Today's a double post day!
To bring some of you up on the news, here we go!
One of my owners didn't get the interview they were hoping for, which was a bummer. She had applied for a library position a couple weeks ago, and looking forward to the possibility of an interview. Yesterday we received a polite rejection letter. :( However, she recently applied for a supervisor position at her current work. We are praying this works out for the time being, but are open to what God has planned for us all. She has been kept really busy this week, but it balances out the last couple weeks, and she gets next Thursday off for sure! We are excited to play on that day. :)
We did a lot of baking the other night, and probably used close to 12 eggs in the process! I had no idea that 2 batches of pumpkin bread took that many eggs! During all this, we discovered an excellent recipe for GF Pumpkin bread, most delicious! Use regular recipe, then add an extra egg for moistness and softness. It helps to balance the rice flour. Once baked, we promptly froze them. We are looking forward to more baking projects in the coming weeks. And the Christmas season is just around the bend! Anyone available for a Christmas party, or get-together?
On the whole, things are going rather well, we are keeping busy, and working on getting things straightened out. Our church seems to have a hole for our age group. They have 18-24, which my owners have barely outgrown, and 30+ groups for couples, and young families. There isn't really a 20-30 age group for college graduates. They may ask about this at some point, but are having a hard time getting hold of anyone at church. :( It would be nice to find some others in Wilsonville to hang out with. I have walked myself to the dog park a few times, but most dogs are inside in this kind of weather. Besides, my fur absorbs water like a sponge.
But it's hard to be in low spirits when its the Friday right before Thanksgiving! Bring on the Holiday Season!
Friday, November 21, 2014
A day of excitement
Good Morning Everyone!
*Yawn* It's been a rather lonely week, since both my owners have been working very odd hours. Iv'e been reduced to joining the rabbits on their crazy bored game days. The blue one keeps cheating by the way. However, they both came home early on Thursday! The bunnies ran and hid when they walked in the door (something to do with missing chess pieces I think). In any case, it turns out they were going shopping, and decided to take me on a car ride! We went to costco first, where they spent a long time in the store looking for food. Meanwhile, I was left in the car. It's not so bad though, I had tunes to listen to, had a staring contest with a shelty in a Crystler 2 spots over (and lost), and even got to bark at the birds! These seemed not to be the migratory birds, by the way. I wanted to drive around the parking lot for a little while, only I couldn't reach the pedals. :( Oh well, it may not have been the best idea.
Once we arrived home, they had a quick dinner and began baking! Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, and meatloaf! And they even let me lick the bowls. That brings us to the evening. Once they settled down for the night, the bunnies insisted there was this new calvinball game they created. I was tired, but agreed to entertain them for a while. The game goes something like this:
Take a sequence board and double deck of sequence cards. Each player is dealt $100 worth of poker chips. 10 Red marker tokens are used, to mark the first 10 cards flipped over. Before the game begins, each player can bet on which cards on the board will be flipped over. Here is the betting and betting returns sheet:
Things you can bet on:
Joker 10:1
Exact card: 5:1
4 Card square with a joker: 5:1
4 Card square: 2:1
Row, or Line: (per card) 1:1
Anyway, they played until all hours of the night. It was a day of excitement though!
Enjoy your Friday!
Woof!
*Yawn* It's been a rather lonely week, since both my owners have been working very odd hours. Iv'e been reduced to joining the rabbits on their crazy bored game days. The blue one keeps cheating by the way. However, they both came home early on Thursday! The bunnies ran and hid when they walked in the door (something to do with missing chess pieces I think). In any case, it turns out they were going shopping, and decided to take me on a car ride! We went to costco first, where they spent a long time in the store looking for food. Meanwhile, I was left in the car. It's not so bad though, I had tunes to listen to, had a staring contest with a shelty in a Crystler 2 spots over (and lost), and even got to bark at the birds! These seemed not to be the migratory birds, by the way. I wanted to drive around the parking lot for a little while, only I couldn't reach the pedals. :( Oh well, it may not have been the best idea.
Once we arrived home, they had a quick dinner and began baking! Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, and meatloaf! And they even let me lick the bowls. That brings us to the evening. Once they settled down for the night, the bunnies insisted there was this new calvinball game they created. I was tired, but agreed to entertain them for a while. The game goes something like this:
Take a sequence board and double deck of sequence cards. Each player is dealt $100 worth of poker chips. 10 Red marker tokens are used, to mark the first 10 cards flipped over. Before the game begins, each player can bet on which cards on the board will be flipped over. Here is the betting and betting returns sheet:
Things you can bet on:
Joker 10:1
Exact card: 5:1
4 Card square with a joker: 5:1
4 Card square: 2:1
Row, or Line: (per card) 1:1
Anyway, they played until all hours of the night. It was a day of excitement though!
Enjoy your Friday!
Woof!
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Koch Snowflake
Good Afternoon all!
It snowed last night! Yip Yip!! And it's very cold too, the bunnies are all covered in blankets by the heater. In honor of the first snow of the season (granted, only a few flakes hit the ground, but it still counts), today I will show you the koch snowflake. This is a mathematical shape, named after its likeness to a single snowflake. First, a few terms to work with:
Segment: pretty simple, a single line of unit length 1.
Iteration: the act of repeating a process with the aim of approaching a desired goal. each repetition of the process is also called an iteration; thus 3 iterations means repeating the original process 3 times. got it? good.
Area: the quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional figure or shape. i.e, the area of a rectangle is width * height.
Perimeter: the length of the path that surrounds a two-dimensional figure or shape. i.e, the perimeter of a rectangle is width + width + height + height.
All set? Okay, here we go!
The Koch snowflake is named after Helge von Koch, a Swedish mathematician who specialized in pure mathematics, (read number theory). The Koch snowflake is a fractal shape, similar to the fractal tree I described a post or two ago. Fractals are simply shapes that keep on dividing, and splitting. I'll demonstrate:
These are the first 4 iterations of the koch snowflake. In the first iteration, we see an equilateral triangle. To create the 2 iteration, draw a new equilateral triangle in the exact middle of each line segment, proportional to one third the total length of the segment. Simple, right? Now, to create the 3rd iteration, notice we now have 12 smaller lines, instead of 3. No matter, we will continue to draw an equilateral triangle in the exact middle of each of the 12 line segments. Now we have 48 very small line segments. You may notice each time we create a new iteration, the total number of line segments increases drastically. The 4rth iteration will have 192 line segments. Have you figured out the pattern?
Each new iteration multiplies the total line segments of the previous iteration by 4.
Now it is beginning to look like a snowflake!!
Now lets look at some very interesting properties with this snowflake we have created.
Perimeter:
Assume each original side length of our equilateral triangle has a length of 1 unit.
The first iteration has a perimeter of 3 units.
The second iteration has 12 side lengths, but the length of each is only 1/3 as long: .333*12 = 4.
The third iteration has 48 side lengths, but the length of each is only 1/9 as long: 1/9*48=5.333.
The fourth iteration has 192 side lengths, but the length of each is only 1/27 as long: 1/27*192= 7.111
...And you get the idea.
But wait, are we saying that the perimeter of this snowflake gets infinitely large? Yes! If we extend the number of iterations to say, 1 millionth iteration, the perimeter will continue to grow with it. Remember that a line has no width, it can be thinner than a human hair. while our computer screens may not show every detail, in theory the perimeter can be 1 billion units long! wow!
Now lets look at the area. Will the area also be infinitely large? Sadly, no, here's why. In a nutshell, think about this: no matter how complicated the perimeter gets, can we still draw the same size box around it? lets look at a GIF showing the first 7 iterations:
While our snowflake is continuing to grow, it looks like it will never be taller or wider than it appears in the 3rd iteration, that is the rest of the points will grow around the snowflake, but it will still fit inside a circle! So, what is the area of the koch snowflake? The formula is a little complicated, but if we assume the area of our original triangle is about .4333 units squared. Therefore, using the associated formula for a koch snowflake, the total area of an infinite koch snowflake would be about .6928 units squared.
Say, is it still snowing outside? No? That's too bad. Calculating raindrops isn't nearly as much fun. Ah well, it may snow again tonight! Farewell for now!!
It snowed last night! Yip Yip!! And it's very cold too, the bunnies are all covered in blankets by the heater. In honor of the first snow of the season (granted, only a few flakes hit the ground, but it still counts), today I will show you the koch snowflake. This is a mathematical shape, named after its likeness to a single snowflake. First, a few terms to work with:
Segment: pretty simple, a single line of unit length 1.
Iteration: the act of repeating a process with the aim of approaching a desired goal. each repetition of the process is also called an iteration; thus 3 iterations means repeating the original process 3 times. got it? good.
Area: the quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional figure or shape. i.e, the area of a rectangle is width * height.
Perimeter: the length of the path that surrounds a two-dimensional figure or shape. i.e, the perimeter of a rectangle is width + width + height + height.
All set? Okay, here we go!
The Koch snowflake is named after Helge von Koch, a Swedish mathematician who specialized in pure mathematics, (read number theory). The Koch snowflake is a fractal shape, similar to the fractal tree I described a post or two ago. Fractals are simply shapes that keep on dividing, and splitting. I'll demonstrate:
These are the first 4 iterations of the koch snowflake. In the first iteration, we see an equilateral triangle. To create the 2 iteration, draw a new equilateral triangle in the exact middle of each line segment, proportional to one third the total length of the segment. Simple, right? Now, to create the 3rd iteration, notice we now have 12 smaller lines, instead of 3. No matter, we will continue to draw an equilateral triangle in the exact middle of each of the 12 line segments. Now we have 48 very small line segments. You may notice each time we create a new iteration, the total number of line segments increases drastically. The 4rth iteration will have 192 line segments. Have you figured out the pattern?
Each new iteration multiplies the total line segments of the previous iteration by 4.
Now it is beginning to look like a snowflake!!
Now lets look at some very interesting properties with this snowflake we have created.
Perimeter:
Assume each original side length of our equilateral triangle has a length of 1 unit.
The first iteration has a perimeter of 3 units.
The second iteration has 12 side lengths, but the length of each is only 1/3 as long: .333*12 = 4.
The third iteration has 48 side lengths, but the length of each is only 1/9 as long: 1/9*48=5.333.
The fourth iteration has 192 side lengths, but the length of each is only 1/27 as long: 1/27*192= 7.111
...And you get the idea.
But wait, are we saying that the perimeter of this snowflake gets infinitely large? Yes! If we extend the number of iterations to say, 1 millionth iteration, the perimeter will continue to grow with it. Remember that a line has no width, it can be thinner than a human hair. while our computer screens may not show every detail, in theory the perimeter can be 1 billion units long! wow!
Now lets look at the area. Will the area also be infinitely large? Sadly, no, here's why. In a nutshell, think about this: no matter how complicated the perimeter gets, can we still draw the same size box around it? lets look at a GIF showing the first 7 iterations:
While our snowflake is continuing to grow, it looks like it will never be taller or wider than it appears in the 3rd iteration, that is the rest of the points will grow around the snowflake, but it will still fit inside a circle! So, what is the area of the koch snowflake? The formula is a little complicated, but if we assume the area of our original triangle is about .4333 units squared. Therefore, using the associated formula for a koch snowflake, the total area of an infinite koch snowflake would be about .6928 units squared.
Say, is it still snowing outside? No? That's too bad. Calculating raindrops isn't nearly as much fun. Ah well, it may snow again tonight! Farewell for now!!
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Eulogy to a Dog
Bonus Post!
I found a larger portion of the dog transcript and thought I would share it:
Gentlemen of the jury: The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.
Gentlemen of the jury: A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.
If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.
I found a larger portion of the dog transcript and thought I would share it:
Gentlemen of the jury: The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.
Gentlemen of the jury: A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.
If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.
Phrases (No Math Required!)
Good Morning (Yip Yip)
Sorry about the delay in this post, but the bunnies have been using the computer non-stop playing some game with lots of numbers. I think they were boasting about 4.13 octillion the last time I heard. Anyway, they are finally asleep, worn out from playing Parcheesi all night. :P And so now I have a chance to catch up with the world. Things around here are going fairly well, Tuesday night there was a party to celebrate one of my master's birthdays. We played games, made Italian food, and had a great time! The weather has been classic rain, and more rain, but its been about 10 degrees warmer than usual, which has bee good for my fur, but I wonder what it may do to the snow this year. As long as we have plenty of rain though, I guess I'm not worried. *stretches paws* I think it's time for a tea and crumpet break. I'll be back in a moment...
Okay! *munch munch* much better! Lets see now, where was I? Oh yes, phrases. Many of our common phrases originated from long ago, and while some of the origins may be easy to deduce (batten down the hatches for example, means prepare for a storm), some of them are harder to guess at. We will look at a few of my favorites:
"The Bitter End"
-To the last man; the last extremity.
This phrase is actually an old nautical saying, first written down in 1627 by Captain Smith in his publication Seaman's Grammar:
"A Bitter is but the turne of a Cable about the Bits, and veare it out little and little. And the Bitters end is that part of the Cable doth stay within board."
Thus, a bitt is a post on the deck of a ship used for fastening cables and ropes. When a rope is played out to the bitter end, it means there is no more rope to be used.
"Ship-Shape and Bristol Fashion"
-In first class order.
This is one of my favorite phrases, as it easily conjures up pictures from that delightful film, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. It originates from two separate phrases: "Ship-Shape", and "Bristol Fashion". Let us look at the first. Ship-Shape was first used in Sir Henry Manwayring's The Seamans Dictionary: "The broom being of no use for the Ship, but only for to make her Ship Shapen, as they call it." Obviously, Ship-Shape means to have a tidy/clean ship. The second half of the phrase, "Bristol Fashion" comes from the coastal town of Bristol prior to 1803. Bristol is several miles from the sea, and as such has one of the most variable tidal flows anywhere in the world. The tide can range upwards of 30 feet. Ships that came in on the high tide were often beached at low tide. Therefore, they had to be built sturdy, and all cargo securely stored away. Over the years, the phrases were used together.
"An ill wind that blows no good"
-something bad happens
while at first glance, seems to have a nautical origin, the first recording of this phrase is from an English Proverb book written in 1546 by John Heywood: "An yll wynde that blowth no man to good, men say." The phrase appears later meaning the opposite, in sir Walter Scott's text: "Nane were keener against it than the Glasgow folk, wi' their rabblings and their risings, and their mobs, as they ca' them now-a-days. but it's an ill wind blaws naebody gude." Here the meaning is the opposite, meaning that a wind that didn't provide benefit to someone would be a bad and unusual one indeed (sounds ominous, yip yip).
"A dog is a man's best friend"
Of course I had to put this one in!
While the exact origin of this phrase is at least as old as 1821 (found in a newspaper article) the most famous story is that of an owner and his dog:
In 1870, a farmer shot a neighbor's dog and, in the subsequent court case where the owner sued for damages, the lawyer George Graham Vest gave a tear-jerking speech that became known as the Eulogy to a Dog:
"Gentlemen of the jury, a man's dog stands by him in prosperity and poverty, in health and sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow, and the snow drives fiercely, if only he can be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens." - And so on...**
**excerpt from www.phrases.org.uk
Enjoy!
Woof!!
Sorry about the delay in this post, but the bunnies have been using the computer non-stop playing some game with lots of numbers. I think they were boasting about 4.13 octillion the last time I heard. Anyway, they are finally asleep, worn out from playing Parcheesi all night. :P And so now I have a chance to catch up with the world. Things around here are going fairly well, Tuesday night there was a party to celebrate one of my master's birthdays. We played games, made Italian food, and had a great time! The weather has been classic rain, and more rain, but its been about 10 degrees warmer than usual, which has bee good for my fur, but I wonder what it may do to the snow this year. As long as we have plenty of rain though, I guess I'm not worried. *stretches paws* I think it's time for a tea and crumpet break. I'll be back in a moment...
Okay! *munch munch* much better! Lets see now, where was I? Oh yes, phrases. Many of our common phrases originated from long ago, and while some of the origins may be easy to deduce (batten down the hatches for example, means prepare for a storm), some of them are harder to guess at. We will look at a few of my favorites:
"The Bitter End"
-To the last man; the last extremity.
This phrase is actually an old nautical saying, first written down in 1627 by Captain Smith in his publication Seaman's Grammar:
"A Bitter is but the turne of a Cable about the Bits, and veare it out little and little. And the Bitters end is that part of the Cable doth stay within board."
Thus, a bitt is a post on the deck of a ship used for fastening cables and ropes. When a rope is played out to the bitter end, it means there is no more rope to be used.
"Ship-Shape and Bristol Fashion"
-In first class order.
This is one of my favorite phrases, as it easily conjures up pictures from that delightful film, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. It originates from two separate phrases: "Ship-Shape", and "Bristol Fashion". Let us look at the first. Ship-Shape was first used in Sir Henry Manwayring's The Seamans Dictionary: "The broom being of no use for the Ship, but only for to make her Ship Shapen, as they call it." Obviously, Ship-Shape means to have a tidy/clean ship. The second half of the phrase, "Bristol Fashion" comes from the coastal town of Bristol prior to 1803. Bristol is several miles from the sea, and as such has one of the most variable tidal flows anywhere in the world. The tide can range upwards of 30 feet. Ships that came in on the high tide were often beached at low tide. Therefore, they had to be built sturdy, and all cargo securely stored away. Over the years, the phrases were used together.
"An ill wind that blows no good"
-something bad happens
while at first glance, seems to have a nautical origin, the first recording of this phrase is from an English Proverb book written in 1546 by John Heywood: "An yll wynde that blowth no man to good, men say." The phrase appears later meaning the opposite, in sir Walter Scott's text: "Nane were keener against it than the Glasgow folk, wi' their rabblings and their risings, and their mobs, as they ca' them now-a-days. but it's an ill wind blaws naebody gude." Here the meaning is the opposite, meaning that a wind that didn't provide benefit to someone would be a bad and unusual one indeed (sounds ominous, yip yip).
"A dog is a man's best friend"
Of course I had to put this one in!
While the exact origin of this phrase is at least as old as 1821 (found in a newspaper article) the most famous story is that of an owner and his dog:
In 1870, a farmer shot a neighbor's dog and, in the subsequent court case where the owner sued for damages, the lawyer George Graham Vest gave a tear-jerking speech that became known as the Eulogy to a Dog:
"Gentlemen of the jury, a man's dog stands by him in prosperity and poverty, in health and sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow, and the snow drives fiercely, if only he can be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens." - And so on...**
**excerpt from www.phrases.org.uk
Enjoy!
Woof!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)