Satan's coffee

During the summer vacation, we happened to visit Satan's Coffee Corner. It's true, it really exists, and even has four stars on TripAdvisor.

I liked the atmosphere, and the smell of burning souls, or maybe it was Spanish coffee. Unfortunately, we came in 5 minutes before closing time. So, I ordered a double espresso to go. The coffee was excellent, with sweet smell and strong and bitter taste. Satan knows how to make coffee.

Before we left, I took a picture with my cell phone. I don't know who the girls in the picture are. I don't know if they were tourists or locals. They were just sitting there on a bench waiting for something. Maybe they were waiting in line to go to Hell, or maybe they were just waiting for their coffee.

Who knows. Maybe I should try to join them >:)

A.Z Challenge 24: X is unknown

This is the equation, 

ax+b=c,

and x is the unknown. Find x; that's easy,

x=(c-b)/a.

Now, let's put in some real numbers, a=2, b=6, c=14, or a=II, b=VI, c=XIV. The answer is x=4 or x=IV, in Arabic and Roman numbers, respectively. Which do you prefer? Today we use the Hindu-Arabic number system, because it's logical and makes it easier  to perform calculations.

There are a few exceptions, in names of popes and kings, and for making the production year unreadable in Hollywood movies.

It wasn't always like that. In earlier times, the Pope's clers did the bookkeeping in Roman numbers. The change from Roman to Arabic numbers did not happen without controversy in the Catholic part of the world.

It was argued that Arabic numbers made it easier to perform fraud. Just add a zero at the end to turn 100 into 1000. Also, it made the clers less exclusive. With Arabic numbers, anyone could do math, at least simple calculations, without being trained on the abacus.

Then there's the religious part. The Arabic numbers came from the Muslim world, the Christian's enemies who conquered the Holy Land. Some Christian scholars even claimed that the Arabic number system was an act of Satan.

In Satan we trust, at least when doing math. >:)

There's an alternative saying regarding math; God made the integers, the rest is Man's work.

Appendix: 

Many years ago I read a cool book called "Number Theory and It's History" (by Øystein Ore). That’s were I learnt most of the stuff above. I also learnt that there's a simple logical reason for our base-10 number system. Many cultures developed their number systems based on the number of fingers on one hand (African tribes), on two hands (modern system), or the total number of fingers and toes  (Mayas). 

The exception is the Babylonians who used base-60. That's why we have 60 minutes in an hour. 60 was a magic number. It's the only number that divide into all the integers from 1 to 6. Also, the Babylonians, who didn't know about Pi, discovered that 6 equal-sided triangles with 60 degree angles fit into a circle. That's why we still count 360 degrees around the full circle.

Venus and Satan

This morning there was this rare astronomical event; a Venus passage, where Venus passes in front of the sun. I happened between midnight and 6 am, and we were in a perfect location to watch it.

The public broadcasting was sending live all the time (these long and slow broadcast is one of the things I like about public broadcasting).

But I wanted to see it live, with my own eyes. I enjoy watching astronomical events; last time was the eclipse of the Sun in 2008.

So, I set my alarm clock for 3am. That’s about the time of sunrise in June. I grabbed a piece of over-exposed film (the kind of stuff we used before DC cameras), for eye protection, and then walked up to our 17th-century fortress (a 5-minute walk). The fortress was built to have a good view, of attacking enemies and sunsets and Venus passages. A perfect place to watch the event.

Unfortunately, it was partly cloudy, and the sun was low. I didn’t see much, but at least I got a glimpse of that black little spot moving very slowly across the face of the Sun. Very interesting.

And when I walked back home about 5am, it all became clear to me; the Grand Conspiracy.

Venus is not only a planet, but she’s also the God of love in Roman mythology. When God (the Trinity) conquered the world, she got offended and teamed up with Satan to get revenge.

Today is the 6th of June, the day Satan was born. And there’s more, it’s 6/6/12 which equals 6/6/6*2. Do you see the pattern here? The number of the beast, and the 2 for Venus’ and Satan’s engagement.

The Venus passage was her spectacular present to Satan on his birthday! Pretty scary, isn’t it?

We may argue that the Venus passage yesterday is a consequence of us happening to observe the Sun and Venus from our Earth. Every day there is some point in space with a Venus passage.

However, keep in mind that both Gods (all of them) and Satan exist only in the imagination of man living on Earth >:)

(I borrowed the picture above from the Internet, since I don't have a proper camera to photograph this myself.)

Satan's numbers

In my bookshelf I have a cool book titled Number Theory and It's History by Øystein Ore (Dover Classics series). I bought it many years ago, when I was a student.

Number theory is a subject for people with kind of weird interests. It's a branch of pure mathematics, dealing with fundamental properties of numbers; integers, prime numbers and fractions of integers (I prefer applied math).

Most interesting is the first part of the book, about the history of numbers.

People of ancient times have been dealing with number systems of different kinds. They seam to be linked to human anatomy. The common modern number system is base 10, which is the number of fingers on two hands (unless you happen to work in a sawmill).

The Mayas used a base 20 number system. That's the total count of fingers and toes (unless you're an Arctic explorer). Some African tribes have used base 5, the number of fingers on one hand.

The Babylonians used a base 60 system. I'm not sure why, but 60 is kind of a magic number, since it can be divided into all integers from 1 to 6. Still we have remnants from the Babylonians in our time keeping; 60 seconds per minute and 60 minutes per hour. Moreover, a full rotation around the clock is 6*60=360 degrees.

When we agree on a base 10 system, we know that, for instance, 123 means 1*100+2*10 +3. With a different base, the interpretation of the number becomes different.

In computer science, they sometimes use base 8 (octal) numbers, because 8=2*2*2 is closely related to the binary numbers (base 2) that computers use internally. In base 8, the number 123 means 1*64+2*8+1 (since 64=8*8).

From anatomy consideration, base 8 should also be the prefered number system of Disneyland. You have noticed the hands of Donald Duck and his friends?

In ancient Rome, they used the Roman numerals. They are still used in Hollywood to give the production year of a movie in an unreadable way. The Roman numerals were useful for counting, but hard to apply in calculations. About 1000 years ago, the Arabic numerals (which is what we still use) were introduced in Europe. They become popular because calculations with large numbers got much easier.

The Catholics didn't like the new number system (they have always been against anything new). The Pope stated that the Arabic numerals were the work of Satan.

It's fun that today even Catholics use Arabic numerals. It's one of the great victories of Satan >:D

(Watch out! Satan is everywhere, and he might be near you. I took the picture above on the motorway in Moscow this summer. Satan caught my eye, even if he was driving upside down.)

Dorian and I

Before we moved to our present house, we lived in a condo a couple of miles away. It was a nice neighborhood, and a great place for kids to grow up. We still have many friends from that era.

Yesterday, it was the annual garden party in our old street, with lots of former neighbors. Some of them still live in the same street. Some have moved to other parts of town, like us. It was a great party, with barbecue and volleyball (an important part of the tradition), and it was fun to see all the little kids who have grown up to become teenagers.

We see some of our former neighbors occasionally, but some we hardly ever meet. Yesterday, I talked to a woman that I haven't seen for more than 10 years. She said that I looked exactly the same as 15 years ago, not a day older.

I thought this was a nice compliment, and I thanked her (she looked a lot older, so I didn't return it). But later, I got kind of worried, because Dorian Gray came to my mind.

Today, I've been looking at old family pictures. The wedding picture, looked as it always did, fortunately. Then I started to browse old photo albums, looking for those frightening signs ... because, you know, Dorian and I gave our souls to the Devil.

Mohahaha ... scary isn't it >:)))

It's a great book, btw.

(That's Dorian in the picture, not me. I found the picture on the Internet. It's a cover picture from the Penguin Classics series. That's the edition of Dorian Gray that I have. I bought it in a 2nd-hand bookstore on Pearl Street in Boulder long time ago, when we lived in Colorado)

Antichristmas

Today is the 6th of June, 6/6, the day Satan was born.

We're planning a big celebration, at least I do. Mohahhaa, it's scary, isn't it?

Not really. I'm not taking God nor Satan very seriously.

I think the Christians should be happy to have their Satan. He's a nice guy, and the second most important character in Christianity (after Jesus). Satan has been used for centuries to scare people to believe in God. It has been an effective campaign. Satan and Jesus are friends.

By the way, here's a cool joke I heard from little boy some time ago.

Pete and Paul were playing in the sandpit.
Pete said: "Paul, do you beileve that Satan really exists?"
Paul replied: "No, it's like Santa Claus, it's just dad."

Merry Antichristmas >:)

(The picture above is not my work, unfortunately, it's a cool drawing. I found it on the internet some years ago. I have used it in presentations at work from time to time; nobody has been offended so far. We're a country of heathens>:))