RSS Parrot

Unquote

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/15/unquote-700/

Published: July 15, 2025 06:46

“We have got to learn to think scientifically, not only about inanimate things, but about ourselves and one another. It is possible to do this.” — J.B.S. Haldane “Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and…

The Graceful Pi-Way

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/14/the-graceful-pi-way/

Published: July 14, 2025 18:58

This graph has 5 edges, and we’ve managed to label its vertices in a remarkable way: Each vertex bears some integer from 0 to 5, no two receive the same integer, and each edge is now uniquely identified by the absolute difference between its endpoints,…

“A Wooden Alphabet”

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/14/a-wooden-alphabet/

Published: July 14, 2025 06:32

‘The letters in this curious alphabet are all wood, chiefly twisted roots of the blue gum, and have not been altered in any way from their original growth; three girls collected them in their daily walks or rides for a period of six months, and the…

In a Word

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/13/in-a-word-696/

Published: July 13, 2025 06:35

ergophobia n. an aversion to work isolato n. a person who is physically or spiritually isolated from their times or society hebetate v. to make dull or obtuse suspiration n. a long, deep sigh Drawn from the last line of a 1951 poem by Pierre Béarn, the…

Bus Bunching

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/12/bus-bunching/

Published: July 12, 2025 14:10

When two or more buses are scheduled at regular intervals on the same route, planners may expect that each will make the same progress, pausing at each stop for the same interval (1). But if Bus B is delayed by traffic congestion (2), it incurs a penalty:…

“Printer’s Errors”

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/11/printers-errors/

Published: July 11, 2025 18:50

(Via Robert A. Carman, “Mathematical Misteaks,” Mathematics Teacher 64:2 [February 1971], 109-115.)

Great and Small

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/11/great-and-small-2/

Published: July 11, 2025 06:03

One could not think of Aristotle or Beethoven multiplying 3,472,701 by 99,999 without making a mistake, nor could one think of him remembering the range of this or that railway share for two years, or the number of ten-penny nails in a hundred weight, or…

Odd Job

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/10/odd-job/

Published: July 10, 2025 18:06

A problem by Russian mathematician Viktor Prasolov: On a piece of graph paper, is it possible to paint 25 cells so that each of them has an odd number of painted neighbors? (“Neighboring” cells have a common side.)

Worth Noting

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/10/worth-noting/

Published: July 10, 2025 06:18

In 1600, a woman named Mary Deane was imprisoned for adultery in London’s Bridewell Prison, where she communicated with her lover in a secret code she’d learned from her mother. Unable to break the cipher, the prison authorities arranged for her to be…

Uh-Oh

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/09/uh-oh-3/

Published: July 9, 2025 18:51

This worrying result was first published by German mathematician Oskar Schlömilch in 1868. (The discrepancy is explained by minute gaps in the diagonals, as explained here.) Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) seems to have been taken with the paradox — his…

The Sure Thing

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/09/the-sure-thing/

Published: July 9, 2025 06:19

In a 1905 short story by Jacob Elson, Mr. Brown laments that he cannot solve chess problems. Mr. Pincus wagers $10 that “I can show you a two-move problem with three different lines of play which you would have to solve whether you wanted to or not.” Brown…

Studies

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/08/studies/

Published: July 8, 2025 18:36

This bookcase, in Bologna’s International Music Museum and Library, is itself a work of art — the doors are paintings depicting shelves of music books, rendered by Baroque artist Giuseppe Crespi. Below: In 2014, designer József Páhy devised this bookish…

Dispatches

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/08/dispatches/

Published: July 8, 2025 06:09

“A Time-Series Analysis of My Girlfriend’s Mood Swings” “Behavioral Conditioning Methods to Stop My Boyfriend From Playing The Witcher 3” “Sub-Nyquist Sampling While Listening to My Girlfriend” “Who Should Do the Dishes? A Transportation Problem Solution”…

Escape

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/07/escape/

Published: July 7, 2025 17:28

In 1 Samuel 23:7-13, man’s free will seems to undermine God’s omniscience: 7 And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars. 8…

High Water

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/07/high-water/

Published: July 7, 2025 06:10

On New Year’s Eve 1914, an enormous wave struck the lighthouse on Trinidad Head outside Trinidad, California: At 4:40 p. m. I observed a sea of unusual height. When it struck the bluff the jar was very heavy. The lens immediately stopped revolving. The sea…

Plaque Buildup

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2025/07/06/plaque-buildup/

Published: July 6, 2025 18:49

For a fictional character, Sherlock Holmes has a strangely real presence in the physical world. This plaque is posted near the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland: This one’s on a cottage in Sussex: There’s even a plaque at the spot where Holmes met Watson.…