Thane Plambeck

Red Prii within 3 blocks of our house, part VI

Red Prii within 3 blocks of our house, part VI
Originally uploaded by thane

5WAZ585 - 601 Colorado

Progress on the Cloak of Invisibility

Here's the conclusion to the recent paper A rigorous analysis of high order electromagnetic invisibility cloaks, by Ricardo Weder:

We gave a rigorous mathematical proof, in the time and frequency domains, that first and high order electromagnetic invisibility cloaks actually cloak passive and active devices in a very strong sense. This puts the theory of cloaking in exact transformation media in a firm mathematical basis that will allow us, in the next step forward, to analyze the stability of cloaking in the approximate transformation media that are used in the applications.

So, it sounds like the cloaks are not quite available in stores yet, but maybe it's time to preorder, or join the appropriate mailing list.

Rumsfeld appointment

From an article from the Stanford news service titled Hoover Institution director explains, defends appointment of Rumsfeld, with my "writer's embellishment" in italics:

* * * *
The director of the Hoover Institution told the Faculty Senate last week that he did not regret his decision to appoint former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as a distinguished visiting fellow, but was sorry he had "blindsided" his bosses—Provost John Etchemendy and President John Hennessy—by not informing them beforehand.

John Raisian, director of the institution since 1989, had been invited to appear before the senate to explain the criteria he used to make the controversial appointment.

Speaking to the senate Thursday, Raisian said he was "saddened by the reaction of some of my Stanford colleagues." He said the appointment was "not intended to be provocative."

"I mean, c'mon, Donny's like the Prince of Darkness," Raisian went on. "How are we supposed to run an Evil Empire inside Stanford if we can't swing for the fences? It's not like this is the 'Hoover Institution for Peace'—it's the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, for chrissakes!"

Cole's origami

Dude, Katie! Your Dress is So Cute

Dude, however, is better situated than guy for grammatical widening into exclamation because it enjoys not only unmarked gender but also connotations of power, thanks to its message of "cool solidarity." Just googling dude provides an indication of the power imputed to the word. Such a search in July 2004 yielded millions of commercial web sites belonging to entrepeneurial dudes, including Pizza Dude, Beer Dude, ArtDude, DrummerDude, the more serious CVSDude, firedude (a resource for firefighters), and even the fearless Public Defender Dude. There far fewer such commercial sites that bothered to include guy, and those that existed were definitely less glamorous: History Guy, Family Guy, Pathology Guy, Fat Guy, Homeless Guy, Sock Guy, and Crazy Drunk Guy.

—From Dude, Katie! Your Dress is So Cute: Why Dude Became an Exclamation, by Muffy Siegel, VERBATIM Vol XXX, No. 4

This blog's reading level

Readers, you're in excellent company:

Not only that, but I've scraped the embedded "cash advance" URLs from this little meme prior to posting it.

Tarantelle

I've got a new favorite from the (previously blogged) The Robbins Collection of 200 Jigs, Reels and Country Dances, on the very last page.

It's titled Tarantelle (Italian).

I like it so much I might try to write a similar piece myself, like I did way back in 2002 for the Schubert Walzes (and do feel free to subject yourself to a hearing of that particular bastardization now, as a crappy MIDI file).

Non piu andrai

Cherubino, alla vittoria! Alla gloria militar! Alla gloria militar!

Scores on Cole's medieval history quiz; NU vs CU; Stanford vs Cal

Me: 3 of 5 correct
My dad: 3 of 5 correct

I didn't know anything about King Clovis, and proved to be generally weak in the "Frankish Kings" department.

On the other hand, my dad missed an easy one on Charlemagne. I knew he was the first Holy Roman Emperor (perhaps by convention, only?), although I didn't know he (ie, Chuck) was a Frankish king.

Need to read up on Frankish Kings, I guess.

*****
Nebraska vs Colorado: we watched it at the loft, and the Huskers looked good in the first half before melting down in the second. It's been a long time since I sat down with my dad and watched the Nebraska Cornhuskers win a football game on TV.
*****

Stanford (women's) Volleyball vs Cal, Maples Pavilion: a great game, won by Stanford in the fifth.

Ezra Pound's ABC of Reading

I picked up an old copy of Ezra Pound's 1934 book ABC of Reading in a used bookstore, and almost bought it until I looked at the price ($48 for a contemporaneous-looking copy).

You can find most of it at Google books (the "limited preview" seems to include almost the whole book).

Here's a typically confusing passage, early on:

* * *

No man is equipped for modern thinking until he has understood the anecdote of Agassiz and the fish:

A post-graduate student equipped with honours and diplomas went to Agassiz to receive the final and finishing touches. The great man offered him a small fish and told him to describe it.

Post-graduate student: "That's only a sunfish."

Agassiz: "I know that. Write a description of it."

After a few minutes the student returned with the description of the Ichthus Heliodiplodokus, or whatever term is used to conceal the common sunfish from vulgar knowledge, family of Heliichtherinkus, etc., as found in textbooks on the subject.

Agassiz again told the student to describe the fish.

The student produced a four-page essay. Agassiz then told him to look at the fish. At the end of three weeks the fish was in an advanced state of decomposition, but the student knew something about it.

By this method modern science has arisen, not on the narrow edge of medieval logic suspended in a vacuum.

"Science does not consist in inventing a number of more or less abstract entities corresponding to the number of things you wish to find out," says a French commentator on Einstein. I don't know whether that clumsy translation of a long French sentence is clear to the general reader.

* * * *

Is Pound saying Einstein was someone working on the narrow edge of medieval logic, because he "invented more or less abstract entities?" What about the Fish Story?

Anyway, I find the book to be amusingly pedantic, and often exceedingly stupid and preachy—in other words, somewhat like Emerson. It's possible to read the whole thing in an hour or two, and if you're like me, you'll feel somewhat dazed and Confuciusly confused throughout. A bit like hearing a good baptist sermon, or Ralph Waldo on drugs.

Highly recommended.

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part VI

Safeway parking lot
Originally uploaded by thane

5YIM709 next to our car, Middlefield Rd

Train crossing Road 20 1/2, Kismet, CA

Train crossing Road 20 1/2, Kismet, CA
Originally uploaded by thane

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part V

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part V
Originally uploaded by thane

6BHN566, 2341 Tasso St

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part IV

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part IV
Originally uploaded by thane

5TCK762, 2468 Cowper St

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part III

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part III
Originally uploaded by thane

5XTJ360, 2340 Cowper St

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part II

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part II
Originally uploaded by thane

5UGS557, 602 N California

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part I

Red Prii within three blocks of our house, part I
Originally uploaded by thane

5NWR458, 4120 Byron St

The Amazing Floating Oak Leaf

OWEN: Hey Cole, daddy and I made a video of an oak leaf floating in the street.

COLE: Oh, right! I saw it floating in the street too. I was going to tell you about it.

THANE: Well, we shot some video, and you didn't, so we get the credit.

Stamped dollar

IMG_0580
Originally uploaded by thane

I got this bill in change at a coffee shop near the UC Berkeley campus.

There's a stamp on it that reads "IS BUSH'S OIL WORTH YOUR SON'S BLOOD?"

Clothespin tree

Clothespin tree
Originally uploaded by thane