March 13, 2003
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Birthday Song
Today is the birthday of the late Jewish media magnate and art collector Walter H. Annenberg, whose name appears on a website that includes the following text:
“Making quilt blocks is an excellent way to explore symmetry. A quilt block is made of 16 smaller squares. Each small square consists of two triangles. Study this example of a quilt block:
This block has a certain symmetry. The right half is a mirror image of the left, and the top half is a mirror of the bottom.”
© 1997-2003 Annenberg/CPB. All rights reserved.
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Symmetries of patterns such as the above are the subject of my 1976 monograph “ Diamond Theory,” which also deals with “shape and space in geometry,” but in a much more sophisticated way. For more on Annenberg, see my previous entry, “Daimon Theory.” For more on the historical significance of March 13, see Neil Sedaka, who also has a birthday today, in “ Jews in the News.”
Sedaka is, of course, noted for the hit tune “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen,” our site music for today.
See also Geometry for Jews and related entries.
For the phrase “diamond theory” in a religious and philosophical context, see
Pilate, Truth, and Friday the Thirteenth.
“It’s quarter to three….” — Frank Sinatra
