Difference of two squares. Standard instruction in American Algebra 1 classes.
I guess I should have been paying more attention. My algebra instruction was pretty scattershot. It was HS calculus that I found most interesting.
And the difference of two squares proves that for a given parameter, the square is the rectangle with the largest area.
He translated Agricola’s classic book De Re Metallica into English. I’ve got a copy of the Dover edition.
The Broadway department store in downtown Los Angeles had wooden escalators until the 70s. The store was torn down, and a mall was built in its place with a Broadway that had a boring modern escalator.
One of Charlie Chaplin’s short films was set in a department store, and he did a lot of “bits” on the wooden escalator.
Which one is that? I could only recall Buster’s
That is, if the side of a square is S and the area S², then any possible rectangle of the same perimeter would have to have sides of (S + n) and (S - n), with the area S² - n². You’d more or less intuitively guess that a square is the “roundest” case of a rectangle, but it’s nice to have a proof.
I listened to a podcast interview with two experts on the history of breakfast cereals. Two cereals among the many I have never heard of:
Norman “The name is a shame but the flavor’s insane!”
Poop Like a Champion “The #1 brand for number 2s!”
Frank Santopadre’s Fun For All Ages? I’ve been enjoying that one. It’s good to hear him back on a podcast.
I realized this when I was 13, and tried “Inca Kola” in Peru My stepfather (who worked there summers) noted it tasted like bubble gum. Later, he discovered it was actually an attempt at banana flavor.
This was very true until about five years ago, but it’s becoming less true with each passing year. That is, even the zoomed-in ones are, more in more frequently, from satellites as well. So, the labeling is gradually aligning with the reality.
That was my exact thought when we visited our daughter in Peru when she was in the Peace Corps: the flavor was bubble gum in a bottle. Not my favorite, but it seemed to be immensely popular in that country.
Today it finally occurred to me that both “Donald” and “Vladimir” mean “world ruler.”
South Korea had a similar soda when I was there in the 90s. I don’t think I ever knew the name but we called it bubble gum juice.
I saw it probably nearly 50 years ago at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax. It was shown with a bunch of other shorts, and I don’t know if I noticed the name of it even then. It was definitely Chaplin, and he was in a department store. Lots of slapstick with goods falling off the shelves.
In Taipei in 1997, a tug-of-war gone wrong severed an arm off two different participants when the rope snapped. That much I had heard, but what I had missed was that it wasn’t because they had had their arms just pulled off from being wrapped up in the rope, but from the slashing effect of the rope itself whipping back like a sickle.
MAD Magazine rules for the display of Alfred E. Neuman requires he be shown with his face looking at the reader. The back of his head is allowed, but he is never to be shown in profile.
Smart policy. Here he is in 1958 before the rule was enforced.
The Floorwalker (1916)?
“This film was noted for the first “running staircase” (escalator) used in films.” - The Floorwalker (Short 1916) - Trivia - IMDb
Interesting. This is the same unwritten rule for the Gorgon in ancient Greece and Rome, and for gorgon parallels around the world – they’re only shown face-forward, never in profile or three-quarter view. (There is one image showing Medusa’s head in 3/4 view in Perseus’ kibisis from Greece, but I like to think the other vase painters got together outside his studio nd beat him up when he came out).
Gorgon parallels like Bes in Egypt, Humbaba in Mesopotamia, Kirtimukkha in India, etc. Also, like the Gorgon, they are often represented by the head alone.