6 ms·
About Ron Graham
- dang 6y agoRelated from a few weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23765035 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23765035
- 082349872349872 6y agoThanks, don't know how I missed that. He was kind enough to geek out with me several years back; had I realised he'd had any connection to Mills' Mess we'd have had another topic of conversation. In a different universe, he might have been a Magister Ludi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Bead_Game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Bead_Game
- netman21 6y agoNice to learn he helped create the Mill's Mess juggling technique. I learned how to do that in 1981 at UofM.
- ColinWright 6y agoI talked to Ron about that. For some years the rumour had circulated that he and Steve worked on it, but that Ron actually did the final inventing, but Ron convinced me that while they did work on it together, they only had a "half" version, and it was Steve who put together the "final" version.
- UnbugMe 6y agoLOL sucking CCP cock is nothing to be proud of.
- gigatexal 6y agoHe seems like an accomplished guy: comfortable in his field and in life to explore other parts of it outside his chosen field. This balance is something I’d like to achieve — to be secure enough in what I do to devote time to roger things.
- melling 6y agoI saw that he lived to be 84, which seemed like a long life until I saw this other story on HN about Olivia de Havilland living to 104. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23958566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23958566 Imagine if Einstein had lived another 30 years into the 1980’s. Richard Feynman was 2 years younger than Olivia de Havilland, but he only lived to be 69.
- dddbbb 6y agoThere's a woman living in Japan who was born before George Orwell. It's incredible to think that one could be in their 60s and still have half a century left.
- joedevon 6y agoAs you get older that is less alarming! -said as a 52 year old
- chrisco255 6y agoFeynman's good friend Freeman Dyson lived to be 96 and died just a few months ago. He was mentally sharp right through the end.
- eru 6y agoEinstein would probably have liked to live longer, but I don't think he did much important science in his later years?
- ColinWright 6y agoI made this comment on an earlier post about Ron, but it seems relevant. It's via Ron that I have my Erdos number (of the first kind) of 2. He was warm, welcoming, kind, enthusiastic, engaging, and a wonderful person to be with, let alone work with. I wrote[0] about how I first met him, and while we didn't meet often, it was always a pleasure, and he always greeted me warmly. I'm sad to think I won't see him again. I'll miss him. [0] https://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/MeetingRonGraham.html?tg26hn https://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/MeetingRonGraham.html?tg26hn
- RyJones 6y agoWhat is special about 5551?
- ColinWright 6y agoI don't know your background, so I don't know at what level I should pitch my reply. At the time, as far as we know, no one in the world had done it with the possible exception (in hindsight) of Paul Klimek, Bengt Magnusson, Bruce Tiemann, Mike Day, Adam Chalcraft, and me. At the time it just wasn't known. When I was at juggling conventions I could torture 7 ball jugglers by getting them to try 441, 5551, and 66661. If you've never done SiteSwaps they feel seriously weird. If that doesn't answer your question, tell me more about your background, what you know, whether you can juggle, and I'll tailor my answer further.
- RyJones 6y agoI know nothing of juggling; however, that 5551 was a previously unknown juggle was all I needed to know. Thanks!
- ColinWright 6y agoActually, it's not just that it was unknown, it's also that it was particularly weird. It's not just a pattern, it's a cool pattern. Not just previously unknown, but of a previously unknown type. That's what made it especially interesting.
- stepstop 6y agoWhat is an approachable book on Ramsey's theory for non-mathematicians ? (Graham's number applies to Ramsey's theory.)
- ColinWright 6y agoThere's a quick introduction to it here: https://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/InfiniteRamseyTheorem.html?tg26hn https://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/InfiniteRamseyTheorem.html?tg... That's just a taste of the ideas. For an entire book there's this: https://www.amazon.com/Ramsey-Theory-2nd-Ronald-Graham/dp/0471500461 https://www.amazon.com/Ramsey-Theory-2nd-Ronald-Graham/dp/04... Many books on Graph Theory will have a section about it.