Here’s a quick update to my weekend review, with some things I learned this weekend.
- A semi-drunk stranger on the train can make you feel like crap for the rest of the weekend by saying, “You’re pretty smart. You should be doing something more than xyz.”
- Same semi-drunk stranger can be clueless when he suggests I go into politics due to my ability to use “doublespeak.”
- I need to discover a more regular sleep pattern.
- The golden ratio (Φ) is a constant (not a variable) with a value of approximately 1.61803399, and its value is neat because Φ – 1 = 1 / Φ ; and Φ + 1 = Φ2. A rectangle with the aspect ratio of Φ is the one people find most pleasing and approximates the ratio of anamorphic wide-screen film. It also appears in nature a whole lot and is tied directly into the Fibonacci (Leonardo, Filius Bonacci of Pisa) series. That’s just an overview and I’m sure some mathemticians would split (intersect?) hairs. Here’s some really detailed information.
- This doesn’t really count as something I learned this weekend. It is more something I did when I should have been sleeping. I rearranged my photograph album again. I think I’ve found a format I like, but I still need to tweak it.
- Let me go back to the “most pleasing rectangle” thing. People have actually done surveys on this, asking a wide variety of subjects to point out “the best rectangle” from a number of options. When the results are graphed, there’s a huge peak as you get close to Φ. By the way, this can all be related to music, too, but that’s another story for another day.
- Oh, almost forgot. In fact, I did forget, so I’m adding this several hours later. Georgia Tech invented (or first utilized) the forward pass. That’s football. That’s American football. And I’m not sure if this information is true, but it was the opinion of a very obstinate train passenger.
Personally, I’ve never had good experiences talking to semi-drunk strangers anywhere, doesn’t seem to have a good outcome. Not to mention a clueless semi-drunk stranger should not make you feel like crap. Next time, maybe you’ll have to be the drunk stranger talking to strangers, it’s usually more fun that way.
Semi-drunk people are not to be listened to. And just because you’re doing something that doesn’t fit into others’ perceptions of where you should be doesn’t make you wrong. Or inferior. But it’s a lot easier to know that than to actually think it.
I bet that guy was too smart to be passing out advice on a train while drunk. Although, oddly, the last drunk guy I talked to on the DART rail talked about “this thing, called the golden ratio”. I don’t think he expected the blonde chick in jeans to reply with “oh, x is to y as y is to x+y. Sure.” Heh. I have secret braininess.
Spike, where are you in school?
I answered this in email, too, but I’m getting my MBA with the University of Phoenix Online.