Back from travelling

I have been shockingly remiss in my postings, and now that I am back, I will attempt to make amends. While I catch up with all the things that have piled up, do read Lance's post on computability vs complexity, and David Molnar's entry on the role of computer science in game theory and economics in general.

The theory of computation appears in the most unexpected places. Consider the two following excerpts:

Cross-stitching is an entertaining pastime where one “paints” pictures with needle and thread, usually on specially prepared cross-stitch canvases. See cross-stitching.com for many links for cross-stitching. Mathematically speaking, a cross-stitch pattern is simply a rectangular grid where some of the squares in the grid are filled with colors.

and this:

Every scale can be reinterpreted as a rhythm. In particular, the diatonic major scale, which translates into box-like notation as [x . x . x x . x . x . x], is internationally the most well known of all African rhythms. It is traditionally played on an iron bell, and is known on the world scene mainly by its Cuban name Bembe´.

Believe it or not, both of these extracts are taken from papers in computational geometry, both to appear at CCCG 2005. The first is on cross stitching, and should interest Becky Hirta, and the second is on identifying rhythmic patterns, part of a larger effort inspired by Godfried Toussaint.