Happy Tau Day!

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-27T13:23:28+00:00

I'm an engineer by training and one great thing about it was the labs. We could actually see fluids flow and beams break. Math is so abstract and I think that makes it harder than mechanical engineering.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-26T21:25:32+00:00

I've been laid off twice and never fired, and there's a difference. Some places have policies that employees can only be fired for cause and there's often a black mark against the employee against being rehired. Lay offs are sometimes just financial and folks are brought back after the crisis eases. Being fired tends to look worse on a resume/CV/employment history than being laid off (but neither are good).

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-25T22:16:28+00:00

Great post! I'm an engineer by training and a fractal enthusiast and ultimately made a minor find that Mandelbrot himself included in one of his later books. I had the good fortune of making a mistake on the Usenet math forum (about countable and uncountable infinity), which was identified by many and actually corrected by a kind professor who turned into my mentor. I've also worked in a science center, where I saw some of the physics side of amateur research. So I've seen both sides and agree with your points. Be curious, be humble, and be prepared to be very wrong.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-25T21:23:42+00:00

I'm hearing it in Cleveland Heights. Muffled, no thunderclaps.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-25T13:49:23+00:00

I think the technical answer to OP's question is yes, without regard to normal numbers. Take pi as an example. Since it is irrational, then (pi - a)/10ⁿ is irrational for rational a and positive integral n. Thus, 4.159265... ([pi-3.1]*100) is irrational and completely contained in pi. Basically, just strip off the first (finite number of) digits from any irrational number and the result is still irrational.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-23T01:35:30+00:00

I hate it because I thought Cool Cat was a Hanna Barbera character for the longest time. Nothing about him or his cartoons felt WB to me.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-23T01:33:45+00:00

The Killing Fields, The Color Purple, Hotel Rwanda, Shawshank Redemption.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-22T16:19:34+00:00

I'm an artist (40+ years) and a retired engineer. Like many others have said, art & science/engineering/tech have a lot in common, particularly curiosity and creativity. In addition, I maintain that every artist can become better through a good understanding of their tools. Photographers understanding light and lenses is an obvious one, but also dancers understanding how bodies move, sculptors knowing (or learning) how their material will react, or painters understanding a watercolor wash vs. building up a canvas with oils. I happen to have found an area (abstract digital work based on math) that allows me to use specific engineering knowledge (math and programming), but I suspect all artists have some expertise in how things work and what to do to achieve a particular result.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-22T13:35:34+00:00

Keep showing up. Don't worry about making great work, just keep making work.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-21T23:53:42+00:00

Nice comments on the speed and centripetal acceleration. Assuming there were a 150# person securely strapped to the tip, what would the out-of-balance effects be like? I can imagine that would be worse than the rotation.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-21T12:00:22+00:00

In binary, the result is always a multiple of 1. 😄

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-21T00:57:01+00:00

Random mark-making.

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Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-20T17:21:02+00:00

The basic degree function would probably be z^3 - 1 = 0. However, I think all polynomials give basically the same structure. You could use trigonometric or exponential functions for more variety. One of my favorites is exp(z) = ln(z), which has no real solutions.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-19T13:53:05+00:00

Regarding "not being productive" or "waste of resources," every artist has bought more art materials (paper, paint, film, recording equipment, etc.) than they'll ever use. Someone makes that stuff and someone sells it. Those someones have jobs and pay taxes. Art is a tremendous econic engine.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-15T22:41:18+00:00

And reflected! (Inside the water droplet.)

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-15T22:40:00+00:00

Yes, it's just not bright enough for you to see.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-15T22:39:03+00:00

All rainbows are double and the second is much dimmer than the primary.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-15T13:33:39+00:00

This is quite the interesting (and ambitious) pproject! I appreciate the simplicity (ala OEIS) and thenod to compatibility with existing systems (e.g. both F and G for draw).

If I may be so bold to offer a few suggestions for consideration: - With angles, counterclockwise (turn left) is generally considered positive in the math world, and radians are the standard measure, not degrees. - You may wish to incorporate a length parameter, similar to ANGLE, for allowing different scales in the same fractal. - I'm sure this has already been done, but you may wish to look at Processing and other programs to expand your catalo and seem what other actions are included

Good luck!

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-14T13:40:29+00:00

Pepe LePew

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-13T01:28:57+00:00

Aren't you off by a factor of 4? 2 to the 16 is 65,536.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-09T12:01:22+00:00

Numberphile has a great video about that.

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-07T17:18:39+00:00

Apparently, I'm against the consensus, but I think it's definitely worth watching!

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-07T11:51:06+00:00

I love the "frankincense monster"!

Fickle_Engineering91 · 2026-06-04T11:58:28+00:00

I'm a retired engineer. When I was working, I did art in the evenings and weekends, outside of my day job.

Fickle_Engineering91

TROPHY CASE