Why Don't They . . .

Expand the organizing capability of my Nokia phone to have more memory and more options.  I'd like multiple lists in place of the single to-do list, and I'd like sublists of list items.  I'd like for priority classes to be expanded from three to any number.  I'd like ranking by both importance and urgency.  I'd like for an alarm to be attachable to any item.

Attach GPS capability to a camera so that location as well as time is automatically recorded.  Also make easy provision for adding tags or descriptions on the spot.  If this is too hard, have a separate hand-held gadget into which to insert the SD card for that purpose.  Have a photo printer which will print the picture on the front and the data on the back.

Have a wireless remote for the camera allowing for complete control including LCD viewing.  Likewise for the tripod.

Have a label printer attachable to multiple devices by cord or preferably wireless.  Make it portable.

Build an interface to multiple devices smaller than a netbook (much smaller).  Make keyboards and displays separate devices.  Make all devices handheld.

Make a wireless phone that is just a phone (with connections) - no camera and no games or gadgets.

How about a phone that will serve as a remote control for multiple devices.

A flexible time recorder that will automatically record a variety of preset items.  Add a USB port, a bar-code reader, an SD card slot, and a credit-card reader.

Have a calendar in some hand-held device with enough storage to also serve as a journal.

In other words, divide and combine in new ways for the most functional set.  Make some or all of them programmable.

And, finally, why aren't gutters made to rotate for easy dumping?

Oh, I'd also like a robot that would keep my driveway clear of snow.

What to Get The Man Who Has Everything

A bag to keep it in
Something to eat or drink
The address of your favorite charity
Praise
A hand (help)
A hand (clapping)
A kiss
A piece of your mind
Pictures of yourself or his grandchildren
The time of day
A willing ear
What for
A poem you have written
Five
Undying love

What's wrong with this picture?

The small blue square on the left is what I bought from Staples.  The rest is all packaging.

What is a Lie group?

The most general definition of a Lie group is a group that is also a smooth manifold.  Do you suppose that will satisfy my girl friend who asked what my new book was about?

Quaternions

Quaternions are an extension if the concept of complex numbers into four dimensions.  The algebra of quaternions was discovered by Hamilton in 1843, a hundred years before I graduated from High School, so why hadn't I heard of them when I got my Masters in Mathematics.  Better late than never.

The Two-Square Identity

I just learned that

(a sum of two squares) x (a sum of two squares) = (a sum of two squares)

More specifically

(a squared + b squared) x (c squared  + d squared) = (ac - bd) squared + (ad + bc) squared

I thought that was cool.

cos(alpha + beta)

I remember quite a bit of trig including some of the derivates and the Taylor expansions, but not the formulas for the sums of angles or their derivations.  Simple ones exist based upon rotations of the complex plane, but I wanted a straight geometric one.  I found one described by M. Bourne based on the unit circle abbreviated as follows:

We draw a circle with radius 1 unit, with point P on the circumference at (1,0).
We draw an angle alpha from the centre [sic] with terminal point Q  at (cos alpha, sin alpha).
We extend this idea by drawing:
   The angle beta with terminal points at Q (cos alpha, sin alpha) and R (cos(alpha + beta), sin(alpha + beta))
   The angle -beta with terminal point at S (cos -beta, sin -beta)
   The lines PR and QS which are equivalent in length.

Now we have
   PR squared = cos(alpha + beta) squared + sin(alpha + beta) squared
         = 2 - 2cos(alpha + beta)
    QS squared = (cos(alpha) - cos(-beta)) squared + (sin(alpha) - sin(-beta)) squared
         = 2 - 2 cos alpha cos beta + 2sin alpha sin beta

So cos(alpha + beta) = cos alpha cos beta - sin alpha sin beta.

If you remember some trig and draw your own diagram you will see that it works.

Society of Actuaries

I am a former member (an FSA) who dropped out when I was no longer working in the field.  Today I visited their on-line site and barely recognized the place.  I had hoped to find reference material for the underwriting part of an exam, but apparently there is no equivalent in the current syllabus.  Also they have added a new designation in addition to ASA and FSA.  I'm just as happy that I left when I did.  Of course I am retired now.

Hobbling Along

About three weeks ago I stumbled over a box in the basement and hit my left knee on a wooden stool.  Just as I was about recoved, about a week and a half ago, as I was climbing a carpeted stairway my right foot slipped and I fell on the left knee again I think bending it back further than it wanted to go.  This time there was swelling which has now gone down.  Oddly, there were no purple bruises either time.  I'm doing fairly well again although when I go up a step the right leg has to do the lifting.  Although I got to the mailbox a couple of times avoiding the icy spots and ran an errand for which I didn't have to leave the car, today is the first day I drove to McDonalds for coffee.  It was a test of what you can do while housebound and living alone.  A friend did grocery shop for me once and has offered to do more.  A phone and being able to go on line both help.  Also the attached garage.

The Red Guitar

This is a picture my late wife obtained from her friend, Carol Hedges, mother of Peter Hedges who wrote What's Eating Gilbert Grape and An Ocean in Iowa.  I remember an event at our house at which Carol "supervised" us and a group of our friends in painting murals on the walls of a room that was about to be paneled.  If the people who own the house now (or later) ever decide to remove the paneling, they are in for a surprise.

Naive Lie Theory

I just bought a book with that title.  It is one ot the Springer Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics and is by John Stillwell, Professor of Mathamatics at the University of San Francisco.  It is just what I needed.  It has, in the first two chapters, clarified ideas that I knew something about, especially quaternions and simple groups.  I find his end-of-chapter discussions interesting.  When I finish I should be in a position to understand a book I already had called Symnetry and The Monster by Mark Ronan.

In the Preface he mentions another book called Naive Set Theory by Paul Halmos.  Maybe I'll get it to.

Could I Still Program?

I'd like a program that would compare backups of the Windows registry. In the past I have written a similar system that would compare COBOL programs (before and after changes). It was written in COBOL. I could try Visual Basic. Is there a a COBOL compiler that will run on a personal computer? A first requirement would be to convert the register file to a fixed format if it isn't already. The output must show additions, deletions, and changes and where they are located. The general procedure was to add a sequence number, sort on content, match, create a matched file, and resort on sequence number. A procedure was devised to handle the many duplicates. Perhaps I could recreate that. The form of the output would require some thought. So would the easiest language.

Old Friend

Decades ago I worked for a short while at a software company that, among other things, designed and programmed games for the Tandy (Radio Shack) Color Computer. I programmed one called Wildcatting. I became friends with a younger man sitting next to me. Recently I was googling the company and found his e-mail address. I had dinner with he and his wife Friday night. He and I have a lot in common so I had a great time with he and his wife. We plan to do it again in about a month.

What's Fair?

A man is running on for Governor of Illinois with the promise of making taxes more fair. By that he means soaking the rich and cutting taxes for "the working man." [Don't the rich work?] How can you know the tax curve should be steeper unless you know how steep it is already? The answer seems to be the steeper the better so you have a rachet effect. The extreme of fairness becomes no tax up to a certain level of income and 100% of the excess. That certain level depends upon how much money you need [want?] to collect. You can't cut taxes for the poor because they don't pay any. Since raising taxes is unpopular and cutting them is popular, the object is to cut them for enough people to get elected.

My own definition of fair is more taxes for other people and less for me.

Ramblings

I put ramblings in my journal today. I'll spare you the details, but they were the result of attempts to clear out my basement.

Health Insurance

I keep hearing about the terrible situation of the many people who don't have access to medical care because they don't have health insurance. I can remember when no one had health insurance, but they did recieve medical care. The doctors even made house calls. Granted, the care today is much better, but is there a shortage of money to pay for care or a shortage of care?

Frank Miller paintings

....I have two watercolor paintings signed Frank Miller that were purchased from the Des Moines Art Center many years ago. I believe they were painted by the same Frank Miller who was a political cartoonist for the Des Moines Register for many years. I have been unable to verify this, however. Can anyone help?

Tea Leaf Sold

I received the check yesterday for $1400 - a very satisfactory result. Next on the docket: Lenox Mystic.

Surprise!

My friend threw a "surprise" party for my 83rd birthday Saturday. The only other time that happened to me I was forty. I used quotes because the preparations were obvious. Good food and good conversation with neighbors (hers).

From Kalamazoo to Maine

Kalamazoo is where I took my tea leaf to be auctioned off. Besides the auction we got to see the Gilmore car museum and the W. K. Kellog manor. The Radisson Plaza is a great hotel and everywhere we went we were well fed.

Predicted weather caused us to cancel our plans for Niagra Falls. Instead, we toured wineries in Paw Paw and visited a friend who lives near there on a lake. From there we found The Chocolate Garden. Then we used Maggie, my GPS, to find another winery that had a restaurant with fine food and a fine view. The rest of the way home my driver was driving in the rain in heavy traffic.

Maine is where I am going next with two nephews and their wives. The destination is The Rise and Shine Bed and Breakfast run by good friends of mine. It is located in an old Woolworth mansion. There is a large horse barn where racing horses were once kept.

An Economic Question

Tonight Michael Moore was on Jay Leno's program and stated that the top one per-cent had more wealth than the bottom 95 per-cent combined. [Or was it income? Doesn't matter.] My reaction is "So what?" A better measure is the distribution of consumption. I'm sure they don't eat as much, drive as many cars, live in as many houses, wear as many clothes, or use as much medical care. My concern is how I live, not how the top one per-cent live. I'm sure that I am in the 95 per-cent but I live very well.

If the top one per-cent gave their wealth to the 95 per-cent, the latter couldn't consume twice as much goods and services because there wouldn't be enough to go around. Instead, prices would go up.

Am I missing something?

Barn Dance

Also traditional square dance or hoe down

The call I remember goes:

First couple out and couple on the right

Around that couple and swing
Through that couple and both couples swing
Circle four in the middle of the floor
Dos a ditty and dos si do
One more swing and on you go

{Repeat with the 1st and 3rd and then 1st and 4th}

Second couple out and couple on the right

{Repeat all the way around}

{at the end}
Everybody swing.

{I may have forgotten more at the ending. I was young then.}

You get a line and I'll get a pole, Honey

Form:
[first line], Honey.
[first line], Babe.
[second line].
Honey, Baby, Mine.

You get a line and I'll get a pole
We'll go down to the crawdaddy hole

Yound'r come a man with a sack on his back
He's got all the crawdads he can pack

Man fell down and he broke that sack
See all them crawdad's crawlin back

Sat on the pole, my feet got cold
I was lookin' right down that crawdad's hole

What you gonna do when the creek goes dry
Stand on the bank and watch crawdads die

What did the duck say to the drake
There ain't no crawdads in this lake

Comcast Help

E-mail received from Comcast:

Dear Harlow,
_
Thank you for contacting Comcast. My name is Ryan. I understand you are interested in changing your amount of service. I would be more than happy to assist you with this matter.We certainly have alternate prices available, to view all our prices and eligibility for promotions, please visit:
https://www.comcast.com/localization/
_
If this does not assist you please feel free to contact our 24-7 Live Chat support at:
http://www.comcastsupport.com/chat
_
If you have any further questions or concerns please reply to this email. To assure the proper tracking of this issue, we have created the following customer service ticket: 179895994 Please refer to this number should you contact us regarding this same issue.
Thank you for choosing Comcast Harlow. We appreciate your business.
Sincerely, RyanComcast Customer Care Specialist

Original Message Follows:
The following information was submitted from the Comcast Web site:
Name: Harlow ######
Problem: Billing/General InquiryAddress: ####
Home Phone: ##########
Email: hstaley@aol.com
Comments:
Account No. ####
I'm looking at a bill for $75.10. I'm also looking at an AT&T ad for $49/mo. Why shouldn't I take it?

Does anyone think he answered my question? The only amount of service that I am contemplating changing is canceling it. Suppose he would be happy to assist me with that?

Tea Leaf Update

It's all boxed and ready to go to the auction in Kalamazoo next week. I have 42 0f the 360 lots that will be auctioned.

On Being Uncle Harlow

My name is Harlow and I have three nephews. *

My mother had a brother named Harlow so I had my own Uncle Harlow.

While sitting in one a class taught by one of my nephews, he introduced me as his mother's twin brother. I became Uncle Harlow to the whole class (all much younger than I).

Another blogger described me as avuncular. I looked it up. It means like an uncle.

I suppose it is to late to call this blog Uncle Harlow's Place.
_____________________________________________

*I actually have four nephews and a niece. I see three nephews the most.

Two Weeks Gone By

Home from Ann Arbor. Three daughters (plus two granddaughters and a great grandson) visited me for the purpose of helping me downsize: choosing things they wanted now or later. They made a big dent in stuff, but not as much as I had hoped. It leaves me free to get rid of the rest.

The Tea Leaf is marked and ready to pack for the auction of the Tea Leaf Club International in Kalamazoo, MI, on September, 29th. My girl friend is helping me and after the meeting we will continue to Niagra Falls (throuch Canada) and back through Ohio.

In early October I will join two nephews and their wives at a bed and breakfast (The Rise and Shine) in Maine. Friends of mine are the Innkeepers.

I hope to return to four colors soon.

My Life in Ann Arbor

I love this place. It has all of the amenities of a university town. My apartment is one block off of the University of Michigan campus. I'm within walking distance from almost everything I could possibly want: classes, computer lab, cafes, cleaners, book stores, coffee shops, movies, restaurants (including one Chinese), pizza, drug store, grocery store, ATM machines, clothing store, post office, libraries, shaded walks, barber shop, liquor store,, Art Museum, and Ben and Jerry's, The apartment has a broadband internet connection. There are several places where I can get a wireless connection for my netbook. I run into many people that I know (more than at home). Everyone is friendly. The weather has been to my liking. Unfortunately, the Ritz camera store where I got prints made closed. I can live with that. What else could I wish for? Well, for my girl friend to be here with me. (Gosh, I love that woman.)

UPDATE: I'm back home again.

How much can you teach a computer?

How much math can you teach a computer? Consider finding an expression for the sum of the numbers from 1 to n.

I. Proof by induction: The computer should be able to do what students are asked to do, but this is not finding an expression, only verifying it.

2. Assume a quadratic form f(n) = an^2 + bn +c
A "little algebra" gives

f(n+1) - f(n) = 2an + (a+b)

the left-hand side of this equation, being the sum of the numbers from 1 to n+1 less the sum of the numbers from 1 to n is n+1. This gives us 2a =1 and a+b = 1 so a = 1/2 and b = 1/2. Our equation is now

f(n) = (n^2)/2 + n/2 + c

Setting n to 1 (or any number including 0) sets c to 0 giving our final equation

f(n) = n(n+1)/2

3. Manipulate the numbers using the distributive law. There are two cases depending on whether n is even (the simpler case) or odd. For the even case:

The sum of the numbers from 1 to n is equal to the sum of the numbers from 1 to n/2 plus the sum of the numbers from (n/2 plus 1) to n. The sum of the numbers from (n/2 plus 1) to n is the sum of the numbers from n to (n/2 plus 1). i.e. reverse order. Using summation pseudo-notation:
Sum(i=n/2 + 1 to n)(i) = Sum(i = 1 to i)(n+1-i)
Then
Sum(i=1 to n)(i) = Sum(i=1 to n/2)(i) + Sum(i=1 to n/2)(n+1-i)
=Sum(i=1 to n/2)(i+n+1-i) = Sum(i=1 to n/2)(n+1) = n/2 times n+1 . . . QED
The odd case is slightly more complicated or one could apply induction to the even case.

4. Graphical solution:

Take n vertical bars numbered 1 to n and set them side by side in ascending order. Each bar should be one unit wide and as many units high as its number. Draw a diagonal from the lower left corner to the upper right corner. The area under the diagonal is n squared over 2. Each of the n bars has half of a square unit extending above the diagonal making an area of n over 2. So n squared over 2 plus n over 2 is n(n+1)/2.
__________________________________________________
How much of this could the computer come up with. I'd like to see an AI expert teach it to learn math.
　

Luncheon Encounter

I often meet Mike for lunch at Panera Bread, normally arriving before he does. I was standing in line when the man with a white mustache behind me asked how fast the line moved. I told him fairly fast as there were three cashiers. Just then three in front of us left to go elsewhere so he said it that made it move faster. Then he jokingly asked the others in front of us if they wouldn't like to go elsewhere too. (None did.) When I got my food I selected a table for four. When he got his he asked to join me. (It was rather crowded.) I agreed, of course. He was attending a conference for teachers of physics. He was a retired theoretical physicist from the University of Arizona. I had been wondering how they knew the speed of light and how they knew it was constant and took the opportunity to ask him. The speed can be measured and the original way used mirrors on mountain tops. Maxwell's equations told them it was constant. I didn't get an answer for the reason why it is the same for all observers. Mike joined us then and on hearing the man's occupation, asked me if I had asked the man my questions, which I just had. Mike introduced himself and the man said they called him J D. Mike told them about his work in statistics for the social sciences in which J D showed considerable interest.

Later I looked for him on google. After a couple of false starts I used "physics faculty" with "University of Arizona" which gave a list from which I picked out J D Garcia. From this I located several citations including two which included a picture verifying it was the correct identification.

Frustration

I spent a lot of time preparing the next post for my Four-Color series. It contained a 21 line table with headings all carefully lined up with spaces. It was saved and I left it for a while. When I returned to edit the draft, all multiple spaces had been replaced by single spaces including the double spaces that I was taught in typing class (1943?) to put at the ends of sentences. aaagh! I suppose I can use Photoshop Element's typing tool to recreate the table as a picture. Does someone know a better way?

Four-Color Problem - Part III

The last post described how when the configuration on the left in a minimal non-colorable map with one face removed could be be modified as shown in the figure. Briefly, the a-c region containing face A in the fugure on the left must also contain face C so the b-d region containing face B is surrounded thus allowing colors b and d in that region to be exchanged leading to the figure on the right. A similer argument applied to the figure on the right
allows the d-a region containing D to have its colors exchanged so face D is now colored a. This process can be repeated as show in the following table:

After 20 exchanges we have the original colors back around our five-edged face. However, it does not necessarily follow that the whole map has its original coloration. Enouch exchanges must bring it back to its original state as the map is finite and has a finite number of states and each exchange is reversable. The number of exchanges which will do this has to be a multiple of 20. [Note that if states are equated if they can be made identical by a permutation of colors this number is reduced to 5.]

One can draw paths (lines) between the faces that have to be connected by a region. Where two regions containing one different color (say a-b and a-c) the intersection must be the common color (a in this example). I drew many such lines in my diagrams labeling them and their intersections with the colors they represented trying to show that they would requiring additional faces in the map. It turned out tthis was not the case and I found a counter example. (The counter example could, of course, but the coloration cannot be found by the method described here.) I will illustrate this counter example and discuss other possible Kempe chains after I return home from Ann Arbor. Is anybody listening?

Four-Color Problem - Part II

Alfred Kempe, who showed that a minimum uncolorable map could not have a face with four edges [see Part I], gave a flawed proof that it couldn't contain a face with five edges which would then prove the conjecture. Eleven years later the flaw was discoved. His proof was an extension of his proof for four edges. Since there is one more face than colors one color must be used twice. (All four must be used at least once, of course.) In the diagram I have chosen color b. The a-d region containing A must contain D or a and d could be switched in that region leaving a for the center. Similarly for the a-c region containing A and C. Then the b-d region containing B cannot contain D and the b-c region containing E cannot contain C. The switching of b and d in the first and b and c in the second makes color b available for the center. The problem is that the first switch changes the condition required for the second switch.

In Part III I will describe my unsuccessful attempts to get around this problem.

Four-Color Problem - Part I

Preliminary:

• The four-color conjecture states that any map can be colored with four colors so that no two adjacent countries have the same color.


• It can be shown that any map can be converted to a so-called cubic map where each node terminates three edges without loss of generality.
  
• If maps exist that are not four-colorable, then one such map must be of minimum size.
  It follows that a minimum map with one country (face) removed is four colorable.


• A minimal map cannot contain a face with only one, two, or three edges for if that map with that face removed is colored there has to be at least one color left to color that face.


• A minimal map cannot contain a face with four edges: Suppose we have such a face surrounded by colors a opposite to c and b opposite to d. (see below) Consider connected regions of the map that are colored by either a or c or by b or d. If the a-c region containing A does not contain C, switch colors a and c in that region leaving color a for the center. If region a-c containing A does contain C it follows that the b-d region containing B cannot also contain D as it is surrounded by an a-c region. Then switching colors b and d in the b-d region containing B makes color b available for the center.

Two-color regions as used here all called Kempe chains. Stay tuned.

Back in Ann Arbor

For the sixth year now I attend the summer program (2nd half) of the INTER-UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM FOR POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH (ICPSR). My good-hearted nephew, who is an instructor there, takes me along and I sit in on one or more of the classes. We have apartments in the same building and do some things, but not everything, together. He always has lots of friends around. This year I'm "taking" Structural Equation Models w/ Latent Variables. I may add Advanced Bayesian Models for Social Scientists.

I had the date wrong so when I got a phone call from Mike saying he would there at around 10am, I quickly got my stuff together. As usual we stopped at a friend's near Paw Paw who gave us coffee and showed us the damage to her house on a small lake caused by several blown-down trees. We arrived at Maynard House around 5pm and unloaded. My furnished apartment was missing much of the furnishings because they had been cleaning the carpet and hadn't put things back. This was easily remedied. Then we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and drinks and more conversation.

This morning at Frank's Place where Pete has reigned for year's I had my usual breakfast. I was greeted by Pete and by his son-in-law who was taking orders today. No doubt we will see the daughter, Athena, soon. She is such a pleasant person. Next to Frank's is a bicycle shop where, day after day they put about a hundred bicycles outside. In the afternoon they take them in again.

I had pizza with Mike tonight at another nearby place. We had separately found our way to a book store. I was able to have my mail forwarded on line.

Morning Coffee Thoughts

I'm disappointed in Why e = mc sqr? book. There is hand waving on how we know speed of light to so many places and how we know it is constant. I have an accumulation of books to finish. One needs to go back to library. To-do's now include call Maynard House and call
Eisenstein's office for review of meds. I broke three of the short-stem glasses on card table so returned the rest of glasses to cabinet. Small refrigerator is almost too small. I need to use camcorder now that I have it. I'm quite pleased with it so far. If time is not fixed and distance is not fixed, how can speed = distance/time be constant except by definition. Distance = speed x time. Time = distance/speed. Which is the independent variable? "Constant" is a synonym for "fixed." Which of the three statements do we say is true by definition? It's been too long since I have talked to Phyllis. I'm here rather than pulling more books out of my basement because Anna is coming to clean. I'm overdue to sort coupons. The problem with doing anything is that it keeps me from doing something else, Barbara Sher would call me a scanner. Get more exercise. Practice piano. Work on pictures. Blog. I checked on pith helmets (safari hats). The less expensive ones are only sold by the dozen. I wish Word Pad had spell check.

Digging into My Past

My latest downsizing project is attacking the boxes of paper in my basement. Ninety-five per-cent is pitched. The rest is filed by year. The process reminds me of parts of my life that I had almost forgotten (the reason for the 5 per-cent). I ran across folders about my early attempts at the four-color problem, programs in basic written for early micro-computers, flow charts for a billing process (I was a consultant), 8086 and 8087 manuals, and client notes from actuarial consulting. And I am just getting started.

Just a Few Pictures

Still having problems with placement.

The Jersey Boys

I just saw this musical (in Chicago) which is the story of The Four Seasons and their lead singer. One of their hits was Big Girls Don't Cry and there were many others. Not only was the music great but there was also a real story. They were eventually inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame. My significent other enjoyed it too.

Tea Leaf Saga Continues

My dully journal for today:

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 9:46am McD(N) Wt.: 178

I sent Tea Leaf pictures and had a reply with:

I’ll look forward to receiving your “TLCI Auction Consignment Form” indicating condition (damage, i.e. chips, cracks, flakes, hairlines, discoloration, and repair) as well as dimensions for each of the lots. Would you please identify the image number for each lot.

I wonder if he had talked to his wife. I haven't finished measuring.

May at the Chicago Botanic Garden

I don't know how to properly compose this page. From top to bottom it is a column heading in a decorative structure, bird feeders, and pansies.

In case you thought I took my poetry seriously . . .

Ode to a Box of Kleenex(R)

Oh perfect teal celestial cube
From whose top leaps
A tissue of frozen white flame
Reflecting your white lilies,
Constant lilies which shall never
Wilt but last for days and days
Whose model provided the nectar
Which enthralled the artist
Who spared time from the mundane
(Retouching the breasts of nubile maidens
to make the nipples glow)
To fix such beauty on this box.
Why have you no pedestal
But only sit atilt among the olio
On a glass-topped coffee table?
Thou were designed for loftier use
To match the decor of a ladies boudoir
Or perch upon a white porcelain shelf
Above and behind a throne.

6-20-98 --Harlow B. Staley

Tea Leaf update

Adele Armbruster from the Tea Leaf club called and talked a long time. Cups do not have to be marked and the cups I have match the saucers I have. Too bad one is cracked. The answer to many questions was "I need to see the pictures."

Life Summary

Life Summary

This is the story of my life:
I sired a daughter and lost a wife
They happened twice.
Before is Prologue - a tale in itself.
After is Epilogue - I live by myself.

Oh, there were many other things
Jobs and adoptions and diamond rings,
Family and holidays and vacations,
Baptisms and confirmations,
Schools and books and graduations,
The flow of passing generations.

Hobbies and pets and activities
According to one's proclivities.
(I think we all took dancing classes.)
Doctors and dentists and reading glasses.

Friendships long and short and fleeting
From neighborhood, church, business meeting.
Songs and concerts, parties and plays
To comemmorate our passing days.

Cars and houses and rocking chairs,
Toys and games and teddy bears,
Movies, radio, television
With news of wars, atomic fission,
Leaders slain, lunar decision.

Outside new plantings had been made
Which grew until they gave us shade,
Birds, butterflies and bumble bees
With flowers blowing in the breeze.
Children playing, children swinging.
The ice cream truck is coming ringing.

I learned to accept it all:
The good, the bad, the large, the small
For life is made of such as this
A mixture of tragedy and bliss.

--Harlow B. Staley

Descended from Royalty

Isn't it amazing what one can see by looking. A web site (King Alfred) purports that I am in the 36th generation of his descendents tracing all the way. I tried to drag the link here but it didn't work. So I copied it.

http://geocities.com/pensacolarice/KingAlfred.html

Aren't I the snob! Two to the 36th is something like 10 billion so the resemblence is probably faint. However, if you can trace back far enough you have to find many duplicates. What was the population of England at the time.

Sometimes sort of a poet

My Circle

There is a void in my beliefs.
I've named this void George
After my Father.
I question George
Who interrupts me with his silence
Like a black bird on a bust.

Should I make a thorough study
Of the things I do not believe?
Know the Jewish holidays
and the stations of the cross?
Hindu taboos and the teachings of gurus?
Greek and Egyptian deities?

With this lore, I should find a way
To create my own god
Using leftover pieces of fish and leather
To bind my rite, sing my psalm,
Ponder imponderables.

What is consciousness?
Why me? Why now?
George consulted Science,
Who didn't know why red is red,
And gave no answer.

I beg the question
Not to be answered in a lifetime:
In the end, is there an end?
Either way, will it matter
From whose teachings I fall away?

revised 4-14-02              --Harlow B. Staley

A Beautiful Day

At my annual physical yesterday the doctor said I was doing fine. The sun is shining. I'm enjoying coffee. Life is good!

Bayes' Theorem

Notation:
Events are designated by capital letters
P(A) represents the probability that event A occurs
P(A,B) represents the probability that both A and B occur
P(A|B) represents the probability that A occurs given that B occurs

P(A,B) = P(A)xP(B|A) [intuitively obvious]
also P(A,B) = P(B)xP(A|B)
so P(A)xP(B|A) = P(B)xP(A|B) because both are equal to P(A,B)
divide both sides by P(A) giving

P(B|A) = P(B)xP(A|B)/P(A) qed

actually often stated with A and B reversed

P(A|B) = P(A)xP(B|A)/P(B)

P(A) is often determined by the sum of P(Bi)xP(A|Bi) over all i.

For continuous functions the sum is replaced by an integral.

No more searching for photo club judges

I resigned from this position. They found two women to share this duty for the next club year. I meet with them Monday to give them my papers and what advice I can (other than "Don't do it!"). Actually, the only problems I had were judges on the list who didn't answer calls, judges who didn't provide requested bio information for their introductions, and judges who didn't show (two). Oh, there were complaints about some of the judging. Being asked was an honor (I thought) and the experience was character building (I think). Resigning means I have to give up my Vice President title. The truly good thing about it was I got to know other club members better.

Tea Leaf Update

I located the web site of Tea Leaf Club International. They have over 800 members and lots of cool stuff. I'm sending them $30 for a membership. Now if I could find the equivalent for Lenox (Mystic pattern).

Math & AI - Part I

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Math and AI

First, a little background;

I am 82 years old. I got my masters in math in 1950 with courses in analysis and probability but no group theory. Working in insurance, I passed actuarial exams with the self-study methods common for actuaries at the time. I learned to program from IBM seminars (a whole week) and the manuals.

My reading hobby covered such things as Simon and Newell's work on computer problem solving and later the four-color problem, an interest I return to periodically to this day.
My interest in advanced math was recently reignited by The Problem That Couldn't Be Solved which led me to other books including Abel's Proof and Galois Group Theory and books on symmetry (The Monster) and Lie Groups.

I am curious about how much math can be taught to a computer and whether it could follow or even rediscover the proofs in these books. After all, they have been taught high-school geometry and symbolic logic.

Today's Journal

"Saturday, June 13, 2009 10:56am McD(N) Wt.: 178.25

"Finished arranging and counting tealeaf. Got big folding table into garage and started collecting. Stopped at an estate sale out of curiousity. Bought an abacus for $8. Resisted a spinet piano for $175. Got an e-mail from Krissy about her Mom. Actuarial yearbooks reduced to cover pages with pages with me. It provides a history of employment. Cold and rainy today. Finished book on oil depletion."

See, I told you it was dull.

What The Hey

When I started this blog I certainly didn't have tealeaf in mind. I was thinking more about mathematics, artificial intelligence, liberterianism, and other things to dazzle, confuse, and offend you with. I need to prepare treatises off-line. Also, I keep a dull daily journal which could contribute something. My apologies.

Tealeaf

Tealeaf is a design of Royal Ironstone China made by several manufacturers, especially Alfred Meakin but also Wedgewood among others. My wife's mother and later my wife conspired to corner the market. It is something I see in historical houses such as Lincoln's home in Springfield, IL. I've been sorting what must be 150 pieces. The major exception to Meakin is the cups and saucers which are Adams plus a few unmarked. Now my problem is, What on earth do I do with them?

Ethanol

"Surging food inflation and mounting budgetary costs are already beginning to undercut public support for ethanol's ill-conceived subsidies. The sooner that public support collapses, the better. The only thing this renewable energy policy will fuel is inflation." --Jeff Rubin I believe that all subsidies are ill-conceived.

I'm Reading . . .

WHY YOUR WORLD IS ABOUT TO GET A WHOLE LOT SMALLER by Jeff Rubin with subtitle: OIL AND THE END OF GLOBALIZATION Scary! "Despite the recent recessionay dip, oil prices will skyrocket again once the economy recovers. The fact is, worldwide reserves are disappearing for good."

Wouldn't you think . . .

that I could go online and find plain black-on-white prenumbered stickers? I couldn't. I want them so I can assign numbers to objects to be appraised. Is that asking too much?

Complaint Department

Lately on my home computer when I go online I get a window suggesting that I upgrade my Adobe Flash Player. If I select yes I'm told my OS (Windows 98 SE) doesn't qualify! Very annoying! I decided to report this to Adobe. I tried and tried but couldn't find the right connection. Why don't they have an e-mail address where I can tell them this in prose or poetry, but not menu-ese.

Btw, AVG has a new free version which doesn't work with Windows 98. The old one is no longer updated so I uninstalled it. Sigh!

Downsizing

Living alone at my age in a 4-bedr00m 3-car-garage house! How stupid can you get! On the other hand, disposing of enough stuff in it is a major project for which I need help. If you can have a living will why not a living estate sale? Who do I turn to? Professional Organizer? Antique store? Handy man? E-bay? U-Haul? Relatives? Dumpster? Movers?

HELP

Nothing to Say

"In the land of the economically illiterate, John Stossel deserves great praise for being a lone TV, Radio, or Print journalist of economic literacy."

I seem to agree with him about everything.

I'm writing this at McDonald's on a netbook. Two cute little girs and their mother are fascinated. When I said to the mother that the problem was that I didn't have anything to say she said she was sure I had a lot to say.

Hi, Loretta.

A man in the next booth is asking about my Acer netbook. I seem to get a lot of attention with it.

Back Again

I'm learning (sort of) how to use my netbook at Starbucks and McDonald's.

I line up judges for the photo club I belong to. I had a cancellation this week so that will take a day.

A great Irish group, The Larkin and Moran Brothers, The Celtic Rat Park, was at Pheasant
Run in St. Charles, IL, last Friday. They put on a great show.

This Friday we are going back there for Tina and Tony's Wedding, an interactive performance.

Day 2

Picture added.

There have been several popularized mathematics books lately. Some are fairly rigorous, but often they are more about history and biography than mathematics. I've made an effort to really understand The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved. It is difficult to locate earlier referenced works in English. This is a place that calls out for links, both to journals and other books and to other places in the same book. Proofs could link to other theorems and to definitions. Couldn't we have a Wikipedia of Mathematics? [If we already do I would like to know about it.]

In addition, what proofs could be followed or discovered using Artificial Intelligence?

Getting Started

2-25-09

For my list of interests I suppose I can refer you to my profile.

Today I finished reading The Menorah Men a novel by Lionel Davidson. I'm still working on What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis.