The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell

I have read this collection of four novels many times.   The Wikipedia is a useful starting point http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria_Quartet.
I have written 2 or 3 essays about them, and imitated them once… So this time I have drawn a diagram of them.

Blow-ups Happen super-spoiler

In the 1960's Robert A. Heinlein published a book called "The Man Who Sold the Moon". One story in the book helped select my career path. It was called "Blow-ups happen". In one scene a consultant "Lentz" hands a problem to the director of the breeder reactor: 

"Lentz had assigned symbols to a great number of factors, some social, some psychological, some physical, some economic. He had thrown them together into a structural relationship using the symbols of calculus of statement." 

The director is told to "solve it" and uses a pencil and paper to solve the problem. Could there be a "calculus of statement"? 

The first thing is that we don't have the formalized knowledge of psychology and economics that is current in Heinlein's story. But I have observed that some thing very like the process mentioned in the story occurs when Boolean Algebra is used to solve puzzles.  For example consider "The Lunch Problem" described by  Galen Harris Valle in his paper "Teaching English in Asia" (p85 of "Speaking" by Roger Gower, OUP).

Problem

(01): Anne, Betty and Cindy order either a cup of coffee or a cup of tea each after lunch.

(02): If Anne has coffee then Betty orders the drink that Cindy orders.

(03): If Betty orders coffee then Anne orders the drink that Cindy does not order.

(04): If Cindy orders tea then Anne orders the drink that Betty orders.

  Who orders the SAME drink after lunch?  Which drink?, and how do you know?

Solution using Boolean Algebra

Additive notation for Boolean Algebra

        P+Q for "either P or Q ".

PQ means "P and Q"

~P means "not P"

0 means false and 1 means true.

if P then Q becomes ~P + Q.

P = Q becomes PQ + (~P) (~Q).

Symbols

a::=Anne orders coffee.

b::=Betty orders coffee.

c::=Cindy orders coffee.

~a::=Anne orders tea.

~b::=Betty orders tee.

~c::=Cindy orders tea.

Axioms

(2): if  a then  b =  c.

~a  +  b c +  ~b ~c.

(3): if  b then  ~a =  c.

~b +  a ~c + ~a  c.

(4:) if ~c then  a =  b.

c +  a b + ~a  ~b.

So the expression of the problem is the conjunction of the three axioms:

 (~a  +  b c +  ~b ~c)( ~b +  a ~c + ~a  c)( c +  a b + ~a  ~b),

Solution

Multiply the first two factors out (distributive laws)

(~a ( ~b +  a ~c + ~a  c) + ( ~b +  a ~c + ~a  c) b c + ( ~b +  a ~c + ~a  c) ~b ~c)( c +  a b + ~a  ~b),

(~a  ~b + ~a  a ~c + ~a ~a  c +  ~b b c +  a ~c b c + ~a  c b c +  ~b ~b ~c +  a ~c ~b ~c + ~a  c ~b ~c)( c +  a b + ~a  ~b),

Simplify using ~P P = 0 and P P = P.

(~a  ~b + ~a  c  + ~a  b c +  ~b ~c +  a ~b ~c)( c +  a b + ~a  ~b),

Multiply out the two factors  (distributive laws)

(~a  ~b + ~a  c  + ~a  b c +  ~b ~c +  a ~b ~c) c + (~a  ~b + ~a  c  + ~a  b c +  ~b ~c +  a ~b ~c) a b + (~a  ~b + ~a  c  + ~a  b c +  ~b ~c +  a ~b ~c)~a  ~b

Simplify using ~P P = 0 and P P = P.

~a  ~b c + ~a  c  + ~a  b c + ~a  ~b + ~a  ~b c + ~a  ~b ~c,

Extract the common factor ~a ( Anne orders tea).

~a ( ~b c +  c  +  b c +  ~b +  ~b c +  ~b ~c),

Simplify using PQ+P =P (Absorbative law)

~a ( ~b c +  c  +  b c +  ~b),

And again

~a ( c +  ~b).

Conclusion

Anne always orders tea and either Cindy orders coffee or Betty orders tea.

You can verify this result by using Prolog, and/or tables,  or even Karnaugh maps.

Autumn wind

Like leaves in the wind,

My thoughts are free of the tree. 

I must clean the pool. 

Now what?

Developing the last posting was not like typing a daily item using vi. Here http://cse.csusb.edu/dick/blog.html is a link to that old blog. Using an iPod means it is slower. But it checks spelling. The Blogger app makes it possible to render and so review drafts. It feels more like writing reviews for Computer Reviews -- http://www.computingreviews.com/browse/browse_reviewers.cfm?reviewer_id=115728

So it is slower and better considered than the ASCII blog. 

On the other hand getting a good picture takes time. And Blogger on iPod does not automatically recognize typed URLs and make them into links. 

My plan is to post something monthly using my iPod and its Blogger app. 

Future topics: the logic of Parking, syllogisms, preparing for the first class, etc.. 

Favorite Internet Comics

On my first trip to the USA, to a key conference in Boston in the late 1960s I was able to buy some books that I couldn't find in the UK.  They were comic books: BC, Wizard of Id, Peanuts. Nowadays I turn to the comics page in the Sunday newspaper before anything else. I have a small collection of comic books. I start most days looking at Internet comics like those listed below.  Disclaimer: the posting schedules are as of September 2013 and will change. 

What comics am I missing?  Comments with your regular comic fixes, please.

Shlock Mercenary http://www.schlockmercenary.com/ is a space opera comic with a new page posted every day of the week. 

Quantum Vibe http://www.quantumvibe.com/ posts the adventures of a young woman in the Solar System of the Future and posts on weekdays -- but Cons and life altering events tend to interrupt the story line at times. 

XKCD http://xkcd.com/ is schematic, inventive, humorous, famous, and unpredictable. It posts on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday and is one of the few comics to appear in news stories on Slashdot. 

From the UK we have Gunnerskrigg Court http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/index2.php which is set in a private boarding school. The world is split between the technological court and the magical forrest. There is an Alchemy theme. Excellent color. Intriguing characters with secrets that slowly come to light as characters develop. New material appears late (Pacific time) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

Erfworld http://www.erfworld.com/ is set within a war game except the pieces are sentient with feelings, goals, attitudes, and fates. The central character however has been called from our world... A suitable punishment for a life wasted playing war games perhaps? Publication has been a erratic in the past, but now something new is posted every Monday, Wednesday,and Friday. Watch out for the sound effects -- these are usually puns, as are place names, characters, etc.

Girl Genius http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php is a glorious "gas lamp fantasy" full of romance, mad science, and adventure. Currently posts late on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The plot is wild but the drawings are good. The world of Sparks and Clanks is well imagined and there are several mysteries to be solved. 

Spiked Math http://spikedmath.com/ posts at random making jokes about mathematics.

Abstruse Goose http://abstrusegoose.com/ has a similar style to XKCD but is a younger and gentler view of the world. It posts every week or so.

Dork Tower http://www.dorktower.com/ parodies the various types of fanatical gamer.  

Piled Higher and Deeper http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/comics.php is a brilliant and wise description of academic life at a research university. Jorge nails it.   

The Order of the Stick http://www.giantitp.com/comics/ootscast.html is a parody of life inside a dungeons-and-dragons type game.  Our heroic band of adventurers are stick figures -- whence comes the name of the strip. 

Dresden Kodak http://dresdencodak.com/ is the best drawn but most erratic of all these comics. The picaresque tale of Kim Ross is weird with story arcs that last for years. I want to play "Dungeons and Discourses"!

The ironic Elf Only Inn http://www.elfonlyinn.net/d/20020523.html has frozen... But was set in a chat room imagined as an inn for elves except that most visitors are not into playing elves. 

User Friendly http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/ was a favorite comic until it started to repeat. It describes in humorous form life in a small computer  company. 

I also visit the following non-comic: Futility Closet http://www.futilitycloset.com/ most days. A compendium of amusements!

What is your Internet comic addiction?

A plan for blogging my memoirs

I used http://www.cortthinking.com/cort/6/tec-pisco

to come up with a plan. In the "Input" stage I realised that there are a lot of unknowns -- how much time I will have for example will vary depending the time spent preparing the house for sale and house hunting. Another factor is my inability to spell or type accurately. I may have to use my laptop to draft postings and upload them later.

I will be posting articles here for one month and then review what I have. I  will use the iPod app to draft and post. I will have to proof read and revise before I post as a result.

Topics: software, teaching, comics, systems, mathematics, research, science fiction, quotations, ... Plus thoughts on the blogging process itself -- meta. Must include formats like link lists, "how tos", "best practices", and FAQs...

Retired -- but how to write my memoirs?