I just ordered this course from "The Teaching Company," which makes courses available on DVD for anyone who can afford them, to view and learn from. I have been wanting to get "Change and Motion: Calculus Made Clear" for many years, but now that I am actually studying calculus, it's time for the recorded course. This course, taught by a professor with the wonderfully evocative name of "Michael Starbird," (Archangel flying with an eagle on starry wings!) is not meant to be a math-crunching ordeal with lots of problems, it is about the practical applications of calculus in everyday life. For the "real" work in mathematics, I stay with the less fabulously named Dr. Anton's book.

Currently I am carefully reading the introductory chapter on tangents and limits. I must remember that a tangent is a line touching a curve at one point, where that line is at a right angle to another line perpendicular to that curve at the same point. I'm not sure whether that is a proper definition of a tangent but that's what fixes it in my mind. I notate all sorts of redundent or personal explanations of material in the book, since this copy of Dr. Anton is well-used and I don't have to return it to anyone.

There was lightning in the sky tonight, but no heavy rain at all. The humid, hot weather I love is now here, but my enjoyment of it is somewhat reduced by the repulsive, mind-numbing geysers of heat and sweat that I must endure every forty minutes or so, namely the hot flashes which have returned as the weather is warmer. My soymilk and soy extracts worked when the weather was colder, but they don't do much now. I continue to consume soy, though, because I think it makes me feel somewhat better. There may be other remedies, though at this time hormone treatments are not an option. One of the most annoying things about hot flashes is that it makes me feel so un-hip and dorky. You do not hear about "cool" people having hot flashes.

In other news, I am about to get Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator for my new Macintosh. These fancy graphics programs are the "industry standard" for illustrators and digital artists. I have been cranking along on CorelDraw and Corel PhotoPaint for all these years, and I've done plenty of good graphics on these programs, but I'm eager to work with the more sophisticated Adobe software. Meanwhile, I'm working on new concepts for geometric/mathematical abstractions on the Corel programs. The nice thing about geometric art is that it's real easy to do a "sketch" for a painting on the computer, and you can play around with the elements without having to do many pencil or watercolor roughs. Then when it's ready, I just print it on my printer and transfer the design to canvas or board, where I paint it with old-fashioned brushes and slightly newer-fashioned acrylic. By "cool" standards, I shouldn't have to push paint around at all, and all my art should be digital, but somehow the old paintjobs still appeal to the old buyers.

Posted at 2:44 am | link