The latest edition of Haveil Havalim is up at Me-Ander.
Archives for August 2006
Math Can Be Useful
Really, it can help you understand how to create a 3D fractal.
Here is some basic information:
Menger’s Sponge – named for its inventor Karl Menger and sometimes wrongly called Sierpinski’s Sponge – was the first three dimensional fractal that mathematicians became aware of. In 1995 Dr Jeannine Mosely, a software engineer, set out to build a level 3 Menger Sponge from business cards. After 9 years of effort, involving hundreds of folders all over America, the Business Card Menger Sponge was completed. The resulting object is comprised of 66,048 cards folded into 8000 interlinked sub-cubes, with the entire surface paneled to reveal the Level 2 and Level 3 fractal iterations.
OTOH, if you have some time and patience and no math ability you just might be able to do this yourself.
The Pancake Fanatic
Chavez rips U.S., Israel during China visit
I don’t trust this man at all. He is not playing a game. We need to be careful and vigilant. He is looking to make himself into a real player in world affairs.
“BEIJING, China (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez slammed Washington on Friday for opposing his bid for a U.N. Security Council seat and condemned Israel’s strikes in Lebanon as comparable to the acts of Adolf Hitler.
“The left-leaning Chavez also said Venezuela wants to expand ties with China, giving Beijing a bigger role in its oil industry and drawing on the communist government’s experience in modernizing its economy.
President Hu Jintao on Thursday endorsed Venezuela’s campaign for a Security Council seat. The bid has unsettled Washington because of Chavez’s efforts to foster relations with North Korea and Iran. U.S. officials are backing Guatemala for the seat instead.
“The U.S. government has employed every means to block my country from joining the Security Council,” Chavez told reporters. “The American imperialists are trying to stop us.”
Chavez condemned Israeli attacks in Lebanon since July 12 that have killed civilians. He compared them to the acts of Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, and said Israeli leaders should be prosecuted for genocide before the International Court of Justice.
“Israel is doing the same thing as Hitler today,” he said. “We give our sympathy to the Arab people and condemn Israel.”
Chavez has made similar remarks about Israel recently and has scaled back ties with the Israeli government while also building close relations with Iran.
Earlier this month, Chavez withdrew his country’s top diplomat to Israel to protest its attacks in Lebanon and its actions toward the Palestinians. Israel, which responded by calling home its ambassador, has criticized what it calls Chavez’s “one-sided policy” and “wild slurs.”
Chavez said Friday he was invited to visit Syria but hasn’t set a date. ”
A Halloween Surprise
The Hebron Massacre
Jameel has an interesting post about The Hebron Massacre of 1929 .
“Since today, August 24th, marks 77 years since the Brutal Massacre and rape of the Jewish Community of Hebron, I thought it would be important to provide the following recently found letter from a survivor who recounts the horrors of the pogrom. The letter’s author requests that his surviving children read the account every year to recall the survival and the massacre:“Just one thing, my dear children, may you live and be well, I ask of you that you put away this letter for the generations. Each year, at an agreed‑upon day, you should all meet and give thanks and praise to God, blessed be He, who saved your parents from this great catastrophe, and each one of you should make a generous contribution to charity. The miracle took place on Shabbes, Torah portion Ekev, the 18th day of the month of Av, 5689 [August 24, 1929], in Hebron.”
Following is an introduction, and then the letter itself.”
Click here to read the whole thing.