Monday, September 29, 2014

Infinity, Part 1 to 3: Until the End of Time and the Universe Explodes; Limits and Asymptotes, Visualizing Infinity; Going Halfway, Travelling from A to B Forever (The Language of Mathematics, Series IVb, #154 to #156) - UPDATE 2

As a follow-up to one of the first videos that I produced for The Language of Mathematics, the 2007 teaser video regarding Zero and Infinity, below you will find three additional videos discussing the concept of infinity in more detail. The original teaser video is also embedded.

My Two Infinities, Part 1: Goes on Forever until the End of Time, and the Universe Explodes (#154)



My Two Infinities, Part 2: Limits and Asymptotes, Visualizing Infinity on a Graph (#155)



My Two Infinities, Part 3: Going Halfway, Travelling from A to B until Reaching the Planck Length (#156)



The Language of Mathematics (5): Zero and Infinity

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

“And prove to me, America, that you care. And prove to me, America, you’re aware” - 'Is It For Freedom?' by Sarah Thompson

A message to the citizens of the United States of America regarding your doctrine of endless war, delivered through song by Sara Thomsen.

“Is It For Freedom?” by Sara Thomsen



Below you will find the Lyrics for “Is It For Freedom?” from the 1999 album “Fertile Ground”.
Rulers of the nations as you fuss and fight
Over who owns this or that and who has the right
To design, build, sell and store and fire
All the bombs and guns to defend your holy empire

There are children hungry, children sick and dying
There are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers crying
They’re only pawns in your play of power and corruption
Slowly starve them, your new weapon of mass destruction

And prove to me, America, that you care
And prove to me, America, you’re aware
Who’s dying for your freedom in this land
Who pays the cost for the liberties you demand

Is it for freedom, or our comfort and convenience
Is it to profit for big business we pledge our allegiance
Are we prisoners in the land of the brave and the bold?
Held by indifference or hearts grown hard and cold (refrain)

And prove to me, America, that you care
And prove to me, America, you’re aware
Who’s dying for your freedom in this land
Who pays the cost for the liberties you demand

Children of the world, you have the right
To sing and dance, run and play, let your dreams take flight
As the innocent die you rulers carry the shame
And if we stand idly by we share in the blame

And oh, America, do we care
Oh, America, are we aware
Who’s dying for our comfort in this land
Who pays the cost for the convenience we demand?

Children of the world, you have the right
To sing and dance, run and play, let your dreams take flight

Monday, September 15, 2014

Free Radical Media Podcast: Mathematics, Education and True Learning with chycho

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the folks at Free Radical Media to see if I would be willing to be a guest in their fledgeling podcast network. I checked out some of their work and really liked what I found, so I nervously agreed – I’ve never been a guest on a podcast before.

We ended up discussing a myriad of topics focused on mathematics, education, and some of the problems associated with our centralized systems as well as some of the solutions available to us at the moment.

It was a very fun experience and I would like to thank Eric and Patrick for having me as a guest. Below you will find the podcast.

FRM - Mathematics, Education and True Learning with chycho



For those interested in further exploring some of the topics that we discussed, you will find additional information regarding these topics at:
  • Book: Jiddu Krishnamurti’s “Education and The Significance of Life” (pdf)

  • Interview: The Ultimate History Lesson with John Taylor Gatto

  • Article: Paradigm Shift in Education: Krishnamurti on the Educator, RAW on Ignorance, Gato on the System, and Hamming on Learning

  • Article: Why is Math Important? Because the language of mathematics plays a vital role in our evolution

  • Mathematics: Gödel's incompleteness theorems

  • Episode of Star Trek Voyager: “The Omega Directive”