Today, I'm making a frame for a portrait of Carl Gauss (i.e., a German 10 mark note).

In keeping with his personal motto pauca sed matura (few, but ripe), Gauss published sparingly. His personal notes show that he had made significant discoveries well in advance of others. One historian estimated that if Gauss had published all his work, he would have advanced mathematics by fifty years.

Gauss' proofs were polished, often leaving little or no trace of the work required to create them. He likened that to how scaffolding is removed when a building is finished.

While taking a break from working on Mr Gauss' frame, I listened to the BBC's recent interview with Noam Chomsky, which included this exchange:

BBC:	Who is your hero, if you have one?
Chomsky:	I'm not much of a hero worshiper, but there is one photograph on the wall of my office; that's Bertrand Russell.

George Takei gave a moving speech about California Proposition 8 (YouTube video, 6:20).

I hadn't known that Mr. Takei and his family had been among those interned during World War II.

I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organisations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms. - Alan Greenspan

Yup.

It's good practice for a company to keep a low profile about the specifics of their datacenters. But secrecy piques people's interest--in particular, tonight, my interest.

Google's reticence about their infrastructure made me curious to see whether any of their facilities were omitted from Google Maps imagery--and indeed, the large buildings still not shown in the pic on the left are for a big Google facility in Oregon.

maps.google.com	maps.yahoo.com

I have (among other things) some pictures of mathematicians and musicians on my walls. I just added a few more, including this one printed by the Bank of England. Hmmm, what kind of lumber should a frame for a portrait of Isaac Newton be made from?

I like banknotes for their fine printing.

The Swiss National Bank issued portraits of Euler; the German Federal Bank made some with Gauss. Hungary had a 1000 forint note with Bartók.

US paper money has portraits of... politicians.

When I was a teenager, I was prone to falling into what I'll call the hero trap: I'd be impressed by someone and start paying undue attention to what they did or said, as if their accomplishments made them worth emulating. (OK, I did this even beyond my teenage years.) The hero trap facilitates errors (if you uncritically make the same mistakes your hero did) and it discourages initiative (if you look outside of yourself too much).

Now, when I hang someone's portrait on my wall, it's with full knowledge that they are a mixed bag, because everyone is a mixed bag.

Why have portraits on the wall at all? For one, people are photogenic; you can make a picture of a musician more readily than you can make a picture of music. And the portraits remind me that despite how abstract math and music are, they come to us through the work of people. The portraits are there to celebrate the work people did, and to remind me to do work.

So. The Isaac Newton frame is made, of course, from apple lumber. I had one little piece that I brought back from New York this spring. I'd never made anything from apple before. Observations, from this small sample: It has a great scent when cut--it made the whole workshop smell apple-y. It's hard and closed-grained. It glues and screws well. Figured grain is somewhat prone to tear-out in planing.

Sycamore is great lumber. It has cool looking grain, it's hard but not too hard to work with, it doesn't split easily, it finishes to a smooth surface. Did I mention that it has cool looking grain?

     the mountains


     have their way with the clouds,


     leaving them too dazed to rain


     (usually, that is; a drop did hit me today)

According to news reports:
A few weeks ago, a man in Washington state ran an ad on Craigslist looking for road maintenance workers. Applicants were told to meet at 11:00 AM on September 30, at a certain location, wearing work clothing: "yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask... and, if possible, a blue shirt". About a dozen workers showed up, dressed as requested--but road maintenance was not on the agenda.

At that time and location, a bank robber--also wearing such an outfit--stole a bag of money from an armored car guard who he'd pepper-sprayed. The dozen or so masked and goggled job applicants served, unknowingly, as decoys to facilitate the robber's getaway.

You can't make this stuff up. The getaway included an inner-tube ride on a nearby creek. Story here.

Congratulations to Paul Krugman, the only Nobel laureate I know of who has made a Monty Python reference in his blog.

Professor Krugman also has the curious distinction of having been sneered at three years ago by a blog (that Time magazine had once named blog of the year) for having said that there was a housing bubble, and that it was cause for concern.

climbing.

These are bizarre times, when real ads look like parodies:

(I've smudged the ad on the right to not sully my blog)

The McCain campaign later replaced "Famous Person" with the name of the commentator they were quoting, but defended the original text: "If there's no factual inaccuracy, I don't know what the problem is." No surprises there; this is the campaign that doesn't see what the problem with Palin is.

And now, another small, meaningless personal sample.
Although I generally use only one credit card, I carry a few in case one isn't accepted. I got a letter in today's mail about a card I've had for about 15 years:
Just a routine review that happened to occur in the midst of a credit crisis.

For some reason, my friends laughed at the shoes I wore climbing on Saturday.

I made a picture frame for a friend, and needed a piece of glass to fit. I can cut glass, but this time I chose to let a framing shop cut it to size.

I wanted a close fit, and I was skeptical when the guy at the shop measured with a yardstick and drew on the glass, seemingly casually, with a fat-tipped marker. It took him all of about 30 seconds. But he nailed it. It fits just the way I wanted. I couldn't have done better if I'd taken all the time in the world.

I like working with my hands, but I'm an amateur and I work slowly. It's a treat to watch someone who's both good and fast.

I made the frame from walnut I got from my dad's collection. Judging from the grain, I think it's from stock he'd salvaged from a table that dated from 1850--but I'm not sure. Earlier this year, I could have asked my dad where it came from, and he probably would have known.