20 June, 2007
That's like, totally random
06 June, 2007
Knuth, that's kuh-nooth.
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And if you don't know who Donald Knuth is, just google for him and you'll see how important people think he is. His main passion of life is mathematics, but he also happens to be one of the more important names of computer science. His seminal (if I can use that term loosely) works include the five-part work The Art of Computer Programming, the TeXbook, Concrete Mathematics, and Selected Papers of Discrete Mathematics. There are of course a lot of other books that he has either produced, or at least had a rather large hand in producing. The Art of Computer Programming hasn't been completed yet, as only three volumes have been released so far, with two more volumes to be produced before he re-revises and releases his fourth edition of same.
When viewing him in his video presentations (these are available from Stanford, and are linked to from his home page), I feel that he appears diffident, and rather unsure of himself. He quite often seems to be discovering the subject along with his students, though this turns out not to be the case, that he actually is viewing the subject from what commonly appears to be a completely different perspective—one not reached by most of his students. But the moments when his students and himself "get it" can seem almost like an epiphany. And for a mathematician, that's pretty heady stuff. I've also noticed that he also seems to jump around whatever subject he is covering, and seems to want to say a hundred things all at once. However, in contrast his writing appears confident, concise, and of course, accurate. You can hardly be otherwise when you're as famous a mathematician as he seems to be. Or is it Computer Scientist? I'm never quite sure.
Any good scientist has hobbies, and he is no different—he owns his own small organ. Yes, it's a real organ. That's also covered in his home page, with its own special section describing it. I'm sure that's not his only hobby, as I've seen web pages devoted to diamond signs (imagine a square turned through 45 degrees, and something in the sign, and you have it), travel, and many other items I can't remember. So, go take a look.
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Linux for Suits - Beyond Blogging's Black Holes | Linux Journal (July 2007)
I'm rather sorry I have to point to just the abstract for this article from the well-established Linux Journal, but I can't point to the article directly: you can't view it unless you're already a Linux Journal subscriber. And even if you're a subscriber, it can take a bit of gymnastics to get to the actual article. I've already emailed them about that. Anyhow, do become a subscriber, it's a pretty good idea, in my opinion. Anyhow, Linux for Suits - Beyond Blogging's Black Holes | Linux Journal (July 2007) describes what happened to Doc Searls recently, due to what appears to be some narrow-minded or just plain stupid antics, and reactions to same. As a result, he states:
The old 'sphere ain't the same. And, the problem isn't just incivility and flamage. As old hands know, that's been around for the duration and will never go away. The problem is blogging itself. Somehow it's becoming more like TV and less like what made it great to begin with.That's all I'm going to excerpt, so I can hopefully stay within "Fair Use". Thank goodness I'm only a small one-man blogging station with not a lot to say... hopefully nobody will abuse me in the comments merely for mentioning LJ or Doc Searls.
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