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May 26, 2005

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Quasicrystals in Medieval Islamic Art

Some 500 years before the first quasicrystalline shapes were described by mathematician Roger Penrose, Islamic artists developed tiles that can be combined into the world's first man-made quasicrystals. Penrose described the mathematical formulae for quasicrystals for the first time in 1974. Also called the "Penrose tiles", quasicrystals are geometrical patterns that have the wonderful property that if you extend them to infinity in any direction, they will never repeat themselves! Since this form of math was described, many quasicrystals where discovered in nature such as the arrangement of atoms and molecules in certain solids and liquids, that accounts for their unusual resistive and elastic properties. Here is a typical example of a Penrose tiling pattern: Today, quasicrystals are established math. The development of such math helped us better understand many natural phenomena, as well as develop better technology whether relating to materials, alloys, or electronics....

On Decency and Morality

Ideas are best expressed in stories. Today I'll tell you a couple of stories out of my own experience, carefully selected in the hope of getting my idea across. 1) During her last year at work before retirement, my mother used to get her purse stolen way too often. You wouldn't expect pick-pocketing to be a major problem in a country as religious as Jordan (where she used to live), but for her at least it was. The last time she got mugged was actually pretty funny. She had left her purse on her desk at the office and stepped out for a second to get something done. When she got back the purse was gone. Of course she got very upset and blamed herself for not being prudent enough. She told me the story over the phone and I could tell how upset she was. It wasn't about the money as much as the hassle of having to go through the hoops to get all the IDs canceled and reissued. The next day, the purse mysteriously reappeared on her desk. All the money was gone, but her IDs and car...

On Limited Minds

I often get the argument "this is outside the limits of our mind" thrown at me in some form or another, usually towards the end of a debate about something spiritual or philosophical, like your garden variety "where did we come from?", "how did it all start?", "where does the universe end", or "what are the smallest particles" discussions. I like to call that one the nuclear argument, because it does to debates what nuclear bombs do to wars: forcefully draw them to the wrong conclusion. The nuclear argument is typically launched as a hail-Mary move to end a discussion when it gets too chilly outdoors or after having one drink too many gets people in the mood for dancing rather than debating, or otherwise when the discussion starts to seriously challenge the people's fundamental premises that are presumed to be solid but are often way more shaky than they care to admit This here is my humble attempt at disarming the nuclear argumen...

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