Category Archives: Science

Floral Hex

by in Biology, Botany, Flowers, Science and tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I knew what the Sempervivum plant looked like:

Sempervivum × giuseppii (from Wikipedia)

But I’d never seen the flowers until a few days ago:

Sempervivum flowers (from Gardener’s Path)

They remind me of Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Demon of the Flower”:

Not as the plants and flowers of Earth, growing peacefully beneath a simple sun, were the blossoms of the planet Lophai. Coiling and uncoiling in double dawns; tossing tumultuously under vast suns of jade green and balas-ruby orange; swaying and weltering in rich twilights, in aurora-curtained nights, they resembled fields of rooted serpents that dance eternally to an other-worldly music. — “The Demon of the Flower”, Astounding Stories, Dec 1933

Astronomy Dominie

by in Ancient Greek, Astronomy, Literature, Philosophy, Quotations, Translation and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

• ἐπαινῶ: παντὶ γάρ μοι δοκεῖ δῆλον ὅτι αὕτη γε ἀναγκάζει ψυχὴν εἰς τὸ ἄνω ὁρᾶν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐνθένδε ἐκεῖσε ἄγει. — Πολιτεία τοῦ Πλᾰ́τωνος

• • For every one, as I think, must see that astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another. — Plato’s Republic (c. 375 BC), Book 7, line 529a

Elementary Anagram

by in Chemistry, Language, Science and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An exceptionally ingenious anagram by the American mathematician Mike Keith (born 1955):

hydrogen + zirconium + tin + oxygen + rhenium + platinum + tellurium + terbium + nobelium + chromium + iron + cobalt + carbon + aluminum + ruthenium + silicon + ytterbium + hafnium + sodium + selenium + cerium + manganese + osmium + uranium + nickel + praseodymium + erbium + vanadium + thallium + plutonium

↓

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii + uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu + mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm + nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn + eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee + rrrrrrrrrrrrrr + ooooooooooooo + llllllllllll + aaaaaaaaaaaa + tttttttttt + ccccccc + hhhhhh + bbbbbb + ssssss + dddd + yyyy + ggg + ppp + z + f + v + x + k

↓

nitrogen + zinc + rhodium + helium + argon + neptunium + beryllium + bromine + lutetium + boron + calcium + thorium + niobium + lanthanum + mercury + fluorine + bismuth + actinium + silver + cesium + neodymium + magnesium + xenon + samarium + scandium + europium + berkelium + palladium + antimony + thulium

[as chemical names]

1 + 40 + 50 + 8 + 75 + 78 + 52 + 65 + 102 + 24 + 26 + 27 + 6 + 13 + 44 + 14 + 70 + 72 + 11 + 34 + 58 + 25 + 76 + 92 + 28 + 59 + 68 + 23 + 81 + 94

=

1416

=

7 + 30 + 45 + 2 + 18 + 93 + 4 + 35 + 71 + 5 + 20 + 90 + 41 + 57 + 80 + 9 + 83 + 89 + 47 + 55 + 60 + 12 + 54 + 62 + 21 + 63 + 97 + 46 + 51 + 69

[as atomic numbers]

Elsewhere other-accessible…

• Mike Keith — official website (with anagram here)

ვარსკვლამაზმანი

by in Astronomy, Georgia / საქართველო, Science and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

ვენერა — რიგით მეორე პლანეტა მზიდან; მისი სიმკვრივე და აგებულება მსგავსია დედამიწისა (Translate.ge)

金星 — 金 jīn, jìn, gold; metals in general; money; 星 xīng, a star, planet; any point of light (MDBG)

Bore is More

by in Boredom, Psychology and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Why boredom is anything but boring — Implicated in everything from traumatic brain injury to learning ability, boredom has become extremely interesting to scientists”, Maggie Koerth-Baker, Nature, 12i2016.

Elsewhere other-engageable…

• Beard Tales — a review of Alan Moore’s The Devotee of Ennui (2013)