Wednesday, October 26, 2011 Lethbridge

7:00 am

The temperature is -5 C, with a high predicted of +8 C. From the Environment Canada website: Today Sunny. Increasing cloudiness late this afternoon. Wind southwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 becoming west 50 gusting to 70 this afternoon. High 8. Tonight Mainly cloudy. Clearing overnight. Wind west 30 km/h gusting to 50. Low zero. Normals Max: 10°C Min: -3°C.

12:30 PM Mathematics

I spent the last hour, very enjoyably, in a Starbucks coffee shop rereading the first chapter of "The Symmetry of Things" and making a few notes with my fountain pen. I think I have the idea of kaleidoscope (mirror) and gyrational (rotational) symmetry under control as well as the notion of symmetry on a plane surface as well as on a spherical surface. The idea of freize symmetry is also straight-forward.

[Addendum (3:00 pm): While on my coulee walk I noticed the following examples of symmetry:

• Canadian flag (star 1 point)
• U of L emblem (8 point)
• Servus corporate logo (2 point)
• Toyota logo (star 1 point)
• Bicycle tread (freize)
• Model home corporate logo (star 1 point)
• Yield sign (star 3 point)
• Auto hubcaps (star 5 point)
• top row of cement blocks of backyard fence (freize)

Now to take photos of each of these and create a new web page that provides a catalog of symmetry patterns. All of these are relatively simply patterns. The next chapter raises the bar a level. It also makes it much more difficult to find examples.

8:00 PM Literature

I am continuing to read "Infinite Jest", but I can see this may be a struggle. It is definitely different in literary style - it does remind me a bit of a modern Proust.