Something Capricious

When I was a wee student, my violin master had the senior orchestra of his students try out this suite --- we had only one cellist, Ludovic the Magnificient, who was not a student of this teacher, but you've got to have a cellist, you know? Suzuki teachers are a sociable lot amongst themselves, and it helps. Anyways, I found this by looking for something that isn't Holst's St. Paul's Suite nor Britten's Simple Symphony that I couldn't remember the name nor composer of --- spectral sequences and extraordinary homology theories have turned some of my memory to comparative mush.

Anyways, I know some of you like this sort of thing.

Ahah! It's by Grieg, the thing I first thought of! But this is very good, too. Happy hunting, if you wish!

A short while later

$$ \begin{array}{rl}
\mathrm{XXXI} & \mbox{The quiet of the middle of nowhere}\\
\mathrm{XXXII} & \mbox{Excellent words, like "corruscating" and "edify"}\\
\mathrm{XXXIII} & \mbox{The way a clear sky turns lemony-yellow in a sunset}\\
\mathrm{XXXIV} & \mbox{Clean water}\\
\mathrm{XXXV} & \mbox{Puzzles!}
\end{array}
$$

An Unfounded Conjecture

Dear Philosophia,

Recall the curious event of Genesis 11:1-9.

1 And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.
2 And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it.
3 And each one said to his neighbour: Come, let us make brick, and bake them of stones, and slime instead of mortar.
4 And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.
5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building.
6 And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed.
7 Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there may not understand one another's speech.
8 And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city.
9 And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries.

Because it is fun to conjecture, I have concocted me a conjecture upon the manner in which God did thwart the city planners of Sennaar:

To Seek Out Prudent Truths

Dear Amavero,

Without pretending to really know what is best, I would at least offer hope that some good thing may be found, "by dint of trying", as St. Jean Vianney put it (in a translation read me by Utrecht).

A story of excellence for your Sunday or Monday

Dear amici, dear amicae,

Let's start near the end.

Say, when was the last time... ?

Oh, hello, there!

I'm not actually here (that is, even less than usual), having written this about two weeks ago; but, well, anyways, today the atmospheric tropical cycle count clicks over the third primorial, a curious number: $2 \times 3 \times 5$. If you were counting on digits you'd need two ordinary humans including one pair of feet. Some of my family seem to be making much of this number; I'm still slightly less than half my mother's age, if only for a couple more weeks. Hobbit-wise, I'm still just in my tweens. Well.

Have a pleasant day, if by any means you can; I know I will!

PS. You know, people make much of how $2$ is the "only even prime"; well, that's not saying much --- it's the first positive even number; it is the standard by which all evens are measured. One might as well say that $3$ is the "only trial prime" and $5$ the "only quicuncial"... but enough!

About talking at cross-purposes

Dear Passerby,

One of the weird things about being a Humptydumpty Mathematician is that you very quickly get used to the idea (so quickly that you usually don't think about it) that the meaning of a word --- the signification of a symbol --- is essentially inseparable from its use.

Once we have this hammer in our grasp, we may go hunting for nails; let me pry some up and we'll see if it's in any way handy.