IT SEEMS LIKE AN INFINITY… AND SO IT IS: ∞
IN MY CONTINUING exploration of math symbols, what better one to examine these days than ∞, the symbol for infinity. Here are tidbits on its definition, origin, and modern uses. … Continue reading
GOODBYE, MOORE’S LAW. HELLO TO THE TOP
IN 1975, INTEL founder Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors in a semiconductor would double every two years. Moore’s Law, as it came to be known, held true … Continue reading
GLOBAL TRUTHS AND THINGS TO PONDER
YESTERDAY’S CELEBRATION OF global—and extraglobal—adventurer Kathy Sullivan got me thinking about planet Earth and its physical extremes, its heights, depths, and shape. Here are tidbits gleaned from a variety of … Continue reading
CONNECT THE DOTS: LEAD, BALLOONS, PENCIL, NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
THIS CONNECT-THE-DOTS has an easy solution: Nicolas-Jacques Conté. He was a French polymath who gave Napoleon’s army the first significant use of aircraft and he also perfected the lead pencil … Continue reading
A GLIMPSE AT SIR MODELING PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, tidbits on epidemic modeling were offered, based on Paul Taylor’s “Susceptible, Infectious, Recovered,” London Review of Books, May 7, 2020. Today in Part 2, we see … Continue reading
A GLIMPSE AT SIR MODELING PART 1
AN “SIR” MODEL (as in S.I.R.) is a mathematical simulation of an epidemic. In full application, the model incorporates extremely detailed assessments of an epidemic’s factors. However, in “Susceptible, Infectious, … Continue reading
CELEBRATING EN HEDU’ANA
THE EARLIEST KNOWN poet, variously, En hedu’ana, Enheduanna, Sumerian 𒂗𒃶𒌌𒀭𒈾, flourished in the 23rd century B.C. I think of her as a Mesopotamian William Shakespeare, Johannes Kepler, and Emily Dickinson. … Continue reading
BEHIND THE CURVE
SECOND GUESSING IS valuable only if it affects future actions. We can hope this occurs following an assessment in Science, May 8, 2020, published by the American Association for the … Continue reading
ZEPPE VS TRIPPE—YOU READ IT HERE FIRST, SORT OF
I’M LOOKING forward to reading Alexander Rose’s Empires of the Sky—Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men’s Epic Duel to Rule the World. This is, at least in part, to confirm things … Continue reading
SCIENCE AND THE BALLOT
HOW SECURE IS our balloting? Last year, the American Association for the Advancement of Science established the AAAS Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues. One focus, as described by … Continue reading
