Surf 'N Stop

eMusing around the Web this month has turned up a number of rich sites for all tastes. Here are a few that I found to be particularly interesting:

From Rutgers University in New Jersey comes a group of websites dedicated to Feminism and women's issues - you could spend hours on this one alone: http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/%7Ekvander/Feminist/femsites.html

Those of you who are interested in Glass Art, and particularly in the story of Dale Chihuly, will enjoy this site. Chihuly has been the primary source behind the explosion of interest in glass in this country since the 1970's. He is a skilled promoter, a gifted salesman, and a brilliant artist. He has been particularly creative in expanding the size and scope of glass pieces, including his glass chandeliers and intricate installations of glass all over the world. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/visualart/266953_dalechihuly17.html

Computer aficionados are conversant with fractals and the Mandelbrot sets. But did you know that a thirteenth century Bavarian monk named Udo of Aachen used Mandelbrot sets seven centuries before Mandelbrot discovered them? Udo's purpose was to determine which mortals would go to heaven, based on dividing the soul into two segments, "animi" (spiritual) and "profanus" (profane). In fact he had worked out an allegorical scheme for determining the Mandelbrot sets. Udo received little recognition from his contemporaries, apparently because he used arabic numerals, which were considered a "black art", and because he was considered a heretic for suggesting that salvation and damnation could be discovered beforehand. Read more about this fascinating monk at http://www.raygirvan.co.uk/apoth/udo.htm

Tony Robbin was a painter intrigued by space and its complexities, so much so that he began exploring four-dimensional geography. In his quest to learn more about how we visualize space and how we experience it, he hired tutors to teach him about the space-time continuum and Einstein's theory of relativity. In his 1992 book, "Fourfield", Robbin shares his excitement over the visualization possiblities offered by the computer and the joystick. He first constructed welded steel frames with canvas to recreate hypercubes. Eventually he produced paintings and drawings to reflect these spaces as well. In his new book, "Shadows of Reality", Robbin claims that one day four dimensional reality will become as commonplace as 3D is now. You can see some of Robbin's digitally reproduced drawings here: http://tonyrobbin.net/ and an article about him called Math Trek at the Science News website: http://blog.sciencenews.org/

c.Corinne Whitaker 2006