n+7 writing

In the latest Numberphile video, Marcus du Sautoy introduced me to the notion of n+7 writing/poetry.

Take an existing text, and replace the nouns with words seven places advanced in the dictionary.

I decided to apply this treatment to the most famous Star Wars crawl, from episode IV.

I used a 1999 Oxford English dictionary, and occasionally had to take a few licences. I used a list of women’s names to give Princess Leia the +7 treatment.

THE ORIGINAL:

Episode IV

A NEW HOPE

It is a period of civil war.

Rebel spaceships, striking

from a hidden base, have won

their first victory against

the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel

spies managed to steal secret

plans to the Empire's

ultimate weapon, the DEATH

STAR, an armored space

station with enough power to

destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire's

sinister agents, Princess

Leia races home aboard her

starship, custodian of the

stolen plans that can save

her people and restore

freedom to the galaxy....

And here it is n+7:

Epistolary IV

A NEW HOPLITE

It is a periodontitis of clabber.

Rebel spackles, striking

from a hidden basement, have won

their first video against

the evil Galactic Employee.

During the battue, Rebel

squabbles managed to steal secret

planes to the Employee’s

ultimate weather, the DEBACLE

STARE, an armored spade

stationery with enough poxvirus to

destroy an entire planigale.

Pursued by the Employee’s

sinister agile gibbons, Princess

Lela races home aboard her

starting pistol, customs union of the

stolen planes that can save

her pepper and restore

freehold to the galia melon….

Something Egg-stra

Two videos posted for Easter this year.

First, the legendary Johnny Ball showing how to draw an egg shape by using the geometry of a pentagon.

But we also wanted to share some recent breakthrough research about the shape of eggs.

I contacted the authors and managed to arrange a Zoom call with Val Narushin in Ukraine.

Despite being based near the war frontline, Val was able to do the interview (as long as we finished before the nightly 8pm blackout).

Of course, these were not the first videos I’ve made about eggs… See below:

It's Pi Day... again

I didn’t intend to make anything for Pi Day 2022 - feels like I’ve already done my bit for the Pi cause.

However a few serendipitous opportunities arose.

First, Matt Parker was working on his own epic Pi video - and we helped him film some things at the Royal Society.

With Matt there, it seemed like an opportunity to make some extra videos for Objectivity and Numberphile… so we did.

The above videos obviously tie-in nicely with Matt’s own video on Stand Up Maths.

I’ve also made a “last-minute” podcast for Numberphile about some music released by Pi enthusiast Martin Krzywinski. (You’ll find the Numberphile Podcast on most players and apps)

For more Pi videos from over the years, here’s the Numberphile Pi Playlist: http://bit.ly/PiPlaylist

It includes our classic Mile of Pi and Pi with Pies. Which also feature Matt, funnily enough.

Twos-Day

Well it is 22-2-22 - depending on your favoured dating system.

It also happens to fall on a Tuesday.

Matt Parker from Stand-up Maths devised an epic collaboration between various educational YouTubers - 22 of them, in fact.

The journey starts with a video on Matt’s own channel.

While continuing on his own channel, the saga then forks out to a video on Steve Mould’s Shorts channel and my own Numberphile2 channel.

It’s deliciously convoluted but great fun - the material on Numberphile2 is totally different to what is happening on Stand-Up Maths.

Various people share a story or factoid relating to the number two.

Well done to Matt and his team, including editor Alex Genn-Bash.

And if you enjoyed it, perhaps make a donation to WaterAid!?

Investiture at Windsor Castle

In January I wrote about the Medal of the Order of Australia - you can read about it here.

Because I live in the UK, it was not possible to receive the medal in my homeland.

Instead - about nine months later - I received it from Prince Charles at Windsor Castle.

Below is a video about the medal on the Objectivity channel - it includes footage from the investiture.

You can also hear more detail during this episode of the Unmade Podcast.

Stuff from Iceland

I’ve created a stand-alone blog series from a trip to Iceland in July 2021.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE (including volcanoes, glaciers and whale penises)

Medal of the Order of Australia

This Australia Day I was fortunate to receive the Medal of the Order of Australia.

The citation says it is “for services to broadcast and online media”.

It was a big surprise when the notification arrived last month and I feel very honoured.

(The initial email went to my junk folder and I thought it may be a prank!)

Despite living in the UK for many years now, I’m immensely proud to be Australian.

If you’d like to hear more, I talk about the award in the latest episode of The Unmade Podcast (sometimes seriously, sometimes jokingly).

I do not have the physical medal yet.

The investiture ceremonies take place in a few months and I’m not sure I’ll be able to travel back to Australia in the current environment.

I’d just like to mention (if not by name) the hundreds of people who help make my videos and podcasts. I’m under no illusion that my work is a solo effort.

And also thanks to the people who watch the videos and listen to the podcasts - I wouldn’t be able to make them if there was not such a loyal and engaged audience.