Tan of the Kitchen Sink

In a post on MathForum I made the mistake of doubting Mathematica could compute the Tan of the Kitchen Sink. It is always a mistake to doubt Mathematica's prowess as Daniel Lichtblau of Wolfram pointed out to me:


In[1]:= Tan[Khinchin//Sinc] // N
Out[1]= 0.165514

I stand corrected!


p.s.

It sort of spoils the joke/pun to explain but to non-Mathematca users...

Khinchin's constant is aprox. 2.68545
Sinc[x] = Sin[x]/x
N means "give numeric value"
and // means "use postix" so
this computes N[Tan[Sin[Khinchin]/Khinchin]]

How to mess with Comp Sci Students

Assignment: Write a compiler that compiles all programs that can't compile themselves.
Extra Credit: Use the compiler to compile assignment.

The Joys of a Technically Inferior Phone

Recently I lost my cell phone. It was a pretty plain-jane Nokia and my contract was up and so I was planning to buy a new phone anyway. My initial inclination was to buy an i-Phone. I actually went to my local Apple Store with that very intent. Lucky for me they were out of stock.

Several of my friends own i-Phones while others own Blackberries. I was beginning to think I was missing out. However, the out-of-stock condition at Apple gave me just enough time to pause and rethink before caving into my impulse to buy the hot gadget.

First off, I hate AT&T. I did not always hate AT&T but several recent experiences made me swear never to give them my business again. Still, I almost caved and got an i-Phone anyway. Such is the power of techno-lust.

The real reason I'm glad I settled for my new phone (An LG Voyager with Verizon Service) is that it is somewhat cool but nowhere near cool enough. Why is this good, you ask?

Watch an owner of an i-Phone or a Blackberry. I often do. Watch them stroke their phone, caress their phone, slide their thumb wheel or finger their screen. It really makes you wonder what they did with their hands before these touchy-feely phones were invented.

Now, my Voyager has a touch screen and a keyboard. But neither is such a turn on that I feel the need to constantly fiddle with it. So what do I do with my phone? Well, it pretty much stays in my pocket or briefcase until I need to make a call or check my email. I also use the MP3 player.

This is great. My hands are free to do more productive things like doodle on the margins of presentations, scratch my head over some obscure code or even pick my nose when no one is looking (yeah, sure, you do it too, liar).

So think twice before plucking down 400 bucks on a device whose interface is so amazingly fluid you just want to stroke it all day. I am sure you can find more productive ways to use your hands.

I probably should not be telling you this...

... but I can't post today because I've come down with a bad case of paralipsis aggravated by symptoms of praeteritio, preterition, cataphasis, antiphrasis, not to mention parasiopesis. So I won't be posting today. I will not stop to mention that my recent posts should have enough meat to keep you busy while I rest.