Thursday, March 14, 2024

The Physical Relationship of Pi to the Area of a Circle


Today is Pi Day. I know I've posted this before, but as a former Navigator and Full Charge Estimator of Earthworks and Utilities, I am proud of this piece of work. I did this many years ago and framed it. I simply wanted to understand why Pi is Pi. And no one could tell me. So, I drew it out to understand it.

I also wanted an easier way to compute the area of circles. To this day I simply use the factor of .785 to arrive at the total area of any circle. I divided the area into 100 squares and counted the squares inside of the circle, using a 6" round piece of pipe for an example. Then I counted the squares outside of the circle.

I then used .5 ft. X .5 ft. (to represent the 6" pipe) X .785 (the total of squares inside the circle). Not a great discovery, but it satisfied my curiosity and sped up my calculations. Having failed Math all through High School, I have always been amazed at having taught myself Trigonometry and Advanced Algebra. At sea,  using a Sextant, I needed those skills. The same applied to Surveying and Estimating.

But nothing has ever given me the satisfaction of this piece of paper, which is framed and hangs on my wall, next to my Third Mates License and the Engineering Certifications in two different states, with no college degree. You see, it wasn't that I couldn't learn math. It was that the people attempting to teach me simply didn't know how to reach me. And that, as Paul Harvey used to say, is the Rest of the Story.....

Happy Pi Day to all. 🙂

P.S. Last night I made a startling discovery. My diagram, hand drawn just as it appears here, is on a web site showing the various "official" visual explanations of Pi. All advanced and carefully laid out. 

The difference between mine and the others is astonishing. While all the others require some advanced knowledge of mathematics, mine is the only one which can be understood by a 6th grader. 

That it is included with the others, is like an honor for me. That is exactly what I was trying to create. You can view the whole layout, with all the other diagrams, by using the following link. Just look for the yellow handrawn one. 

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=483c85010fc377d1&sxsrf=ACQVn08yn_NpVuWevqVdtLXi6CuBIwJ4Lw:1710468678145&q=images+of+the+physical+relationship+of+pi+to+the+area+of+a+circle&tbm=isch&source=lnms&prmd=ihvsnbmtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi49davmPWEAxWxKFkFHSTbDMQQ0pQJegQICxAB&biw=1600&bih=699&dpr=1.2

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Two Tough Guys - Bogart and Gabin


One of my favorite Humphrey Bogart stories is of the time in 1942, when Bogart matched the antics of an unnamed French Resistance fighter, who may or may not have been the French actor Jean Gabin, often referred to as "the French Bogart." His most famous film was 1937's "Pepe le Moko", in which he plays a French jewel thief hiding in the labyrinth of the Casbah in Algiers. The film was remade in the United States as "Algiers" in 1938 starring Charles Boyer. It was also Hedy Lamarr's first film.


Gabin joined General de Gaulle's Free French Forces and earned the Medaille Militaire and a Croix de Guerre for fighting with the Allies in North Africa. He was also part of the French force which fought to liberate Paris. In between he was in Hollywood making "Moontide" with Ida Lupino, Claude Raines and Thomas Mitchell in 1942, the time during which this story takes place.

The event took place at a Hollywood dinner party with Bogart, when the Frenchman approached Bogart and challenged him to "Do smething tough."

Bogart responded with, "You've got the wrong guy." The Frenchman retorted with, "I can eat glass." He then proceeded to eat his wine glass. Bogart applauded. The Frenchman then added, "I can also eat razor blades." Reaching into his pocket he produced two of them and put them in his mouth. After that he told Bogart, "If you cannot do that, let us match drinks."

Bogart, now on more familiar ground, proceeded to mix a concoction of brandy, Creme de Menthe, Scotch, Gin, Bourbon, Vermouth and Champagne. The two matched one another drink for drink.

At the conclusion of this contest the Frenchman said, "Well, I still do not think you are so tough. You cannot eat the glass." Bogart's response was a slurred, "Oh, I can so." He then proceeded to eat his own wine glass, beginning at the top and working his way down to the stem. Blood gushed from his mouth.

"Well", said the Frenchman, "I guess you are all right at that! We are both very tough men. Come, let us go and insult the women together. That takes real courage!"

I have run across this story several times, most notably in Joe Hyam's "Bogie: The Biography of Humphrey Bogart." That book was authorized by Lauren Bacall. Another book which relates the tale is "Tough Without a Gun" by Stefan Kanfer. Both are well written and contain good Source Notes.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

My First Car - 1973


This was my first car. The photos are from on line, which is why the interior shot is blue. It was the late summer of 1973. It was a 1964 Ford Galaxy 500 with the dual tailpipes. Paid $75 for it. I was living just outside Cleveland on the shore of Lake Erie in Timberlake, a town of 300 people. In the evenings I would sit in the car and listen to 770 AM WABC out of New York.


It was a big boat and battleship grey. I had no license and no insurance was required. The speed limit on Rt 80 was 90 on some stretches until the National Speed Limit of 55 kicked in. Gas went from 35 cents a gallon to 65 cents at the Arco station. I got about 12 miles per gallon.


I still have the plate, though the car was abandoned on the side of Rt 80 when the engine seized up on the first few miles back to Brooklyn. I was 19 years old.

 

Saturday, March 2, 2024

"Hill Country Girl" - Will Kimbrough (2010)



Corn flower blue were her eyes and her hair
Spinning gold in the hot summer wind.
Soft were the words which she used when she told me
She wanted to still be my friend.

I said don't misunderstand me
She said I don't as she turned
Into the haze of the twilight and walked
down the road without shame or concern.

Her name was Martha and her mama died
the year before, she'd been sick for awhile.
I helped her Daddy that summer with work
on the farm, she was shy with her smile.

One night we talked until sun up
The next night we kissed until the dawn
These days I dream of my Martha
'til daylight comes hard now that Martha is gone.

Her daddy was quiet like men get to be
But his eyes said he knew everything.
One afternoon he put his arm round my shoulder
And said don't get hurt son you're still green.

That night I asked her to marry,
she laughed out loud until she wept
She said you saved my heart with your kindness and comfort
and care but I will not be kept

Some say she ruined me forever
Left me heartbroke and stubborn with pride.
Some say she made me the loner I am
I say her memory keeps me alive.

Now I keep up with her as she moves through the world
With a grace I admire from afar.
From Austin to Nashville to LA and back
to the farm in her dirty old car.

Her eyes are still my horizon
and her smile still a fine rope of pearls.
I can't  help it I guess though it's made me a mess
I'm in love with the hill country girl.

And though she don't love me yet I will never regret
All my love for the hill country girl.


Thursday, February 29, 2024

The Weeping Star

 

 

See the lonely weeping star,
he's sad because it rains.
He'll have to wait another night
until he shines again.....

My Faith is very simple,
and isn't very loud.
It's knowing that there's always,
Stars above the clouds.....

Sleep well........❣

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Two Dollar Bills and John Hanson



I remember when these were very common in the 1950's. They had a red seal on the front because they were testing a new kind of paper. There were also others  with the normal blue seal. They were Silver Certificates and could be exchanged for the old silver coins. 

Now everything is a Federal Reserve Note and there are no real silver coins. Today's paper money cannot be exchanged for any precious metal. 

If you have ever looked at the back of the new ones closely you will notice a black man seated with the other delegates. That is John Hanson of Charles County, Md. in John Trumball's painting of the Signing of the Declaration  of independence in 1776.

Before the Constitution was ratified he was one of several Presidents who served on a rotating basis. Not elected by the people, they were chosen by the other delegates. Some people confuse him with a black Senator of the same name who served after the Civil War and wanted to return the freed blacks to Liberia, the same as Lincoln had briefly proposed before his death.

John Hanson was born April 14, 1721 (Old Style calendar of 1732 was April 3rd) – and he passes away on November 15, 1783. He was an American Founding Father, merchant, and politician from Maryland during the Revolutionary Era. In 1779 Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress after serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause.

He signed the Articles of Confederation in 1781 after Maryland joined the other states in ratifying them. In November 1781, he was elected as the first President of the Confederation Congress; sometimes referred to as "President of the United States in Congress Assembled". For this reason, some of Hanson's biographers have argued that he was actually the first holder of the Office of President of the United States.

Friday, February 2, 2024

"Inherit the Wind" - Final Scene

To me this is the greatest scene in the film. Even more meaningful than the scene about Evolution; which is the whole theme of this film to begin with. And for good reason. 

This scene speaks to the duality of conscious. The integrity that is the ability to see more than one side, even though you may have already chosen yours. The ability to repect another human being, no matter how bitterly your disagreement may be. 

In this excange, when the two learn of William Jennings Bryan's death, these two, who have been allies in their cause, finally come to terms with the difference in their individual motivations. 

Here is the dialogue for the scene above. It is one of the most intense on-screen exchanges I have ever seen. The D stands for Henry Drummond, the fictitious name for Clarence Darrow, the Attorney for the Defense. The H stands for E.K. Hornbeck, the fictional H.L. Mencken, reporter for the Baltimore Sun. 

 D: I cannot imagine a world without Matthew Harrison Brady. What did he die of? Did they say?

H: He died of a busted belly.

D: There was much greatness in this man.

H:  Can I quote you  in the obituary?

D: Write anything you damn, write anything you please.

H: How do you write an obituary for a man who’s been dead thirty years?Say?  What did he say to the minister? It fits! He delivered his own obituary! They must have one here some place. Here it is: his book!  Proverbs, wasn’t it?

D: (Quietly) “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise in heart."

H: Well, we’re growing an odd crop of agnostics this year!

D: You know, Hornbeck, I'm getting damn sick of you.

H: Why?

D: Because you never pushed a noun against a verb except to blow up something.

H: You know, that's a typical lawyer's trick - accusing the accuser.

D: What am I accused of?

H: Contempt of conscience, sentimentality in the first degree.

D: Why? Because I refuse to erase a man’s lifetime?

H: You know what I thought of him, and I know what you thought. Let us leave the lamentations to the illiterate! Why should we weep for him? He cried enough for himself! The national tear-duct from Weeping Water, Nebraska, who flooded the whole nation like a one-man Mississippi! You know what he was: A Barnum- Bible-beating bunko artist! What is this? Be-Kind-To-Bigots Week?

D: A giant once lived in that body. But Matt Brady got lost. Because he was looking for God too high up and too far away.

H: You hypocrite! You fraud!  The Atheist who believes in God... You’re just as religious as he was!

D: Everything is grist for your mill, isn't it? Well go on grind it up; Brady's past, Cates future.....My God, don't you understand the meaning of what happened here today?

H: What happened here has no meaning...

D: You have no meaning! You're like a ghost pointing an empty sleeve and smirking at everything people feel or want or struggle for! I pity you.

H: You pity me?

D: Isn't there anything? What touches you, what warms you? Every man has a dream. What do you dream about? What... what do you need? You don't need anything, do you? People, love, an idea;  just to cling to? You poor slob! You're all alone. When you go to your grave, there won't be anybody to pull the grass up over your head. Nobody to mourn you. Nobody to give a damn. You're all alone.

H: You're wrong, Henry. You'll be there. You're the type. Who else would defend my right to be lonely?