Polymathematics

Languages

Just for fun, here is the list of languages that my .999... post has been linked to and discussed in, at least that I know of.  I will add to this list as I find more.

English, Spanish, French, Dutch (but no German, oddly), Swedish, Finnish, Turkish, Russian, Korean, Portuguese, Thai.

I have a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish and a decent knowledge of Dutch, but it is extremely odd to read sentences like "gibberishgibberish Polymath gibberishgibberish .999...=1 gibbergibberish .000...01 gibberdeegibber idioty!!!!"  Especially if that gibberish isn't even in our alphabet (Russian, Korean, Thai).  In case you're wondering, apparently an impressively huge number of people read the site www.dirty.ru.  I don't understand any of it, of course, but the hits from that site have numbered about 1000-1500 a day since I was linked there recently.

Okay, that's all...nothing profound...get back to work.

First...

watch this video (thanks to Almost Heaven for finding it):

Then watch this one.  He tries to outdo the first one (note the exact same soundtrack, including applause, and the matching mouthing of the words, in apparent parody).  IMHO, this second guy (Jason Garfield, apparently) does some amazing tricks, but doesn't match the rhythm as well, and he didn't quite get that the first one is amazing precisely because of the "look at what the guy can do with just 3 balls" factor:

Both are pretty amazing, though.

Somemes

I don't usually go for memes, but I was tagged for one by Möbius Stripper a long time ago that I never wrote, and I saw another one that I liked.  So here they are, for what they're worth.

5 things that are strange about me (Möbius Stripper's):

1. Even though I am a musician in a semi-professional choir, I don't really like to have music playing in the background of my life.  I'd rather just have it quiet.
2. I am ridiculously high-waisted;  the tops of my hipbones are probably less than an inch from the bottom of my ribcage.
3. (Strangely lucky...)  I had 4 living grandparents until I was almost 35.
4. I have been mistaken for a deity twice in my life.
5. My life is so mundane that I can only think of 4 things that are strange about me.  (Ummmm, wait, but that's a 5th...so it has to come off the list...but...then there are 4 and...damn that Russel's paradox!)

And the other one:

• Things I'm supposed to like and do like:  chocolate, hiking, classical music, my wife, cooking, ice cream, most of my students, cats, Asian food, astronauts, traveling, kissing
• Things I'm not supposed to like, but like anyway:  online gambling, snakes, old-fashioned meatloaf, math, steamed broccoli, ants, being alone, the dark, sleeping late
• Things I'm supposed to like, but don't like:  camping, roller coasters, chess, horror movies, various components of my body, department stores, watching (most) TV, professional sports, dogs, mowing the lawn, antiques, small talk, George W. Bush (and crew), being tickled
• Things I'm not supposed to like, and don't like:  smoking, cockroaches, raw broccoli, grading papers, hypodermic needles, bees, shallow people, intelligent design "theory"
• Things I like the idea of, but don't actually like:  opera, being handy around the house, being meticulously organized, sailing, jazz, sunbathing, Important Literature, getting very drunk, religion

So.  There.

Do This! No, Really, Do This!

Go to this site.  Watch the intro.  Then click on 'Watch'.  Be sure you also watch the "making of" video in 3 parts.

Actual quotes from friends and family about this:

--That is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen and heard.  I was spellbound through the whole thing.

--This is incredible.  Thanks for sending this.  It's awesome.  Completely.

--Fucking RAD!!

Hint:  musicians might be more impressed than non-musicians.  Also, it's family- and work-friendly.

No, really.  Do this.

Nauseating, fun, fun

Three links to keep you busy.  The first is truly nauseating, the second ones are fun.

For the first link, an analogy in the spirit of the old SAT questions:

Islam:Al Qaeda::Christianity: ?

In other words, what small subgroup of Christians has perverted the religion far beyond what was ever intended in a way that preaches hate?  Check out the link below.  I wrote out the punctuation because I don't want there to be any chance that they can trace where the link came from and then come back here and spam me or something.  You'll have to cut and paste and replace the punctuation:

(Warning:  This is so bad I really thought it was a joke at first.  It's not.)

http[colon][slash][slash]www[dot]godhatesamerica[dot]com
[slash]ghfmir[slash]main[slash]index[dot]html

Okay, now for the fun ones.  One for word-people, the other for puzzle-people (you can actually do the puzzles by clicking the links):

Word-people
Puzzle-people

Have fun...