I want to tell you a couple things about one of my most cherished things, a tool so useful and powerful that I honesty have come to look at it as a friend. Weird? Maybe. Read on:
At its simplest description, it’s a book of solutions to nasty sums and integrals. It has pages and pages of seemingly obscure and sometimes really daunting stuff. But that’s just scratching the surface…
In today’s world of symbolic tools and easy access to solutions all over the place is this even relevant? I’d argue it’s more relevant than ever. Because aside from its mind-boggling completeness, you get to see all the stuff you’re NOT looking for, all around, and sometimes…
…and maybe more often than not, it’s the thing you notice while you’re looking around that turns out to be what you needed. Or maybe you see something thy will save your bacon later. You see, when reading G&R you’re LEARNING and EXPLORING. Your mind works. It’s FUN.
And when we are playing, and being creative, is when we discover new things. When we create value. Herein lies the genius of this great tome. But all is not play and happiness…
If you look, this work of incredible persistence is actually the product of tragedy. Ryzhik died in WWII while working on it. Gradshtyen died while finishing Rhyshik’s work. Finally in the fourth edition some closure was reached. This gift was literally the work of lifetimes.
Me and many others owe a lot to these guys and their work and sacrifice. It’s a homey place for me, in these pages, and hell they even number things correctly!
OK that’s enough. If you have a chance to get a copy, do. I have never even been able to find a photo of G or R, but I want to shout my love and thanks to them out into the void. Perhaps at the end of a crazy, obscure integral, at whatever infinity they occupy, they can hear me.

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More from @SeamusBlackley

6 Jun
Two Sunday Projects.
Read 4 tweets
4 Jun
As many of you know, last week we had an accidental delivery of liquid nitrogen to our lab. So we decided to put it to good use...
We shrunk some semiconductors to see the effects...
So today, for Friday lunch, we decided to try “Cryo-Frying” some steaks! (And chicken and mushrooms). This technique utilizes LN2 to freeze a crust on sous-vided meats so they can be deep fried to finish without overcooking. Fist step this morning was the sous-vide...
Read 12 tweets
27 May
How’s your evening going? Image
Read 5 tweets
18 Apr
I saw an article today about Spock, criticizing the character for not being sufficiently “logical.” It got me thinking about being a nerd in the 70s, and awkward. You’d get actually beat up for it then, not like now where nerds are heroes. Spock was our hero, and not for logic.
Aside from the author missing the key character drive, his half-humanity crippling his pure logic, there is severe temporal bias. There was a world where having a floppy disk in your notebook, or getting an A in math, could get you a tooth knocked out of your head.
Spock was effectively on the spectrum, and smart, and he was valued by the other characters despite his differences and oddness. That resonated with every nerd I knew. Gave hope, even though it was cheesy and outdated. Let’s not shit on that. No matter how many clicks it gets.
Read 4 tweets
22 Mar
I have been trying for a year and a half to get @UnileverUKI and @marmite to talk about using yeast from our Ancient Egyptian Baking project to do a Special Edition Marmite whose profits would promote science and education. How excellent would this be?
(🙏@POPeART_ )
Even if you hate Marmite this would still be pretty cool! The bottle says “Marmite (ancient) Egyptian” in the cartouche in front, surrounded by “good” and “pure.” On the sides it says “old” on the right and “new” on the left, and prays for eternal life around bottom.
The pyramids used to have golden tops, which fits with the yellow topped Marmite bottle. That’s it!
Read 5 tweets
18 Mar
Baguettes incoming. Take cover.
Here’s what’s happening: Appellation 1993 Baguettes.
Read 5 tweets

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