Some time ago I read a book called Flatterland by Ian Stewart. It takes the classic Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott (Sidebar: I find this a really unimaginative name like Bob Robertson or Erica Ericsson or Phillip Philbert Phillipson) and updates it somewhat to include a more modern understanding of non-Euclidean geometry. It’s rather funny but sort of tries too hard at times. Either way, I like thinking about dimensions and projections of dimensions into other dimensions and that kind of thing. It is a pleasantly pointless diversion because a) it’s all theoretical in any case and b) I’m not educated enough to be any good at it. It’s a bit like trying to learn how to play the octraventral heebiephone with only this one silly mouth.
Amy’s family had a reunion very early in our dating relationship (so probably 8 or so years ago. I am old, you guys) and at this reunion there wasn’t much to do apart from look around the room and try to figure out who was related to whom an howm they were related. I figured out pretty close to everybody which was not a bad feat given that there were about 50 people in the room. After the entertainment possibilities inherent in that had been exhausted, I played with one of her little cousins for a while. The church building where this reunion was being held had a fair number of children’s toys about including 64 large, square pieces that looked something like the pieces that make up this puzzle (about 30cm across instead of 4cm as shown):
We started putting these pieces together to make a pattern (they were all different colours) and eventually started making cubes. Cubes are pretty alright but we were too energetic. Our solution? A hypercube, of course! Well, inasmuch as we are only able to freely manipulate three dimensions instead of the required four to nine, we built an unfolded hypercube that looked somewhat like this:
It was big enough for Amy’s cousin to climb into and so she did.
Going the other way (rather than four-dimensional constructs), I have an odd, two-dimensional habit that comes to the fore when I am about to go on a trip or have to have a particular set of clothing readied for the next day. I lay out a flat person on the floor or on a spare bed or somewhere large enough (being 6’-3â€, this takes up a considerable amount of room). I’ve done this for years and years (since I was probably eight or nine, as far as I can recall). It helps me to make sure that I have all the necessary components set aside before I pack other clothing up and it puts them out for visual review so I’m not left wondering if I mistakenly packed up that last pair of underwear rather than leaving it for tomorrow. I’d best go check that as we’re planning to go pretty early tomorrow.
why don’t you kick yourself out, you’re an immigrant, too