The Fibonacci sequence says ”I am large, I contain multitudes“
via 3 Quarks Daily by Jonathan Kujawa
This spring [OK, this will make it over two years ago] I attended the annual meeting of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. While there I heard a fantastic talk by Dr. Holly Krieger about which I’d like to tell you. If you’d like to hear Dr. Krieger tell you herself, I highly recommend the Numberphile video she hosted. You can see it here.
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Deep impact
via Prospero by R.L.G.
Germans joke about their bad English. In Berlin, you can buy fridge magnets with German expressions over-literally translated into English, like “It is me sausage”—a word-for-word rendering of Es ist mir Wurst, or “it’s all the same to me”. “German Quatsch” on Twitter has many more. But educated Germans usually speak English quite well. The reality is that, to a deeper extent than commonly realised, German is changing under constant influence from English.
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Swear words, etymology, and the history of English
via the OUP Blog by Adrastos Omissi
Have you ever noticed that many of our swear words sound very much like German ones and not at all like French ones? From vulgar words for body parts (a German Arsch is easy to identify, but not so much the French cul), to scatological and sexual verbs (doubtless you can spot what scheissen and ficken mean, but might have been more stumped bychier and baiser), right down to our words for hell (compare Hölle and enfer), English and German clearly draw their swear words from a shared stock in a way that English and French do not. Given that nearly two thirds of the words in English come from Romance roots and only a quarter from Germanic roots, this seems odd.
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Video of grass waving in the wind is entrancing. Seriously!
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz
Gissur Simonarson shot this in Gjerdrum, near Oslo, Norway. WAY more interesting than watching grass grow.
On YouTube here
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Paper Chasing
via Arts & Letters Daily: by Jake Bittle in Examined Life
In Henry James’s novel The Portrait of a Lady, a hapless suitor named Ned Rosier courts the innocent Pansy Osmond. Rosier is best known as a lifelong collector of tiny books and trinkets called bibelots. After Pansy ejects him, Rosier liquidates his collection of bibelots, hoping to become rich enough to impress her father. This move backfires immediately: those close to Pansy tell Rosier that he would have been better off to keep his “pretty things,” and that his collection of knickknacks and books was “the best thing about him.”
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Toddler explains how babies are born in 4 seconds
via Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Yep, that pretty much covers it. Adela, who is 3 years old, concisely and accurately explains in this short video how babies are born.
Don’t blink or you’ll miss it
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Decoding the Remarkable Algorithms of Ants
via 3 Quarks Daily: Emily Singer interviews Deborah Gordon in Quanta
The biologist Deborah Gordon has uncovered how ant colonies search efficiently without central organization, an insight that might improve computer networks.
Read all about it here
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Crossed swords and pistols at dawn: the duel in literature
Whether dutiful, chivalrous, flamboyant or just plain quarrelsome John Leigh’s literary duellists make engaging subjects in Touché: the duel in literature.
via Arts & Letters Daily: Richard Davenport-Hines in Spectator
Earlier this century I was a guest at a fine dinner, held in a citadel of aristocratic Catholicism, for youngish members of German student duelling societies. My hosts were splendidly courteous, some of them held deadly straight rapiers or lethal curved blades, there were brightly coloured and golden braided costumes that made King Rudolf of Ruritania’s coronation robes seem dowdy, and we sung a rousing anthem about Prince Eugene of Savoy smiting the fearful Turk at the battle of Zenta in 1697. It was a high-testosterone evening. A few of my young hosts had duelling scars, discreetly placed so as to be imperceptible when they were in office suits, for some of them worked in Canary Wharf or the City as bankers, lawyers and accountants.
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Hacking Isn’t Just a 21st Century Problem
via Big Think by Dustin Petzold
Before the days of e-mail viruses and information leaks (Wiki and otherwise), hacking existed in a more primitive form. The most notorious hackers throughout history have been a mixture of genuinely malicious cyberterrorists and nonthreatening pranksters whose schemes got a little out of hand. The so-called "original teenage hackers" were firmly in the latter categories, but their hijinks set the stage for the US government's legislative approach to cybercrime. The 414s, a documentary short that tells the fascinating and often humorous story of four computer nerds from 1980s Milwaukee, is one of the best selections to come out of the American Film Institute's documentary festival in Washington, DC.
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Marshmallow Madness – dozens of puffalicious recipes
via Boing Boing by Wink
Homemade marshmallows are all the rage, and Shauna Sever’s whimsical cookbook is the ideal starting place for whipping up a batch in the home kitchen. Sometimes, cookbooks just hit the mark, and this one certainly does. From the basic method and standard vanilla marshmallow to alcohol-infused, gourmet adult treats, Marshmallow Madness had me looking like a hero in the kitchen. Real, fresh, gooey homemade marshmallows are an entirely different confection than their store-bought counterparts, and they can do everything a name brand can and more. Try Sever’s recipe for ambrosia cake or s’mores cupcakes, for instance, or infuse a rich vanilla mallow with delicious homemade salted caramel.
Check it out here
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