Word of the Week "Paragon"

My Use
 
 -Well this has quickly become one of my favorite words for it lets you take a specific entity and put it atop everything else in its category. With that it lends a hand in giving a nice complement to the topic.

Paragon- in short, paragon, is the model for excellence.


"My grandmothers cooking is and always will be a paragon of flavors waiting anxiously for my return to once again devour it."

Abacus and the Abacist- How to use an Abacus

Most people, I hope, have seen a picture of an Abacus or (more likely) someone using it (an Abacist). It, the abacus, is a "counting frame" used in parts of Asia to calculate arithmetic quantities. Here I would like to stay within the confines of elementary arithmetics, for its the main use of the abacus and its uses in theory are beyond what I have read or know. Plus, I wanted more visual aid then text and picture so we are going to make use of videos.


First lets see what an Abacus is.....

                                             (Source represented by clicking picture)

Next this video will show you what an abacus is, the difference of the soroban, and a structural overview.






This next video will give you a little more historical background and it will get into how to read and use it.



This next video is simply a fun visualization of someone who has mastered the abacus.  (to anyone that has been in awe at a rubix cube master has certainly in need of seeing someone who is a abacus master)



Link to Speed Abacus

Are the Black Bits in Bananas Tarantula Eggs?

Comedic film can be misleading at times. The show "The Mighty Boosh" featured two characters, Vince Noir and Howard Moon,working at a zoo -- while having some very funny, irregular adventures.


Vince Noir: Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard... Howard?

Howard Moon: This better be good.

Vince Noir:  You know the black bits in bananas, are they tarantulas' eggs?

Howard Moon: Please don't speak to me ever again in your life.

Now, if your still curious to the answer, its no.

Also, the "bits" are the banana's seeds rather than an egg of an arachnid. 

Come check out the new site!

Word of the Week "Lethologica"

Everyone, at least to my knowledge, has felt the sensation of having a word on the tip of their tongue and against all attempts cannot remember it. This state of being is referred to as; Lethologica.

Now you have another word that you can forgot in the instant you cannot remember another.

                                              "Source represented by clicking picture"


I must add here something I learned by a linguist who I more than admire, Michel Thomas. (If you happen to be wanting to learn a new language I strongly encourage to to check his audio series out.) I later put it into my own words and kept it in my own life.

What you know is stored in memory and is knowledge; As such, there is no reason to worry about forgetting.

The Drake Equation

The Drake Equation's premise is to calculate the possibility of extraterrestrials in our galaxy (the Milky Way). Founded by our dear Dr. Donald Drake he uses the following formula to derive the probabilities. It cannot be exact, however, to us as humans it may be the best or one of the best plausible derivatives   we can come up with (when speaking of potential civilized extraterrestrials),

                                             (source link represented by clicking picture)

N = Civilizations within our galaxy that we may be able to communicate with

 

R* = Star formations rate

 

f_p = The fraction of R*'s stars that have planets.

 

n_e = Average number of planets that could support life according to each star that has planets.

 

f_l = Fraction of the above that has the possibility to support life.

 

f_i = Fraction of the above that can create intelligent life 

 

f_c = Fraction of the above that are technically advanced enough for us to find evidence of them in space. (radio waves etc......) 

 

L = Length of time to detect the above technology from the planet.

400 billion x  1/4 x 2 x 1/2 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/ 100 million = about 10 civilizations we can communicate with.

(The math above represents that civilizations with technology are only lasting a few decades. Below is another representation if civilized worlds where to be able to prosper millions of years.) 400 billion x 1/4 x 2 x 1/2 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/ 100 = about a million civilizations we can communicate with.