quivering through sun-drunken delight

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Tigers: "did He who made the lamb make thee?"

You may recall some time ago I made a brief survey of the faces and forms of tiger iconography at Princeton. At that stage we bid adieu to one mystery, or more appropriately, in line with a famous Pkunk saying*, one aspect of a greater enigma. I'm pleased to say that further research has once again expanded the frontiers of knowledge. And I didn't even have to buy the book -- this book:

Where Are The Tigers?

For, you see, I found this capsule review:
"Where Are The Tigers?", a children's book written by alumnus Mandy Lee Berman '92 tells the story of a little boy named Freddie and his trip to Princeton for Reunions Weekend with his parents. Young Freddie soon becomes confused, having taken his parents literally when they promised him he would see tigers at their destination. But he soon comes to understand that these "tigers" are the people he sees everywhere – Princetonians are "tigers" for life.

Satisfied, Freddie dons a tiger costume and joins in the fun. "I'm a tiger, too!" he says. Berman's picture-book charmingly captures the excitement and spirit of the weekend, a hallmark of Princeton tradition, showing everything from the famous P-rade to the invasion of alums in flashy orange and black blazers.
I guess that about says it.



* namely: "The mysteries of the universe -- try to solve them, but can you? -- nope, they're mysteries."

Postscript. For the record, let's not forget this most recent example. Oh, Professor Albert, what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Unrelated post-postscript. Looks like I got my U.S. tax refund yesterday. That's a little weight off my mind. With so much bureaucracy there's always one or two things that seem like they might be a little off. I suppose with the successful conclusion of this episode I should forgive all the numbskulls who made the process more stressful than it had to be with their irrelevant advice and threatening letters. On the other hand, said refund is about seven dollars greater than advertised. I feel a little like Chekhov when he saw the plaque reading "S.S. Botany Bay."

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8 Comments:

At 10:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Probably interest earned, at least in Canada that would be the natural answer.

Mysteries remain, no matter the explaination as the explaination creates it's own uncertainties.

 
At 5:11 AM, Blogger BKF said...

Apropos of our conversation Sunday, I took a look at the problems in the Globe and found something interesting today (Thursday). Let me sketch the set-up; it looked like this (copy to Notepad for fixed-width display if needed):

**X******
**X******
**X******
**OXOX***
**XXXX***
**OXOX***
**X******
XXOXXXXOX
**X******

Here X means 'filled', O means 'empty', and * means 'irrelevant'. As it happens, the third column is missing numbers 3, 5, and 9; the middle square is missing 3 and 9; and the eighth row is missing 3 and 5. Now if the left-hand empty square of row eight is filled with a 5, then we have 3 and 9 in some order in the column, and 3 and 9 in the opposite order in the middle square. But then the solution (if indeed there is one) cannot be unique, since it makes no difference which ordering we pick. So the 5 must be in the other space in that row.

I think it is very pleasing after spending all one's time thinking "existentially" ("if I don't do this, there won't be a solution") using the one condition to switch to a "uniqueness" argument ("if I don't do this, there will be too many solutions").

 
At 7:00 PM, Blogger BKF said...

And apropos of earlier discussions, this in today's Globe:

"Tenor Luciano Pavarotti underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer and is "recovering well," his manager said Friday.

The 70-year-old singer was preparing to leave New York last week to resume his farewell world concert tour in Britain when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass, Terri Robson said from her London office.

"Fortunately, the mass was able to be completely removed at surgery," she said in a statement. "Mr. Pavarotti is recovering well and his physicians are encouraged by the physical and emotional resilience of their patient."

[...]

As a result of Pavarotti's treatment, all remaining 2006 concerts have been canceled, she said. It is anticipated that tour plans will resume in early 2007."

Hmm.

 
At 7:45 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I noted this development regarding Pavarotti to Craig yesterday while he was fixing my computer. He indicated that a refund had been received.

Your previous comment regarding the puzzle, what is the name of this puzzle and where in the GLobe is it located?

The result of my computer repairs is a 3.2GHz P4 with 1 Gb of RAM.

It now works well.

 
At 6:14 PM, Blogger BKF said...

Well, I guess that would help a little. Too bad the ol' girl's given up the ghost (multiple ways and times). I think, by the way, the next time I'm over I'll pack my laptop and a few blank DVD's. I remember not so long ago first seeing a DVD burner retailing around eight hundred, and now the damn'd discs are a quarter each (on sale).

The problem I meant was their Sudoku puzzle, (which seems to reside in the "Globe Review" section). They don't seem to have picked a particularly challenging brand to print, though. On the other hand, I did see this phenomenon I mentioned occur again: a couple days ago, four squares as the corners of a rectangle, in two different 9-square blocks, which by inspection could all only be 7 and 9 (I think) except one which could have been 3 -- which it had to be, because again the solution couldn't be unique if it worked the other way.

 
At 7:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have only a CD burner currently and haven't used it for while.

I do up to five Suduko puzzles a day and find some are very easy with the Sun and Province versions getting progressively more difficult as the week progresses.

The patterned puzzles can be very difficult or easy depending upon the pattern rule.

 
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