Click here for a revised PDF version of this post. If you're not rewriting, you're not writing! Recently, Caryn, the wife of my old ACS (American Community School of Beirut) friend David Holladay, called me out of the blue. The instant I took the call, I knew it was bad news. She told me that … Continue reading Last Schoolboy Standing
Category: History
Math Eras
As part of a larger project, I needed a simple timeline for the history of mathematics. I kicked around a bunch of candidates but settled on the following: Old Tally — before 4000 BCE Bronze River — 4000 BCE to 1001 BCE Early Philosophic — 1000 BCE to 301 BCE Euclidean — 300 BCE to … Continue reading Math Eras
Sympathy for Ptolemaic Epicyclers
Histories of science tend to cast “old theory holdouts” as uncouth, backward, prejudiced, and stinky nitwits. If you don’t immediately jump on the shiny new science bandwagon you’re on the wrong side of history and doomed to a legacy of ridicule and disdain. Mind you, these just so histories fail to mention that most new … Continue reading Sympathy for Ptolemaic Epicyclers
How Many Authenticated Ancient Mathematical Artifacts are Known?
“How many authenticated ancient mathematical artifacts are known?” I recently asked myself this question while researching the history of mathematical proof. Ultimately, all historical theories must answer to the evidence. For mathematics, this means studying surviving parchment documents, cuneiform tablets, bamboo strips, bone markings, Stella inscriptions, calculating boards, and other objects, that inform our mathematical … Continue reading How Many Authenticated Ancient Mathematical Artifacts are Known?
On Eponymous Erasure
While slumming on the Internet I came across a woman complaining. Imagine my astonishment! The lady1, let’s call her Karen, had an esoteric complaint, it was: The Pythagorean Theorem was known long before his birth. Calling the theorem “Pythagorean” is a form of erasure. Oh my! Apparently, attributing a well-known mathematical result to a person … Continue reading On Eponymous Erasure
Don’t be a Weenie Launch Cassini
Future generations will remember Bill Clinton for two things, not having sex with that woman and authorizing the launch of Cassini. I was working in Dallas Texas in the months before Cassini's launch. It was 1997 and the Internet was just beginning to disrupt everyday life. Google was morphing from a thesis to a company … Continue reading Don’t be a Weenie Launch Cassini
Fifty Years of Nauseating Kennedy Nostalgia
It’s been fifty years since Michelle, a fifth grade childhood friend, interrupted me on the playground of Naples elementary and told me that ”President Kennedy has been shot.” The news did not impress me. I naively rooted for Kennedy in the 1960 election. Yes, I was suckered, but I was in the second grade! I … Continue reading Fifty Years of Nauseating Kennedy Nostalgia
JHS with the DHTMLX Grid
Grids are the most important GUI user object. It's hard to think of a user-friendly data munching application that doesn't have a grid beating at its heart. Consequently, any serious GUI interface contender must support grids. My previous post showed how to use MathJax with JHS. MathJax is an impressive and important JavaScript library; it … Continue reading JHS with the DHTMLX Grid
Blurb: Nick Lomb’s Transit of Venus
Nick Lomb’s Transit of Venus 1631 to the Present is the best illustrated astronomy book for general readers since Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer’s The Backyard Astronomer's Guide. Everything about Lomb’s book from its eye seizing cover, rarely seen historic photographs and charming well researched commentary is first class. Transit is the type of work … Continue reading Blurb: Nick Lomb’s Transit of Venus
1421: The Crank History of Gavin Menzies
Click here for a PDF version of this post. Crank history is big business and it's getting bigger. For reasons that infuriate skeptics there is a never-ending parade of pseudo-historians spouting rubbish that is eagerly devoured by a credulous pig ignorant public. Gavin Menzies' ludicrous tome, 1421: The Year China Discovered America, (also titled 1421: … Continue reading 1421: The Crank History of Gavin Menzies
Analyze the Data not the Drivel 