The Children are our Future

I have to say this because I really feel strongly about it.

Four years after the Korea/Japan World cup had thousands upon thousands of Koreans on the streets, AT NIGHT, with their LITTLE CHILDREN upon their Dad's shoulder's, watching the most exciting games, completely safe, England decide to copy the format.

England's first game in this World Cup was against Paraguay, at 2pm, in the afternoon, and England had large screens (Just like Korea did) in city centers for the fans to watch.

Seems it failed. Some stupid "fans" decided it would be a "good idea" to throw bottles at the screens because they did not like the soccer.

This resulted in unrest and the police were forced to intervene. City center shops were forced to close their doors (in Liverpool) in fear of looting. This took place at about 3pm, in the AFTERNOON.

The screens were closed down and the decision was made to not do it again for any other World Cup matches.

Nothing even LIKE this happened at any of the big screens last time here in Korea. All kids were safe, all adults were well-behaved, and all "minor elements" were non-existent. Infact, all parties were joyous.

What Korea achieved during the last World Cup was a "United Nation".

England's attempt failed miserably because there are still some people there in England who do not belong to the social enclave, but in the caves instead, and that funnily enough, have just been discovered beneath Liverpool's sandstone bedrock...... Sorry, unintentional pun there!

I feel honoured to have lived in Korea, but am ashamed now to have even known England as a place to live in.

Long live the public giant screens of Korea!

May they teach the World a thing or two about unification.

My point being, here in Korea, Dads and Mums can take their Children out to a public place late at night, to enjoy a family event. They can even walk home in the dark streets safely. ...

Can the West claim similar?

Hailstones do NOT "reign"

Numbers are fascinating. I don't mean "sheer" numbers, I mean the properties of the integers, ie whole numbers.

Twin primes, for example. Numbers like 29 and 31, numbers separated by a difference of 2, yet are prime numbers. 11 and 13 are another example of a twin prime set. There was recently a proof that the numnber of twin primes is infinite, but only recently.

Math guys are always inventing new ways to look at numbers. Twin primes is just an example.

I started this post with the intention of looking at the "persistence" of numbers, but I think I will tell about yet another invention of the mathematicians, the "hailstone" numbers.

Actually, they are not numbers at all, just the way they behave.

They way you do it is this: Select a number, any number, say, 13. The instructions are as follows.......if your selected number is even, halve it. If it is odd, like 13, triple it and add 1. For 13, this gets us to 40. Then, continue, and in this case, we have to halve it to get 20, and then again to get 10, and so on to 5. But 5 is odd, so we triple it and add 1 to get 16. This number is even again, so we halve it, to get subsequently 8, then 4, 2 and finally 1.

....and that was just 13. It took 10 "steps" to get to 1. You can do it with any number you choose.

The question is: Do ALL numbers end in 1? The math guys still do not know the answer. Some numbers take an enormous amount of steps to get to 1. Try 4173!

The reason they are called "hailstone" numbers is that the behaviour is similar to that of hailstones in a cloud, which oscillate up and down until they become heavy enough to fall to the ground, or, in our case, 1.

No-one has ever proved or disproved that all numbers end up as 1, which puts this possibly in the "Godel-like" category (see previous post). However, it is fun to try, and it not only is applicable to the "triple and add 1" rule; you can use other rules like "multiply by five and add 3" for instance.

The results are the same. ALL numbers seem to end up as 1, but there is no proof that they are infinite, unlike the twin primes.

Who is to say that someone, somewhen, somehow, will come up with a proof.

Much like Wiles did with Fermat's Last Theorem, but that is another post!

The World Cup suddenly gets "interesting"....

We are nearing the latter stage of stage 1 in the World Cup of Football (Soccer).

It is at this point that things really start to HOT up, so to speak. For example......

If Ecuador beat Germany then England will play them in the next round if they draw with Sweden or beat them. However, if South Korea draw with Switzerland then they MAY meet Ukraine if the Ukraine beat Spain.

If South Korea beat Switzerland then they may meet Spain if Spain beat Ukraine. If the price of tomatoes on Thursday increases by $0.39 per pound by Saturday in Caracas, then global warming will not take place unless any President’s birthday falls on a Friday AND there is an R in the month of the Judaic calendar, unless OJ Simpson confesses, in which case, it will only happen when Krakatoa erupts again and there is peace in the Middle East with Albert Einstein as the next Astronaut to go to Mars on consecutive missions.

....and even then, they may lose....!

Oh Woe is ME

It may have been a remarkable turnaround for Australia and the neutrals, but not for me.

The team from the country of my birth (Ok, ok, so I am supporting three!) got beaten yesterday in a remarkable first round World Cup Soccer match. My country, Japan, scored a lucky goal early on in the first half to go 1-0 up, clearly against the run of play. Despite heavy pressure from the Roos (Socceroos, nickname they have given themselves), Japan maintained this advantage.

That is, until the 84th minute (out of 90), when we conceded a goal.

During the next eight minutes, Japan were put through the wringer and two more goals for Australia were scored. The one in the 93rd minute, however, I have to say, was an absolute cracking long range shot.

Result: Australia 3, Japan 1.

However, we are not downhearted, to use a classic English idiom. We still have to play Croatia and Brazil (gulp!). We may manage a draw against Brazil (Yeah, right!), but we MUST beat Croatia to stand any chance at all of progressing. If we do, we may not "Roo" any of this!

Well, South Korea play Togo tonight, and I will be supporting the Koreans of course.

The bottom line is, though, that Football should be the real winner, not just individual teams.

....and it was last night.

The Death Star is real ! ! !

Which image seems more familiar? The one on the left or the one on the right?

Well, we all know the Death Star, as invented by George Lucas in Star Wars in 1977, the left image, but what is the right-hand image all about?

The right-hand image is, in fact, a real photograph of one of Saturn's moons, and her name is Mimas. This moon was unknown in 1977 when Star Wars came out, and was not discovered until 1981 when the Voyager spacecraft (launched in 1977!) visited the Saturnian system.

When scientists first saw the huge crater, now named Herschel, they were quite literally astonished out of their shoes. Had George Lucas some prior knowledge? Was he, in fact, an alien himself?

This image of Mimas was taken with the Cassini craft's cameras and is the best we have. The angle by which the camera has caught Mimas is no accident.

Notice how, in the photo of Mimas, there is no "star-background", like the Death Star has. This is because the light from the "star-background" is so faint, AND out of focus, you cannot see it in the image.

Sometimes science kicks up something which almost defies description in terms of surprise and wonderment. This is just one of them, and one of the reasons why I love my physics.

The "Mys"Tori Deepens...

This is the latest sign adorning the stairwell at our local Lotteria. Since I took the last photo, the whole place has been completely refurbished and the sign updated to this!

One wonders if the Deep Dark Management caught me snickering as I took the last photo, resulting in the said alterations.

Notice how the English , ermm, "translation" is a lot shorter now. I will have to get on to a higher authority for the specifics of the actual translation (my good friend Miss Tori again).

Needless to say, life in Korea is still interesting from an etmylogical point of view! No "Mys"Tori there!