Search where?

This Portfolio (cathartes02)

All of Writing.Com

◄ October ► 2020
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Archive				RSS

Offsite Blogs

· Waltz Travel Blog

Create New Item

Read & Review

Community

Browse By Type

Browse By Genre

Writing Resources

Monday, May. 20, 2024

9:05pm EDT

Members: 939

Guests: 646

Total Online: 1,585

Complex Numbers

by Robert Waltz

Rated: 18+ · Book · Personal · #1196512

Not for the faint of art.

Complex Numbers

A complex number is expressed in the standard form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is defined by i^2 = -1 (that is, i is the square root of -1). For example, 3 + 2i is a complex number.

The bi term is often referred to as an imaginary number (though this may be misleading, as it is no more "imaginary" than the symbolic abstractions we know as the "real" numbers). Thus, every complex number has a real part, a, and an imaginary part, bi.

Complex numbers are often represented on a graph known as the "complex plane," where the horizontal axis represents the infinity of real numbers, and the vertical axis represents the infinity of imaginary numbers. Thus, each complex number has a unique representation on the complex plane: some closer to real; others, more imaginary. If a = b, the number is equal parts real and imaginary.

Very simple transformations applied to numbers in the complex plane can lead to fractal structures of enormous intricacy and astonishing beauty.

http://www.ddewey.net/mandelbrot/

Signature for Honorable Mentions in 2018 Quill Awards

A signature for exclusive use of winners at the 2019 Quill Awards

Signature for those who have won a Quill Award at the 2020 Quill Awards

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Aiva Raine

May 17, 2024 at 6:57pm
In response to "Knead Some Dough?"

I grew up on mostly Wonder Bread despite our family having a large dry farm (dry farm being a farm that grows wheat and barley and safflower without irrigation- it relies solely upon mother nature to rain). I was never fond of it and looked forward to the times my mom would laboriously mill and grind the grain we brought back during harvest into flour and make home-made wheat bread. There was and still is nothing better than fresh whole wheat bread with a little butter and honey.

I think we did the Wonder Bread because my mom wasn't a fan of cooking and making bread is a time-consuming process.

I quit doing the white bread decades ago. There are so many kinds of healthy, no HFCS, etc whole grain breads out there that are delicious that I have no idea why any adult would choose the crappy Wonder Bread.

1 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

May 13, 2024 at 1:18pm
In response to "The Breakfast and the Breakfurious"

And for those who rather not read the Smithsonian article, the History Channel episode that covers Pop Tarts (if you have a cable TV account):

https://www.history.com/shows/the-food-that-built-america/season-4/episode-1

Annette

May 10, 2024 at 12:05pm
In response to "Meditation Clause"

Everytime a stranger asks me to close my eyes, I keep my eyes open to see what they are up to.
Meditation is not for me.

But I think most people would have 45 minutes every day if they took that time away from social media or TV watching.

2 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

May 9, 2024 at 1:15pm
In response to "Super Stew?"

But . . .

What's the difference between one being in the soup or in a stew? Is one thinner or thicker? How do writers use soup and stew?

1 Like

Elisa the Bunny Stik

May 9, 2024 at 10:11am
In response to "Super Stew?"

"Served in a pot? Maybe in your country."

Honestly, in the US I'd think soup would be served in a pot due to the quantity that ends up being consumed.

1 Like

Lazy Writer est 4/24/2008

May 8, 2024 at 3:02pm
In response to "Be Positive"

Mine always tell me to eat more fruits and veggies.

Annette

May 8, 2024 at 10:52am
In response to "Be Positive"

Asking doctors for advice has its own pitfalls. Because there is no money in recommending a sensible nutrition pattern, they will say things like: Look it up online.

2 Like

🌕 HuntersMoon

May 5, 2024 at 8:50am
In response to "Revisited: "Fail""

Shame on you for making fun of the Hoggs. Being a Virginian, Bob, you should know the reverence that the name Hog inspires recalling the glory days of the Washington Redskins (now the Commanders). The Hogs

1 Like

Charity Marie - <3

May 4, 2024 at 5:42pm
In response to "Overdraft Dodgers"

I have four different accounts and each one has a purpose. Savings, personal debit card, auto draft debit card, and a b8lls account. The bills account is the only one that can overdraft as it's for manual big bills like rent, cell, electric, etc. Stuff that mist be paid. The rest are blocked from overdraft and the savings account has no debit card attached. My bank accounts have been hacked too many times so I keep it this way to protect myself. It is very rare I ever pay an overdraft. I have a money market account for money greater than $10K so it gains interest and isn't touched except emergencies. That is a secure account too.

1 Like

Kåre Enga in Montana

May 3, 2024 at 4:23pm
In response to "It's a Crime"

Thailand versus Montana versus New York versus Costa Rica.

Theft? Not in Thailand! Not a huge concern in Missoula, perhaps in NYC, definitely an issue in Costa Rica.

Violence? Not a huge concern in Thailand. More so in MT, NY and CR (where it wasn't a concern years ago), definitely a problem in Saint Louis and the US in general. El Salvador is known for violence.

Death by vehicle. Not a huge concern in either NY or MT. A rising problem in Costa Rica. Thailand is one of the worst places in the world in this respect.

You may be shot and killed in parts of the US but you're more likely to be run-over in Thailand.

1 Like

October 3, 2020 at 12:03am

#994891

That's Not Kosher!

And now for something completely different... a recipe

(And an actual emoticon)

Merit Badge Mini-Contest below!

https://www.thekitchn.com/challah-french-toast-264194

Recipe: Best-Ever Challah French Toast

This came up from my list at random, but it's serendipitous because not only is it Shabbat right now (aka the Sabbath, which of course happens every week) but it's also Sukkot, a harvest festival that only comes 'round once a year, like most harvest festivals. It's kind of like the Jewish version of Oktoberfest, with less beer and more freezing your ass off outside at night. But with food.

Couple of things to start off.

Food as Cultural Appropriation: Get the fuck out of here with that shit. Eat what you like. And I can practically guarantee you that if you like bread, you'll like challah. Besides, I bet that unless you have dietary crap going on, you've already eaten bagels, pastrami sandwiches, and latkes. Anyway, this comes from my ancestral culture and I give you permission.

Pronunciation: Since the etymology of the name is Hebrew, it's pronounced with a sound we don't have in English. This is rendered as "ch." Now, "ch" can be pronounced like in chop, or like in Charlotte, or, and this is the important one here, like in loch or chutzpah. You make the sound by basically half-clearing your throat. If you really, really can't make the sound, then pronouncing it with a hard "k" is barely acceptable, though that will out you as a goy. But if I can learn how to pronounce a French "r," you can pronounce the Hebrew "ch." Might take some practice, though.

One final thing before we get on to this delicious and probably addictive recipe:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challah

There. Now you know more than I do about this tasty bread.

Growing up, challah French toast was the only French toast I knew.

Same here, although unlike the author, my parents couldn't cook to save their lives. But with enough sugar, when you're a kid, who cares?

We would slather softened butter over thick slices of fresh challah on Friday night for Shabbat, and my dad would use the rest of the loaf to make mile-high stacks of French toast the next morning...

You know how I know the author doesn't come from an Orthodox family?

It wasn’t until a diner served me French toast made with a piece of limp wheat sandwich bread that I realized how spoiled I had been.

Seriously, it's possible to make decent French toast with other breads, but some of the crap that passes itself off as French toast is actually crap. (French toast, by the way, isn't all that French and actually predates what we now know as France -- but "Gaulish Bread" just doesn't have the ring to it. I hear that in actual France, it's called pain perdu, or "lost bread.")

Trust me, once you’ve had challah French toast, you’ll realize there’s no other way to eat it.

This is truth incarnate. So beware: you will be spoiled by this, just like I can no longer drink cheap-ass American adjunct light beer.

3 Steps for the Absolute Best Challah French Toast

And really, this stuff is dead easy to create. Even I can be arsed to whip up a batch from time to time, and I'm the laziest imaginable cook.

1. Cut thick slices of bread, then dry them out in the oven.

This is ideal, yes, but a lot of times the reason you're making French toast is you have bread that's going stale and needs to be eaten before it becomes duck chow or hockey pucks. And stale bread may not need the oven treatment. You probably know better than I do whether to do this step or not. I usually just use the stale bread.

2. Use full-fat dairy for the very best custard.

Seriously, if you're already committed to French toast, the paltry extra calories you get from using actual milk instead of watery skim milk won't make a thimbleful of difference.

3. Fry the French toast in butter, not oil.

I approve of this message.

The article ends with the actual recipe, which seems like a big block of text but is actually just padded for rank beginners so they don't make rookie mistakes like letting the butter (or the toast itself) burn.

For maximum sacrilege, I recommend serving with a heap of bacon strips. Unless you're actually Jewish, I promise this won't piss off God. The pig might not be very happy about it, though.

Besides, I once overheard some idiot complaining about cultural appropriation while chomping down on a bacon, egg and cheese bagel. Irony is utterly lost on some people.

Merit Badge Mini-Contest!

And hey, now that it's fully October and I'm feeling better than I was yesterday, tell me about your favorite breakfast food in a comment below. The one that makes me the hungriest gets its chef de cuisine a Merit Badge. As always, you have until the end of the day today, October 3, WDC time.

11 Like • Comment • View 7 comments

© Copyright 2024 Robert Waltz (UN: cathartes02 at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Robert Waltz has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/profile/blog/cathartes02/day/10-3-2020