And you thought football was boring

Hello ScoFans!

Remember a week or so ago when I posted something I said I would discuss later? I did get a few people concerned after that post, and thank you for that, but the post was actually originally written in October 2006 so I'm all good (all of the time)

For those of you who have already forgotten, first of all shame on you, and secondly this was the post...

Awake. Groggy. Eyes open. There he stands. His outstretched arm beckons me. I begin to move towards his dark silhouette. He looks as tales have always described with his black cloak and scythe. I know this can not be my hour. He will never take me! I offer exchanges. Sadness overwhelms. Acceptance. Darkness.

So what could that post possibly be a prelude to? A post about death? A post about loss? No.. a post about math.

That's right, today and today only I'm going to be your own personal (but shared among my other readers) Professor Charlie Eppes.. because I'm not bad ass enough to be Don


So.. math and death.. how did I manage to relate the two (at least in my mind.)

Well, it started with the Tool song "Lateralus", which I realized one day contains an extra layer to what I had previously thought. It's all in the opening lyrics...

Black
Then
White are
All I see In my in-fan-cy.
Red and yel-low then came to be,
Reach-ing out to me.
Lets me see.

As be-low, so a-bove and bey-ond, I im-a-gine
Drawn bey-ond the lines of rea-son.
Push the env-el-ope.
Watch it bend.

Do you see it? I've broken it down into syllables so that should help. (Oh, and I bolded the last bit because that was the title of the post) Anyway, let's have a look through the syllables in each line..

Black (1)
Then (1)
White are (2)
All I see (3)
In my in-fan-cy. (5)
Red and yel-low then came to be, (8)
Reach-ing out to me. (5)
Lets me see. (3)

As be-low, so a-bove and bey-ond, I im-a-gine (13)
Drawn bey-ond the lines of rea-son. (8)
Push the env-el-ope. (5)
Watch it bend. (3)

Anyone who is as obsessed with the Fibonnaci sequence as I am should spot it there very clearly now. For those of you who have forgotten it's joys, I won't go into too much detail about it here (if you want to do that click the link above to Wikipedia) other than to say it is a very simple mathematic sequence where each number equals the two numbers that came before it (ie 0+1 = 1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, 3+5=8 and so on)

So inspired was I when I first realized that layer in the song, I decided to try and bring it to a blog. Don't worry about scrolling up to check it now.. I'll put it below..

Awake.
Groggy.
Eyes open.
There he stands.
His outstretched arm beckons me.
I begin to move towards his dark silhouette.
He looks as tales have always described with his black cloak and scythe.
I know this can not be my hour.
He will never take me!
I offer exchanges.
Sadness overwhelms.
Acceptance.
Darkness.

So why did I write the post about death? Well, because I saw a show about the five stages of grief at about the same time I wrote this and wanted to take on the additional challenge of fitting a third layer in there.

I know this can not be my hour. Denial
He will never take me! Anger
I offer exchanges. Bargaining
Sadness overwhelms. Depression
Acceptance. Acceptance (Duh!)

So, I guess for me those 53 words were a simple tribute to a fantastic song, and a nice creative challenge (I know what you're thinking.. a tad complex for a creative challenge, why couldn't I have simply done more backwards blogging?). My own way of saying that while on the surface you might see one thing, often in life if you look deeper there could be three or four layers.

If you take the time to stop and appreciate the little things in life, you might find a whole deeper meaning which blows your mind more than what you discovered on the surface had (at least that's what I found with the song)

Anyone who wants to check out the song or learn more about Fibonacci and how it relates to the song (and has a spare nine and a half minutes on their hands) should take a look at hte video below.

For those of you who didn't check out the video, I'll share with you just a small piece of what it says..

"The song suggests living life much like the Fibonacci spiral. Constantly growing and spiraling out; exploring and reaching toward the unknown."

And that concludes today's lesson on Fibonacci.

But I'm not finished yet...

What kind of a teacher would I be if I didn't leave you with some humor? And what kind of humor is better than Venn Diagram humor? That's right, no humor.

Krystal posted this on her blog a few weeks back and I've been enjoying it ever since. It tickles me in all the right place.

Since then I have been enjoying the Venn Diagram and I have told a few of you that I would be preparing some.. most of which I've now forgotten, but I do remember telling SleepyJane I would be doing one.

She posted a few weeks ago saying that anyone who has never thought about murder has never been in love. I agreed with her that that was true, but I also argued that love was not necessary for thoughts of murder. I said anyone who has been to high school would have thought about murder.. but then I realised even people who hadn't been to high school would have also considered it.

Confused?

Then let me make things clear through the magic that is the Venn Diagram.

If I owe you a venn diagram let me know and I will right the wrong.

Anyway, I'll leave it to Weird Al and the boys from "The Big Bang Theory" to let you know what the extra layer under this weeks post was.

For anyone who hasn't seen the show, check it out.. really. It's hilarious. For anyone who has checked out the show I've often wondered which character I have the most in common with and after much thought I've decided my intelligence lies somewhere between Howard and Penny's and my social skills somewhere between Sheldon and Raj's.

Leonard: We need to widen our circle.
Sheldon: I have a very wide circle. I have 212 friends on myspace.
Leonard: Yes, and you’ve never met one of them.
Sheldon: That’s the beauty of it.
(The Big Bang Theory- Pilot)

Oh wait! Just to show you how white and nerdy I really am, as anyone who took the opportunity to add me to Facebook or Twitter will have noticed, I was recently scolded for being such a rebel..