October 2007 Archives

My New Favorite Show

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Wow, two posts in one day.

I've almost completely abandoned network TV. For several years now I've watched almost nothing but the Weather Channel, the Food Network, and Animal Planet. (Meerkat Manor, which I DVR, has recently become almost too heartbreaking to watch.) I watch House; that's about it. I realized the extent to which I'd lost track of what's on when I recently discovered a show that instantly became my favorite. I'd never heard of it, and it's in its fourth season. I'm talking about Numb3rs, and those of you who know me will laugh, as Mike did: I WONDER WHY you like that show. It's about two brothers, one an FBI agent, the other a mathematical genius who helps him solve crimes. As a mathematician myself who has been obsessed with numbers since elementary school, I love the presentation/promotion of mathematics in the show: it's all around us; numbers are everywhere; everything is mathematics.

And what a cast! The father is played by Emmy-winner Judd Hirsch (Alex Reiger from Taxi). The FBI agent is played by 3-time Emmy-nominated Rob Morrow (Dr. Joel Fleischman from Northern Exposure) (Interesting tidbit: he was on the short list of actors considered for the role of House). Levity is provided by a physicist colleague/friend of the mathematician, played by Emmy-winner Peter MacNicol (John Cage from Ally McBeal). The mathematician is played by David Krumholtz, who's been in various movies and TV shows but his role in Numb3rs is the best he's had.

I used a gift card from Barnes and Noble (a birthday present I hadn't gotten around to spending) to order the first 3 seasons on DVDs. I've watched four episodes so far and they've all been good.

Balloons

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Poor neglected blog. I've been meaning to post some pics of the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque since I got back a couple of weeks ago. I went out there for meetings that were conveniently scheduled during the afternoons so we could go to the Fiesta in the mornings. These pictures don't do justice to the experience. It's amazing being out there on the field watching the balloons go up all around you. In the pictures they look far away but they weren't; they were close. And all moving, independently of one another. The sky was filled with hundreds of colorful balloons, and when the sun came up high enough over the Sandia mountains to hit them it was beautiful. Well, see for yourself.

First, a couple of pics of a balloon being filled. They start by blowing cold air into it with a fan:

Then they turn on a burner, which causes the balloon to quickly lift off the ground:

Balloons about to launch:

In addition to the traditional balloons, there were all kinds of shapes...

ALL KINDS of shapes...

Balloons everywhere...

Floating peacefully in the sun...

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