Easter, by the numbers

Jay Ryan from Classical Astronomy gives a good overview of why we celebrate Easter when we do.   You'll learn such intricacies as:

[...] every 19 years, the Moon's phases will recur on the same dates of the solar year.  This 19 year "luni-solar" cycle was the basis for the calendar used in Babylon. In the west, its discovery is attributed to the Greek philosopher Meton, who may have learned it from the Babylonians. The 19 year cycle was generally well known and understood in antiquity, and was apparently used by the Persian rulers of Babylon after the restoration of Israel.

Full article...

Now you see it...

From the project's page:

"We propose a method for removing marked dynamic objects from videos captured with a free-moving camera, so long as the objects occlude parts of the scene with a static background."

In other words, they can delete people or other moving objects from videos, even if the objects momentarily block other (even moving) objects in the background.   Have video evidence of your existence?  Too bad: you have been erased.  Demo:

Close enough

I ran across an interesting tidbit that I missed during my years in school.   Apparently 0.9̅ = 1.  (If you can't see the special character, the 0.9 is repeating, meaning 0.9999999...)  I initially didn't believe it either, since I, too, thought of this number as something approaching the limit of 1.    It turns out that you have to think harder about the nature of infinity in order to get your definitions right.   What helped me is this:  how small is the difference between 0.9̅ and 1?  It's infinitely small, or 0.

From Wikipedia:

"The equality 0.999... = 1 has long been accepted by mathematicians and is part of general mathematical education. Nonetheless, some students find it sufficiently counterintuitive that they question or reject it, commonly enough that the difficulty of convincing them of the validity of this identity has been the subject of several studies in mathematics education."

Link to article...

Also, the best part:

"Q: How many mathematicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"
"A: 0.999999...."

Q193: Proof of belief

"Faith is the essence of what we do: when we believe in something, we act on it."

— Nick Begich

Q192: We understand each other

"It is wrong to claim that nations and human beings come to blows because they do not understand [one another].   They come to blows because they understand."

— Romain Gary 

(Note:  I don't speak French, so this translation might not be the best, and yes, I'm aware of the pun.)

For certain values of real...

Here's something that may bother you for a while afterward.   First, watch the video below.   It purports to be a video of a UFO sighting over California.    Decide whether you think the UFO is real or an obvious fake.  Once you are sure of your opinion, click here to learn the surprising truth about the video.

[Heads-up for those with kids around:  there is 90% of a profanity in the person's reaction at the end of the video.]

What your modem was doing.

Ever wonder what your modem was doing while it was connecting (assuming you are old enough to remember using a modem).   Here's a breakdown of what all that noise was about.    Reading through this, I can even remember what each part sounded like.

(click image to enlarge)

ht:Steve Gibson

Q191: The Scales of War

"Since it is God that turns the scales of war, there is great uncertainty in the issue of battles."

— Flavius Josephus, reporting Antipater's advice to his son Herod

~ · ~

"Kings do not use to requite men for those kindnesses which they received when they were private persons, the height of their fortune making usually no small changes in them."

— Josephus

~ · ~

"With whom is what is righteous, with them is God himself."

— Herod, to his men before a battle

~ · ~

"If we allow that this was done by the will of God, we must allow that it is now over by his will also, and that he is satisfied with what hath already happened; for had he been willing to afflict us still more thereby, he had not changed his mind so soon."

— Herod, before battle, encouraging his men not to worry about a recent earthquake

~ · ~

"For it is a constant rule, that misfortunes are still laid to the account of those that govern."

— Josephus

Q190: More Josephus

"[...T]he principal scope that authors ought to aim at above all the rest, is to speak accurately, and to speak truly [...]"

— Flavius Josephus

"[...I]f you now fight manfully you may recover your liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to all men, so it proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording us the liberty of worshiping God."

— Josephus, reporting the words of Judas Maccabeus

Stand clear of the elephant

I think there's a moral in here ... somewhere.    Josephus on the death of Eleazar Avaran, one of the Maccabees:

"But when his brother Eleazar, whom they called Auran, saw the tallest of all the elephants armed with royal breastplates, and supposed that the king was upon him, he attacked him with great quickness and bravery. He also slew many of those that were about the elephant, and scattered the rest, and then went under the belly of the elephant, and smote him, and slew him; so the elephant fell upon Eleazar, and by his weight crushed him to death. And thus did this man come to his end, when he had first courageously destroyed many of his enemies."

— Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 12.9.4

So, it isn't funny (I keep telling myself that.  Well ... maybe it's a little bit funny.).   Eleazar died a heroic death and it was seen as such at the time.  I take away something sort of like "pride goeth before a fall", but not in a negative sense.    Eleazar's victory was genuine — he was doing exactly what he should have been doing; it's just that the very fact of that victory opened him up to defeat.     

Have you noticed how often this is the case?    Just when you are on top of the world, that's when trouble comes along.  And not just that:  the trouble would have passed you by and left you alone if you hadn't let your guard down because of your success.   From now on, I'll say to myself in that situation:  "make sure to stand clear of the elephant".