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Cactus Mathematics

If you visit Arizona you can hardly fail to miss the impressive saguaro cacti that march up the foothills of the mountains near Tucson. So it's not totally surprising to find that a bunch of Arizona mathematicians have turned their minds to the beautiful patterns in cacti. In particular, how do the striking patterns of ribs arise? Patrick Shipman and Alan Newell, at the University of Arizona in Tucson, have provided an important part of the answer. It all depends on elasticity. A Saguaro Cactus outside Cave Creek Arizona Since ancient times, people have noticed strange numerical patterns in plants. Marigolds have 13 petals, asters have 21, daisies have 34, 55, or 89, and sunflowers have 55, 89, or 144. These numbers have been familiar to mathematicians since 1202, when the Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa posed a problem about rabbits. His somewhat unrealistic rabbit population increased according to a fascinating sequence of numbers: 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 23...
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CLOUD FORMATIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Lenticular cloud, Mt. Fuji, Japan Altocumulus lenticularis is one of the more obviously 'bizarre' cloud types -- they don't occur too frequently, so when you see one, you take notice. They often form above or near mountains, as moist air flows rapidly over a rise in elevation. Mt. Fuji makes a pretty sweet base for this one.   Lenticular cloud, Mt. Fuji, Japan Altocumulus lenticularis is one of the more obviously 'bizarre' cloud types -- they don't occur too frequently, so when you see one, you take notice. They often form above or near mountains, as moist air flows rapidly over a rise in elevation. Mt. Fuji makes a pretty sweet base for this one. Asperatus formation, Canterbury, New Zealand This one's so rare it doesn't even have official classification. "Undulatus asperatus" is its proposed designation, and if accepted as a new form by meteorologists, it'll be the first such addition since 1951. As of now, it's just another exa...
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Spiegel scandal!!!FROM GREECE WITH LOVE

  The Spiegel Affair of 1962 (German: Spiegel-Affäre) was one of the major political scandals in Germany in the era following World War II. The scandal involved a conflict between Franz Josef Strauss, then Federal Minister of Defense, and Rudolf Augstein, owner and editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel magazine, Germany's leading weekly political magazine. The affair would cost Strauss his office and put, according to some commentators, the postwar German democracy to its first major test.   Course Rudolf Augstein (right) in 1970 with chancellor Willy Brandt Minister Strauss and editor Augstein had already clashed a year earlier, when, in 1961, Spiegel raised accusations of bribery in favor of the FIBAG construction company, which had received a contract for building military facilities. However, a parliamentary enquiry then found no evidence against Strauss. The quarrel then escalated when Der Spiegel, in its October 8, 1962, issue, published an article called "Bedingt ...
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