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Lessons New Year Resolutions 2010 Uncategorized

December 22nd-28th….(nearly there!)

Wednesday

The Bill is no longer recorded (and had its last episode showed this August). Never watched it so there is no reason why I should have known this before.

Thursday

Florence Nightingale’s rose diagrams showed by length of radius that most deaths were preventable during the Crimean War (not by area as I had assumed).

Friday

There were more than one species of tyrannosaurus (I assumed rex was the only one up until today!)

Saturday

A costermonger sells fruit and veg.

Sunday

The story of King Canute first appeared 100 years after his reign and is probably not true.

Monday

England last retained the ashes in 1986-1987, and now Australia have scored a record low of 98 they may do so again this year.

Tuesday

Onychophagia is the technical name for nail biting.

Categories
Lessons New Year Resolutions 2010

November 10th – November 16th

Wednesday

I learnt how a XOR goat cardboard model works.

Thursday

Koch described the snowflake curve in 1904.

Friday

There is a train from Bridgwater to Taunton at 1.07 am on Saturday morning.

Saturday

I learnt the identity of South Park’s Mint Berry Crunch (Bradley Biggle brother of a goth kid).

Sunday

The bolt in Frankenstein’s monster in the film is actually connections for electrodes, not to keep the head on.

Monday

“Now is the winter of our discontent” was from Richard III. Roy Orbison died the same year English pound notes stopped being legal tender.

Tuesday

Prince William will have a father in law called Mike (assuming all goes smoothly etc.)

Categories
Doodles

Scenes From the History of Mathematics (Helge von Koch)

Koch House
Snow falls at Helge von Koch's house
Categories
Doodles

Scenes From the History of Mathematics (John von Neumann)

John von Neumann plays cards with Space Slug
John von Neumann uses game theory to outwit the evil space slug and save Planet Earth from certain destruction
Categories
Doodles

Scenes From the History of Mathematics (Pappus of Alexandria)

pappus Property
Pappus gets the deeds to his new property
Categories
Doodles

Scenes From The History of Mathematics (Richard Bellman)

Dynamic Programming
Richard Bellman successfully uses dynamic programming to solve a maximin problem and enable the safe transport of his pet giraffe.
Categories
Lessons

Still learning something new each day (August 9th – 15th)

Monday

Asps do not live in Egypt so Cleopatra was more likely killed by an Egyptian cobra.

Most exciting news though is that there is a serious paper published claiming it has proof that P!=NP, which if verified will net Vinay Doelalijar $1000000. Incidently I love the fact that he has annoucned that he has maybe solved one of the 6 most important unsolved mathematics problems under the heading “Basic Research”. I hope he is right as I think life is easier if P≠NP unless you are a travelling salesperson.

Whilst I expect someone will find a flaw I also think that it may well be a serious stepping stone to a final proof.

http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Vinay_Deolalikar/

Tuesday

A pedifile is as the name would suggest a file for use on the foot. However in an australian accent it is almost indistinguishable from the word peadophile.

Wednesday

Male pond skaters bully female pond skaters into mating with them. The male pond skaters threaten female pond skaters by making vibrations in the water that will attract predators. They will stop if the females consent to have sex with them.

Thursday

Swiss speeding fines are linked to earnings, this has meant the world record speeding fine of £650000 is a swiss one.

Friday

Terry Butcher was born in Singapore…

Saturday

In cricket if a ball hits a fielders cap it is only 5 runs if the fielder has deliberately discarded it.

Sunday

Today I learnt that I had been ignorant for the last 30 years about the colour of the roses that represent Yorksire and Lancashire (or The House of York and The House of Lancaster). I knew one was red and one was white but I had always pictured York as being the red rose. Very ignorant but in my defence I am a southerner. From this dat onwards I will know that York is white, Lancs are red. As a further note hopefully Somerset will beat the red rose of Lancashire tomorrow…

Categories
Limerick

Cleopatra’s Asp

“Cute asp” they said to their egyptian queen,
“Its the cutest asp that we had ever seen”,
Cleo made a mistake,
Was bit by the snake,
And she died and her skin turned all green.
~
Cleopatra's cute sweet tight asp
Categories
Lessons

Pharaoh’s sisters

Apprantly it may not be an urban myth that the certain Somerset villages are like the ancient rulers of egypt taking sisters as their wives…

Categories
Lessons

sukarno-hatta (cgk)

The main airport for Indonesia is sukarno-hatta named after the first president (sukarno) and vice president (hatta). Wondering if Ted Heath had a vice PM called Row?

Supplementary thing I learnt today : merpati pos is Indonesian for carrier pigeon