Narcissus

from: Paul Denis, Le Narcissisme, Presses universitaires de France, 2012.

Doxa translation.

In its most interesting version, mythology makes of Narcissus the

son of the nymph Niriopé and of the river God Céphise who had seized

her in the swirls of his current and had «triumphed of her through violence».

The child who was born of this rape received the name of Narcissus : he

could make anyone fall in love with him still in the craddle. The fortune-teller

Tirésias, on being asked of the life perspectives for the child, said he could live

for a long time on the condition that «he never catch sight of himself». Those

men and women in love with Narcissus were quite numerous but to all he opposed 

a great haughtyness and would bring their downfall. Echo the nymph was one of his

victims. Already punished by Héra for the abuse of speaking, the ability to speak had 

been taken from her and all she could do was repeat the last few words she has heard.

Neglected by Narcissus, she roamed about, spread herself thinly, lost substance

to the point where all that was left of her was her voice...The too handsome adolescent

one day sent to Ameinias, his most ardent admirer, a sword with which the latter

committed suicide on Narcissus’ doorstep, but demanding yet vengeance from the Gods 

in his own name and in that of other victims : «May he fall in love with another,

and like us, find the object of his desire unattainable» Nimésis heard his cry and 

the prophecy of Tirésias was fulfilled. Narcisus saw his own image in the water

mirror and fell in love with his own image : «While drinking he loves a vain shadow 

and lends it a body »(Ovid). He tried to reach and kiss, without success, the splendid 

adolescent he could see, but soon he recognized himself and became fascinated

by the image : «Alas I am myself the young man that I see». In great

despair, he injured himself in the chest and lost all strength to the point where «his

languishing head touched the ground, and the night closed his eyes still fascinated

by his own beauty. Even yet having reached the gloomy netherworld, he looked for his

image in the Styx». His body was never found but in its place «was found a flower,

the colour of safron in the midst of white petals», the narcissus.

PolyT_p

PolyTurtle

Awesome !

Fractal(2)

Sierpenski Show

The Polish mathematician Sierpinski (1882-1969) was a precursor to modern

 Chaos theory and its  show of fractals. The Sierpenski triangle, like a fractal, shows the same

geometrical relations at different scales.

Small Basic tutorial has a triangle fractal program that allows one to appreciate

the construct. In effect, a true Sierpinski triangle has an area of 0, and only points

within it.  The program runs at 100000 iterations.

Step- by- Step

Goldbach

Goldbach’s conjecture, if we are to believe Wikipedia, asserts that

«Every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two primes.»

And, we are told, this conjecture although widely held to be true, has resisted

all attemps at proof.

I, for one, have a great deal of difficulty with the notion that mathematicians can

come up with mathematical truths - which for reasons known only to the Gods - they

cannot prove.

Indeed, on this one, it is Goldbach’s correspondent, Euler, who agreed it was

undoubtedly true, but couldn’t imagine how to prove it.

We have a situation, here.

What might have been Goldbach’s intent in making such a statement? It seems

to me the statement might be the result of a reflection on larger questions, and our declaration 

one that is the «best that one can say about the matter». Surely

he could not have wanted us completely without parameters in reasoning about

this question.

If every even integer (1) can be seen as the sum of two primes (2) then there is

no one to one representation here. Up to a certain number - «unter einer gegebener Grösse» 

to quote Riemann - odd numbers would have to each serve twice and primes, or some primes,

more than that. Not to be completely lost at sea, what happens if we begin by merely doubling 

the sequence of known primes :

Thus, we have our even integers up to 38 and 3 has served 3 times, 5 has

served 4, and 7 has served 5...and so on. That would seem to me a more germane, 

if modest, statement of Goldbach.

A Start

New Bag

Kristen S.

I’m having some difficulty not meddling in this Kristen Stewart so-

called cheating scandal. I really think this media feeding frenzy is a bit silly,

and to the extent that this is more than publicity, and the young woman is genuinely

shamed and distressed; it is all very unfortunate. 

Indeed, I am ususally thick-skinned about the goings-on in Hollywood.

I am old enough to have gone through 7, maybe 8 husbands with Elizabeth Taylor

and frankly, my dear, no big deal. He is married and you are not : his problem,

really.

Actors are not in principle exempted from the behavioural standards that apply

to all, but then again, they are actors. They make a living exploiting their ability

to experience and express emotion. That things might spill over between work

and real life is to be expected. The environment might have a role to play here,

a gentle one.

Indeed, how did Kristen end up with a steady beau to begin with? He was a love

interest, from a previous film. If one film has the right to be jealous of another,

poor Kristen is going to have some unhappy career.

Musicians suffer in these matters as well. Dolly Parton once revealed that stuff happens

on the road, despite the best of intentions. «They hit up on you; you hit up on them».

That is spirit!

The Look

Here and There

Redemption

B's Tango

Les Vacances

Wanna Know ?

http://www.sciences-animations.fr/college/demo02.htm

Flowering Again

Gamer

Is Crystal Golf Solitaire always amenable to resolution? The answer is no. I can imagine at least one game configuration that isn’t. Notice there are five rows of seven cards displayed, and the pack at the bottom has one showing and twenty down. This ads up to 56 which is indeed the 52 plus 4 jokers.

Theoretically, one might well have 7 non-adjacent cards on the bottom row: for example Ace,3,5,7,9,Jack and King of Spades. The twenty-one of the bottom pack could be these same values in Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs. All the jokers being on the upper table, nothing would move.

There is, then, an element of chance to the game although one’s skill does improve with play. I don’t believe in trying to memorize cards : where is the fun in that? I do find myself taking an increasingly long view, setting myself up for long runs in the future. Doesn’t always materialize as planned but my scores are getting better. It is a matter of leaving one’s comfort zone.

The game, at casual level, is charmingly simple; but sites do warn is is perhaps the most addictive game of all. I’m in!

Believe