he was going. What message could possibly be so important that it couldn't wait?

While smart phones and other electronic devices changed popular culture by offering an ability to always stay connected, they have so swiftly turned into such a compelling need that a simple walk down the street is considered wasted time.

...

Smart phones have replaced tourists as New York pedestrians' biggest headache. We used to disdain people from out of town when they wandered slowly on the sidewalks, looking skyward at tall buildings and muttering as we walked by with purpose.

Now we're the menace.

We also used to walk with a certain amount of hyperawareness. Remember muggers creeping from dark corners? Pickpockets who worked the crowds? Now many people walk down the street oblivious to their surroundings, fiddling with an electronic device worth hundreds of dollars.

...

I've been to parties where clumps of people stared into devices, or texted, instead of actually conversing with humans around them. I always marvel upon landing on a redeye flight from the West Coast at how many people immediately take out their phones and begin dialing. It's 5:30 a.m. — 2:30 in the city they've left. Who are they calling?

William Powers once saw two women in New York crashing baby strollers into one another because they were both concentrating on phones. Powers, a former Washington Post reporter, wrote the book "Hamlet's BlackBerry," about how an addiction to technology prevents people from doing their best work or forging healthy relationships.

...

Powers believes things will calm down as people become more accustomed to the technology.

...

So there's hope. In the meantime, look out for yourself on the street. No one else is."

The full article can be found at:

http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/*/Article_2011-01-20-Lifestyles%20Distracted%20Pedestrians/id-774ae6054d8d47488740d1dd7d16ca67

Glorious Day

2011-01-22T14:41:00.001-08:00

We've had so many gloriously foggy days this winter. I don't remember fog this thick nor this frequent since my childhood. It's so cool how it sets things apart.

Here is our house this morning:

And, don't ya know, this is California, so here's our house this afternoon. Yeah, I'm lovin' it!

The Time Has Come

2011-01-20T21:03:00.001-08:00

WAY BACK in October, long before the above video went viral this week, I was thinking of writing a post on this topic, but I hadn't fully formulated my thoughts yet. I basically just put up an introductory video. I'm still not sure my thoughts are fully formulated, but this video has convinced me that the time has come to express them anyway.

I have been trying to decide if I am justified in my frustration with society's addiction to texting or if I'm just getting old and crotchety. I try to temper my opinions by trying to keep an open mind. For instance, as I have this internal debate I think about the advent of writing. I love reading, and I find books to be valuable beyond words (no pun initially intended), and yet the wise philosopher Plato wrote this about the invention of writing:

"The fact is that this invention will produce forgetfulness in the souls of those who have learned it. They will not need to exercise their memories, being able to rely on what is written, calling things to mind no longer from within themselves by their own unaided powers, but under the stimulus of external marks that are alien to themselves."

Honestly, I don't think writing has harmed us but rather has been of great benefit (though writing can be used to incite war or to spread garbage as well). The instant communication we have today can be used to good purpose and bad also. So, I wonder, am I reacting to texting like Plato reacted to writing. Is texting really something more good than bad that will some day be taken entirely for granted and as a genuine boon to the good of society?

In my experience I've seen it to be convenient but certainly not necessary - in fact generally quite unnecessary to the point of being worse than frivolous and sometimes actually dangerous.

I think there is at least a two-fold problem. In part, people aren't wise about using this technology. Additionally it has become an addiction. The first thing MOST of my students do as they are dismissed from class - every class - every day - is check their messages, even if they've only been in class 45 minutes - and were outside class as I walked up texting right up until the time class started. Although I require cell phones to be put away during class, many students have them sitting out visibly on the desk anyway, in case a message comes through. Last year I had a student who absolutely freaked out in class because it was too quiet, and it made her feel disoriented and as if she didn't know what was going on. I think she was just so used to having the constant stimulation of ceaseless connection that it was like sensory deprivation for her.

I've gotten a number of emails recently to my work inbox from prospective students, whom I'd never met, wanting to be added to my class, and many of these messages have come to me in "text speech" combined with such poor structure that they are nearly indecipherable (and I'm pretty good at deciphering!). Do people think this is appropriate for official or professional communication? Do they know that it is extremely casual communication? Do they even know that other forms of writing exist? Are they able to write in other forms?

That's where I see and deal with it mostly, but, of course, I see drivers who are talking on phones or texting and weaving all over the road. The statistics are sobering:

Talking on a cell phone causes nearly 25% of car accidents.

For every 6 seconds of drive time, a driver sending or receiving a text message spends 4.6 of those seconds with their eyes off the road. This makes texting the most distracting of all cell phone related tasks.

In 2008 almost 6,000 people were killed and a half-million were injured in crashes related to driver distraction.

Talking on a cell phone while driving can make a young driver's reaction time as slow as that of a 70-year-old.

Texting while driving is about 6 times more likely to result in an accident than driving while intoxicated.

52% of 16- and 17-year-old teen drivers confess to making and answering cell phone calls on the road. 34% admit to text messaging while driving.

Each year, 21% of fatal car crashes involving teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 were the result of cell phone usage. This result has been expected to grow as much as 4% every year.

Despite the risks, the majority of teen drivers ignore cell phone driving restrictions.

So where do we go from here?

The woman pictured in the video was interviewed on the news later. She has hired a lawyer and is seriously considering suing the mall, first because because they posted this video, and it embarrassed her and, second, because "no one came to her aid" (um, she didn't appear hurt, and she got up so fast who could have gotten there on time anyway - and someone did come after the fact, which can be seen on this video, a maintenance worker walking by checked to see if she was OK). She concludes the interview by warning people that it is dangerous to walk and text at the same time. REALLY? It took falling into a fountain to figure that out?

Again, I ask, where do we go from here?

Can we use this technology as a truly good thing that is mainly of benefit? Can we learn from the accidents that have happened - from vehicular fatalities to falls into mall fountains - and turn this around? Can we undo the addiction and USE cell phones rather than having them USE us? Or is it just too far gone? Is there hope for this situation?

Here is the video I posted earlier:

The answer here is another phone.

REALLY?!

Somehow I just don't think so.

First Poets

2011-01-16T15:06:00.000-08:00

I reckon - when I count at all -
First - Poets - Then the Sun -
Then Summer - Then the Heaven of God -
And then - the List is done-

But, looking back - the First so seems
To Comprehend the Whole -
The Others look a needless Show -
So I write - Poets - All -

Their Summer - lasts a Solid Year -
They can afford a Sun
The East - would deem extravagant -
And if the Further Heaven -

Be Beautiful as they prepare
For Those who worship Them -
It is too difficult a Grace -
To justify the Dream -

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

and Thou :-)

2011-01-13T23:18:00.000-08:00

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, A Book of verse - and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
And Wilderness is Paradise now.

Omar Khayyam (1048-1141)

Life

2011-01-11T23:45:00.001-08:00

Whew! It's been quite a ride lately!

It was so AWESOME to have Anthony home again - and so cool that it was such a natural transition back - almost as if he'd never left. It's kind of tough entering this new semester, though, as he may be gone 3 months longer this time than last time - with a one-month winter term added in and the potential for staying at the college to do mathematical research 2 months into the summer. Such mixed feelings - so happy for him to (potentially) have that opportunity, but not ready for him to be so cut loose from home yet. I was still planning on those 3-month-long summers together for a while yet.

I LOVE MY FAMILY!

My semester, the teaching part anyway, began yesterday. I've now met with all my classes and have had a pretty smooth start despite being sick and beginning the week feverish, achy and congested. I think I started turning the corner on that today, which is good because Tuesdays are my long days. I'm on campus for 11+ hours, six and a half of which are lecture, the grand finale being a 3-hour-long night class. With office hours in there too I haven't quite figured out how to fit meals in - grabbed a bean burrito from Taco Bell on my way home at 9:30pm.

The cool thing was that my order number was 111, and today's date is 1/11/11.

Yes, I am easily amused, but at least that shows I was still in a good mood after a very long day.

So far so good with my classes, but once I start giving and grading tests I might be singing a different tune. I have too hard a time turning students away. They do need the class - for some of them it's the last class they need before they can transfer, for others it's the first math class on their path through college, a path that is quite blocked until they get going on the math sequence. I've got over 100 students between my two sections of 101, which will be rough with grading because a lot of the problems are essay-type and not algebra-type problems. So I'll be putting in some long hours on that. I have about 200 students total. For one of the classes I grade homework every night . . . not typical in college, but that class needs the feedback.

It's just before midnight here. I should have been in bed long ago, but it's hard to wind down after teaching up to 9pm - and I had a lot of student email to respond to tonight - so it goes.

I was hoping to sleep in tomorrow, as my classes don't begin tomorrow until 11am (cool!), but Jacob's school decided to have a "late start day," (but not all that late) so I have to get up on time anyway and get him to school (not so cool). The timing sure could have been better on that!

Oh, and though I'm not as disgruntled as one of my colleagues about working in what he terms "the trailer park" (the portables we are in until construction on our classroom building is finished), and though I was reasonably able to put up with the lack of heat and an interior temperature of 43 degrees last week and early yesterday, I must say that utter lack of toilet paper in the restrooms today and the soap dispenser having fallen off the wall did make for a less than desirable work environment.

Well, and the fact that our portable has no refrigerator or microwave adds to the difficulty . . . ah well . . .

That's my life right now - and my mind has lost some of its poetry for the moment (hence my lack of posting) - between the holiday events and maxing out time with Anthony and rockin' and rollin' into a new semester. Hopefully I'll be back to my "normal" self in a week or so!

For now I'll just try to remember to carry some TP with me :-)

Looking Back (Updated Jan. 9)

2011-01-02T16:16:00.000-08:00

At this time of the year most of us are looking forward, but I'm a little slow on the uptake and wanting yet to hold onto the latter part of December. We've been enjoying these days and weeks so much with Anthony back home - enjoying time with just the five of us and also times with extended family and friends.
Total lunar eclipse on the winter solstice - pretty cool!

Anthony back home again . . . priceless!!

CHRISTMAS EVE (at Mom and Dad's)

A Christmas bell :-) . . . anticipation!Yea! An hourglass!Another hourglass (from time past!)Aunt Heidi and Ava Marie

CHRISTMAS DAY (at our house)

First just us . . . Then the extended fam . . .

OTHER VACATIONY STUFF

Times with family - just because -Me and a couple of my guys :-)Grandpa is so much fun; he has pockets!

Lots of gaming needed to happen, of course!

At Anthony's request during his visit we went to one of our favorite places, Knight's Ferry:

We LOVE Knight's Ferry! It was Anthony's request to visit it while he's home - lots of good memories here.I love these pictures of Jacob.Brotherly love :-)

And family craziness (well, some of us anyway!)
Yes, it is California, no, it is not THAT warm. They just wanted to be polar bears! (Photo taken December 31, 2010)

All the best to you as you jump into the new year!!

This is Immanuel

2010-12-25T12:14:00.000-08:00

On Christmas day, a humble girl
gives birth to hope for all the world,
this is Immanuel.
How awesome and mysterious,
the Lord of heaven draws near to us,
this is Immanuel.

The hands that once split night from day
now feebly clutch a blade of hay,
this is Immanuel.
Majestic king, now small and weak,
the Word of God must learn to speak,
this is Immanuel.

This is our God, seen by our eyes,
the love of the Father made known in Jesus Christ.
This is our God, worthy of praise,
the love of the Father revealed on Christmas day.

The shepherds come and bow to him,
the Lamb who takes away our sin,
this is Immanuel.
For God has entered time and space
to show the world his endless grace,
this is Immanuel.

Immanuel, Immanuel. Our God is with us now.

On Christmas Day
By Matt Osgood
Luke 2:16; Luke 2:7; Isa 7:14; Matt 1:23

We Will Rock You Two!

2010-12-23T16:49:00.001-08:00

Click here to view.

We Will Rock You!

2010-12-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

A Very Disco Christmas to you from the Dancin' Meyer Fam!

(click link to view)

Weekend Perspective

2010-12-19T20:54:00.000-08:00

EXAMS ARE DONE AND ANTHONY IS HOME!

WHAT COULD BE BETTER?!

I never did finish part 2 of "A Mother's Therapy," but I don't need it now because he's back! He had a great semester, and now we are having a great time reuniting.

We brought him home to a festive place ("I'll be home for Christmas," and he was!) - and celebrated with David's wonderful home-made lasagna.

After dinner last night we played a rousing game of Uno while listening to Straight No Chaser's Christmas Album - and laughed our heads off!

This morning it was really cool having all my guys in church with me again - felt complete.

This afternoon Anthony got to hear his brothers give their Christmas piano recital. They both did really well!

And, earlier this week, before all this festivity but in the midst of giving and grading exams, I had opportunity to walk in thick fog - my absolute favorite weather!

LIFE IS GOOD!

The FUN Way Math Should Be Taught

2010-12-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

OK, so I was supposed to be working on Christmas cards this morning, but then David sent on this great link that I got hooked on. It is awesome! I think if math were taught this way everyone would like it instead of hating it! Click on the link below the image to find out what I'm talking about. There are 4 video clips - if you only have time for one, I recommend the third one first.http://vihart.com/doodling/

And The Deep River Ran On

2010-12-12T12:58:00.000-08:00

As I Walked Out One Evening

As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
"Love has no ending.

"I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

"I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

"The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world."

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
"O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.

"In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.

"In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.

"Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brilliant bow.

"O plunge your hands in water,
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed.

"The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.

"Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.

"O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress;
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.

"O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked nelghbour
With your crooked heart."

It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.

W. H. Auden (1937)

The Dot and the Line

2010-12-04T12:26:00.001-08:00

Enjoy this classic!

A Few For Now

2010-11-27T23:07:00.000-08:00

We just got in from our annual Thanksgiving camping trip to Pismo Beach. We got some great pictures, but they sure don't show how cold it was! After sleeping in a tent I am more thankful than ever for central heat, indoor plumbing, and much else! A few photos for now and then off to bed for me! A real bed! Ahhhhhh!

Only in Mathematics

2010-11-22T21:56:00.001-08:00

Only in mathematics was there that sense of moving through another dimension, one that didn't exist in time and place - that feeling of falling into and through a puzzle, of having it surround you in a physical way.

from The Eight by Katherine Neville

Hide and Seek

2010-11-19T21:32:00.000-08:00

Here where the dead lie hidden
Too well ever to speak,
Three children unforbidden
Are playing hide-and-seek.

What if for such a hiding
These stones were not designed?
The dead are far from chiding;
The living need not mind.

Too soon the stones that hid them
Anonymously in play
Will earn their names and bid them
Come back and hide to stay.

Robert Francis (b. 1901)

Olber's Paradox

2010-11-17T22:46:00.000-08:00

The heavens hold more stars than earth has grains
Of sand, and given time, each tiny sun
Combined should make a world where starlight stains
The sky bright white and dark would be undone.
And yet the night remains. the dim stars gleam
Their separate ways, and constellations drawn
Connect their dots, while under them we dream
And sleep, then wake to such a thing as dawn.
The universe, expanding since its birth,
Is larger, older than its light; sublime,
The force that keeps this constant day from earth
The same that measures out our years -- is time:
The limitation that provides us night
And saves us all from unremitting light.

Robert W. Crawford (2004)

Fall and Night Fall

2010-11-15T22:21:00.000-08:00

It's finally fall in California (though you wouldn't have known it by the warm temps today!)

"Fossils" of a fall long ago!

Fall and summer fighting for dominance:

A certain slant of light . . .

Sunset through my home-office window . . .

. . . and nightfall:

At Arlington

2010-11-11T21:07:00.000-08:00

Two dates carved in stone above his grave
tell us he was seventeen, not how
this soldier died, nor whether he was brave
or terrified, or both. No matter now:
the only life he had to give, he gave.

Wiley Clements 2004

Random Act of Culture

2010-11-11T09:16:00.001-08:00

YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU

In This Short Life

2010-11-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

In this short Life
That only lasts an hour
How much -- how little -- is
Within our power

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

STEPHEN TO LAZARUS

2010-11-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

But was I the first martyr, who
Gave up no more than life, while you,
Already free among the dead,
Your rags stripped off, your fetters shed,
Surrendered what all other men
Irrevocably keep, and when
Your battered ship at anchor lay
Seemingly safe in the dark bay
No ripple stirs, obediently
Put out a second time to sea
Well knowing that your death (in vain
Died once) must all be died again?

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)

Status

2010-11-02T23:20:00.001-07:00

On facebook I can post a status - in some sense that's what this post is - and the status is good!

I had such a busy day I didn't notice the date (Nov. 2) until now. It is 3 years since David's stroke. Whew! It seems both longer ago and shorter ago. Though things are still not as they were before that, we are thankful for the tremendous healing that has been granted by God's grace!

We are sure in a different spot three years ago today!

His Kingdom is Forever

2010-10-31T20:27:00.000-07:00

I missed singing this today, so am posting it instead:
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Set Daily Puzzle

2010-10-23T22:53:00.001-07:00

I just found one of my favorite games online in a solitaire version. The game is Set and is made up of cards having 4 attributes: color, shape, shading and number. There may be 1, 2, or 3 shapes on the card. The shapes may be diamonds, ovals or squiggles. The shading may be solid, lined or open. And the color may be green, red or purple.

The goal is to find sets of three cards that, for each characteristic are all the same or all different. For instance, the column on the left above contains a set because all three cards have the same color but all have a different number of items, a different shading, and a different shape. The second column from the left is not a set because although they all have the same color and the same number, there are two open figures and also two diamonds (not all three the same and not all three different with these last 2 attributes). Remember, for each attribute you must have three matches or three differences. How many sets can you find in this image?

There is a new game posted daily at:
http://www.setgame.com/
I know I'm going to be checking in on this!

A Bright Light Has Gone Out

2010-10-18T15:33:00.001-07:00

A colleague approached me today and asked if I had heard that Mandelbrot had died. Though I only met him once I feel I've lost a friend. Benoit Mandelbrot was a French mathematician who founded the field of fractal geometry - one of my favorite branches of mathematics. The field is innovative, applicable and beautiful. He was often interviewed for science programs, and I am posting a link to a NOVA presentation in which his life and work are explored (click at bottom of post). Even if you are not a math person, this is a presentation I highly recommend. To me he was not just a great mathematician but a great person who got outside the box and looked beyond the received wisdom of his day to bring together something truly ground-breaking that enriches us all.

Click here to view video.

His obituary from the American Mathematical Society can be found at the following link:
http://www.ams.org/news?news_id=892

Flies

2010-10-17T21:57:00.001-07:00

With all the flies in our area this autumn, and David swatting them left and right, I can't stop thinking about poetry involving flies!

SHAKESPEARE:

As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods,
They kill us for their sport.

King Lear Act 4, scene 1

WILLIAM BLAKE:

Little Fly,
Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand
Has brush'd away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink & sing:
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength & breath
And the want
Of thought is death;

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.
from Songs of Experience 1794

A Bit of Fall Stuff 2010

2010-10-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

We've had some crazy weather out here in CA this year - kinda chilly this summer, which bummed me out because it's the first year we've had a pool - and rather hot this fall, now that I don't have time to swim! - but we've had some beautiful skies:
As of this month we've been in our "new" house for a year - really enjoying it and just thinking a lot right now of friends and family who helped us with that move at that very busy time last year!

It's very cozy...
...and very pretty......and our bulbs transplanted from the old house are finally making an initial showing......and our boys, more and more, are growing into young men! (Where's my baby?)
Last week something really amazing happened. People used to talk about "random acts of kindness." I hadn't seen that phrase recently, but I experienced not one but two of them in the same day! I was out for a quick walk - very short and totally on a whim - before going to work, and a woman waiting for her bus to take her to her day school struck up a conversation with me and then handed me a flower and wished me a good day! My whole heart was just smiling all day! (Oh, and her name was "Anjelica" - pronounced the Spanish way - halfway home I realized that's from the same root as "angel." I think she was.)And then I went to teach, and after my Math 10 class - last class of the day - I found two Hershey's Dark candy bars in my bag that a student had dropped in anonymously. Below is what remains. I feel inspired to go out and do random acts of kindness too now!
And I went and got prettied-up today - an unsual event for a tom-boy like me - threading (Ooo...ouch!) and a haircut.
So that's what's going on around here this fall (in my life anyway).

In the Connecting Tube

2010-10-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

Parts of an Hourglass

Connecting Tube

A narrow tube connects the bulbs to allow the sand to flow between the bulbs. The tube is made of the same material as the bulbs, whatever it may be.

More to come (after more sand falls).

A bit more sand has fallen - though not enough to finish this yet, but a television commercial is right along the same lines:

What We Need

2010-10-10T12:42:00.001-07:00

Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934)