Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[mulhuzz]

5.387 billion cans sold in 2013 of Red Bull.

5,387,000,000.

Most of them to me.

[Dino]

Just to keep you occupied for a few minutes,British Pathe' have upload 85000 films to their youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/britishpathe

[Karabiner]

5.387 billion cans sold in 2013 of Red Bull.

5,387,000,000.

I might be one of a rare breed that has never drank a can of Red Bull nor eaten in Nando's.

[ruud]

One of the newsreaders on the TV news channel in Family Guy (Quahog 5 News) was replaced a couple of years ago by a younger model. Joyce Kinney used to go to the same High School as Lois (Peter's wife) but we learn that Kinney is a stage name. Her real surname is Chevapravatdumrong.

I love those little nods; the in-jokes. The adult comedies like Family Guy and The Simpsons are absolute masters at them (although I'd argue the latter is the absolute Daddy). The Simpsons is full of maths jokes, some obvious and some far less so. This is because the senior writers are almost exclusively very talented mathematicians (postgraduate qualifications at Ivy League colleges). There's an episode where Apu is being cross examined by the terrible lawyer Lionel Hutz. Hutz questions Apu's memory. The episode was written by two of the junior writers (non-mathematicians) and Apu's original response was that he was well known for his memory and that, in fact, he had appeared in four hundred films in India relating to how good his memory is.

When the script reached the senior writers, they saw an opening for a maths joke. Instead of the movies, Apu would respond that he can recall pi to four thousand digits. This was, at that time, the record. (Pi is, for those who are less geeky, a number that is the link between the diameter of a circle and its circumference. It starts 3.141592...and never stops.)

Apu then delivers the brilliant line: the last digit is one.

He's right, of course.

Ali G tried to understand what "infinity" means. That works for me, because I can understand it.

"....but what number is infinity + 1?......"

Infinity is something that fascinates me. I'm definitely one who prefers numbers over statistics; it's the beauty of maths which butters my mathematical parsnips.

Last year, I read The Infinite Book, by John D. Barrow. It's a corking read, full of oddities and theories about this unfathomable concept of something too big to count.

Take the Infinity Hotel. It's a hotel with an infinite number of rooms. So, if you arrive and ask for any number you can think of, you can have the keys to that room with pleasure.

One day, a bus arrives and an infinite number of guests pile out, each wanting a room.

"No problem. We have a room for each of you."

Her Majesty the queen pops in. "Would one be able to stay this evening?'

"Certainly, Ma'am. Room one." We hurriedly move the occupant of room one to room two, two to three, three to four and everyone else up one, too. Done.

The next minute, another bus arrives and an infinite number of new guests turn up. We already have an infinite number of guests in an infinite number of rooms. Now what?

Well, we ask the occupant of room one to move to room two, room two to move to room four, room three to room six, four to eight, five to ten and so on. For any number you can think of, you just send them to the room with the number twice as large. This leaves a room for each new guest (all the odd numbers - and there's an infinite number of odd numbers). Problem solved. Phew!

Due to "restructuring", the Infinity Hotel's sister hotels (you guessed it, an infinite number of them, each with an infinite number of guests) all have to close. Now what?!

Assign each hotel with a prime number (that's a number which can only be divided by itself or one). Then, your current guests can stay in all the rooms 2/4/8/16/32/64 and so on, the next hotel's guests 3/9/27/81, the next 5/25/125/625 and you can keep going because there are an infinite number of primes. Her Majesty can stay in room one, too!

This was the work of a German mathematician called David Hilbert

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hilbert

One of his students committed suicide after failing to solve a problem that had driven him mad. Hilbert was asked by the family to speak at the funeral. He did so, explaining where the student had gone wrong.

As a maths teacher, I love it when non teachers show this kind of enthusiasm for any topic, but in particular numbers. This is beautifully written Tal that I wonder if you'd mind me lifting it, word for word, and sharing with some students? It's such a lovely way of explaining such a wonderful concept.

TIA

Ruud

[arbboy]

You are not missing much Ralf.

[Tal]

No problem, ruud.

[RED-DOG]

5.387 billion cans sold in 2013 of Red Bull.

5,387,000,000.

I might be one of a rare breed that has never drank a can of Red Bull nor eaten in Nando's.

I think you've made up for it in other ways Ralph.

[ruud]

No problem, ruud.

Thanks mate

[Doobs]

My 6 year old daughter gets infinity or as much as she needs to.

I explained to her how if you multiplied anything by infinity you got infinity.

She came back instantaneously with what is zero x infinity.  Think I have tough times ahead.

Ask me about Simpson's chess.

[redarmi]

5.387 billion cans sold in 2013 of Red Bull.

5,387,000,000.

I might be one of a rare breed that has never drank a can of Red Bull nor eaten in Nando's.

I have done both thee things once Ralph.  You have the better end of the deal.

[Tal]

No problem, ruud.

Thanks mate

For the ones who smugly get all of this, tell them the Intergalactic CEO approaches you to congratulate you on your brilliance in getting everyone in. He then looks at the room plan and his face changes.

"There are empty rooms! Who's in room six? No one!"

He counts them and realises there are an infinite number of empty rooms. He starts screaming and balling at you for adopting such a terrible business model.

You think on your feet.

Devise a table. On the top, you put the number of guests. On the left hand side, you put the number of hotels (remember they came in groups of full hotels). You can then number each cell with a matrix (1,1), (1,2) and so on. Assign each one a room number (1,1) is room 2 (HRH keeps room one), (1,2) room three, (2,1) room four,(2,2) room five and work from there.

Suddenly, every room is full.

The boss is pleased.

[I KNOW IT]

I got the NHS and army ones, and kind of gave up after that.

Just googled Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd as I had never heard of them.  I had heard of ipod factories, but some of these numbers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

Foxconn's largest factory worldwide is in Longhua, Shenzhen, where hundreds of thousands of workers (varying counts include 230,000,[19] 300,000,[21] and 450,000[22]) are employed at the Longhua Science & Technology Park, a walled campus[8] sometimes referred to as "Foxconn City"[23] or "iPod City".[24] Covering about 1.16 square miles (3 square km),[25] it includes 15 factories,[23] worker dormitories, a swimming pool,[26] a fire brigade,[8] its own television network (Foxconn TV),[8] and a city centre with a grocery store, bank, restaurants, bookstore, and hospital...   a quarter of the employees live in the dormitories, and many of them work up to 12 hours a day for 6 days each week

Now THAT is a big complex! It's Taiwan though, not Korean as I suggested.

Even if we take the middle estimate, three hundred thousand folks work there.

That's almost as big as infinity. Until that "World's Biggest Employers" thing a few weeks ago, I'd never heard of Hon Hai Precision Industries or Foxconn.

Seemingly, 40% of ALL consumer products in the world are assembled by Foxconn, & so the likelihood is that we have their goods in our homes.  

These products include iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Blackberry, as well as a large range of children's toys, such as X-Box & Playstation.

What a thing google, Wiki & the internet is. As a child, it would have taken me months to research all that utterly fascinating stuff. Don't worry if you want to laugh at me for finding such stuff of interest, I even find it funny myself. 

Its actually China and about 45 minutes drive from where I live. Shenzhen is a great place and possibly the counterfeit capital of the world.
By ferry , its 45 minutes to Hong Kong and 1 hour to Macau.

[tikay]

I got the NHS and army ones, and kind of gave up after that.

Just googled Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd as I had never heard of them.  I had heard of ipod factories, but some of these numbers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

Foxconn's largest factory worldwide is in Longhua, Shenzhen, where hundreds of thousands of workers (varying counts include 230,000,[19] 300,000,[21] and 450,000[22]) are employed at the Longhua Science & Technology Park, a walled campus[8] sometimes referred to as "Foxconn City"[23] or "iPod City".[24] Covering about 1.16 square miles (3 square km),[25] it includes 15 factories,[23] worker dormitories, a swimming pool,[26] a fire brigade,[8] its own television network (Foxconn TV),[8] and a city centre with a grocery store, bank, restaurants, bookstore, and hospital...   a quarter of the employees live in the dormitories, and many of them work up to 12 hours a day for 6 days each week

Now THAT is a big complex! It's Taiwan though, not Korean as I suggested.

Even if we take the middle estimate, three hundred thousand folks work there.

That's almost as big as infinity. Until that "World's Biggest Employers" thing a few weeks ago, I'd never heard of Hon Hai Precision Industries or Foxconn.

Seemingly, 40% of ALL consumer products in the world are assembled by Foxconn, & so the likelihood is that we have their goods in our homes. 

These products include iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Blackberry, as well as a large range of children's toys, such as X-Box & Playstation.

What a thing google, Wiki & the internet is. As a child, it would have taken me months to research all that utterly fascinating stuff. Don't worry if you want to laugh at me for finding such stuff of interest, I even find it funny myself. 

Its actually China and about 45 minutes drive from where I live. Shenzhen is a great place and possibly the counterfeit capital of the world.
By ferry , its 45 minutes to Hong Kong and 1 hour to Macau.

China, Taiwan, South Korea, North Korea, they are all the same to me Craig.....

Anyway, how are things with you at the mo, all going well?

Where you working/living, what you up to?

[I KNOW IT]

I got the NHS and army ones, and kind of gave up after that.

Just googled Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd as I had never heard of them.  I had heard of ipod factories, but some of these numbers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

Foxconn's largest factory worldwide is in Longhua, Shenzhen, where hundreds of thousands of workers (varying counts include 230,000,[19] 300,000,[21] and 450,000[22]) are employed at the Longhua Science & Technology Park, a walled campus[8] sometimes referred to as "Foxconn City"[23] or "iPod City".[24] Covering about 1.16 square miles (3 square km),[25] it includes 15 factories,[23] worker dormitories, a swimming pool,[26] a fire brigade,[8] its own television network (Foxconn TV),[8] and a city centre with a grocery store, bank, restaurants, bookstore, and hospital...   a quarter of the employees live in the dormitories, and many of them work up to 12 hours a day for 6 days each week

Now THAT is a big complex! It's Taiwan though, not Korean as I suggested.

Even if we take the middle estimate, three hundred thousand folks work there.

That's almost as big as infinity. Until that "World's Biggest Employers" thing a few weeks ago, I'd never heard of Hon Hai Precision Industries or Foxconn.

Seemingly, 40% of ALL consumer products in the world are assembled by Foxconn, & so the likelihood is that we have their goods in our homes. 

These products include iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Blackberry, as well as a large range of children's toys, such as X-Box & Playstation.

What a thing google, Wiki & the internet is. As a child, it would have taken me months to research all that utterly fascinating stuff. Don't worry if you want to laugh at me for finding such stuff of interest, I even find it funny myself. 

Its actually China and about 45 minutes drive from where I live. Shenzhen is a great place and possibly the counterfeit capital of the world.
By ferry , its 45 minutes to Hong Kong and 1 hour to Macau.

China, Taiwan, South Korea, North Korea, they are all the same to me Craig.....

Anyway, how are things with you at the mo, all going well?

Where you working/living, what you up to?

All good Tony thank you. Im currently in Thailand for a friends 50th birthday and playing golf 

I live in Shenzhen , China now and manage a western sports bar. Having a good time and China is certainly different to peoples perceptions.

If you ever get the chance you must visit

Hope you are well

[I KNOW IT]

Click to see full-size image.

I noticed you mentioned the Rolling Stones recently in your diary, I met them backstage at the recent concert in Macau. These guys are legends !

Do you recognise the guy  in the group photo on the far left next to Ronnie?