Authoritarianism
Have you had a Good Pandemic?
Have you had a Good Pandemic? Well, dear Puffins, after six months of unemployment and six months before that having not much to do at work, I am soon going to start a new job [more…]
Science
Health
Dealing with the black dog
Contrary to popular belief, there seems to be some dispute as to exactly what Sir Winston Churchill was referring to when he mentioned being plagued by his infamous “Black dog”. Some say depression, some say [more…]
Mathematics
The Infinity of the Primes
Euclid’s Elements, Book IX, Proposition 20. Theorem : Prime numbers are more than any assigned multitude of prime numbers. That is, there are infinitely many primes. Proof : Suppose that there are primes : Let [more…]
16th Century
The Troubled History of the Potato
The potato is a native of the high Andes, a low-growing plant (Solanum tuberosum) with pretty purple flowers and round black fruits. To survive in its harsh environment it has evolved the habit of growing [more…]
Authoritarianism
SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 update 8
Jkvenjd wktuhnb, dfuidsoe refcvdsff hbcer uyereu dfohfd iuhjcdjfsj. No, the previous sentence is not a misprint, it is a condensed and eloquent summary of government practice regarding the current SARS-CoV-2 crisis, quite possibly in Welsh. [more…]
19th Century
Holography, Part Four
Holograph Examples The PFG-01 holographic film that I’ve used in the examples below is ideally suited to making transmission holograms but it can also be used to make reflection holograms. Reflection Holograms One of the [more…]
Mathematics
The Number of Derangements
Read as : the limit, as approaches infinity, of subfactorial divided by factorial is equal to divided by which approximates to , where is Euler’s number, The Hat Check Problem, as first described by Montmort [more…]
20th Century
Health
Don’t worry – be happy
I was encouraged to write this article by Teggers Play Pop and Foxoles (I think) following a comment I made on GP some months ago. I can’t recall exactly what I said but it was [more…]