Category Archives: sciences

Scribbles: The Ensmoothening, Part II

One thing I noticed in that last series of charts is that more than one degree of discontinuity doesn’t help: the best-looking curves are mostly on the diagonal, where only the last nonzero derivative is discontinuous. Here, therefore, are those … Continue reading

Posted in curve-fitting | 2 Comments

ensmoothening scribbles

Presented for your consideration: the somewhat disappointing results of an experiment in using piecewise polynomial spirals, of varying degrees of continuity, to fit the Takana — disappointing in that few if any of the curves are as pretty as I … Continue reading

Posted in curve-fitting | 4 Comments

logarithmic birthday

I’m exp(4) years old!

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alternate poker

Suppose your deck has more than four suits, or some number other than thirteen cards per suit. What happens to the ranks of poker hands? 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 … Continue reading

Posted in games, mathematics | 3 Comments

I’m just sayin’

A free market would not say to the poor, “It’s cute that you want to earn money by providing a service, but first we need you to save up for a license.”

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elusive avoidance

I’ve been designing printable models of the Lawson-Klein surface w = cos(u) cos(2v) x = cos(u) sin(2v) y = sin(u) cos(v) z = sin(u) sin(v) As you can plainly see, this figure lives in S3 (positively curved 3-space), so stereographic … Continue reading

Posted in mathematics, merch | 2 Comments

hidden dragon

For years I’ve occasionally had a mysterious itch at my lowest left rib, nothing showing on the skin. Now it has spread rightward at the same altitude, making me think: could this be mild shingles?

Posted in me!me!me!, medicine | Leave a comment