Fractal Patterns

A few days ago I posted about patterns and mentioned the designs at Alhambra among others. The next day my spouse told me about a video he watched at the TED site. This is cool. Video is about 15 minutes. Professor Ron Eglash, discussing fractals in African village design:



I am fascinated by this idea of mathematical patterns having a spiritual aspect. Wish I understood more about it.

From the Amazon web site:

Drawing on interviews with African designers, artists, and scientists, Ron Eglash investigates fractals in African architecture, traditional hairstyling, textiles, sculpture, painting, carving, metalwork, religion, games, practical craft, quantitative technologies, and symbolic systems. He also examines the political and social implications of the existence of African fractal geometry. His book makes a unique contribution to the study of mathematics, African culture, anthropology, and computer simulations.

African Fractals: Modern Computing and Indigenous Designs, Ron Eglash, Rutgers Univ Press, 1999.

This book is now on my wishlist.

If you aren't familiar with TED, go here. Pretty amazing stuff! This is one of those sites I can't click to at work. Not that it isn't safe; it isn't conducive to getting the stuff done I need to do. I could spend hours listening to these lectures. And they add more all the time. I'll never catch up!


*****
My 3 beautiful things today:

Mathematics

Finding my forgotten Wine Notebook which reminded me I've bought some pretty great vino in the past. Fermented grapes are a wonderful thing.

Spending the afternoon "watching" football with husband. Translation: he watched; I napped. A wonderful lazy afternoon.