EL BLOG DE CHIBIBOTO made a series of posters for a political parody of Finding Nemo 2. I think this is brilliant. A rough translation of the first paragraph from their website (provided by the guys over at BoingBoing):
As we watch our planet continue dying, thanks to one of the largest ecological catastrophes in the world, because a most terrible oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. And now that the new movie Toy Story 3 is coming, it occurred to me to put forth some ideas for a sequel to Finding Nemo. I hope that these ideas inspire the writers at Pixar.
Japan students presenting at bunkasai, the annual school festivals came out with this stop-motion video of Super Mario made out of Post-it notes. Very well done!
They say there is a thin line between genius and crazy. Dr. Grigory Perelman, a Russian mathematician who recently solved one of the Millennium problems, might be dancing on the line. The Millennium Prize Problems are seven problems in mathematics that were stated by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000. A correct solution to any of the problems results in a US$1,000,000 prize (sometimes called a Millennium Prize) being awarded by the institute.
After review by leading mathematical teams, the proof was confirmed in 2006 and Perelman was awarded the Millennium Prize on 18 March, 2010. Interestingly, he declined both the field medal and the Millennium Prize of $1,000,000. What is more strange is that he lives in an almost furniture-less cockroach-infested flat in St. Petersburg.
A brilliant mind at work, sometimes math is more important then money!
This map of the human body’s systems using the style of a subway map was created by Sam Loman. The different systems are color-coded in the style of both anatomy books and trains maps. Pretty neat!
In 1995, Clifford Stoll, PhD wrote an article for Newsweek about the rise of the internet. According to Stoll, this technology was a bunch of crazy hype and would never catch on. It seems like he was 100% wrong about every point he made. It’s fun to read through and see how the scenarios he thinks will never exist are now apart of everyday life.
Then there’s cyberbusiness. We’re promised instant catalog shopping–just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obsolete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet–which there isn’t–the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople.
In an attempt to teach a friend everything about mathematics, Steven Strogatz of the New York Times will be writing about the elements of mathematics, from pre-school to grad school, over the next several weeks. It’s not intended to be remedial. The goal is to give you a better feeling for what math is all about and why it’s so enthralling to those who get it.
I’m going to try to follow this, as I’m always trying to either explain mathematics to someone or to get them excited about it! I hope that this little series turns out to be something grand.
So, the first weeks lesson? Pre-school with a lesson from Sesame Street!
The best introduction to numbers I’ve ever seen — the clearest and funniest explanation of what they are and why we need them — appears in a “Sesame Street” video called “123 Count With Me.” Humphrey, an amiable but dim-witted fellow with pink fur and a green nose, is working the lunch shift at The Furry Arms hotel, when he takes a call from a room full of penguins. Humphrey listens carefully and then calls out their order to the kitchen: “Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish.” This prompts Ernie to enlighten him about the virtues of the number six.
The economic troubles of Zimbabwe in recent years have been reflected in the currency, such as this 100 trillion dollar banknote from 2008. Zimbabwe is not the first country to experience such hyperinflation, of course. After the First World War, Germany endured a severe economic crisis. In 1914, the highest denomination German note was for 1000 Mark, which was worth approximately 238 US dollars or 50 British pounds. In early 1922, the government issued 10,000 Mark notes, but by February 1923, Germans were using banknotes in denominations of 100,000 and 1 million Marks. Notes reached 50 million in July, 10 billion in September and 100 trillion when hyperinflation peaked in October 1923.
Just to give you an idea of what this meant for the average German, on November 1 1923, you could buy a loaf of bread for a measly three billion or truly splash out and get three pounds of meat for 100 billion. By November 15, 100 billion would get you two glasses of beer, not really enough to make you forget your troubles, while that loaf would now cost you 80 billion.
When it was all over, these huge banknotes were worth around 5 pounds or 24 US dollars. On November 15, the government introduced a new currency, one unit of which was worth a trillion of the old Marks. Prices eventually stabilized, but most of the population had nevertheless seen their wealth vanish.
Dark Roasted Blend takes a look at artful and unusual bank notes from around the world, past and present, including notes like this. Everything from the colorful to the creepy and even some currency origami.
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They say there is a thin line between genius and crazy. Dr. Grigory Perelman, a Russian mathematician who recently solved one of the Millennium problems, might be dancing on the line. The Millennium Prize Problems are seven problems in mathematics that were stated by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000. A correct solution to any of the problems results in a US$1,000,000 prize (sometimes called a Millennium Prize) being awarded by the institute.
In an attempt to teach a friend everything about mathematics, Steven Strogatz of the New York Times will be writing about the elements of mathematics, from pre-school to grad school, over the next several weeks. It’s not intended to be remedial. The goal is to give you a better feeling for what math is all about and why it’s so enthralling to those who get it.
Themocracy