Workout notes: am: easy but deliberate 4 mile walk (across the bridge). PM: about 30 minutes with weight machines, dumbbells, planks. This was to “keep the motion”, so to speak.
Today: I attended the 3 hour Math and Sports session and really enjoyed it. Oh yes, I talked too (about NBA free throw shooting streaks).
Later, I made the final talk of the day: it was about recreational math (which has some serious, non-trivial problems and fun interpretations.
Here are some photos and my comments:
Yes, I often buy a book that I’ll end up not having time enough to read.
I do find good food.
Recreational mathematics: how quickly can puzzles be solved?
Yes, the solution is NP complete. My mom bought me one of these.
Yes, checkers IS completely solved..as of recently.
A list of some of the stuff the speaker covered. The art made from straight strings was fascinating.
Sports and math: talk 1. I am intently listening.
Is there a way of seeding a tournament so that no higher seeded team would want to swap places with a lower seeded one?
Ice skating and the mathematics of solving the associated physics problem
Some baseball strategy. Yes, the “new school” works better than the “old school.”
How does one rank teams, especially if there is a tie in record and you have round robin results such as: Illinois 55, Minnesota 31, Minnesota 41, Purdue 10, then Purdue 46, Illinois 7? (yes, this happened in 2018).
So did this: Minnesota 37 Wisconsin 15, Wisconsin 49, Illinois 20 and, well, we’ve been through that.
One method: introduce a new node “oracle” and use eigenvectors of the adjacency matrix of the associated directed graph.
This was my audience for talk no. 3 of the session. I enjoyed myself.
Monday: weights only; usual; highlights: 3 x 185 on the bench, 10 x 135, 10 x 165 decline; 188 body weight. Usual other stuff; 4 sets of goblet squats (2 with 50), leg press.
Tuesday: took my Hostage to the dentist; ran this 5.3 mile course beforehand. 11 minute first mile; averaged 10:20 for the 5.33; was 42:08 at the 4.13. This pace was WORK, I am sorry to say.
Wednesday: 3 mile walk after weights: usual; pull ups were easy; incline: 10 x 135, 3 x 155, decline: 10 x 165, military 7 x 50 standing, 15 x 50 seated (supported), 10 x 40 standing. goblet: 6 x 25, 6 x 45, 6 x 50, then leg presses. Did my usual plank too.
Weight: 187. Note: throat not quite 100 percent; juice last night stung it a bit. Regular food doesn’t hurt it though.
I admit that I some things about higher ed perplex me. I teach mathematics, and my professional thoughts are pretty much: “make sure I know the stuff and then attempt to convey it to students in the most coherent way possible. No one asks me to lie or to brainwash. It is true that I often simplify (e. g., in calculus, I do not discuss derivatives as a map from “tangent bundles”) and sometimes I do wave my hands a bit, though often I try to point out that we are using an assumption and, if possible, explain what could happen without the assumption.
But when it comes to social issues….oh boy. I am glad that I am in a STEM area.
Workout notes weights only: rotator cuff, goblet squats: sets of 6 with 25, 25, 50, 50, then 10 leg presses with 230
upper body: pull ups (5 sets of 10..good), bench: 10 x 135, 7 x 165, incline: 3 x 155, decline: 10 x 155, military: 10 x 50 standing, 10 x 45 standing, 15 x 40 standing, rows: 3 sets of 10 x 110 machine, planks, knee stretches.
Weight: 187. the “sore throat” diet is working..I appear to be better.
Workout: W. Peoria: 2.3 to the Track, the 5 laps of “on/off” (all on for last 1.1 laps) in 27:43. Not my best but I was a bit tired going in.
Then weights: pull ups (5 sets of 10), rotator cuff, incline 10 x 135, decline 10 x 165, military: 7 x 50 standing, 15 x 50 seated supported, 10 x 40 standing, rows: 3 sets of 10 x 50 single arm, goblet squats: 6 x 30, 50, 50, leg press: 10 x 230. plank, side plank, head stand, knee stretches.
I was still a bit fatigued. Weight: 188-189 (hard to tell).
throat; somewhat sore; we’ll see if it is reflux or not.
Here is my take: I believe in hiring faculty that will be good instructors (at a non-R1 place like ours especially) and good scholars. I want them to teach the students: get them to learn the material and “learn how to learn” the material..and hopefully to get fired up about learning more. And of course, part of the job is to treat students and colleagues with respect.
But I do not expect professors to be any more, well, full of virtue, than anyone else in the public. In my opinion, we are not especially qualified to instill values beyond the values expected of a scholar (be honest, be complete, be intellectually honest). We aren’t qualified to try to make them “allies” in one social cause or another.
Of course, if the students wish to pursue that on an extra-curricular basis, great. And of course, faculty can mentor student clubs, be they young Democrats, young Conservatives, etc.
At times, I think that college faculty overstep their bounds.
Mueller hearing I am about midway through Vol. I of the Mueller Report. Should the Democrats attempt impeachment?
Well, the Senate will acquit with a probability of close to 1.0. So, is there some value to the House impeaching? Well, are there even enough Democrat votes there? I am not deliberately deferring to this site, but check out the poll numbers.
Here is my take: I trust Nancy Pelosi on this one. No, she isn’t perfect BUT she has great political instincts and knows how to count votes, so I’ll back her decision in much the way I’d back up a winning football coach. I’ll defer to her judgment, either way.
Dang it ..sore throat but the doctor says that it does NOT look infected..could have been acid reflux or drainage (possibly both). Time to let it calm down.
Workouts: going ok: yesterday weights: pull ups (5 sets of 10, 1 of 5), bench; 10 x 135, 3 x 185, incline: 10 x 135, decline 10 x 165, military: 7 x 50 standing, 15 x 50 seated, supported, 10 x 40 standing, rows: one arm 3 sets of 10 x 50, goblet squats: 6 x 30, 6 x 50, 6 x 50, 6 x 60, leg presses: 10 x 230, plank, side plank, head stand, knee stretches
today: yoga, then 8.83 miles very slowly (1:48) not much of an effort; a pleasant day to be out there; wound around the Gateway, goose loop, Mausoleum hill, prospect hill, no goose loop on the way back, no Gateway.
Sore throat; no infection (came on maybe Saturday?) Reflux or drainage.
And I am thinking harder about my upcoming talk; I think that I have the math down. Next comes the slides.
Workout notes: weights only: pull ups, (5 sets of 10), bench press: 10 x 135, 3 x 185, incline: 10 x 135, decline: 10 x 165, military: 2 sets of 15 x 50 seated, supported, 10 x 40 standing, rows: 3 sets of 10 x 50 single arm, usual pt, plank, goblet squats: 6 x 30, 50, 50, leg press: 10 x 230, knee stretches. Weight: 190 (up?)
First: my workout was a 5 mile walk (W. Peoria) in the heat of late morning; the stride felt fine.
Then weights: rotator cuff, pull ups (5 sets of 10: good), military: 2 sets of 15 x 50 seated, supported, 10 x 40 standing, rows: 3 sets of 10 x 50 single arm. Incline: 10 x 135 (tough), 7 x 160 decline, goblet squats: sets of 6 with 40, 50, 50, planks, knee stretches.
I honestly think my glutes are firming up.
Topics
Yeah, the Trump tweets ticked me off…you don’t tell US citizens to go elsewhere. I didn’t tell anti-Obama people that when they belly ached and complained.
If there is one thing that burns me about conservatives is that they are very sanctimonious and feel that THEY have some inherit right to say what is American and what isn’t ..as if they were umpires. They are NOT, and Leonard Pitts says it very well:
“You, like them, take for granted that America is your house, a white house where you make the rules, you set the standards and the rest of us live only by your sufferance. That’s the assumption embedded in your tweets: that you have the right to tell the rest of us to — apologies to the Beatles — “get back to you where you once belonged.””
Yes, conservatives, it is your country, AND mine, and yes, theirs too.
But there is really no “shaming them”..no amount of outrage that will work.
The plot: a farmer had some terrible luck and made an oath that he’d sell his soul to the Devil…and well, the Devil came up and took him up on it. Things got better…then the Devil came to collect. The farmer, Jabez Stone, panicked and sought out Daniel Webster’s help. So they set up a trial with..well, Webster demanded a jury of Americans, current or past, and that he got:
If Jabez Stone had been sick with terror before, he was blind with terror now. For there was Walter Butler, the loyalist, who spread fire and horror through the Mohawk Valley in the times of the Revolution; and there was Simon Girty, the renegade, who saw white men burned at the stake and whooped with the Indians to see them burn. His eyes were green, like a catamount’s, and the stains on his hunting shirt did not come from the blood of the deer. King Philip was there, wild and proud as he had been in life, with the great gash in his head that gave him his death wound, and cruel Governor Dale, who broke men on the wheel. There was Morton of Merry Mount, who so vexed the Plymouth Colony, with his flushed, loose, handsome face and his hate of the godly. There was Teach, the bloody pirate, with his black beard curling on his breast. The Reverend John Smeet, with his strangler’s hands and his Geneva gown, walked as daintily as he had to the gallows. The red print of the rope was still around his neck, but he carried a perfumed handkerchief in one hand. One and all, they came into the room with the fires of hell still upon them, and the stranger named their names and their deeds as they came, till the tale of twelve was told. Yet the stranger had told the truth—they had all played a part in America.
And these jurors fed off of fury, outrage and hate. They more they saw, the more demon-like the got..the hotter their eyes glowed.
It got to Dan’l in the end, and he began to heat, like iron in the forge. When he got up to speak he was going to flay that stranger with every trick known to the law, and the judge and jury too. He didn’t care if it was contempt of court or what would happen to him for it. He didn’t care any more what happened to Jabez Stone. He just got madder and madder, thinking of what he’d say. And yet, curiously enough, the more he thought about it, the less he was able to arrange his speech in his mind. Till, finally, it was time for him to get up on his feet, and he did so, all ready to bust out with lightnings and denunciations. But before he started he looked over the judge and jury for a moment, such being his custom. And he noticed the glitter in their eyes was twice as strong as before, and they all leaned forward. Like hounds just before they get the fox, they looked, and the blue mist of evil in the room thickened as he watched them. Then he saw what he’d been about to do, and he wiped his forehead, as a man might who’s just escaped falling into a pit in the dark.
For it was him they’d come for, not only Jabez Stone. He read it in the glitter of their eyes and in the way the stranger hid his mouth with one hand. And if he fought them with their own weapons, he’d fall into their power; he knew that, though he couldn’t have told you how. It was his own anger and horror that burned in their eyes; and he’d have to wipe that out or the case was lost. He stood there for a moment, his black eyes burning like anthracite. And then he began to speak.
So, he had to find a different way to talk to them..to make them..more …human. And so..he did:
He started off in a low voice, though you could hear every word. They say he could call on the harps of the blessed when he chose. And this was just as simple and easy as a man could talk. But he didn’t start out by condemning or reviling. He was talking about the things that make a country a country, and a man a man.
And he began with the simple things that everybody’s known and felt—the freshness of a fine morning when you’re young, and the taste of food when you’re hungry, and the new day that’s every day when you’re a child. He took them up and he turned them in his hands. They were good things for any man. But without freedom, they sickened. And when he talked of those enslaved, and the sorrows of slavery, his voice got like a big bell. He talked of the early days of America and the men who had made those days. It wasn’t a spread-eagle speech, but he made you see it.
He admitted all the wrong that had ever been done. But he showed how, out of the wrong and the right, the suffering and the starvations, something new had come.
And everybody had played a part in it, even the traitors.
And yes, he ended up winning the case, but paying a price. But that is the point: outrage will NOT move the Trump supporters, but perhaps the right approach might flip a FEW of them, in the key states..just enough to win the Electoral College. Blowing out Trump in California, New York and Illinois won’t really help.
Workout notes: yeah, I lifted first: rotator cuff, pull ups (15-15-10-10), bench: 10 x 135, 1 x 185, 1 x 190, 10 x 160, military: 7 x 50 standing, 10 x 45, 15 x 40, 3 sets of 10 x 110 rows, goblet squats: 6 x 30, 6 x 50, leg press: 10 x 210, plank, side plank.
Then 3 miles of walking: 1.5 each way to Dozer.
Last night: a long game, that was 6-3 Loons after 2; the Loons got 4 home runs in the first 4 innings. Still, it was only 8-6 in the 8’th as the Chiefs fought back (catcher got 5 hits by himself) but then the Loons added one in the 9’th. Chiefs rallied at had runners on base when it ended; 9-8 final in a slug-fest. Trouble: there was a 3 inning stretch where the Chiefs stranded 2, 3 and 2 runners.
Today: “splash day” game and a 3-1 loss. It was 1-1 when the Loons got 2 in the 8’th and that was the difference. The pitching was excellent for the first 7 innings though.
Note: a storm was headed in and struck just after the game.
This rally couldn’t quite give the Chiefs the lead.
If you blow up this photo, you can see dozens of birds, circling overhead (they are black dots)
Workout notes Weights only: rotator cuff, pull ups 15-15-10-10, then 10 after bench presses. Bench: 10 x 135, 3 x 185, incline: 10 x 135, decline 10 x 160 military: 7 x 50 standing, 10 x 45, 15 x 40, 3 sets of 10 x 110 rows, plank, side plank (with mirror) head stand, knee stretches. Relaxed pace; 5K tomorrow. Weight: 187 before.
Chiefs It was a rough first inning; I got there with 2 on and no out (single, walk)..and wild pitch got them to second and third, and a single drove both in. So for the first inning, it was 3 hits, a walk, and 2 runs for the Lugnuts. But after that came 6 excellent innings: only one more hit and a total of 10 strike outs, and no more runs.
The Chiefs got a solo home run to cut it 2-1.
It was 2-1 going into the top of the 9’th with an out but an error on a ground ball in the infield gave the Lugnuts a runner that was to score. So it was 3-1 going into the bottom of the 9’th.
The Chiefs still got 2 runners on base with 1 out (second and third) and a fielder’s choice scored a run but it was 2 outs. And a strike out ended it.
Still, this was a much better performance by the Chiefs than the night before; the pitching was pretty good.
We had one of those “gag” days; high 70’s with 93-94 percent humidity at 5:30 am. So, my walk was 5 miles (Cornstalk hill) taken very slowly. Then weights: rotator cuff
pull ups: 5 good sets of 10, 1 of 5 at the end, military: 10 x 50, 10 x 45, 10 x 40 all standing, rows: 3 sets of 10 x 110 machine< incline: 7 x 135 (lazy), decline: 7 x 165 (lazy), goblet squats: 6 x 30, 6 x 50, 6 x 60, planks, head stand, etc. Weight: 187.
Life of an old goat 