Once again, on visiting Germany, I am impressed by how their public spaces are clean and pleasant, and how the people seem affluent and well dressed. I have a few pictures of Frankfurt which I always imagined to be dominated by skyscrapers: it has some but they dramatise the city rather than oppress it.

Actually one of the buildings looks a lot like the view when you first emerge from the station in City 17...

Flickr

Poincare Conjecture

I wasn't sure whether to title this as I did, or about how annoying I think Marcus du Sautoy is. I am listening to a podcast of In Our Time, which is absolutely the best thing about our much-degraded Radio 4, hosted by Melvyn Bragg. Marcus d S is the just the sort of mathematician I hate. Like a wine buff, trying to transfer experience from one mode to another, he trivialises it to the point of uselessness. I cannot believe I am listening to this drivel about bagels and the earth. It just does not convey the real experience of doing mathematics.

I am reminded of "Hikaru No Go" which is a truly wonderful anime series about a young boy who is entered by a Go-playing spirit from a previous time. The anime is full of the human drama of playing Go, and truly exciting, but after watching it you will still know very little about how to play Go. To do that you have to do the hard work and learn how to calculate and read out positions. Mathematics is like that: you have to do the hard work. Lots of funny arm waving and humanising it is just doing mathematics an injustice.

I saw M du S talking about the Music of the Primes once before and his idea of getting us enthused about mathematics - oh god - icosoahedral space is like ..we're back to football - anyway his idea was to show us an excerpt from The Cube. Please.

Scott Adams' blog

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/

KGS Plus lecture for 5/11/05

Guo Juan on the variations after W star point, B K's approach, W one-point pincer

First she examines a trick attachment and cross-cut. Must try that sometime.

Option 1.
B goes into 3-3 point,
** W blocks on the open side if he has a stone already, B makes 2 along, 2 down.
W's hane inwards is not strictly sente as B can extend from stone on second line.
B's hane outwards is very sente as W must defend, else B clamps and starts to threaten W's wall of 3.
** W blocks between, B makes the 3 and 1. Guo examines the variations of playing one point away from the 1 on the third line, and then B walking out. Both quiet nobi or interesting cut are possible.
24 minutes.

KGS Plus lecture for 30/10/05

Yilun Yang
Framework-oriented Chinese opening for B at the top, territory for W at the bottom.

* Stressed usefulness of 5pt extension - showed a comfortable invasion into a 6pt extension.
* See effects of white approach - 3rd line stone at top is territorial - developing a wall facing is inconsistent
* help the weaker stone; help the inside stone get out; OK to touch the weaker stone if it gets HEAVIER
* avalanche leading to two outcomes which work well or badly with two stones already played.
light - sabaki escape
* W reducing stone can't settle immediately - needs a handful of forcing moves - need to touch things - choose to touch strong things
* three touches then a fast jump - also examined the effect of B's cut
* when still not settled, a crosscut and sacrifice to get even more forcing moves.
* Pushing battle where consideration is who needs libetrties mopre to decide extend or hane.
* Long liberty battle at the bottom - always looking for ways to get more liberties

KGS plus lecture for 1/10/05

Listened to the Mingjiu Jiang lecture from Saturday last 1st October. Studied the close-in pincer to the approach to 4-4 - which direction to block and when it is OK to tenuki. I saw the wall-of-3 and two-knights moves pattern come up several times, also at the top when he used a knight's move approach to a 3-10 stone - much better than going on top when you don't want the opponent to walk through your moyo. Also looked at two knight's move approaches to the 4-4, when it is OK to go in to the 3-3 if you have outlying stones in both directions, and which direction to then cut - towards the one further out.