Happy New Year!
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| Hourglass |
Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Happy Winter Holidays
Happy Winter Holidays
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Pieter
Brueghel the Elder
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Utagawa
Hiroshige
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Ivan Shishkin
'In the Wild North' 1891
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Vincent van
Gogh
'Landscape in Snow' 1888
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Edvard Munch
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Claude Monet
'Snow at Argenteuil' 1875
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Saturday, December 22, 2012
Theater: A Christmas Carol by Richard
Frances and I enjoyed the performance of Charles Dickens', A Christmas Carol at the San Jose Rep. It is a beautifully story about Christmas during the 18th century, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the textile industries; when children labored long hours under poor working conditions.
The cast with their costumes, the music and the dancing was wonderful to watch. It reminded me of the Christmases we all shared years ago back in Iowa Falls.
We are about ready for Christmas at home now. The tree is decorated, the outside lights are up and we are all most done shopping, thank goodness!
We are going to our daughter's house for Christmas Eve dinner, for which we will bring Dungeness crabs and French bread. On Christmas Day, after church, we will prepare a late breakfast for everyone at our house where the grandsons and family will open all the gifts. After everything is unwrapped and the excitement dies down, I will tidy up and take my afternoon nap. That evening, we will have Christmas Day dinner at their house.
After all the hustle and bustle of Christmas events, we will head off to our place in Morro Bay for New Years and a well deserved rest.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
[Editor's note: This story was written by Richard]
The cast with their costumes, the music and the dancing was wonderful to watch. It reminded me of the Christmases we all shared years ago back in Iowa Falls.
We are about ready for Christmas at home now. The tree is decorated, the outside lights are up and we are all most done shopping, thank goodness!
We are going to our daughter's house for Christmas Eve dinner, for which we will bring Dungeness crabs and French bread. On Christmas Day, after church, we will prepare a late breakfast for everyone at our house where the grandsons and family will open all the gifts. After everything is unwrapped and the excitement dies down, I will tidy up and take my afternoon nap. That evening, we will have Christmas Day dinner at their house.
After all the hustle and bustle of Christmas events, we will head off to our place in Morro Bay for New Years and a well deserved rest.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
[Editor's note: This story was written by Richard]
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| Dungeness Crab |
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Fibonacci
I discovered Fibonacci today. I have to admit that I was flabbergasted at the discovery.
For some period of time, when I groaned about loosing a particular game of chess, my son often suggested it was because I used "The Fibonacci". Thinking the word was my son's made up slang word, it seemed applicable to winning or losing chess games so I added it to my vocabulary and blame many of my losses on "Fibonacci".
You can imagine my astonishment when I came across the word Fibonacci while surfing the Internet. I googled for it and voilà!
In mathematics Fibonacci numbers or Fibonacci sequence are numbers in the following integer sequence, 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144
The first two numbers in the Fibonacci sequence is 0 and 1, (alternatively, 1and1). Each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two. 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5 etc.
The sequence is named after Leonardo of Pisa, known as Fibonacci.
In my art studies, I learned about the Golden Ratio or golden mean which is believed to be the most pleasing and beautiful shape. It is found in many places including geometry, art and architecture such as the Parthenon. Using 'rule of thirds' divide a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part you will have the golden ratio.
What does this have to do with Fibonacci numbers? I never knew about them and their special relationship to the golden ratio.
The symbol of golden ratio uses the Greek letter 'phi'
which is a special number equal to 1.618. The ratio of any two successive numbers is close to the golden ratio.
Fibonacci sequence numbers appear in nature and biological settings such as branches of trees, leaf and petal placement such as pine cones, pineapples, broccoli florets and sunflower seeds which arrange themselves in spirals.
Until recently it was believed the beautiful chambered nautilus was an example of golden ratio, but recent scientific study shows the spiral of the nautilus doesn't have the true spiral shape based on the golden ratio.
The following shows how Fibonacci numbers look if tiled in squares and in spirals.
The tiling is made of squares whose sides are successive Fibonacci numbers in length. A spiral is created by circular arcs connecting to opposite corners of squares.
What a delight to find new information to add to what I already knew. And to top it off, I can now use the word 'fibonacci' as having two meanings, my own personal slang word and one mathematical.
For some period of time, when I groaned about loosing a particular game of chess, my son often suggested it was because I used "The Fibonacci". Thinking the word was my son's made up slang word, it seemed applicable to winning or losing chess games so I added it to my vocabulary and blame many of my losses on "Fibonacci".
You can imagine my astonishment when I came across the word Fibonacci while surfing the Internet. I googled for it and voilà!
In mathematics Fibonacci numbers or Fibonacci sequence are numbers in the following integer sequence, 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144
The first two numbers in the Fibonacci sequence is 0 and 1, (alternatively, 1and1). Each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two. 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5 etc.
The sequence is named after Leonardo of Pisa, known as Fibonacci.
In my art studies, I learned about the Golden Ratio or golden mean which is believed to be the most pleasing and beautiful shape. It is found in many places including geometry, art and architecture such as the Parthenon. Using 'rule of thirds' divide a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part you will have the golden ratio.
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| Golden Ratio |
What does this have to do with Fibonacci numbers? I never knew about them and their special relationship to the golden ratio.
The symbol of golden ratio uses the Greek letter 'phi'
which is a special number equal to 1.618. The ratio of any two successive numbers is close to the golden ratio.
Fibonacci sequence numbers appear in nature and biological settings such as branches of trees, leaf and petal placement such as pine cones, pineapples, broccoli florets and sunflower seeds which arrange themselves in spirals.
Until recently it was believed the beautiful chambered nautilus was an example of golden ratio, but recent scientific study shows the spiral of the nautilus doesn't have the true spiral shape based on the golden ratio.
The following shows how Fibonacci numbers look if tiled in squares and in spirals.
 |
| Fibonacci numbers tiled in squares |
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| Fibonacci numbers tiled in spirals |
The tiling is made of squares whose sides are successive Fibonacci numbers in length. A spiral is created by circular arcs connecting to opposite corners of squares.
What a delight to find new information to add to what I already knew. And to top it off, I can now use the word 'fibonacci' as having two meanings, my own personal slang word and one mathematical.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Theater: Freud's Last Session by Richard
Frances and I enjoyed the play, Freud's Last Session, which was performed at the San Jose Repertory Theater.
The location was London England and the timing is when England entered the World War ll.
The stage was Freud's home office,which was decorated with a large desk, bookcase, chairs, lamps and windows leading to a balcony and the lighting was perfect. The sound affects of air raid sirens and airplanes seemed real.
The cast Sigmund Freud played by Michael Flynn and C.S. Lewis played by Benjamin Evett, and the conversion between the two was incredible. I found my self so interested in the subjects discussed about life, death and god that it held my attention for the whole play.
Frances and I discussed how much we enjoyed the play while driving home.
[Editor's note: This story was written by Richard]
The location was London England and the timing is when England entered the World War ll.
The stage was Freud's home office,which was decorated with a large desk, bookcase, chairs, lamps and windows leading to a balcony and the lighting was perfect. The sound affects of air raid sirens and airplanes seemed real.
The cast Sigmund Freud played by Michael Flynn and C.S. Lewis played by Benjamin Evett, and the conversion between the two was incredible. I found my self so interested in the subjects discussed about life, death and god that it held my attention for the whole play.
Frances and I discussed how much we enjoyed the play while driving home.
[Editor's note: This story was written by Richard]
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| Freud's Last Session Poster |
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
A Morning in December
The house was bustling with activity. As usual on a weekend morning we children were scattered through out the rooms, upstairs and down. It was cold outside, snow glistened in the bright sun light; the sky cloudless. As we each went about our own private pursuits, the cozy atmosphere was enhanced with the odors emanating from the kitchen where Mom was cooking and baking. At mid-morning a quietness had settled over the house; muted noises from the kitchen and radio were the only persistent sounds.
When someone rang the door bell around 11 o'clock, the loud, jangling ring pierced our ears so forcefully that we all ran toward the door to see who it was and why. Ordinarily, a person would have just opened the door and stepped inside, rarely would anyone have rung the door bell.
Mom reached the door first. I noticed that she was wearing an apron which she had not taken time to remove before answering the door. It took a moment to recognize the caller who was wearing hunting clothes and holding out two pheasants for Mom to take. In a breathless voice he said something to the effect that he was in a terrible hurry and couldn't stay. He, his father and brother had been out hunting and on the way to our house with the two pheasants, they heard on the radio that Japan had attacked. We were speechless! To our questions of 'where?', he said he didn't know. The radio announcer only knew it was near Hawaii, some place called Pearl Harbor.
As we closed the door after him we were so stunned we just stood there for a moment, Mom with the pheasants hanging from her hands, Dad staring at the door and the rest of us not moving or saying a word. Dad immediately tuned the radio to a news station. After taking the pheasants to the kitchen, we all gathered around the radio. Since it was breaking news, reports were lacking in detail. None of us had ever heard of Pearl Harbor. Hawaii was an island, but where exactly?
Dad got out some maps and an atlas. Living in the middle of the United States, in the middle of the agricultural state of Iowa, the distant island of Hawaii was foreign to us. It was difficult to comprehend that we had been bombed by Japan. News of war and attacks that we knew about took place in Europe where the Germans and Italians were invading neighboring countries.
The Japanese attack was sudden, but the realization of how it would change our lives came slowly. Our way of life and that of the country would never be the same; the directions we took, for better or worse, were results of Japan's decision to bomb the U.S.
Mom reached the door first. I noticed that she was wearing an apron which she had not taken time to remove before answering the door. It took a moment to recognize the caller who was wearing hunting clothes and holding out two pheasants for Mom to take. In a breathless voice he said something to the effect that he was in a terrible hurry and couldn't stay. He, his father and brother had been out hunting and on the way to our house with the two pheasants, they heard on the radio that Japan had attacked. We were speechless! To our questions of 'where?', he said he didn't know. The radio announcer only knew it was near Hawaii, some place called Pearl Harbor.
As we closed the door after him we were so stunned we just stood there for a moment, Mom with the pheasants hanging from her hands, Dad staring at the door and the rest of us not moving or saying a word. Dad immediately tuned the radio to a news station. After taking the pheasants to the kitchen, we all gathered around the radio. Since it was breaking news, reports were lacking in detail. None of us had ever heard of Pearl Harbor. Hawaii was an island, but where exactly?
Dad got out some maps and an atlas. Living in the middle of the United States, in the middle of the agricultural state of Iowa, the distant island of Hawaii was foreign to us. It was difficult to comprehend that we had been bombed by Japan. News of war and attacks that we knew about took place in Europe where the Germans and Italians were invading neighboring countries.
The Japanese attack was sudden, but the realization of how it would change our lives came slowly. Our way of life and that of the country would never be the same; the directions we took, for better or worse, were results of Japan's decision to bomb the U.S.
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| Mason City, Iowa Newspaper Announcement of War on Japan Dec 8, 1941 after bombing of Pearl Harbor |
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