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?