Posted by Paul McCarthy
on 11/5/2009, 4:24 am
75.189.212.92
Hello all,
Million things in my mind... I'll try to focus, or else it'll all probably be way too much for anyone to absorb.
I've been thinking about how the beauty of packs of cigarettes will probably soon be lost... FDA regulation. So, there's virtually no more beautiful cigarette ads... so, that beauty's largely gone already.
I just stumbled on an algorithm to find the least common multiple of two, or more numbers... maybe I've been asleep, but I've never seen this algorithm before:
LCM & GCF Indian Method
No, this algorithm for finding the LCM doesn't cause cancer, but it does have it's own beauty. Although it may not be best for computer implementation, it's may be nice for hand calculation.
Nevertheless, someone could break this beautiful algorithm apart saying that it's actually completely useless, and/or it really doesn't add anything to our bag of tools to manipulate numbers. I could present those arguments myself, but I don't want to, I'd rather just present this algorithm in a fashion highlighting it as the really neat thing it is. (Well, that I am content to think it is...)
Similarly, even with things which do cause cancer, some present it in a manner highlighting it's beauty, and others have been working very hard to destroy all that, and present cigarettes in a manner making it... most unappealing.
However, as much as I realize that if I attempted, at least publicly, to defend cigarettes, or cigarette advertising, I'd likely just make a fool of myself... it also wouldn't change anything. Of course, perhaps I'm 'wrong', but whether I'm 'right' or 'wrong' really makes little difference.
I know someone from my station in life doesn't have much to say about the course our society takes, so I'm just sharing these feelings with all of you here. We're all aware someone from my place in society has little say in matters like this.
So I could 'knock myself out' arguing this, or arguing that... it wouldn't make any difference.
Also, I think this algorithm for dividing two polynomials is (a little bit) superior to the one commonly taught in schools...
Detached Coefficient General Polynomial Division Part 1
Detached Coefficient General Polynomial Division Part 2
However, one response I've gotten to suggesting this alternative algorithm is "I don't see how one could improve on the standard polynomial division algorithm."
In other words, they're not even interested in attempts to try to improve the algorithm. Besides, one's just going to present all these algorithms, then toss a calculator, or laptop, in the kid's hands to use anyway...
I suppose one could teach how to use a slide ruler... it might highlight many topics of interest from a theoretical point of view. But, who uses a slide ruler anymore?
What does this have to do with cigarettes? Well, with my new job at the store I work at I can tell you without any doubt that we sell a helluva lot of water! So, instead of their pack of cigarettes, people have their bottle of water,... or cell phone.
Yes,... there is a notable difference. I don't believe anyone,... or not many... are intentionally, sometimes even quite deviously, trying to destroy the beauty of certain mathematical algorithms which have been superseded by more modern methods.
Further, no one (at least I don't think!) is intentionally trying to see that no one can find any use for certain mathematical algorithms which perhaps aren't as well suited for present times as they were for past ones. With cigarettes, I'd suggest this aim is highly intentional.
Again, if I voiced any of this more publicly, not only would it not change anything... but, likely I'd also be told I'm 'crazy', or something similar.
I, for one, am saddened that this beauty, in the cigarettes, and cigarette ads, is being destroyed... and, in many ways, highly intentionally so.
Just like is commonly said with Hamilton's Quaternions, I'm not sure if quaternions were 'discovered', or 'created',... I'm just absorbed by their... beauty. And their beauty is enough to give quaternions great value (well, to me, anyway...), regardless of the precise genesis of that beauty.
Granted, quaternions don't cause cancer, and as much as the detonation of a hydrogen bomb may be said to have it's own beauty, I strongly advocate global nuclear disarmament.
Yes, it's all somewhat complicated I suppose, but although all we do will necessarily destroy as well as create, I don't see cigarettes destroying whole societies, or even perhaps, whole civilizations... and that's how I differentiate cigarettes from nuclear weapons.
I know... you're also going to hear that we're in an economic crisis, some say a depression, and we're enmeshed in two wars to protect oil and gas supplies for ourselves and our allies. These may indeed be important matters, but even when these important matters didn't exist, we were brushed off too.
So, my experience suggests that for those of us in a position of lower significance in society it's more like "children should be seen and not heard." In other words, 'children' being analogous to those of us in a lower place in society.
As much as this situation is understandably frustrating... I wouldn't recommend to anyone that they raise any dissenting voices too loudly. The situation will just get worse... for you. Some more powerful will inevitably get mad, and...
I think we all have to get used to loss. I, for one, just try to keep the things which have always given me comfort close to me. My cat Caesar, my old math books, and yes, my cigarette ads.
Take care,
PS Sorry, it's evident I'm not very good at keeping things... concise.
Kool cigarette commercial
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