============================================================ THE DSA NEWSCAST http://www.dozenal.org ============================================================ The Dozenal Society of America Vol. 2, Iss. 3 Official Newsletter 1 March 11EX ============================================================ ============================================================ = CONTENTS = ============================================================ 1. Donations 2. For Sale 3. Timothy Travis on the Raenbo Calendar 4. Living Dozens: Telling the Time 5. Dozenal News 6. Society Business -Updated Bulletin Issue 51:1 (WN X1) -NCTM Conference in Richmond, VA -Annual Meeting for 11EX 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. ============================================================ = TIMOTHY TRAVIS ON THE RAENBO CALENDAR = ============================================================ Timothy Travis (#342) wanted to explain a bit more about his dozenal calendar proposal. Readers may remember that his Raenbo system was published some time ago; it has now been updated to include that calendar: http://www.dozenal.org/drupal/content/raenbo-dozenals Mr. Travis says: The Raenbo Calendar has 12 months of 30 days each. The 5 extra days in the year become solstice and equinox holidays falling between the four, three-month, seasons. So that every month looks the same (and every year), it is necessary for each month to have 5 *weeks of 6 days* each. Once this is done, the calendar just magically tumbles into place, as if this were the way it was supposed to have been all along. Please note that the celestial year is not precisely divided into four equal segments by the solstices and equinoxes. So, on the Raenbo Calendar, the solstice and equinox holidays are not always on the actual days on which the solstices and equinoxes occur. But they are close enough causing no great confusion or inconvenience. [For further information], [y]ou can also contact me, sendttmail@gmail.com. ============================================================ = LIVING DOZENS: TELLING THE TIME = ============================================================ Time is a measurement system that we use more often than any other. Constantly throughout the day we are giving times; five minutes until this, ten minutes until that, only fifteen minutes before five, and so on. And yet though we dozenalists often point to our current clock as a superb example of dozens in action, how often do we really use it as such? Regardless of whether we support keeping our current hour or replacing it with the duor, the fact remains that the entire world, even in metric countries, uses a system of time that is based fundamentally on the dozen; it is one of the few times that we can use dozens consistently without looking crazy. In other words, it is a great tool, even if we would like to eventually replace the hour. Let's look at a few ways how to use it. The twelfth of the hour, of course, is simply a period of five minutes. This period is very often the one that we use generically to mean "a short time" or "pretty soon." How often, when we say, "I'll be there in five," do we mean literally "I'll be there in five minutes"? More often we mean simply "I'm almost there, and will be there soon." It's used this way so often that we frequently it's made into a unit by itself, where we use "five" by itself. So why not formalize this? Call it a "five," or a "block" (this latter term has gained some use on the DozensOnline forum, and has even been used occasionally by non-dozenalists); and remember that there are twelve of them in an hour. On a particularly busy day, perhaps a meeting room could be reserved in blocks. Someone who needs a longer period might reserve two or three blocks. Requiring no additional terms is using dozenal fractions in the hour. We already use terms like "quarter to five" and the like; why not extend this? Since there are twelve blocks in an hour, we have the full flexibility of dozenal fractions to work with. Halves, thirds, quarters, sixths, and twelfths are all immediately present, with the big hand pointing straight at the uncial digit. "I'll be done in a third of an hour." Non-dozenalists may have to think about this for a moment, as they would with the slightly unusual expression "I'll be done in a quarter of an hour," but it's not hard to understand. A sixth of an hour or a twelfth of an hour will take more thought for most people; but again, it'll come to them, and it may also give an opportunity to talk about dozenals if they're curious. Our clocks, unfortunately, are mostly hard-wired to have inferior, double-digit representations of ten and eleven. For digital clocks, there's really no remedy for this problem (though the DSA "Resources" page has an option or two). Analog clocks, however, are different. Consider covering the "10," "11," and "12" on your clock and replacing them with your preferred symbols for X, E, and 10. Most clocks have face-covers which are easily removable and replaceable, so that the clock can be set to the right time, so doing this is pretty trivial. If you want the symbols to match 1-9 exactly, or if you want a separate identity symbol set, cover them all, or even the whole face, with your own. Drawing the appropriate symbols on small pieces of paper and taping or gluing them on will suffice; it needs to be clearly legible, not artistically beautiful (unless you want it to be). Replace the face cover, if there is one, and hang it up on your wall. You now have a dozenal clock! Not only will this help you personally use dozenals more often, but it's a great conversation starter. Make use of our dozenal time; it will be a great help for yourself and for others. ============================================================ = DOZENAL NEWS = ============================================================ The New York Times has published a brief explanation of a long-standing proof that an infinite series of integer additions is equal to -0;1. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/science/in-the-end-it-all-adds-up-to.html This counterintuitive result is a great illustration of the way that our favorite number is woven into the fabric of the universe. One of the two major mathematical publications by one of our founders, F. Emerson Andrews, was originally published in 1175 (1961.). Because its copyright was not renewed, this means that _Numbers, Please_ has fallen into the public domain! http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027385338 The full text is available at this link, including the lovely illustrations done by Aldren A. Watson. Sadly, his other and more important work, _New Numbers_, was properly renewed, causing it to be a pretty rare work. But the chapter on dozens in _Numbers, Please_ is still quite interesting. The Society has published another "early" dozenal work, this time from William B. Smith, writing a short but compelling defense of the dozenal system in the _Educational Review_ of 1117 (1891): http://www.dozenal.org/drupal/content/twelve-vs-ten This article, which evidently inspired another article which the DSA has republished by Rev. Thomas Freeman (a much more light-hearted and entertaining work), gives an interesting account of dozenalism, including even a (very) briefly sketched-out metric system based on the hour and the yard. ============================================================ = SOCIETY BUSINESS = ============================================================ ------------Updated Bulletin Issue 51:1 (WN X1)------------- The DSA has released an updated version of _The Duodecimal Bulletin_ Issue 51:1 (WN X1): http://www.dozenal.org/DuodecimalBulletinIssue511a.pdf The content of this splendid issue has not been altered; the revised version merely fixes a few typographical errors and the like. It can accessed at the above address or from your members page on the website. --------------NCTM Conference in Richmond, VA--------------- Thanks to the efforts of our Treasurer and Board Chairman, Jay Schiffman; and our Secretary, Jen Seron, the Society has managed to secure another great opportunity to further the Society's mission of educating the public about alternative bases. Our proposal to present a workshop at the regional conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has been accepted! The program is similar to, but still different from, the program we presented at the ASEE conference last year in Atlanta. The conference is from 10;-12; November 11EX in Richmond, VA; we do not yet know which date our program will be on. Our program in Atlanta was attended by a small number of people, but produced great results and a lot of interest. It also resulted in a lot of great educational material, which can be found on our website under "Educational Materials." These materials are now among the most popular items on our website. We'll post further details regarding the NCTM conference as they become available. Thanks again, Jay and Jen! ------------------Annual Meeting for 11EX------------------- Due to the NCTM conference, the DSA's annual meeting will be later than normal this year, likely on 13; November 11EX, in Richmond, VA. Further details will be posted when they are available. We hope you'll be able to join us! ============================================================ = POETICAL DIVERSION = ============================================================ Originally published in our _Bulletin_, WN 70, this is another gem from the same great figure of dozenal history. Edgar Allan Poe's Eldorado Revisited Gaily bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadin', Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of el do dozen. But he grew old--- This knight so bold--- And o'er his heart a shadin', Fell as he found No spot of ground That looked like el do dozen. And, as his strength, Failed him at length, He met a pilgrim shadin', "Shading", said he, "Where can it be--- This land of el do dozen?" "Over the Countin' Out by tens, Down the Valley of the Weighin', Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied,--- "If you seek for el do dozen!" With thanks to H. C. Churchman. ============================================================ = 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