From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V16 #49 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Wednesday, February 14 2007 Volume 16 : Number 049 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: six degrees of prime number theory [Capuchin ] Re: Pieces of Pi [Capuchin ] Re: six degrees of prime number theory [Capuchin ] Re: Pieces of Pi ["vivien lyon" ] Re: cute babes (was Re: piping in) [Rex ] Re: Pieces of Pi [Rex ] Re: Pieces of Pi [Benjamin Lukoff ] Re: Pieces of Pi ["vivien lyon" ] Re: cute babes (was Re: piping in) [2fs ] Philly Feg Friday films ["Maximilian Lang" ] Re: Pieces of Pi [2fs ] RE: cute babes (was Re: piping in) ["Bachman, Michael" ] Re: Pieces of Pi [Benjamin Lukoff ] Re: Pieces of Pi [2fs ] Re: Pieces of Pi ["Jason Brown" ] RE: Prime number theory ["Lauren Elizabeth" ] Re: Pieces of Pi ["Jason Brown" ] I just have to say... [2fs ] Communists vs. CEOs ["Lauren Elizabeth" ] RE: Pieces of Pi ["Bachman, Michael" ] RE: Pieces of Pi [Benjamin Lukoff ] babes rule [Jill Brand ] RE: Pieces of Pi [Capuchin ] RE: Prime number theory [Capuchin ] Re: Pieces of Pi [Steve Talkowski ] Re: Degrees of separation [hssmrg@bath.ac.uk] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:22:54 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: six degrees of prime number theory On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > Paul Erdos was a wonderful mathematician whose adventures in prime > number theory are chronicled in the very readable "The Man Who Loved > Only Numbers". Um, is there really any numer theory other than "prime number theory"? That's kind of a bullshit term. Reminds me of the use of the term "large number theory" in the movie Sneakers. In number theory, we only consider the prime cases and use multiplicative functions to show generalities about both prime and composite numbers. > If that is too geeky for you, just throw it all together and hit "blend": > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s-Bacon_number I'm two degrees of real-life separation (that means I know a guy who is the guy) from Mark Adler. However, this should rightly be the PRODUCT, rather than the sum, of one's Erdos and Bacon numbers, which means that should either Bacon or Erdos achieve a Erdos or Bacon numbers, respectively, they would both have Erdos-Bacon numbers of 0. On the subject of attaining a minimum, this Wikipedia page neglects the fact that Erdos is STILL publishing papers (more than ten years after his death!). Hence, it is possible for Bacon to pick up some unfinished Erdos, publish it, and achieve an Erdos number of 1, giving him an additive Erdos-Bacon number of 1. I will also note here that I met and had dinner with Dr. Ron Graham (friend of Erdos, creator of the "the largest number ever used" and former president of the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the International Juggling Society) and he told me that he's still paying Erdos' bounties on certain problems and sending out checks that Erdos wrote and signed before his death for expressly this purpose. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:26:58 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi On Tue, 13 Feb 2007, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > "As a cautionary note, if any is needed, Ludolph van Ceulen died of > exhaustion in 1610 after using regular polygons of 2^62 sides to obtain > 35 decimal digits of pi - they are engraved on his tombstone." > > That's kind of heroic. And kind of pathetic as well. Well, it will > help me better appreciate the trail of the dead leading to those > billions of digits we now know. There's a really fascinating book, if you're into that sort of thing, called The History of Pi. And the guy who wrote it is a total nutjob who takes every opportunity to trash the Romans as brutish thugs who never gave the world anything and the Soviets as, err, brutish thugs who never gave the world anything. Today, the guy works for some fakey "research institute" that publishes a journal denying global climate change. ...but the book is cool in spite of all of that. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:27:47 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: six degrees of prime number theory On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, Capuchin wrote: > I'm two degrees of real-life separation (that means I know a guy who is the > guy) from Mark Adler. I pulled that name from the Wikipedia article without checking my facts. My friend Tom was friends with Brian Greene, not Mark Adler. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:40:23 -0800 From: "vivien lyon" Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi I keep wondering when you're going to point everyone to the video for the "Pi" song. If you don't, I will. V. On 2/14/07, Capuchin wrote: > > On Tue, 13 Feb 2007, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > > "As a cautionary note, if any is needed, Ludolph van Ceulen died of > > exhaustion in 1610 after using regular polygons of 2^62 sides to obtain > > 35 decimal digits of pi - they are engraved on his tombstone." > > > > That's kind of heroic. And kind of pathetic as well. Well, it will > > help me better appreciate the trail of the dead leading to those > > billions of digits we now know. > > There's a really fascinating book, if you're into that sort of thing, > called The History of Pi. And the guy who wrote it is a total nutjob who > takes every opportunity to trash the Romans as brutish thugs who never > gave the world anything and the Soviets as, err, brutish thugs who never > gave the world anything. Today, the guy works for some fakey "research > institute" that publishes a journal denying global climate change. > > ...but the book is cool in spite of all of that. > > J. > -- > _______________________________________________ > > Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin > _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:51:14 -0800 From: Rex Subject: Re: cute babes (was Re: piping in) On 2/14/07, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > > > You know that guy Glenn who wrote "The War Against Silence" > column...he wrote quite a bit about Tori Amos. The old VHS "video > collection" of Tori Amos had video of her talking about her songs and > her music between the video hits. And Glenn describes the feeling of > watching and listening to her talk as something to the effect of "you > just keep expecting to see her start petting a unicorn that's just out > of frame." Or something like that. Now I don't go for that new age / > unicorn / crystal crap and don't associate it with Tori Amos, but > Glenn's right on target here. It's like she's always in Tori-World. > And Bjork's always in "Bjork-World" and Joanna Newsom's...well, you > get it. I do. Now, a whole 'nother kettle of fish is that, sadly, some people do literally associate that new age / unicorn / crystal crap with Tori Amos and a couple of other female artists as an easy label, when what's really interesting about their "worlds" is that they're way more idiosynctatic that those cliches-- I mean, hell, Mary Timony has more literal truck with elves and unicorns and dryads and shit in her songs than Tori and Bjork combined. I think it's Loreena McKennit's fault, or maybe Enya's: you get one or two chicks who seen to literally believe they rule Lothlorien, and it becomes a dig against all off-kilter women. Which reminds me, I haven't heard the new Lucinda record just yet... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:57:40 -0800 From: Rex Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi On 2/14/07, vivien lyon wrote: > > I keep wondering when you're going to point everyone to the video for > the "Pi" song. If you don't, I will. The Kate Bush one, or... god, there's not *another* one, is there? - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 12:04:55 -0800 (PST) From: Benjamin Lukoff Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, Capuchin wrote: > called The History of Pi. And the guy who wrote it is a total nutjob who > takes every opportunity to trash the Romans as brutish thugs who never > gave the world anything and the Soviets as, err, brutish thugs who never > gave the world anything. Today, the guy works for some fakey "research > institute" that publishes a journal denying global climate change. What exactly did the Soviets give the world? Serious question this time. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 12:10:35 -0800 From: "vivien lyon" Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi There is another one, and it's awesome. Fuggit, I'll just post a link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDu351QNoZE ps- Jeme once successfully held the attention of drunk people with this video and a subsequent lecture on transcendental numbers. I was there to witness. On 2/14/07, Rex wrote: > > > > On 2/14/07, vivien lyon wrote: > > > > I keep wondering when you're going to point everyone to the video for > > the "Pi" song. If you don't, I will. > > > The Kate Bush one, or... god, there's not *another* one, is there? > > -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:12:06 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: cute babes (was Re: piping in) On 2/14/07, Rex wrote: > > > literally associate that new age / unicorn / crystal crap with Tori Amos > and > a couple of other female artists as an easy label, when what's really > interesting about their "worlds" is that they're way more idiosynctatic > that > those cliches-- I mean, hell, Mary Timony has more literal truck with > elves > and unicorns and dryads and shit in her songs than Tori and Bjork > combined. > I think it's Loreena McKennit's fault, or maybe Enya's: you get one or two > chicks who seen to literally believe they rule Lothlorien, and it becomes > a > dig against all off-kilter women. > What's interesting about that is that those associations are used against such women...yet somehow, metal guys who fill their songs with demons and Norse gods and whatnot somehow aren't accused of living in a fantasy world...even when their band name and pseudonyms say "bad-ass" and their physiques and appearance say "may disintegrate in a strong breeze." Scott Miller said in an interview once how absurd it was that, regardless of their songs' quality, the Clash were praised for "realism" - as if the average person needs to determine which machine gun to use in an urban uprising. And then there's idiots like G.G. Allin...claiming "it's just reality, man..." as if the average person typically smears himself with his own shit and smashes his teeth in with mic stands. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 15:14:55 -0500 From: "Maximilian Lang" Subject: Philly Feg Friday films _________________________________________________________________ FREE online classifieds from Windows Live Expo  buy and sell with people you know http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwex0010000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://expo.live.com?s_cid=Hotmail_tagline_12/06 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:17:31 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi On 2/14/07, Benjamin Lukoff wrote: > > On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, Capuchin wrote: > > > called The History of Pi. And the guy who wrote it is a total nutjob > who > > takes every opportunity to trash the Romans as brutish thugs who never > > gave the world anything and the Soviets as, err, brutish thugs who never > > gave the world anything. Today, the guy works for some fakey "research > > institute" that publishes a journal denying global climate change. > > What exactly did the Soviets give the world? Serious question this time. Insofar as any government or nation can be said to responsible for "giving" the world anything, there are several composers and writers that leap to mind. They (primarily Gorbachev) also gave the world the end of the Cold War. The idea that Reagan was primarily responsible doesn't stand up. Gorbachev had peacefully ramped down an empire - until Yeltsin came along and assumed near-dictatorial powers, dissolved parliament, and intensified war in Chechnya. Oh - and you might compare the median standard of living in Russia circa 1913 to what it was in around 1975 or so...and compare that to what it is now. I'm not defending a system that was, at best, oppressive and at worst, well, much worse - but it's still true that (using an economic metric similar to what we use) the Soviets dragged the nation from near-medieval living standards into being a world power, in a very short period of time. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 15:24:17 -0500 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: cute babes (was Re: piping in) Rex wrote: > Which reminds me, I haven't heard the new Lucinda record just yet... Same here, although I have it on order along with the new Patty Griffin. I braved a nasty snowstorm last night to go to downtown Detroit to see Midlake in concert. Very professional band that duplicated the vocal harmonies and the instrument notes that were on "The Trials of Van Occupanther". Some wanker in Montreal stole the nose of the panther mask though that was featured on the album cover and was also part of the tour, so we didn't get to see it! MJ Bachman ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 12:29:53 -0800 From: Rex Subject: Re: cute babes (was Re: piping in) On 2/14/07, 2fs wrote: > > On 2/14/07, Rex wrote: > > > > > > literally associate that new age / unicorn / crystal crap with Tori Amos > > and > > a couple of other female artists as an easy label, when what's really > > interesting about their "worlds" is that they're way more idiosynctatic > > that > > those cliches-- I mean, hell, Mary Timony has more literal truck with > > elves > > and unicorns and dryads and shit in her songs than Tori and Bjork > > combined. > > I think it's Loreena McKennit's fault, or maybe Enya's: you get one or > two > > chicks who seen to literally believe they rule Lothlorien, and it > becomes > > a > > dig against all off-kilter women. > > > > What's interesting about that is that those associations are used against > such women...yet somehow, metal guys who fill their songs with demons and > Norse gods and whatnot somehow aren't accused of living in a fantasy > world...even when their band name and pseudonyms say "bad-ass" and their > physiques and appearance say "may disintegrate in a strong breeze." I guess you could say that that brand of dorky metal makes fun of itself so efficiently that most of the music press that folks like us see doesn't bother to even mention it (unless somebody's boiling and eating his bassist's brain or whatever)... but we will come across a helluva lot of writing about Newsom, some percentage of which is guaranteed to contain the increasingly loaded term "elfin". - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:13:45 -0800 (PST) From: Benjamin Lukoff Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, 2fs wrote: > On 2/14/07, Benjamin Lukoff wrote: > > > > What exactly did the Soviets give the world? Serious question this time. > > Insofar as any government or nation can be said to responsible for "giving" > the world anything, there are several composers and writers that leap to > mind. Good point. I guess I always thought of them as "Russian" (or whatever nationality) than "Soviet." > They (primarily Gorbachev) also gave the world the end of the Cold War. The > idea that Reagan was primarily responsible doesn't stand up. Gorbachev had > peacefully ramped down an empire - until Yeltsin came along and assumed > near-dictatorial powers, dissolved parliament, and intensified war in > Chechnya. True! But they also (along with us, of course) started it...so... > Oh - and you might compare the median standard of living in Russia circa > 1913 to what it was in around 1975 or so...and compare that to what it is > now. I'm not defending a system that was, at best, oppressive and at worst, > well, much worse - but it's still true that (using an economic metric > similar to what we use) the Soviets dragged the nation from near-medieval > living standards into being a world power, in a very short period of time. True. But was it worth it? How many did Stalin kill? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 15:20:58 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi On 2/14/07, Benjamin Lukoff wrote: > > On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, 2fs wrote: > > > > Oh - and you might compare the median standard of living in Russia circa > > 1913 to what it was in around 1975 or so...and compare that to what it > is > > now. I'm not defending a system that was, at best, oppressive and at > worst, > > well, much worse - but it's still true that (using an economic metric > > similar to what we use) the Soviets dragged the nation from > near-medieval > > living standards into being a world power, in a very short period of > time. > > True. But was it worth it? How many did Stalin kill? I wouldn't argue it was "worth it." But your question was: what did the Soviets give the world? One answer is: a new, industrialized superpower. At enormous cost, true. Arguably, our own industrial superpower was created at enormous cost (different ones) as well. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:22:12 -0800 From: "Jason Brown" Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi On 2/14/07, Benjamin Lukoff wrote: > > What exactly did the Soviets give the world? Serious question this time. Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin! Socialist Realism! The Cherenkov Effect! Some Nobel prize winning scientists! Chernobyl! oh wait... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:28:43 -0500 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: RE: Prime number theory Hi Fegs, Capuchin says: > Um, is there really any numer theory other than "prime number theory"? > That's kind of a bullshit term. Reminds me of the use of the term "large > number theory" in the movie Sneakers. Well, I'll take proud ownership of a bullshit term any day. The reason I used "prime number theory" was to distinguish it from other forms of (what I consider) number theory such as abstract algebra or combinatorial analysis. I would guess that Erdos, moreso than the average number theorist, has a particular concentration in work on prime numbers. Obviously my newly discovered "prime number theory" would comprise a proper subset of "number theory". xo Lauren - -- - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:29:15 -0800 From: "Jason Brown" Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi On 2/14/07, Benjamin Lukoff wrote: > > Oh - and you might compare the median standard of living in Russia circa > > 1913 to what it was in around 1975 or so...and compare that to what it is > > now. I'm not defending a system that was, at best, oppressive and at worst, > > well, much worse - but it's still true that (using an economic metric > > similar to what we use) the Soviets dragged the nation from near-medieval > > living standards into being a world power, in a very short period of time. > > True. But was it worth it? How many did Stalin kill? More importantly how much better off would they be if they had capitalism instead. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 15:39:05 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: I just have to say... ...that nothing leaves me number than this talk of numbers. Kidding. But I had to use both words... - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:40:53 -0500 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: Communists vs. CEOs Hi Fegs, Jason Brown says: > More importantly how much better off would they be if they had > capitalism instead. and others wrote: > etc., etc. etc. With all due respect, this does not belong in a MATH thread which constitute an endangered species in these parts. They must be protected! Please lovingly transfer it off to one of the "Capitalism Sucks!" threads. There are thousands around patiently waiting to be resurrected. xo Lauren, too much Sudafed - -- - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:51:44 -0500 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Pieces of Pi On 2/14/07, Benjamin Lukoff wrote: > > >Oh - and you might compare the median standard of living in Russia > > >circa > > >1913 to what it was in around 1975 or so...and compare that to what > > >it is now. I'm not defending a system that was, at best, oppressive > > >and at worst, well, much worse - but it's still true that (using an > > >economic metric similar to what we use) the Soviets dragged the > > >nation from near-medieval living standards into being a world power, in a very short period of time. > > >True. But was it worth it? How many did Stalin kill? >More importantly how much better off would they be if they had capitalism instead. Not to mention all the Eastern European countries that would have been better off had they not been under the Soviet thumb after WWII. MJ Bachman ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:55:21 -0800 (PST) From: Benjamin Lukoff Subject: RE: Pieces of Pi On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, Bachman, Michael wrote: > >More importantly how much better off would they be if they had > capitalism instead. > > Not to mention all the Eastern European countries that would have been > better off had they not been under the Soviet thumb after WWII. Musn't forget Asia, too. My mother never forgot the Russian she learned from the Red Army when they invaded the north of Korea when she was 5. (One, two, three, give me, apple, and bread.) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 17:08:42 -0500 (EST) From: Jill Brand Subject: babes rule Wow! The last digest was just filled with girlfeg entries. Maybe we could get into a fight in which we insult each others' genitalia or something. Gnat, is that you? Matt, I don't have any Martin Carthy solo stuff; I only have things he recorded with Steeleye Span, so I can't make any recommendations. And I thought the Decemberists were more fun when fewer people knew who they were, too. But I'm a relative newcomer to this Portland music scene (2+ years) compared to other members of this forum, so I should shut up. Is anyone else out there experiencing this lovely storm? Boston University closed 2 hours after I finished teaching. Just my luck. Plus I've got to drive my son to Harvard Extension for math tonight, and the weather is just supposed to get worse!!! Jill ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:20:30 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: RE: Pieces of Pi On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, Bachman, Michael wrote: >> More importantly how much better off would they be if they had > capitalism instead. > > Not to mention all the Eastern European countries that would have been > better off had they not been under the Soviet thumb after WWII. You know, Michael, I took that question as rhetorical also, but in a completely different way. Rather than supposing that the answer was "Oh, way better!" as you appear to have done, I supposed that the question was meant to get us to reflect on the unanswerability of such questions and the total futility of supposing what might have been. These situations are far too complex to actually PREDICT based on change of one circumstance. Hell, one could make a fantastic argument that, had there been no revolution in Russia that lead to the creation of the USSR, then that medieval culture could have been subjugated as Europe's sweatshop OR the lack of a conflicting ideology would have hastened the demise of market capitalism since it's an untenable paradigm for global peace OR blah blah blah. We cannot assess what "would have been". All we can do is take stock of where we are and make choices about how we are to proceed. As far as the end of the Soviet Union goes, we have to deal with the ecocide of some of the industrial regions (which were a result of a lack of democracy rather than a lack of capitalism) and be grateful for the works of art and science that came from that period (which were the result of a lack of capitalism rather than a lack of democracy). I've made a huge number of mistakes in my life and caused some trouble for some people. But I can't really sensibly regret any particular action because it is part of what brought me to where I am and that's a pretty good place. I certainly don't have to point to Bradbury or Gleick right here, do I? J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:31:17 -0800 (PST) From: Capuchin Subject: RE: Prime number theory On Wed, 14 Feb 2007, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > Well, I'll take proud ownership of a bullshit term any day. I'm at least happy to hear you feel empowered to do so. > The reason I used "prime number theory" was to distinguish it from other > forms of (what I consider) number theory such as abstract algebra or > combinatorial analysis. Uh... wow. I don't think anybody else would consider algebra or combinatorial analysis to be number theory. Now, algebraic number theory is a means of using abstract algebra to come to all of the results of classical number theory (and some pretty neat new ones), but you'll note that it requires considering the integers modulo prime numbers written as multiplicative groups and proving things about primes which are then extended to composite numbers via multiplicative functions (in other words, showing that some properties depend on the factors of a number and then proving things about the factors rather than the number itself). Combinatorial analysis (or combinatorial algebra or combinatorial graph theory or whatever you like) might use number theoretic properties to prove things about spaces (or structures or graphs), but isn't number theory any more than topology is abstract algebra because it uses homology theory. > I would guess that Erdos, moreso than the average number theorist, has a > particular concentration in work on prime numbers. I think you'll find that all number theorists spend nearly all of their time considering prime numbers. And let's not fail to recognize Erdos' excellent contributions to graph theory (he essentially invented random graphs) and other branches of discrete mathematics. I would say that Erdos was a discrete mathematician who focused on number theory more than a number theorist who focussed on prime numbers. (So, I just checked my dictionary and it allows both "focussed" and "focused". Is that right?) > Obviously my newly discovered "prime number theory" would comprise a > proper subset of "number theory". Well, that much is obvious! I think you should begin working on an introductory text right away. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 17:28:29 -0500 From: Steve Talkowski Subject: Re: Pieces of Pi Speaking of pi, did anyone catch that fascinating story on 60 Minutes a few weeks ago about the highly gifted British autistic savant Daniel Tammet? He actually memorized and recounted pi to 22,514 digits in 5 hours. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Tammet This book looks like a good read: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416535071/ref=wl_it_dp/ 002-4291734-7544035?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2LDF7Z22BVH7Q&colid=1J879WEYCG3XD - -Steve ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 22:29:36 +0000 From: hssmrg@bath.ac.uk Subject: Re: Degrees of separation Quoting vivien lyon : > So, does that mean that you are two degrees of separation from C.S. > Lewis? > That's really awesome, and yet raises a host of other > questions. * Or three - see discussion! I will be seeing my bro-in-law on Monday who used to teach in a Malvern prep school and should know whether this story is merely one of my mother-in-law's flights of fancy, or whether she really did know George and Moira Sayer. - - Mike 'I don't have to take decisions about things any more' Godwin "Who the _ are you and what the _ are you doing here?" (Joy Davidman to Moira Sayer, The Kilns, sometime in the 50s), quoted in Sayer's biography of CSL. ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V16 #49 *******************************