Log24

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Harvard Halloween

Filed under: General — m759 @ 11:30 am

http://www.log24.com/log/pix09A/091031-SF-detail.jpg

Related material: This journal on the birthday of Kate Jackson ("Satan’s School for Girls") this year and in 2005.

For more literary depth, see Spider Girl references on March 1, 2005 and August 2, 2009, as well as Raiders of the Lost Well (Feb. 18, 2009). Related religious symbolism: Follow the Harvard links of October 28 ("serious" and then "de facto university motto. [1]").

Friday, October 30, 2009

Bad Day at the Office

Filed under: General — m759 @ 7:48 am

In memory of Elmer Winter,
who died on October 22:

Elmer Winter, 97,
Co-Founder of Manpower
Temp Agency, Dies

Today’s NY Times:

“Mr. Winter’s very bad day at the office —
he and his law partner scrambled
to find emergency secretarial help —
spurred them to start Manpower,
the worldwide temp agency.”

http://www.log24.com/log/pix09A/091030-NYTobits.gif

Poem from the firm of
Pemberton, Winter & Stevens:

"After the final no there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.
No was the night. Yes is this present sun.
If the rejected things, the things denied,
Slid over the western cataract, yet one,
One only, one thing that was firm, even
No greater than a cricket's horn, no more
Than a thought to be rehearsed all day, a speech
Of the self that must sustain itself on speech,
One thing remaining, infallible, would be
Enough. Ah! douce campagna of that thing!
Ah! douce campagna, honey in the heart,
Green in the body, out of a petty phrase,
Out of a thing believed, a thing affirmed:
The form on the pillow humming while one sleeps,
The aureole above the humming house...          

It can never be satisfied, the mind, never."    

-- Wallace Stevens,
   "The Well Dressed Man with a Beard"

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Post in Error Deleted

Filed under: General — m759 @ 11:50 pm

This evening’s previous post, “Canonical Cubes,” 7:20 PM, post no. 4281, was in error and has been deleted.

Happy Birthday, Winona

Filed under: General — m759 @ 9:00 am

http://www.log24.com/log/pix09A/091029-SFadapted.jpg

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Harvard Founded on This Date

Filed under: General — m759 @ 11:02 am

“There has never since been any serious question that the event from which to date the founding of Harvard College is this vote on October 28, 1636.”

— Samuel Eliot Morison, The Founding of Harvard College

Related material: Columbus Day 2007.

Monday, October 26, 2009

The Keys Enigma

Filed under: General — Tags: — m759 @ 9:25 am

Back Space key from manual typewriter, linking to Babich on Music, Nietzsche, and Heidegger
Shift Lock key from manual typewriter, linking to Levin's 'The Philosopher's Gaze'

Related material:

Posts of Sept. 21-25

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sequel (for The MIT Press)

Filed under: General — m759 @ 7:11 pm

The sequel to Being and Time,
a post of April 29, 2003:

Learning and Memory


Founders of the Picower Center for Learning and Memory, with shovel, in photo published April 29, 2003

Click to enlarge.

See also Picower in today’s news.

The Hunt for Exemplary October

Filed under: General — Tags: — m759 @ 5:01 pm

"We have named this journal in celebration of that moment in our century when revolutionary practice, theoretical inquiry and artistic innovation were joined in a manner exemplary and unique." — Rosalind Krauss and Annette Michelson, "About October," October (Spring, 1976, MIT Press) 1: pp. 3–5

For Dan Brown Fans

Filed under: General — Tags: , — m759 @ 12:12 pm

Noetic Symbology

Midrash:

"The Game in the Ship cannot be approached as a job, a vocation, a career, or a recreation. To the contrary, it is Life and Death itself at work there. In the Inner Game, we call the Game Dhum Welur, the Mind of God. And that Mind is a terrible mind, that one may not face directly and remain whole. Some of the forerunners guessed it long ago — first the Hebrews far back in time, others along the way, and they wisely left it alone, left the Arcana alone. That is why those who studied the occult arts were either fools or doomed. Fools if they were wrong, and most were; doomed if right. The forerunners know, and stay away."

The Gameplayers of Zan

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Chinese Cubes Continued

Filed under: General,Geometry — m759 @ 8:28 am

A search for “Chinese Cube” (based on the the previous entry’s title) reveals the existence of a most interesting character, who…

“… has attempted in his books to produce a Science and Art of Reasoning using the simplest of the Platonic solids, the Cube. [His] model also parallels, in some ways, the Cube of Space constructed from the Sepher Yetzirah’s attributions for the Hebrew letters and their direction. [He] elucidated his theories at great length….”

More…

For related remarks, see the link to Solomon’s Cube from the previous entry.

Then of course there is…

http://www.log24.com/log/pix09A/091024-RayFigure.jpg

Click on figure for details.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Chinese Cubes

Filed under: General,Geometry — Tags: , — m759 @ 12:00 am

From the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, Jan. 26, 2005:

What is known about unit cubes
by Chuanming Zong, Peking University

Abstract: Unit cubes, from any point of view, are among the simplest and the most important objects in n-dimensional Euclidean space. In fact, as one will see from this survey, they are not simple at all….

From Log24, now:

What is known about the 4×4×4 cube
by Steven H. Cullinane, unaffiliated

Abstract: The 4×4×4 cube, from one point of view, is among the simplest and the most important objects in n-dimensional binary space. In fact, as one will see from the links below, it is not simple at all.

Solomon's Cube

The Klein Correspondence, Penrose Space-Time, and a Finite Model

Non-Euclidean Blocks

Geometry of the I Ching

Related material:

Monday's entry Just Say NO and a poem by Stevens,

"The Well Dressed Man with a Beard."

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

For the Feast of St. Ursula

Filed under: General — m759 @ 1:00 pm

The Tale of the British Virgins

Ursula Andress in 'Dr. No'

Related material:

Yesterday’s Dr. No entry
and a story by
Christine Dell’Amore

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

For Joseph Wiseman

Filed under: General — m759 @ 9:29 am

Joseph Wiseman, the actor who portrayed Dr. No, died Monday (Oct. 19). He appeared here in Chinese Theatre, Parts I and II, Nov. 20-21, 2003:

Just Say NO

Truth vs. Veritas

Filed under: General — m759 @ 8:28 am

Harvard’s motto is Veritas, i.e., Truth.

Today’s Crimson says a new philosophy professor has joined the Harvard faculty.

The professor, Mark E. Richard, is the author of a 2008 book, When Truth Gives Out.

For related material, see this journal on Oct. 19, 2002: “What Is Truth?.” The conclusion of that entry quotes Jack Nicholson’s classic remark, “You can’t handle the truth.”

For one way to handle the truth, see Pilate Goes to Kindergarten.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Hitchcock for Lithgow

Filed under: General,Geometry — m759 @ 12:00 pm

Modernity: A Film by
Alfred Hitchcock
:

“… the most thoroughgoing modernist design element in Hitchcock’s films arises out of geometry, as Francois Regnault has argued, identifying ‘a global movement for each one, or a “principal geometric or dynamic form,” which can appear in the pure state in the credits….'” –Peter J. Hutchings (my italics)

John Lithgow
is 64 today.

Happy birthday.

http://www.log24.com/log/pix09A/091019-GrayCube.jpg

Sunday, October 18, 2009

ART WARS for the Feast of St. Luke

Filed under: General — m759 @ 11:00 am

A Sermon from Christchurch
in The New York Times

Related material:

Zen and the Art
and
For the Burning Man

Friday, October 16, 2009

Noncontinuous Groups

Filed under: General,Geometry — m759 @ 11:30 am

A page with this title has been added to my finite-geometry site.

(For the first version of that site, see a web page cached on August 15, 2000; compare with Ivars Peterson’s August 28, 2000, column “Scrambled Grids.” These pieces are clearly intended for two different audiences, but there is a certain similarity in the subject matter.)

Log24 Now at New Address

Filed under: General — m759 @ 9:16 am

This weblog was built on Oct. 16, 2009, with posts imported from a different internet host. The imported posts have, for now, titles that are simply the date of the post.
— Steven H. Cullinane (m759)

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Wednesday October 14, 2009

Filed under: General,Geometry — Tags: , — m759 @ 9:29 am

Singer 7-Cycles

Seven-cycles by R.T. Curtis, 1987

Singer 7-cycles by Cullinane, 1985

Click on images for details.

The 1985 Cullinane version gives some algebraic background for the 1987 Curtis version.

The Singer referred to above is James Singer. See his "A Theorem in Finite Projective Geometry and Some Applications to Number Theory," Transactions of the American Mathematical Society 43 (1938), 377-385.For other singers, see Art Wars and today's obituaries.

Some background: the Log24 entry of this date seven years ago, and the entries preceding it on Las Vegas and painted ponies.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Tuesday October 13, 2009

Filed under: General — m759 @ 7:00 am
Wakes


This morning’s New York Times
reports the deaths of Nuremberg interrogator Richard W. Sonnenfeldt and of avant-garde novelist and Beckett scholar Raymond Federman.

Symbols from this journal on the dates of their deaths:

For Sonnenfeldt, who died
 on Friday, Oct. 9,
a symbol from that date:

The 3x3 grid as religious symbol


For connotations of the symbol appropriate to the name Sonnenfeldt, see the link to A Sunrise for Sunrise in the entry of Saturday, Oct. 10.

For Federman, who died
 on Tuesday, Oct. 6,
a symbol from that date:

Black monolith

A quotation that appeared here on Wednesday, Oct. 7, seems relevant to Federman:

But I am a worker, a tombstone mason, anxious to pleace averyburies and jully glad when Christmas comes his once ayear. You are a poorjoist, unctuous to polise nopebobbies….

— James Joyce, Finnegans Wake

Monday, October 12, 2009

Monday October 12, 2009

Filed under: General — m759 @ 7:00 am
Happy Columbus Day

Part I and Part II

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Sunday October 11, 2009

Filed under: General,Geometry — Tags: — m759 @ 7:00 pm
Concepts of Space

Today I revised the illustrations
in Finite Geometry of the
Square and Cube

for consistency in labeling
the eightfold cube.

Related material:

Inside the White Cube:
The Ideology of
the Gallery Space

Dagger Definitions

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Saturday October 10, 2009

Filed under: General — m759 @ 7:00 am
A Sunrise
for Sunrise

Related material:

This morning’s obituaries

(click to enlarge)

http://www.log24.com/log/pix09A/091010-NYTobitsSm.jpg

and Zen and Language Games

Friday, October 9, 2009

Friday October 9, 2009

Filed under: General — m759 @ 9:00 am

Identity:

The 3x3 grid as religious symbol

"…strict grids of nine pictures
    establish an egalitarian
        framework
…."

Christopher Knight

Some are more
egalitarian
than others.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Thursday October 8, 2009

Filed under: General — Tags: , — m759 @ 10:30 am

Knight Moves

Deborah Solomon, New York Times Magazine, Sunday, June 27, 1999:

“While modern art began as an assault on the academy, post-modern art might be described as a return to the academy. Instead of the old academy of rules, now we have the Academy of Cool, schools that treat avant-garde rebellion as a learned occupation.”

Christopher Knight, LA Times art critic, on Solomon:

“Back in the day, Solomon interviewed Knight for a Times Magazine story on Los Angeles art schools. ‘Having been a journalist (at that time) for almost two decades, I also did my homework,’ Knight writes [in a letter to the New York Press]. ‘I prepared a couple of quotable quotes on the subject, which might encapsulate larger ideas.’ One of Knight’s pearls of wisdom, ‘Modern art began as an assault on the academy, but post-modern art might be described as a return to the academy,’ excited Solomon so much that, according to Knight, she printed it as her own observation in her final piece, which bore no mention of the Knight interview. In the final story, a seriously bitter Knight writes, ‘It was not a quote; my words had become her words.'” —Gawker, Oct. 11, 2007

A reference to Solomon’s piece appeared in this journal in 2003.

See also yesterday’s entry, today’s 9 AM entry, and (for the Academy) an example of knight’s move thinking.

Thursday October 8, 2009

Filed under: General — Tags: — m759 @ 9:00 am
In memory
of Irving Penn:

Graphic
Austerity

Chessboard (Detail)

Christopher Knight
on a current exhibit
of Penn’s work:

“In American Vogue,
strict grids of nine pictures
establish an egalitarian
framework; the design
anticipates Minimalist art
by a decade.”

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Wednesday October 7, 2009

Filed under: General — m759 @ 7:59 am

Finucane’s Wake

Terence McKenna,
Surfing on Finnegans Wake“–

“Shall I try and find a passage?….

But I am a worker, a tombstone mason, anxious to pleace averyburies and jully glad when Christmas comes his once a year. You are a poorjoist, unctuous to polise nopebobbies….”

The Finucane of the title
was a Holy Ghost Father.

Related material:
Haunting Time,”
June 3, 2007.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Tuesday October 6, 2009

Filed under: General — m759 @ 11:07 am
A Halmos
for Gelfand:

Black monolith

See also
The Unity
 of Mathematics
.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Monday October 5, 2009

Filed under: General,Geometry — m759 @ 4:00 am
Continued from Saturday— 

Pieces missing from Wechsler block design test and from IZZI puzzle

Context
for the 16:

Block Designs
and Art

Context
for the 70:

Symmetry
and Counting

  “Kunst ist nicht einfach.
— Sondheim in translation
 

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Saturday October 3, 2009

Filed under: General — Tags: , — m759 @ 3:31 am

Missing Pieces: 'Build It' art by Cullinane and Bochner

Related material:

Frame Tales, as well as
The Sacred Day of Kali,
this morning's
New York Times obituaries,
and
Mental Health Month, 2003:

Wechsler blocks (illustrating the 'Blockheads' theme)

WAIS blocks

IZZI puzzle
IZZI puzzle

Michael Douglas in 'The Game'

Sondheim: 'Putting It Together'

Friday, October 2, 2009

Friday October 2, 2009

Filed under: General,Geometry — Tags: — m759 @ 6:00 am
Edge on Heptads

Part I: Dye on Edge

“Summary:
….we obtain various orbits of partitions of quadrics over GF(2a) by their maximal totally singular subspaces; the corresponding stabilizers in the relevant orthogonal groups are investigated. It is explained how some of these partitions naturally generalize Conwell’s heptagons for the Klein quadric in PG(5,2).”

Introduction:
In 1910 Conwell… produced his heptagons in PG(5,2) associated with the Klein quadric K whose points represent the lines of PG(3,2)…. Edge… constructed the 8 heptads of complexes in PG(3,2) directly. Both he and Conwell used their 8 objects to establish geometrically the isomorphisms SL(4,2)=A8 and O6(2)=S8 where O6(2) is the group of K….”

— “Partitions and Their Stabilizers for Line Complexes and Quadrics,” by R.H. Dye, Annali di Matematica Pura ed Applicata, Volume 114, Number 1, December 1977, pp. 173-194

Part II: Edge on Heptads

The Geometry of the Linear Fractional Group LF(4,2),” by W.L. Edge, Proc. London Math Soc., Volume s3-4, No. 1, 1954, pp. 317-342. See the historical remarks on the first page.

Note added by Edge in proof:
“Since this paper was finished I have found one by G. M. Conwell: Annals of Mathematics (2) 11 (1910), 60-76….”

Some context:

The Klein Correspondence,
Penrose Space-Time,
and a Finite Model

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