Lockdown math: trigonometry fundamentals

Here's a fascinating story about a convenience-store owner in Michigan, Jerry Selbee, who cracked a Michigan state lottery — and then a similar one in Massachusetts. He didn't do anything illegal; he just realized the lotteries were constructed in such a fashion that under certain conditions, if you bet big and could spend more than… READ THE REST

CGP Grey looks at why hexagons are so great, and why honeybees like them so much. It comes down to tiling efficiency. Unlike triangles and squares, hexagons do not divide into smaller versions of themselves, meaning they are very efficient for making sturdy walled containers with minimal material. My own interest in hexagons is related… READ THE REST

Githubber rvizz shows off a few nifty examples of some code he wrote to rotate images recursively. As the recursion reaches the one-square pixel point, it then appears to reassemble the image turned 90 degrees. You can learn more and try it yourself over on GitHub at rvizz/rotate. Image: youTube / rvizz READ THE REST

In 1982, 57% of Americans reported reading at least one work of creative literature in the preceding year. That number fell to 54% in 1992, then down to 47% in 2002. And, according to a Pew Research Center survey, over a quarter of Americans said they didn't read a book of any kind in print,… READ THE REST

They seem innocent enough. But without trumping up local news exposé levels of hysteria here…your pillow could actually be hurting you. Sure, they appear like happy, cloud-like wads of fluff, but the right pillow is actually pretty integral to you getting a good night's sleep. With too much or too little support, your pillow could… READ THE REST

Without power, all these devices and gadgets we love so much are little more than glorified doorstops. And, some of them are too small to even do that very well. For the person on your holiday list who always seems to have a dead phone whenever you try to reach them, give 'em one of… READ THE REST