January 31 - Happy Birthday, Sam Loyd

  Posted on January 31, 2022


This is an update of my post published on January 31, 2011:


Take a great game like chess and cross it with the fun of puzzles—and you might just get what is called a chess composer.

I didn't know such a job title existed, either, but apparently there are people who create chess problems for others to solve. Sam Loyd, who was born on this day in 1841, was a popular and witty chess composer. He can also be said to be a recreational mathematician.


Sam Loyd was obviously pretty good at chess. At one time he was one of the best chess players in the United States and #15 in the world. But he could never be truly great because he would go for complicated and fantastic layouts on the board rather than just going for the win.

Loyd was known for self-promotion—even to the point of lying about his accomplishments. For example, he claimed that he had created the 14-15 puzzle in which players slide number tiles within a frame in order to put them in numeric order—but he had nothing to do with the invention or popularization of the puzzle.
However, Loyd did create a number of popular chess problems, Tangram designs, and other sorts of puzzles or problems. One of the most famous chess problems ever is his Steinitz Gambit problem. Loyd's chess puzzles were so popular that he was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame.


Learn chess online, for free, at Chess Kid.


Here is Kid Chess's Puzzle Jam. 


Try Tangrams and other math puzzles. (I love the puzzles in Simon Tatham's pack!)





(Last Monday in January)



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January 30 - World's Tallest Geyser Discovered

     Posted on January 30, 2022


This is an update of my post published on January 30, 2011:






Just in the nick of time, on this date in 1901, Dr. Humphrey Haines discovered the world's tallest and most powerful geyser. Called Waimangu Geyser, it was located on the North Island of New Zealand. Every 36 hours, this geyser hurled up water, black mud, and rocks as high as 600 to 1,500 feet into the air. This is between 5 to 10 times the height of the world-famous Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone!

It's higher than the Empire State Building!



Why did I say “just in the nick of time”? Well, this geyser went extinct in 1904 when a landslide changed the local water table.

People worldwide were interested in the find, and many tourists visited the geyser in the three years between discovery and extinction. Three of the tourists disregarded the repeated warnings of their guide to keep back at a safe distance, and unfortunately all four of them (even the guide) died in a sudden, violent eruption.



New Zealand is shown here in red. It's east of Australia -
so it's on the way-far-right side of this map.

The Youngest Country on Earth

New Zealand calls itself the youngest country on earth because it was the last major landmass to be discovered and settled by humans. About 1,000 years ago, Polynesian people arrived by canoes. By 1250 A.D. (or C.E.), during a period known as the Middle Ages in Europe, and almost a half century after the Magna Carta was signed in England, these Polynesians had made permanent settlements on New Zealand.

Just a few hundred years later, European explorers reached New Zealand.

Unfortunately, New Zealand is left off world maps surprisingly often!






Learn more about New Zealand and the Maori.

(The Maori are New Zealand's indigenous people.)





Here is a book on Maori art. And here is a lesson on making Maori Koru art.


Koru art is inspired by the natural shapes
made by uncurling fern fronds.



Above, Sound of the Universe, by Sofia Minson
Below, A Bird on the Wall, by Sofia Minson
Can you see how the patterns and designs echo
the shape of uncurling fern fronds?



Sofia Minson is part Maori (Ngati Porou).


Here is a video advertising New Zealand as a great place to visit. And it is! I was in N.Z., enjoying the amazing scenery and the Maori art and even the geysers - but then the pandemic struck, and I had to scuttle back home. We missed the last four or five days of sightseeing! Hmmm...maybe I can go back?






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January 29 - Happy Birthday, Frederick Mohs

    Posted on January 29, 2022


This is an update of my post published on January 29, 2011:




The German geologist Frederick Mohs is most famous for his Scale of Hardness. 

A geologist is a scientist who studies rocks and minerals and the origin and structure of the earth. So it may not surprise you to learn that Mohs's Scale of Hardness concerns rocks and minerals! 

Talc - 1
Born on this day in 1773, Mohs compared the hardness of various minerals, comparing each to the others by scratching one mineral onto another. Obviously, a harder material can scratch a softer one, but a softer material cannot scratch a harder one. Using his comparative data, Mohs created a scale that goes from one of the softest minerals, talc, at Number 1, to the hardest mineral, diamond, at Number 10. Of course, some minerals fall between the numbers and can be expressed as a decimal. For example, tin is considered 1.5. Also, the hardness of non-minerals can be expressed using the Mohs Scale; fingernails are about 2.5, for example, and glass runs from 5 to 6.

Diamond - 10





Malachite (above) and azurite (below) both
score between 3.5 and 4 on the Mohs Scale.





Amethyst - 7
Check out this short video about the Mohs Scale.  

 


Explore gems and minerals at the Smithsonian website.


The Hope Diamond can be seen at the Smithsonian

 


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