“What’s Your Favorite Color?”

Posted on 7 September 2018 by RobertLovesPi

I’ve been asked this question at least a hundred times. The answer is that my favorite color is black.

Black has been my favorite color for decades. As a college freshman, I even kept a black posterboard up on the wall, in my room at the dorm. Also, I don’t think I have ever been afraid of the dark. I actually find darkness comforting.

I usually get a protest, as a response, when I give my simple answer to this question: “Black’s not a color!”

At that point, nearly every time, I can end debate with a single question to my inquisitor: “What color is your t-shirt?” Sometimes they even look down at their shirt when I say this, and here’s what they typically see:

I have no explanation for why the people who ask me to identify my favorite color are usually wearing black, but at least it quickly ends the conversation.

“Spiders Aren’t Animals!” Well, Actually….

Posted on 3 September 2018 by RobertLovesPi

Over the years, literally hundreds of people have told me that spiders are not animals. This seems to happen the majority of the times that the topic of spiders comes up in conversation. When I reply that spiders are, in fact, animals, the usual response is “Spiders are insects!” This gives me headaches, because (1) spiders aren’t insects, and (2) insects are also animals.

Spiders happen to be my favorite animal, so this is quite confusing to me. Hopefully, this screenshot from my Google-search for “animal definition” will help spread the word that spiders are, indeed, part of the animal kingdom.

[Spider image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phidippus_audax. Also, I added the red arrow and ellipse to the Google-screenshot, using MS-Paint.]

An Icosahedron Augmented With Twenty Great Icosahedra, Together With the Dual of This Cluster-Polyhedron

Posted on 2 September 2018 by RobertLovesPi

The cluster-polyhedron above was formed by augmenting a central isocahedron with twenty great icosahedra. The dual of this cluster is shown below.

Both these images were created using Stella 4d, which you may try for free at http://www.software3d.com/Stella.php.

A Flashing Mandala

Posted on 2 September 2018 by RobertLovesPi

flashing mandala

Mandalas are used for meditation and contemplation. They are also supposed to represent the universe, which we now know is in a constant state of change. Generally, this means mandalas are non-moving images, and (traditionally) they certainly don’t flash. This is, therefore, an attempt to update the concept of the mandala for the modern age, reflecting our current understanding of the universe.