Some people define "greatness" by the amount of money or power a person possesses. I rather define it by the amount of clarity you have at 99 years old.
Today, I met a great lady who gave birth to eight children. She served as a midwife during her younger days and she helped deliver more than 50 babies. She has made more than 100 original handmade quilts. And, she is still going strong.
I asked Mrs. Flora Jackson what was her favorite song and she said "Amazing Grace." She made a wise choice because when I looked at how firm her facial contour is, and how bright her eyes are, I did not see a woman approaching 100 years. I saw a beautiful, creative and wise woman.
I saw something more in Mrs. Flora Jackson. I saw a mathematician who expressed her mathematics through the art of quilting.
I asked her what her favorite subject was as a young student and she said, "Arithmetic." Her response made so much sense.
I looked at several quilts that Mrs. Jackson made. They were filled with reflections, rotations, and scaling. Her generation may not have learned the matrix theory about rotational matrices, but she saw the beauty in the transformations and she designed her quilts to give you a beautiful visual impression.
One quilt was made with triangles and square. The triangles were inscribed in a square. As you look at each triangle, you see that it is rotated 90 degrees. There were four triangles in each square, and each one was rotated 90 degrees to yield the position of the next one.
Mrs. Jackson represented this math idea in her quilts. However, her creative expression can be represented mathematically by a 2 by 2 matrix with the following components. Let x = 90 degrees. We would have a transformation,
cos x -sin x
sin x cos x
The determinant associated with this 2 by 2 matrix has a value of 1. In fact, the expansion is the Pythagorean identity. Such a matrix, when applied to a representation of a geometric figure would rotate the figure without stretching or shrinking it.
I know what you are saying, "Mrs. Jackson does not know what you are talking about." I would answer, "Mrs. Jackson does not need to know my language. Her language is expressed in the design of each and every one of her quilts."
What is needed is intergenerational communication to understand what Mrs. Jackson sees in this world, and what our generation sees, and does to make this a better world, encompassing more beauty, respect and appreciation for one another.
What I have learned in these many years of studying, learning and teaching mathematics is that Mrs. Flora Jackson has a great mind, a creative mind, and a powerful discipline to envision and design a quilt, cut and sew the quilt, and select beautiful colors to emphasize the mathematical design of her quilts.
I noticed that most of her quilts used polygons such as rhombi, rectangles, squares and triangles. Several of them have the rotation, shifting and scaling quality.
I am honoring the 99-year-old creative matriarch from Pittsview, Alabama. Indeed, she is a great lady, poised, dignified and beautiful.
She was born on October 15, 1909. She is alert and wise. I asked Mrs. Jackson, "What words of wisdom would you like to share with young people?"
She answered, "Tend to your business, and let everybody else's alone."
Her succinct response is respected. No doubt she has been blessed with longevity because she has focused on God's plan for her life.
One of Mrs. Flora Jackson's favorite scriptures is Psalm 119: 105: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
Mrs. Jackson's countenance was bright. Her wisdom is profound at her age. She selected the Psalm which is considered "a Bible within the Bible."
There are 22 stanzas in Psalm 119, and each stanza is named for a Hebrew aleph bet. Her focus was not narrow because the light and lamp which has guided her nearly 100 years has directed her to some of the most profound passages in the Bible.
I salute a great American, Mrs. Flora Jackson. Thank you, Mrs. Flora Jackson for being a giant on which future generations can stand on, and to see farther into a glorious future for America.
Dear Friends,
During the last two years(approx) we have tried to do something that even Americans don't believe: A Black President, A Barack Obama... Toghether, we have experienced that God has given us the power to reach the point: It was amazing....
today is New Year( Norouz) in IRAN ( The Great Persia). A fw hours ago, President Obama had a congratulation speech towards Iranian for their new year.... From today we have clicked the Presidential Campaign fro Mr. MIR HOSSEIN MOUSAVI for next 90 Days... We are going to fight against Terror, Islamisation,etc. of President AHMADINEJAD... It's againg a tough job, but YES,WE CAN.... Youngesters cannot allow Ahmadinejad and His team to lead Iran and show us to the world in stupid and wrong manner.... We are educated like you, We like Democracy and Peace for everyone like You,,,,,,,
Please help us with oyur mail, letters, newspaper awareness and anything you can do towards your goal.... I guess Danger of Ahmadinejad is a global matter as you have seen.
www.nasim88obama.blogfa.com
God bless you.
Harry, Iran
http://www.victoryintheword.us/change.html
click link to see the complete article/proposal and charts.
On the Playing Field –
Intensity and Integrity
By Jacqueline Brannon Giles
The coach tells a player to go out there on the playing field and catch that ball, get a touchdown, and complete that “Hail Mary” pass. The player does it and he does it so well and so often during his career that his numbers stand out even in the 21st century. Who was that player with intensity and player integrity—the kind of player whose results have taken many years to exceed. His name is Warren Wells.Take a good look at the players’ averages and tell me what you see. During the first five years of Warren Wells’ career his averages were better than some of the Super Bowl XLIII wide receivers. For example, if you compare Wells (1), Fitzgerald (2), Rice (3) and Boldin (4), clearly Wells’ average exceeds the others during the first five years. Respectively, their numbers are: 23.1 14.9 14.8 11.7
In September 2002 Paul Zimmerman is quoted: "Hayes began to make his mark on the NFL as soon as he arrived: He led the league with 21.8 yards per catch in his rookie season, and he sustained that career average of 20 yards per reception, a figure few players even approach nowadays for a single season. The zone defense had existed in the NFL before his arrival, but it was crude by today's standards, and Hayes could destroy that kind of coverage the same way he did man-to-man alignments. So coaches came up with a double zone to try to control him. A cornerback would play him tight as he came off the line—in those days defenders could do anything they wanted to a receiver, except grab and hold—and another defensive back would pick him up deep. Or coaches would assign the deepest defensive back, usually the free safety, to make sure he stayed behind Hayes, which opened up vast areas underneath. No other player caused that kind of strategic overhaul of the defensive game.Zimmerman continued, That alone should have earned Hayes a spot in Canton, but in 1979, two years before he became eligible for enshrinement, he was sentenced to five years in prison for selling narcotics; he was paroled after serving 10 months. His alcohol and drug problems were a shock to those who knew him. He was a decent, forthright person with...well, major problems. But that was enough to keep him out of Canton, even though, according to the guidelines, a candidate should be judged solely on the basis of his performance on the field.By the 1990s he was no longer a modern Hall of Fame candidate. He had been relegated to the Seniors pool, which can yield only one candidate a year and sometimes produces none."The situation with Bob Hayes and the Hall of Fame is one of the most tragic stories I've ever been associated with during my time in professional football," said Tex Schramm, the Cowboys' former president and general manager. But Schramm was a one-man selection committee for the Cowboys' Ring of Honor, and he never admitted Hayes. Jerry Jones, the team's owner since 1989, didn't admit Hayes until last year."
Based on performance
The reality of the quote is that the HOF is to select a candidate and judge a candidate solely on the basis of his performance on the field. So when a player delivers on the playing field, so then the HOF must deliver in accordance with the guidelines, otherwise the integrity issues arise.
For example, just as Zimmerman noted that Hayes “led the league with 21.8 yards per catch in his rookie season", the data shows that Wells was outstanding during his rookie year with Oakland, with 23.2 yards per catch. Furthermore, the year before Wells attained this number, he was in the military in Alaska, serving his country after being drafted into the U. S. Army. He willingly served his country although that service caused a gap in his professional football career.
Wells’ overall average exceeds Hayes. In fact, his average is well above the 2009 Super Bowl wide receivers. If we compare Wells with Hayes, a conjecture would be that Hayes had speed and Wells had speed on the playing field. Zimmerman said that the defensive strategy had to change to control or stop Hayes, and a reasonable conjecture is that it had to change to stop Warren Wells, too.
It’s about time we exhume the records and take a good look, rather microscopic in nature, to study the DNA of the situation. Innocent oversight is one thing; but intent to overlook excellent performance on the football field is not acceptable in the 21st century. The power of a critical eye, and the power of the media will have to be blended to jointly reconsider the performance on the field and come into compliance with the HOF guidelines.
Another important point for rebuttal is career length. The argument can be discussed in the context of the average career length of an NFL player. According to research, we have: “The average career of an NFL player is 3 1/2 seasons according to the NFLPA.”The amazing fact about Wells’ career is that he made history during an intense five year career and his career length exceeds that of the average NFL player, and his length has qualified him for his NFL benefits, so why not give him his glory commensurate with his mark on history.
I am reminded of how heartbroken I was as valedictorian of a class in 1961 and the committee who had the power to award the one scholarship that I sought and was qualified to receive, made a political decision to give the scholarship to someone else. Similarly, can you imagine the depression of someone who knows that he gave his best on the football field, but was not judged for the content of his character on the field in accordance to the HOF guidelines.
Just as the Obama campaign promised change so there must be change in how we honor those who did their best on the job, on the field, yet have been overlooked so long that some of them are finally recognized posthumously. Hayes passed away in 2002, and 7 years later he is being honored.
Wells is 66 years old, alive and well in his hometown, and he needs to be honored for his performance on the field in a game that gave him joy and a place to excel. As a child before he was eight years old, Warren Wells and his family lived on a plantation in or near Franklin, Louisiana. What great heights he attained after such an humble beginning which reminds us of the struggles for freedom, dignity and justice for all in America. In 1999 Pope John Paul honored Galileo 359 years after his death—the Catholic church failed to recognize its error in judging Galileo and it took years to correct the flawed thinking. Henry Flipper, the first black man to graduate West Point was overlooked and falsely accused, yet the strength and integrity of President William Jefferson Clinton addressed the errors and corrected them, thereby restoring honor to Mr. Flipper who was honored in a Presidential ceremony in the Twentieth century. This article sets forth a proposal to set the record straight, do the research and find all of those who have been overlooked and suppressed by selective exposure. It is time for change.For example, Henry Flipper suffered ill-judgment, but President William Jefferson Clinton erased the cloud around his honorable achievements. Research indicates,Clearing His Name--It was the Civil Rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s and a concerted effort by historians to tell the story of all Americans that brought attention to the circumstances surrounding Flippers dismissal. The case was reviewed by the Army Board for Correction of Military records. In late 1976, the board changed Flipper's dismissal to an honorable discharge. While acknowledging that Flipper had falsified reports and lied to his commanding officer, the board ruled that the sentence of the court and its approval by the president was ". . . unduly harsh, and therefore unjust."In the1999 Executive Grant of Clemency, President Clinton granted "a full and unconditional pardon to Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper." Source: http://www.africanamericans.com/HenryFlipper.htmThere are numerous examples of “unduly harsh and unjust” acts in world history and American history. Similar oversights and injustices have impacted the lives of professional athletes, some of whom were from very modest sociocultural backgrounds before they achieved on the professional football field.. In many cases, the legal, political and media support systems were not in place to uphold and defend the good in their careers on the field, thereby leaving them to become overlooked and plagued by “hearsay” rather than by rigorous research to present the data to characterize their impact on the playing field.A contemporary example of performance on the football field is Santonio Holmes, the Super Bowl XLIII MVP, who has several off the field challenges yet we must respect his data. During his second year in professional football his 18.1 Y/R (2007) average is outstanding, but it was exceeded by Wells in 1969. Let’s us take a good look, and let us exercise an intense passion for truth, clearer perceptions, and let us recognize men and women for their performance on the field.
Appendix
Take a Good Look, using Mathematics --"Wells' career short, but robust"
Forty-six years ago a young man greeted me in thehallway of the Nabrit Science Building at TexasSouthern University, Houston, Texas. He was on his wayto Mrs. Corinne Newell's mathematics class and I wastaking a break, walking down the hallway. That momentbegan an adventure in collaboration and I am taking agood look at the people and experiences of the past. The man, an elementary education major, who spoke tome in the hallway at Texas Southern is Warren Wells.He became a professional football player, a widereceiver, while I became a mathematics professor.After re-encountering him in February 2007, I began tosearch for some way to measure the impact of hiscareer. Unfortunately, I did not archive statistics onthe NFL or on his career. On May 18, 2008, however, asports enthusiast and researcher published aquantitative analysis of thirty-three of the NFL widereceivers, starting with Don Hutson (January 31, 1913-- June 24, 1997). Wells, a veteran who is now 65years old, was included. I scanned the data and sawthat Wells ranked No. 1 in two categories, and itlooks like he has held that rank for about 38 years. I decided to compare Warren Wells with Jerry Rice byanalyzing the plot of the data for the two widereceivers. Letting the leftmost, lower corner of thechart be (0,0), I let the vertical axis representranking and the horizontal axis categories (spaced at5 point intervals). So, if Rice, an NFL wide receiver,ranked 5 in the fifth subcategory, there was a pointin his data set of (5, 5). Data points were plottedand a line graph was drawn for both Rice and Wells.The next step was to turn the problem over to mycalculus class and ask the students to calculate thearea under each of the line graphs. One of my studentswho received his law degree from Harvard Universitysaw a few flaws in our approach. I encouraged him toimprove our initial approach. The students thenrealized that the incrementation of the x axis wasarbitrary, and the size of the intervals of the x axisdid not matter as long as the same partitioning wasused for each player, and that the length of eachinterval on the x axis was the same (uniform). The students got excited because they were usingcalculus to analyze historic NFL data, and they weretotally surprised that the mathematics professor wastalking about great wide receivers. The students beganto take a good look at the NFL data, usingmathematics. What were the results of the study? Well, the studentsconcluded that overall Rice ranked higher than Wells,although Wells ranked higher in two subcategories. Hisrank is No. 1 in "Yards/Reception" and in Rushing"Yards/Attempt". He has held the top rank for 38years, which is longer than Rice's career of 20 years.Using calculus, the total area under Rice's curve wasfound to be greater than the area under Wells' curve.The difference in the areas was not that large. Also,although Rice's overall average rank is greater than Well's, Rice is ranked No. 1 in only one category,"TDs/Game." In the three categories for "Rushing" Wells, DonHutson and Rice each rank No. 1 in one category. Hutson, the first NFL wide receiver, dominates"Yards/Game" while Rice dominates "TDs/Game" and Wellsdominates "Yards/Attempt". The alumnus from TexasSouthern University has career statistics that areshining bright in 2008. My students and I encourage you to take a good look atthe data onhttp://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2008/5/18/520032/quantitative-analysis-of-tand decide whose career statistics stands out over along time period. You may be surprised at yourresults. Here is a short report based on studentinput: Calculus students analyzed a quantitative analysiscomparing the career statistics of Rice and Wells.They created a model for each player by graphing apiecewise defined function connecting ranks and thenused integration to find the area under the piecewiselinear curves. The students asked, "Why hasn't Wellsbeen considered as a nominee to the Hall of Fame sincehe ranks No. 1 in two of the seven categories in thequantitative study?" They noted that the statisticsindicate that Wells has ranked No. 1 in two categoriesfor about 38 years. Source: WolfpackSteelersFan Student Project for Calculus For this project, we compared the “greatness” of two very talented football players, Jerry Rice and Warren Wells. To do this, we examined a list on rankings for several categories. We then took this information and created a graph for each player. We decided that we could determine the area under the curve and that the player with the largest total area would be “the greatest.” To do this, we divided the graph into sections and determined the area of each section and then took the sum of the sections.We took the first two ordered pairs, for Jerry Rice that was (5, 27) and (10,27).We used these to find the slope:m= (y2-y1)/(x2-x1) = (27-27)/(10-5)= 0/5= 0We then plugged the slope and the first ordered pair into the slope-intercept formula:y-y1=m(x-x1)y-27= 0(x-5)y= 27To get the area under the curve, we next took the integral of the equation we just got:∫05 y dy∫05 (27)27x ]05((27)(5))-((27)(0))135 The following is a list of the sets of ordered pairs we used:Jerry Rice:(5,27) (10,27)(10,27) (15,13)(15,13) (20,29)(20,29) (25,32)(25,32) (30,27)(30,27) (35,33)(35,33) (40,28)(40,28) (45,29)(45,29) (50,6)Warren Wells:(5,6) (10,10)(10,10) (15,33)(15,33) (20,28)(20,28) (25,28)(25,28) (30,33)(30,33) (35,29)(35,29) (40,10)(40,10) (45,28)(45,28) (50,11)The total areas we calculated were:Jerry Rice =1177.4Warren Wells =1047.5Therefore, we concluded that Jerry Rice is overall the greater of these two football players.Note: This project is suitable for precalculus, using the area of trapezoids and rectangles.
We have arrived at the very moment we all worked so hard for. Barack Obama is now the President Elect of the United States. Lets all pledge to support him during his years as our President. We need to stand behind him even when we disagree with some of his decisions, we need to stand behind him when things look bad, when he is receiving critcism and praise. I am not saying that we do not make our disagreements known. What I am saying is that once a decision is made and done lets not forget it is us who decided to trust him to do what he thinks is right for our country. I certainly am commiting to praying for him and for his family. That God would give him wisdom, strength,humility, and show him mercy when the weight of the world is on his shoulders.
This is an incredible time in our nations history, lets pledge to continue to be involved...
YES WE CAN!!!! YES WE CAN!!! YES WE CAN!!!
Happy are those who have seen what many generations past have desired but never opportune to see.
Happy are we that have live in this generation and witness the tearing down of the wall of inimical and detrimental dogmatism that have plague us and make us suspicious of one another.
Happy are those of us who have lived to be part and parcel of this historic moment in the annals of the United States of America.
Rejoice and be glad America and Americans for unto us have been given a reborn conscience and heart in which tolerance, objectivity, broadmindedness and above all love has triumphed over hatred and unity over division.
Rejoice and be glad all those who took the giant steps to forgo the past and instead help engineer by far the unthinkable and unimaginable by helping to elect Sen. Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America.
Indeed, it suffice to note that Obama was handsomely rewarded by the youths of our time who saw in him the values that are fundamental to the basic idealism of the country and its foundation- unity in diversity, land of opportunity and the abode of hope and haven for humanity.
Mothers have come out massively to help tilt victory on his side, recognizing the necessity of our time and also appreciating the need for a new direction.
Words are not enough to comprehensively enumerate or describe how enormous this victory has been for America, Americans and the world at large. It will amount to a miniaturization of the reality and gravity of the 2008 presidential election outcome to claim that Obama’s victory is kudos to the African- American community! On the contrary and within the horizon of realism, what we are seeing today is a result of consensus building, the fierce urgency to work together as a people and above all the necessity of treasuring the values of our diversities and the potentials it brings to the nation.
I am dumbfounded, surprised astonished and yet to recover from the decision that majority of Americans have made in deciding who should lead as the commander in chief. We are surely on the path to a pragmatic healing, reconciliation and reclamation of the country we all love so much and willing to protect its corporate existence and integrity.
To God is the glory. Amen
God bless USA
God bless Obama & Biden
What a moment we just witnessed: change is here; hope has a voice.
What a privelege to be a witness to the birth of a movement for change that will impact our children's children
I am so grateful for Senator Obama, Michelle, their families and the journey that brought them all to this moment.
We salute their courage, commitment and integrity.
As I watched Barack Obama address a rally yesterday paying tribute to his grandmother, I was overwhelmed by the courage of this remarkable man and extremely humbled that I could bear witness to a generation changing moment.
Even though there is great sorrow in his heart, there is also such strength for he is surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses who are encouraging him across the finish line - amongst them a smiling Toot.
I am sure she heard a Well Done! and she's echoed that to her grandson.
I babysat my three year old grandson yesterday: Earlier in the day, I was watching the news and I told him that I was watching the presidential election and named the candidates again for him, when he asked me, Ma, what you watching?
As he walked past the TV again in the evening, I asked him, Caleb, what's that man's name?, as the screen flashed a picture of Barack Obama.
His answer? Joseph
I just packed up laughing - especially since he does not know any Josephs and when I checked with his parents, they haven't introduced him to anyone named Joseph, neither has he said that name before.
Out of the mouths of babes.....
It is wonderful to see the incredible early turnout to vote! While we don't know which team (for sure) is being chosen- what I do know is that on a Saturday morning- We are Voting! Come on out, early voting is open at the Los County Registar's office until 4:00 PM today and check for hours through Monday.
Bring a folding chair if you have a problem standing, (but don't forget, it is worth the wait) and remember not to wear support gear to the polls.
