The problem is that people don’t always remember the context; and some of those people get to talk on national morning news shows2: Continue reading “Ursus inanimus”
Today is one of the annual celebrations of my quixotic quest to have the “days” associated with particularly important numbers, like Phi (φ) and Pi (π), placed upon days that actually reflect the math behind the numbers. The number Phi (φ) is the ratio between a longer line segment and a shorter line segment in a variety of geometric shapes, including the famous golden rectangle, pentagrams, and the Fibonacci spiral. August 14th is the day in the calendar year that best creates this same ratio between the total length of the year and the date in question. Therefore, August 14th is, or rather should be, celebrated internationally as Phi Day.
Since I run this joint, it is officially Phi Day at The Finch & Pea. If we had merchandise, there would probably be a discount. I suspect this would not change the likelihood that you would buy The Finch & Pea merchandise.
Ben has been investigating how COMPASS might help improve interactions between the business and scientific communities. I, apparently, was one of 40+ “thinkers” he talked to about this topic. Fortunately, the other 39+ thinkers were able to make up for my ramblings. Ben summarized some of what he learned from these interviews in a very thoughtful blog post “Looking Beyond the Business Card”:
But over the course of more than 40 interviews with thinkers in nonprofits, government, journalism, and the private sector, I discovered a cultural divide among scientists themselves – between academics and their counterparts in industry. . .While there’s plenty of cross-pollination between university and commercial scientists on topics like chemistry, geology, and medicine, it seems that communication grows thinner in more interdisciplinary and holistic fields like ecology and climate. If this is true, it points to many missed opportunities for both groups to learn from one another.
Eva is busy being traveled to this week. So, I am taking on the travel guide duties. Apologies in advance.
Recently, we took our family up to Boone, NC. Our daughters experienced Grandfather Mountain, including an animal park that provides a home to individuals from indigenous species that cannot live in the wild (usually the fault of thoughtless humans). They also got their first experience in natural caverns at Linville Caverns.
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We also spent hours cruising the Blue Ridge Parkway while small children napped, but I don’t have pictures of that due to making sure I did not drive off the edge of mountains. This tweet was slightly dishonest in its time frame. I wrote it after the car had come to a full and complete stop.
Kids napping. Sinatra singing. Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. I’ve had worse days.
— Josh Witten (@joshwitten) July 24, 2013
I scratch that itch by tuning into the Pandora station we created by seeding it with all the artists we could from past Songs of the Week (Marie-Claire’s music selections are more eclectic than Pandora’s library at times) – KFPR 1865AM*.
Currently playing while I type? Amos Lee’s “Sweet Pea”.
*K (West of the Mississippi) + FP (Finch & Pea) + R (Radio) 1865 (Year Mendel published “Experiments in Plant Hybridization”) + AM (cause we are old school)
The Finch and Pea 