============================================================ THE DSA NEWSCAST http://www.dozenal.org ============================================================ The Dozenal Society of America Vol. 2, Iss. 4 Official Newsletter 3 April 11EX ============================================================ ============================================================ = CONTENTS = ============================================================ 1. Donations 2. For Sale 4. Living Dozens: Ages 5. Dozenal News 6. Society Business -Annual Meeting -NCTM Conference -New Newscast Delivery Mechanism 7. Poetical Diversion 8. Backmatter ============================================================ = DONATIONS = ============================================================ Members, please remember that while dues are no longer required for membership, we still rely on the generosity of members to keep the DSA going. Donations of any amount, large or small, are welcome and needed. A donation of $10; ($12.) will procure Subscription membership, and entitles the payer to receive both a digital and a paper copy of the _Bulletin_ if requested. Other members will receive only a digital copy. To invoke this privilege, please notify the Editor of the Bulletin, Mike deVlieger, at mdevlieger@dozenal.org As members know, we are a volunteer organization which pays no salaries. As such, every penny you donate goes toward furthering the DSA's goals. It may be worth considering a monthly donation; say, $3, or $6, or whatever seems reasonable to you. This can be set up quite easily with Paypal or WePay, both of which are available at our web site. Of course, if you prefer to donate by check, you may send them to our worthy Treasurer, Jay Schiffman, payable to the Dozenal Society of America, at: Jay Schiffman 604-36 South Washington Square, #815 Philadelphia, PA 19106-4115 ----------------------Member Benefits----------------------- Chief among the benefits of membership, aside from the knowledge of supporting the DSA's mission, is receipt of _The Duodecimal Bulletin_. In addition, however, members also receive (digitally) a membership card containing their vital member information and a monthly calendar with dozenal numbers, containing suitable and educational dozenal quotations and graphics, laid out for wall display. To receive these, please notify us that you'd like to receive them: Contact@dozenal.org ============================================================ = FOR SALE = ============================================================ The DSA is pleased to offer the following for sale. These are all either at cost, or the proceeds go to the Society. Wall Calendar for 11EX (stapled binding) $11.60 Wall Calendar for 11EX, coiled binding $16.70 Weekly Planner for 11EX $11.29 TGM: A Coherent Dozenal Metrology $8.00 Prices are, unfortunately but by necessity, in decimal. To find these works, simply go to: http://www.lulu.com/shop/shop.ep and enter the appropriate terms. E.g., searching for "11EX" will turn up these calendars and the planner; searching for "TGM dozenal" will turn up the TGM book. We hope to offer other titles, and even some other items (such as dozenal clocks and the like), in the near future. ============================================================ = LIVING DOZENS: AGES = ============================================================ We all have ages, and these are always numbers; so why not think about our ages in dozens? If you've just turned thirty, you're 26; if you've just turned forty, you're 34. You're legally an adult at 16 (a much nicer number in base twelve than in base ten, an even dozen and a half). You can legally consume alcohol at 19 (just as clumsy in dozenal as in decimal, I'm afraid). You're a senior citizen at only 55 (perhaps, in keeping with our current trends, make this 56 so it's even); and if you manage to live to 100, you're setting some real records. We refer to people who are still in their twenties, thirties, etc., and of course such sayings will have to be altered. However, these sayings make more sense when in dozens, anyway. Do we not regularly refer to the "eighteen to thirty" demographic? Does this not work out much more nicely in dozenal, with a "16 to 26" demographic? Fortunately, thirty and 26 work pretty well in both systems, since that's the age at which we stop being "young adults" and become simply "adults." For infants, of course, this is nothing less than common sense. We already speak of infants' ages in months, after all, of which there are twelve in a year. It's easy to say that an infant is 16 months old, knowing that he's a year and a half. And this month system comes in handy at all ages, too; it's easy to tell when we are halfway through a year, or a quarter, or a third, or a sixth, while in decimal this can require much more thought. This is a small thing; but it helps to get us used to really *thinking* in dozens, as well as gives us some practice with dozenal numbers. ============================================================ = DOZENAL NEWS = ============================================================ Brian Hetrick (#426) has authored a dozenal clock in .NET 2.0 compatible with Windows computers and GNU/Linux computers with the Mono environment installed: http://www.brianhetrick.com/gplsw/index.html The program is free software (AGPL licensed) and available for download at the above link. It displays the time in our decimal/sexagesimal system as well as in dozenal, in duors, "dinits," and "deconds." Jim Zamerski (#42E) sends us a composition based on the dozen digits of pi, which is by some margin the loveliest your editor has ever heard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuNO--JD8NM These musical representations of transcendental numbers have gotten pretty common; indeed, the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (http://www.oeis.org) can turn any integer sequence into music. But this rendition really has an uncommonly beautiful result---at least, in your editor's opinion. Another video includes melodies for Euler's number, 2pi, and raw notes for the Golden Ratio (phi), along with sheet music for pi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ava5mXZ3ofg Speaking on the OEIS, Jay Schiffman (our Board Chairman and Treasurer, #2X8) spoke on dozenal integer sequences at our last annual meeting, and noted that a dozenal version would be useful. Thanks to James Wood, a neighbor across the pond in Yorkshire, England, anyone running a Firefox or Chrome browser has one! http://www.userscripts.org/scripts/show/103812 http://www.userscripts.org/scripts/show/175429 This scripts can be easily loaded into the above or similar browsers and cause the OEIS to produce its integer sequences in dozenal as well as decimal; the second even allows *searching* the database for dozenal sequences. This is a great tool for dozenal research. ============================================================ = SOCIETY BUSINESS = ============================================================ This issue was delayed due to your Board having a meeting scheduled for 2 April 11EX, which would decide some significant matters. Fortunately, this meeting occurred, and a great deal of useful progress was made. -----------------------Annual Meeting----------------------- Our annual meeting will be held on 13; (15.) November 11EX in Richmond, Virginia. Further details (such as the hotel, exact times, and agenda) will be provided as they are finalized. ----------------------NCTM Conference----------------------- As noted before, our proposal to present a workshop at the regional meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in Richmond, Virginia was accepted. Thanks again to our Secretary, Jen Seron, and our Treasurer, Jay Schiffman, for a great deal of hard work in preparing that proposal and paving the way for its acceptance. That conference takes place 11-12; (13-14.) November, so our annual meeting will immediately follow the conference. We've not yet been told which of those two days will contain our workshop; this information will be included in later Newscasts as it becomes available. --------------New Newscast Delivery Mechanism--------------- Our burgeoning membership has taxed our formerly slap-dashed means of delivering _The DSA Newscast_ to our membership; this Google group is an attempt to resolve that problem. Transitioning to this method may involve some growing pains, for which we apologize and ask for your kind patience. ============================================================ = POETICAL DIVERSION = ============================================================ Twelve's My Number I try to do up my sums; I'm multiplying some nums; but still I'm only thumbs, 'cause ten is in my way; I'd trade this ten for an ace, a better number as base, some fleeter feet for this race; ten is just in my way! But twelve's my winner; clean thirds, quarters thinner; fifths tough; but five's a sinner; abundant factors to save the day! (chorus) Hey, when I met you, I went crazy! 'Cause twelve's my number; I don't mean maybe! So many factors, I need no more! So twelve's my number; I don't mean maybe! (To be sung to the tune of "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, if you can stomach it, with tongue placed firmly in cheek.) ============================================================ = BACKMATTER = ============================================================ _The DSA Newscast_ is a production of the Dozenal Society of America. If you have received this publication in error, or otherwise do not wish to receive it anymore, please unsubscribe by mailing a message containing the string "UNSUBSCRIBE NEWSCAST", exactly as typed, in its body, to the Reply-To address of this message. For questions, comments, submissions, or other communication with the _Newscast_, please write to: newscast@dozenal.org EACH ONE, TEACH ONE