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Newsletter 07
Oops! … &
The Code Book on CD-ROM now available
23 October
2002
1. The CD-ROM is now
available
2. My favourite mathematics joke at
the moment
3. The on-line shop is now
open
4. Lectures, Theatre of Science, radio
broadcasts
5. New Stuff (Advice for writers,
Cartoons)
6. This month’s
challenge
7. Cryptogram
Apologies to those of you who
received an empty newsletter on 23 October…. Or was it an
example of steganography?
The temporary glitch also affected
some people’s attempts to subscribe to the newsletter, but if
you are receiving this newsletter then you have no need to
worry. The problem has now been fixed and the mail server is
back to normal.
1. The
CD-ROM is now available
At last, the interactive CD-ROM
version of The Code Book is available. It has encryption
pages, code breaking tools, mathematics, history, animations,
video clips and even a virtual Enigma machine.
I think that it’s a great companion
to the book, or a fun introduction to cryptography if you are
new to the subject. And it contains material for people of all
ages. The aim of the project is to make the CD-ROM available
at a minimal price, which means just £5 … or just £3 for
schools. I am particularly keen to get the CD-ROM into
schools, as the reaction from teachers has already been very
positive.
I know that this will annoy a
significant fraction of you, but the CD-ROM is only available
for PCs. Sorry, but at the moment I have neither the time nor
the money to make it MAC compatible. If a MAC version does
become available, then I will let you know via the
newsletter.
Find out more about the CD-ROM and
how to obtain it here.
2. My favourite mathematics
joke at the moment
“There are 10 kinds of people in
the world - those who understand binary, and those who
don’t.”
Heard it before? Not funny? Think
you can do better? Well, send me your favourite mathematical
or scientific joke by December 25th 2002, and we’ll see
if we can find the world’s funniest one. It will be a
veritable geeky gigglefest. You can find out how to send me
your joke by visiting here.
I will pick my favourite ten jokes,
put them on a page for you to rate at the end of the year, and
the sender of the winning joke will receive a copy of
“Laughlab”, a book by Richard Wiseman about the psychology of
humour, and a copy of the excellent “How Long is a Piece of
String?” by Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham, a quirky
collection of tales about mathematics.
If you want to find out about Dr
Richard Wiseman’s search to find the world’s funniest joke
(not just science or mathematics), then you can visit The Laugh
Lab.
3. The on-line
shop is now open
Up until now, purchasing copies of
The Code Book and Fermat’s Last Theorem at the site has only
been possible for those who live in the UK. At last, these
books and others can be bought by anyone and they can be sent
anywhere. You can order on-line or by post.
In particular, several translations
of my books are available, and these can now be bought
on-line. And, of course, you can order the CD-ROM version of
The Code Book.
All books are signed, and all
profits go to ActionAid.
Find out more here.
4. Lectures, Theatre of Science,
radio broadcasts
No more Theatre of Science until
next year, and only one lecture in
Bristol on November 27 to report.
I will be presenting “Material
World” on Radio 4 (92-95FM and 198LW) on Thursday 24 October
(today) at 4.30pm (UK time). This is my favourite science
radio show, and when the regular host (the brilliant Quentin
Cooper) is on holiday they let me have a go. The programme
will be followed by a web chat about search engines. Details
about how to take part can be found here.
5. New
Stuff
Peter Tallack, literary agent,
gives his advice for budding science
writers
Mathematics
Cartoon Gallery
There is even a cartoon about
Fermat’s Last Theorem by Craig Swanson. You can see more of
his terrific work here.
6. This month’s
challenge
In a maximum of 300 words, explain
why a rattleback (a.k.a. “a celt”) does what it does. No
equations allowed. You can find out what a rattleback is by
searching the web, but essentially they are objects with a
curved base that spin clockwise, but not anticlockwise. These
weird objects amaze me, but I have never really understood how
they work. The best explanation wins a copy of “Fingerprints”
by Colin Beavan, an excellent history of the subject. (There
is no connection between fingerprints and rattlebacks – it is
just a great book and I needed a prize for the
competition).
Last month, I asked you to name
actors to play roles in Fermat's Last Theorem - The
Movie. The winner was Steve Futch from Florida, who
suggested Leelee Sobieski as Sophie Germain. You can see his
other
suggestions at the website, where you will also find some
of the other ideas that have been sent in (Pete Postlethwaite
as Andrew Wiles, or John Malkovich as Monsieur Fermat?).
Thanks to everyone who entered. It was great fun reading your
suggestions.
7.
Cryptogram
A new competition cryptogram is
ready to be cracked and another book and CD-ROM are waiting
for the winning entry. This month’s cryptogram is trickier, so
it will be interesting to see if there are as many correct
entries as last month. The cryptogram can be found here.
Last month’s winner was Dave Adams
at Devenport High School. Well done – the prize is in the
post. In case you didn’t crack it, the answer is at the bottom
of the substitution
cryptogram page.
That’s All
Folks,
Cheerio,
Simon Singh.
PS. If you need to email me, then
please do not reply to this address, as your email will not
reach me. Please go via the website (http://www.simonsingh.net) and click the contact button. It takes me ages to
answer emails, as I am struggling to keep up with my
correspondence, so please be patient. |
