Amber & Imaginary Numbers

Please allow me to get my Math Geek on today?  The square root of -1 is all over the news today.  No, seriously: i has not one but two of the most-emailed pieces from the New York Times today.

There's first this article about...

“complex dynamics,” a vibrant blend of chaos theory, complex analysis and fractal geometry

...wherein computer models of complex equations with multiple solutions result in fractals.

And then, if that's not enough to make your math brain cells spin for one day, there's also this article about how everyone's favorite fantasy novel Alice in Wonderland is, among other things, parodying the early world of algebra.

Guess what I'll be reading next instead of going to see the new filmic adaptation in 3D?  (Sorry, Johnny, I'll have to love you in 2D after my three-day Avatar migraine.)

And now it makes so much more sense that Alice is my baby/laptop name.

Amber & Goats

This is a blog post about The Men Who Stare At Goats, the book versus the movie.  In the movie, there was no Uri Gelle, but there was a George Clooney.

I had read the book, which was a gift from CRD, and had been riveted by its recounting of our government's research into creating psychic spy Jedi warrior soldiers.  They did a fair job adapting an investigative report into a cinematic narrative and there were lots of Sparkle Eyes, the psychic weapon I utilize most often.  I like goats, and I want to believe that we could prevent war by carrying flowers and walking through walls.

Did I mention the movie had George Clooney in it?  He is second in my daydreams only to Cary Grant.  Like Cary, George just gets more and more.  And more.  I would pay to just watch him breathe.

I even like him with the gray beard scruff.  They should make a sequel called The Ambers Who Stare at George Clooney.