Thursday, June 12, 2014
Saying goodbye to my dad... Family and friends of my father gathered at Dolly Sods in West Virginia on Tuesday for a little ceremony and remembrance, to say our good-byes to him (if you're new to this blog, my dad died last November – you can read more about him here). We scattered dad's ashes amongst the azaleas not far from Bear Rocks Trail on the north side of Dolly Sods. It was about as perfect as such an event and a day could be – the azaleas and bluets (two of his favorite flowers) were in bloom, temperatures were mild, and there was no rain. The beautiful wooden box just visible in the photo at left below contained my dad's ashes; my brother-in-law made it.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Saturday, June 7, 2014
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 beers .
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full.
They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full.
The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'
The professor then produced two beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed.
Now, said the professor as the laughter subsided, I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.
The sand is everything else---the small stuff.
If you put the sand into the jar first, he continued, there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Spend time with your children.
Spend time with your parents.
Visit with grandparents.
Take your special someone out to dinner.
Play another 18.
There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.
Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter.
Set your priorities.
The rest is just sand.
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.
The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'
The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers with a friend.
There once was a powerful Japanese emperor who needed a new chief samurai. So he sent out a declaration throughout the entire known world that he was searching for a chief. A year passed, and only three people applied for the very demanding position: a Japanese samurai, a Chinese samurai, and a Jewish samurai.
The emperor asked the Japanese samurai to come in and demonstrate why he should be the chief samurai. The Japanese samurai opened a matchbox, and out popped a bumblebee. Whoosh! went his sword. The bumblebee dropped dead, chopped in half. The emperor exclaimed, "That is very impressive!"
The emperor then issued the same challenge to the Chinese samurai, to come in and demonstrate why he should be chosen. The Chinese samurai also opened a matchbox and out buzzed a fly. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The fly dropped dead, chopped into four small pieces. The emperor exclaimed, "That is very impressive!"
Now the emperor turned to the Jewish samurai, and asked him to demonstrate why he should be the chief samurai. The Jewish Samurai opened a matchbox, and out flew a gnat. His flashing sword went Whoosh! But the gnat was still alive and flying around. The emperor, obviously disappointed, said, "Very ambitious, but why is that gnat not dead?" The Jewish Samurai just smiled and said, "Circumcision is not meant to kill."
Cletus is passing by Billy Bob's hay barn one day in Iowa when, through a gap in the door, he sees Billy Bob doing a slow and sensual striptease in front of an old green John Deere.My dad would have liked this one :)
Buttocks clenched, he performs a slow pirouette, and gently slides off first the right strap of his overalls, followed by the left. He then hunches his shoulders forward and in a classic striptease move, lets his overalls fall down to his hips, revealing a torn and frayed plaid shirt. Then, grabbing both sides of his shirt, he rips it apart to reveal his stained T-shirt underneath. With a final flourish, he tears the T-shirt from his body, and hurls his baseball cap onto a pile of hay.
Having seen enough, Cletus rushes in and says, "What the world're ya doing, Billy Bob?"
"Good grief, Cletus, ya scared the bejeebers out of me," says an obviously embarrassed Billy Bob.
"But me 'n the wife been havin trouble lately in the bedroom d'partment, and the therapist suggested I do something sexy to a tractor."
Friday, June 6, 2014
Thursday, June 5, 2014
You had a blog entry yesterday about the fact that p**2 - 1 is divisible by 24 for any prime p > 3. It's actually very simple to derive the result. Assume that p is an odd number, not divisible by 3 (in the problem as stated, we know that p isn't divisible by 3, since p is prime :-).He's right, it is simple! Assuming, that is, you're facile enough with math to be able to work it out :)
Now, p**2 - 1 = (p+1)(p-1). Note that these two factors are consecutive even integers. Thus, exactly one of them must be multiple of 4, so when you multiply the two factors together you get a multiple of 8. That is, we know that p-1 is either of the form 4k or 4k+2, in which case p+1 would be of the form 4k+2 or 4k+4, respectively. So the product is either of the form 4k*(4k+2) or (4k+2)(4k+4), each of which is divisible by 8.
Further, since p is not divisible by 3, and since in any three consecutive integers there is exactly one multiple of 3, then either (p+1) or (p-1) must be divisible by 3. Thus, the overall product is a multiple of 8*3 (i.e., 24).
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
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Tuesday, June 3, 2014
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| The old railing - note the bend in it! |
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| The "core" drill bit... |
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| That's a serious drill! Note the water cooling... |
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| The drill in action... |
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| The "core" removed by cracking after drilling... |
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| The new railing after installation... |
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| The super-strength concrete footing... |
Monday, June 2, 2014
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Saturday, May 31, 2014
I'm very grateful to the mainstream media for drawing my attention to the fact that this is a newsworthy story. Otherwise, I'm ashamed to say, I might have overlooked it completely. It's because, unfortunately, I happen to be a throwback to the terrible era when young men would frequently assess women on the basis of their pulchritudinousness and when, amazingly, this was considered quite normal, healthy behaviour. Indeed, we even used to have these things called Beauty Contests in which - I kid you not - young women willingly participated in competitions where they were judged according to their looks, mostly by middle aged males, and didn't die of sexism or misogyny poisoning afterwards.You'll want to read the rest...
I said I was going to speak at West Point. That way it will look like I’m doing something. Because for me, to speak is to act. Let me say there’s a chance for the Ukrainian people to choose their future — without us firing a shot – because it is the Russians who will do all the shooting. The Iranian nuclear program steadily advanced for years. Never so fast as under me. We have a very big chance of achieving a breakthrough agreement with Tehran, “a fat chance” in fact. This is American leadership. This is American strength.Brilliant! Go read the whole thing...
NATO was the strongest alliance the world, made up mostly of us. Now that I’ve taken out the “us” we have more room for diplomacy. You see, we have to talk. We can’t fight any more. That’s why you owe me one. I’ve saved your life. Never again will you have to take to the battlefield. There’s no point. With any luck you’ll just have work as props from now on. To sit in front of me when I talk, to stand behind me when I talk. American influence is always stronger when we lead by example. Let’s show everyone that there’s no enemy, no danger, no peril we can’t run away from or try to buy off.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Guns are mostly for hunting down politicians who would actively seek to take your freedoms and liberty away from you.Varmint hunting...
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Snowden has provided the most valuable thing that democratic self-governing people can have, namely information about what is going on. If we are to exercise our rights as self-governing people, using the information he has given us, we should have clear in our minds the political ideas upon which we act. They are not parochial, or national, or found in the records of supreme court decisions alone.Do read the whole thing...
A nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, enslaved millions of people. It washed away that sin in a terrible war. Americans should learn from that, and are called upon now to do so.
