Skip rope

I bought myself jump rope today, and up until now it still sits there, waiting for me to put it to good use. (Or, in this case, sitting on my shoulder--like I'm wearing it as an aiguillette.) It smells a bit too much like plastic, but it seems usable. I will have to try using it after my post.

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: Hotdog, "Bongga Ka Day".

Seventeen syllables, No. 76

Please re-rack those clothes
After you tire yourself out
From lifting these weights.

Synesthete

I'm thrilled to find out today that Marian McPartland is still alive. In recent weeks I've realized what I really enjoyed about her show on NPR: she and her guests kind of play off of each other in a way that makes me think neither of them expect the gloriousness of the sound that they produce. Since Marian can bounce off any style she hears, and her guests represent so many diverse jazz styles, there really is no telling what you're going to hear every show, except that it's probably going to be talking and excellent jazz.

Now I don't think I would ever get to play with Marian: a) I'm not a jazz pianist and I don't think I ever will be, and b) I don't think she'll be alive long enough to wait for me to make it big. But that's not going to be a problem for her; her immortality is almost more than ensured.

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: Black Eyed Peas, "Boom Boom Pow".

Reorganization

Wow, my 200th post here, and all I have to say is how messy my room and vehicle are. ^_^ Tomorrow I'll hope to put a dent in that situation.

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: Michael Jackson, "Billie Jean". This is fun to do on an elliptical machine.
Long Way Down: 227 (20090806)

Deadline

Now that it's August, it's crunch time for my projects. I gave myself until the end of this month to finish my summer projects. If I don't finish any of them, I'll shelve them till I graduate.

A few weeks ago, my order for Euclid's Elements arrived, and I went to work trying out the constructions for myself. It's very enlightening to see the way Euclid worded certain things. One of the biggest realizations I had was that Euclid's text is not as rigorous as I first expected.

When I read Proposition 4 in Book I, for example, he says that if the three sides of one triangle are the same length as the three sides on another triangle, then the two triangles are equal. Now that sounds a lot like the SSS Postulate, doesn't it? But the SSS Postulate is a postulate, not a theorem to be proved. So I looked at how Euclid proved his proposition, and surprise! he says something to the effect of, "Well, look at them! If you lined them up they'd match up."

So with this in mind I continue to try out the propositions, thinking, "So hey, we've gotten better at this stuff over time." What's stopping me from doing the same?

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain, "Blame It".