Math is Fun (pt. 2)

Check it out. Results from the ISMTF Senior Math Competition!

Congrats Sam!

And Sam, perhaps you should tell them that you're not, in fact, from the International School of Brussels. I don't remember who won the chase, but nobody we know, so whatever. Yes, the top ten finishes of both my school's teams were unexpected, so whoopee! :D

I never quite figured out why there were always so many high achieving Koreans at these competitions. I mean, six of the top ten (well eleven since tenth place was a tie) were Korean. It's baffling, and impressive.

As you've probably gathered by now, Sam and I spent the weekend London with a whole bunch of other math students. Remember the last time I was at the American School of London (it was that weekend when all those ASL seniors were hospitalised)? This time around, some bug was sweeping through the school, incapacitating everyone it its way (something like a third of the whole student body was home sick on the day before the math competition began). So of course, participants from other schools started falling sick too. I was sort of able to avoid it, but now that I'm back in Vienna my throat's starting to go all constricted on me... which sucks since the next two weeks are packed full of exams. Bah.

Let's see... the weather in London was unsurprisingly bleak, cold, gloomy... very British, basically. This photo taken in Greenwich sort of tells you what mean.









But don't worry, it didn't sap our spirits much.

Speaking of Greenwich, here's the prime meridian (you know, where you get to skip from one hemisphere to the next and back again).























It's indicated by that rather inconspicuous line of markers on the road.

Oh, and that bookstore in which we found the score for "Freelove Freeway"? I finally bought Catch-22 from there. Matt Slayton should approve.

I also watched Munich while in London. It was thrillingly exciting at times, but ultimately, strictly OK. I mean, if Spielberg wasn't going to say anything more in the movie than "killing. bad." then he didn't have to take two-and-a-half hours to say it. But most of the others seemed to really like it.

Now for some more photos.















Those gigantic structures behind us that look like something halfway between a construction crane and the Sydney Opera House actually comprise the Thames Barrier, a supposedly amazing feat of engineering that ensures flood protection for the Greater London area. I think that we're actually looking at the final product. It's startlingly ugly.

Random fact - that guy standing to the left of the photo is one of Sam's teammates. Called Sammy.

















Sam explaining some answer or another.



































Heeh.

By the way, there was an iMac sitting in my room at the hosts' house, which had a nice iTunes library that I browsed through in the few days I was there. Maura O'Connell is one name that's really stuck in my mind. Dunno if anyone knows her, but anyway, she's an Irish born singer with this amazingly rich, warm, and beautiful alto voice. I mean, it's forget-Allison-Krauss beautiful. Seriously.

Current top 5:

1. Trip Around The Sun - Maura O'Connell

2. Down By The Salley Gardens - Maura O'Connell

3. Hard Times Come Again No More - Maura O'Connell

4. Authority Song - Jimmy Eat World

5. Gone, Going - The Black Eyed Peas (feat. Jack Johnson)

That's all for now. Math exams tomorrow and on Tuesday for school. Oh the irony.

Till later,

Jason