Posted by jonvon on July 27, 2001 at 23:59:48:
In Reply to: John's List posted by kat on July 26, 2001 at 20:28:53:
: I'm just completely intimidated by this list, what's a mandelbrot? Is that what Howie mandel cooks on the grill?
you sure are funny!
Here is a link:
mandelbrot
Here is another one, if you search around you will probably come up with some better stuff than i did:
a java applet
Mandelbrot was (or maybe is) a mathematician, a chaos theoretician i suppose you could call him. there is an algorithm for generating fractals that is named after him. i guess maybe he programmed the first one, or maybe the various software packages out there that generate mandelbrot fractals are just based on the math he came up with. actually a lot of the basic math (from what i remember reading about it) has been around for a long time, but no one really did a lot of it because the nature of these calculations is this: lots and lots of fairly simple calculations done over and over again. no one would want to do this kind of math because after a while even the craziest mathematician would jump out the window from boredom. but computers don't mind doing it, so people have programmed them to do the math, and they have found a lot of interesting things as they went along.
for a good book on all this stuff check out James Gleick's book called Chaos, Making a New Science it came out several years back. there is a lot of info on mandelbrot and other cool stuff.
fractals are just basically shapes that look the same at different sizes. for instance, take a certain kind of rock and look at it under a microscope, note the shape along its edge. then note the shape of a boulder made of the same rock. then look at a range of mountains made of the same rock and look at the shape of the horizon. it will all be fairly similar, not exactly as the shapes are random, but pretty similar. in other words certain patterns emerge. in a nutshell that is what fractals are about, and mandelbrot is the "fractal guy". kinda thing.
: What exactly is Attachment Parenting? Why does that term make me nervous? John you are cool, but I'm scared of your list!
: -kat
you so silly! me laugh long time! Attachment parenting is just basically hanging out with your kid a lot. some kids need a lot more holding and touching and attention than others. once in a while a little buddy comes along who is a "high needs" child. Roan is one of those. she requires a lot of special attention. it has something to do with a kind of stimulus barrier not having formed as quickly as in other kids. she is intensely aware of everything all the time, she can't shut things out very well. so she needs us to be physically present with her. we use things like Baby Bjorn carriers that strap to our chests and we walk around with her. Roan sleeps with us, we carry her around a lot, and she is still breastfeeding and will be until she weans herself from it, which could be sometime within the first two years of her life. a lot of times people say to us that we should feed her more, or we should let her cry it out, etc. its hard sometimes because they don't know what we are going through, and what our child is going through, and who she is, and what she needs. sometimes kids who need attachment parenting shut down, lose weight and get sick if they don't get what they need. so it is very important for us to be there for her.
kinda thing.
well i'm off to dreamland... see everybody later!