continued

Then I found http://www.archive.org/ (The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.)

Speak Easily (1932) on http://www.archive.org/details/SpeakEasily starred Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante. Speak Easily is the way the pedantic, pompous professor played by Buster speaks of the prohibition era speakeasy. The inimitable Durante does some sharp piano playing and singing. Durante led a jazz band and may have been the first band leader to integrate white and black musicians. Durante also made a great statement, “Why doesn’t everybody leave everybody else the hell alone?” Missionaries, prohibitionists, intrusive governments, ideologues of all kinds should heed the words of Durante.

Moving on I wondered if I could find another rendition of ‘oh by jingo’ duplicating the version my grandmother had.

Spike Jones “oh by jingo” on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewh2aVCDQ-s doesn’t fit the bill, but he is great and also plays ‘we have no bananas’ on http://www.youtube.com/watchv=jT6JkceQ9FU&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Sam Lanin's orchestra also played Yes! We Have No Bananas in 1923 on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTTrXAE7OPU&feature=related
Sam Lanin had many great musicians playing for him such as Phil Napoleon, Miff Mole, Jules Levy Jr. and Red Nichols, as well as Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Manny Klein, Jimmy McPartland, Bix Beiderbecke, Eddie Lang, Bunny Berigan, Nick Lucas and Frankie Trumbauer.

Sam’s brothers, Howard and Lester, were also band leaders. Lester was aware of the perilous situation of the world. He consoled himself in remarking that the world was dancing on the edge of a precipice, but at least they were dancing to his music.

Back to the archives for “Journey to the Center of a Triangle” http://www.archive.org/details/journey_to_the_center_of_a_triangle The feature shows the four centres of a triangle – circumcenter, centroid, orthocentre and incenter. Great presentation.

Congruent Triangles is another mathematical feature on http://www.archive.org/details/afana_congruent_triangles The congruent triangles covering and uncovering the screen reminded me of Busby Berkeley’s chorus formations.

May we all live to see the demise of rock and roll along with the Second Coming of Cole Porter, another Hoosier.

Dear davidf,

Thanks for the posts.

The piece on the triangles was riveting, sort of like getting whispers of a 'Godly' language.

You are obviously a fan of the less contemporary of our musical history but I think you might enjoy this. In fact you have no soul if you don't. In this TED talk (TED talks are my favourite podcasts for downloading), the conductor Eric Whitacre talks about the challenges in getting together a Youtube choir. The result is spectacular.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/eric_whitacre_a_virtual_choir_2_000_voices_strong.html

The first one referred to in the talk is linked here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o7BrlbaDs&feature=related

The second, recently completed is here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WhWDCw3Mng&feature=player_embedded

Full screen it and make sure you have some decent speakers.

As a poster remarked; “A positive side to living in the matrix”.

The final image is of triangles.

Dear csteele,

I looked up your reference. Eric Whitacre talked about once wanting to be a rock star. In my early days the only rock star I had heard of was Roy Chapman Andrews, the geologist, who discovered dinosaur fossils in Mongolia. That was before rock had anything to do with music. The idea of a virtual choir is very exciting. Eric Whitacre has surpassed technology. He is not a semiconductor. He is a superconductor. Maybe my resistance is low.

Unfortunately I can’t get an uninterrupted performance as there are pauses for the input to be buffered in.

Even though I don’t have a soul being nothing but mind and body eventually consigned to oblivion I enjoyed it greatly.

The clips were marvellous, and I bookmarked TED.

I went to see the ‘greatest TED talk ever recorded.’ It was by Morgan Spurlock. I shut it off as it seemed an exercise in self-aggrandisement, and I did not want to give him any more of my time. Nevertheless there seem to be many great things in TED, and I will investigate it further.

You wrote:

“Full screen it and make sure you have some decent speakers.

As a poster remarked; “A positive side to living in the matrix”.

The final image is of triangles”

I had to make do with the speakers in the computer. What does ‘living in the matrix’ mean? Didn’t see the final image of triangles.

Mathematics can be a never ending source of joy. If you are one of those who revel in it I recommend two books “Induction and Analogy in Mathematics” and “Patterns of Plausible Inference”. Each chapter deals with some aspect of mathematics. At the end of each chapter are a series of problems based on the chapter ranging from simple to those the greatest mathematicians have never solved.

Dear davidf,

Rather than a case of low resistance may I suggest a high capacity, especially for the new, might be the issue.

As to 'living in the matrix' I think you would have to have seen the film 'The Matrix'. Certainly evoked it for me. I suppose it is one of those pop culture references.

You might not consider yourself as being equipped with a soul but there would be a number of long-time OLO's who would claim otherwise. Considered it afflicted on you from the outside.

Speaking of soul I'm wondering if I could bother you for an 'insiders' opinion.

I am hardly jingoistic but I do have a serious weakness for the Star Spangled Banner, especially when done well, which I gather is not the easiest thing to do. My favourite for a long time was Whitney Huston's version at the 1991 Superbowl;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupsPg5H6aE

But Marvin Gaye's version just blows me away, really gutsy to attempt such a reworking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvVzaQ6i8A

Wow!

Do you think many American's would have felt uneasy with this treatment given the anthem's place in the culture?

Finally the language of mathematics to me is the closest I can think of to a 'God speak' and this is coming from an atheist. I am however chained to the cave wall scanning shadows as my mathematical knowledge is limited. I do however have a deep sense of what I might be missing. Paul Erdos the Hungarian mathematician talked of all the proofs being written in “The Book”;

“in which God had written down the best and most elegant proofs for mathematical theorems. Lecturing in 1985 he said, "You don't have to believe in God, but you should believe in The Book." He himself doubted the existence of God, whom he called the "Supreme Fascist". He accused the SF of hiding his socks and Hungarian passports, and of keeping the most elegant mathematical proofs to himself. When he saw a particularly beautiful mathematical proof he would exclaim, "This one's from The Book!". “ Wikipedia

Thanks for the references.

Dear csteele,

Living in the matrix could mean being one of a rectangular array of terms which compose a matrix. ‘Matrix’ comes from womb (cf the Greek metra) so we all began our existence in the matrix.

I find the Star-Spangled Banner inspiring. However, although I am a devoted watcher of the Superbowl I resent the presentation of it with warplanes flying overhead, pop singers mouthing our national anthem and appeals to those who drive 100, 000 miles a year and spend the rest of their time consuming enormous quantities of beer. I start watching when the play starts and skip the halftime show. I was glad the socialist team won last year. The Green Bay Packers are the only team owned by the municipality they play in. When they play the Philadelphia Eagles I am in a quandary who to root for.

When I went to Lake Placid High School we sometimes played games with Canadian high schools to our north as the opponents. Before the games the bands would play “God Save the King” and “The Star-Spangled Banner”. The crowd would sing both anthems. That was great! IMHO anthems are not something to be sung by commercial performers.

I knew Erdos (May the Supreme Fascist rest his soul) when I was a graduate student at Syracuse University. His girl friend, Johanna Brunings, taught quantum mechanics. The first class meeting she shut the door, leaned against it and looked at us for a while. Finally she spoke, “If I were an electron I might be on the other side of the door by now.” I would occasionally join them for a meal in a restaurant. Erdos was a natural deadpan comic. One of his bits was to pick up a menu and pronounce the items as though they were written in Hungarian. His rendition of pineapple upsidedown cake was most memorable.

One beauty of Polya’s books mentioned in my last post is that you do not have to have extensive mathematical knowledge to appreciate them. You will acquire considerable knowledge in going through them.