Archive for March, 2009
An Impossible Proof
March 26th, 2009
I like proofs that claim to prove obviously false statements. They are the best puzzles.
This delightful series of operations demonstrates that all triangles are equilateral. Have fun finding the flaw!
Benford’s Law
March 24th, 2009
It turns out that in statistics and lists, the digit “1″ appears almost three times more often than it should. Benford’s Law describes this wacky phenomenon.
Another good find by Mr. Harman. He keeps coming up with awesome material, but never updates his blog! Soon I’m going to make him write a few guest posts here.
The PocketMod
March 22nd, 2009
If you think the Hipster PDA is just too complicated, try the PocketMod. With a cut and a couple folds, a sheet of paper becomes a nifty organizer. Make your own here.
Restructuring!
March 21st, 2009
The time has come, the Walrus said, to restructure your blog a little bit.
Being a great believer in the wisdom of walri, I’m going to be removing the “Harry Schwartz Eats” from each of the titles of the posts on this blog, both in the future and throughout the archive. That honestly hasn’t made any sense since about the third post. So!
EDIT: That was a tedious experience. I’m leaving a bunch of the early titles as they were, since they don’t really make sense otherwise.
Urban Camouflage
March 19th, 2009
This site is still under construction, but it seems to document the adventures of people camouflaging themselves with common items and hiding in Ikea. I know what I’m doing this weekend.
Haskell for Great Good!
March 17th, 2009
You probably know that I’m a huge fan of functional programming languages,* so I’ve been playing around with Haskell quite a bit lately. I was recently pointed** to a really nice introductory guide: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good! It’s a nice way to quickly get up to snuff in a lovely language.
* like Lisp.
** by Scott Kulp, super-villain extraordinaire.
LaTeX Macrons
March 15th, 2009
Attention LaTeXers and Latinists! There doesn’t seem to be a guide to putting macrons over vowels in Latin words in LaTeX, so here’s how to do it:
Am\={\i}c\={o}s
becomes
Notice the “\i“, which gives a dotless “i”. Otherwise you’d have a line over a dotted “i”, which would be pretty wrong. The \={} command will put a line over any letter, including capitals.
The Eye of Argon
March 12th, 2009
The Eye of Argon is the single worst piece of fantasy fiction writing ever produced. I’ve honestly never been able to get through more than half of it. It was written in 1970 by a 16-year-old, and it shows. To give you an idea of what we’re dealing with, let’s read the first few paragraphs:
The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust racked climes of the baren land which dominates large portions of the Norgolian empire. Age worn hoof prints smothered by the sifting sands of time shone dully against the dust splattered crust of earth. The tireless sun cast its parching rays of incandescense from overhead, half way through its daily revolution. Small rodents scampered about, occupying themselves in the daily accomplishments of their dismal lives. Dust sprayed over three heaving mounts in blinding clouds, while they bore the burdonsome cargoes of their struggling overseers.
“Prepare to embrace your creators in the stygian haunts of hell, barbarian”, gasped the first soldier.
“Only after you have kissed the fleeting stead of death, wretch!” returned Grignr.
A sweeping blade of flashing steel riveted from the massive barbarians hide enameled shield as his rippling right arm thrust forth, sending a steel shod blade to the hilt into the soldiers vital organs. The disemboweled mercenary crumpled from his saddle and sank to the clouded sward, sprinkling the parched dust with crimson droplets of escaping life fluid.
There’s actually a party game wherein people take turns reading the story aloud until they can’t suppress their laughter. There are competitions to see who can read the longest.
“By the surly beard of Mrifk, Grignr kneels to no man!”
Apparently the original printing contained illustrations by the author. A thousand Internets to whoever can find me a copy!