Comments on: The man who wrote 10,000 Grooks

The man who wrote 10,000 Grooks

Winterfell — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 14:16:49 -0800

The man who wrote 10,000 Grooks (grooks, grooks, grooks), Piet Hein, was also the inventor of Hex and the creator of the Soma Cube. In the design world, he is most famous for the SuperEllipse, a figure that rivals Buckminster Fuller's geodesics in ingenuity, an aesthetic balance between a circle and a square, and a mathematical figure which has been used to design a square in Stockholm. From the SuperEllipse, you can get the SuperEgg, a strange solid which will unexpectedly balance on one end and has been mistaken for an alien artifact.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 14:34:07 -0800

My favorite Grook: Whenever you're called on to make up your mind, And you're hampered by not having any, The simplest way to solve the dilemma you'll find, Is simply by flipping a penny. No, not so that chance shall decide the affair, As you're passively standing there moping. But as soon as the penny is up in the air, You'll suddenly know what you are hoping.

By: kindall

kindall — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 14:41:31 -0800

I believe there's a font based on superellipses. Ah yes, here it is.

By: cx

cx — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 15:04:37 -0800

Two of my favourites are these: Den som kun ta'r spøg for spøg, og alvor kun alvorligt, han og hun har faktisk fattet begge dele dårligt! In English: Taking fun as simply fun and earnestness in earnest shows how thoroughly thou none of the two discernest. And: Husk at elske mens du tør det. Husk at leve mens du gør det. In English: Love while you've got love to give. Live while you've got life to live. I know the grooks (gruk) in Danish, and it's a bit strange to see the translations, even though they seem very very good. Poetry is hard to translate, but the translations are of impressive quality. Still, a more direct translation of the latter grook is Remember to love while you still dare to. Remember to live life while you still do so. It is of course completely devoid of the rhythm and rhyme of the original, but I love the message: Live and love. Love and live.

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 15:19:57 -0800

While the SuperEllipses makes folks flips; a copyrighted shape makes me reach for the cab sauvignon grape.

By: oissubke

oissubke — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 15:26:36 -0800

When I look at those ellipses, I see a potentially really nice typeface. Darn my lack of typographical skill!!

By: hippugeek

hippugeek — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 15:26:59 -0800

What a wonderful post! I was interested to learn about the Soma Cube, as my family has a large wooden one that infatuates each generation of kids. This was my favorite grook: THE UNATTAINABLE IDEAL We ought to live each day as though it were our last day here below. But if I did, alas, I know it would have killed me long ago. (Cheers, DenOfSizer!)

By: Shane

Shane — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 15:27:23 -0800

Reputedly, there exist over a million possible combinations of these pieces which result in the formation of the larger cube. I've had that Soma Cube since I was a kid. Never found more than... three? ...ways to solve it. Cool post! I look forward to perusing the links further.

By: jaronson

jaronson — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 15:59:28 -0800

Posts like this one that first drew me to MetaFilter. Thank you, Winterfell.

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 17:11:54 -0800

A Danish Ashleigh Brilliant. OK, maybe more than Ashleigh Brilliant. But I find truisms so annoying, because they are, damnit.

By: Songdog

Songdog — Tue, 29 Oct 2002 06:14:50 -0800

The JREF link is a lot of fun. Thanks!

By: iconomy

iconomy — Tue, 29 Oct 2002 14:08:26 -0800

The drawings in the grook links remind me a bit of St. Exupery's style, so whimsical and simple and imperfect. The litmus test for a great post for me is : Does it pop into my head at random moments and have I learned anything from it? These grooks, they are haunting me. But in a good way. Thanks, Winterfell.