klein bottle

[cellio]

For his birthday I bought Dani a klein bottle. It was a definite hit. :-) The documentation it came with was well-done, too -- definitely as entertaining as the bottle itself. (Why yes, of course I read the paperwork and carefully inspected the bottle before wrapping it up for him. :-) )

The web site is lots of fun too. Be sure to check out the spin-off products, like the "cutting edge jigsaw puzzles".

Dani hasn't said yet whether he's going to apply the calibration decal it came with. You know -- 0, 0, 0, 0... :-)

(If you don't know what I'm talking about, see this explanation from their web site.)

Comments

[ironangel]

that's fabulous!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's excellent!

[nsingman.livejournal.com]

Cool!! I really should get one. It's something every mathematician ought to have. :-)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

sethg_prime and lucretia_borgia got me one for my birthday a number of years ago. I love it; it makes a wonderful conversation piece.

[psu-jedi.livejournal.com]

Cary got one for his Dad for Hanukkah this past year! When he first told me about them a few years back, I had no clue what he was talking about. Then he showed me, and I found them very cool indeed!

Be careful

[(Anonymous)]

Fourth-dimensional accidents can be tragic.

A mathematician confided
That a Mobius band is one-sided.
He said "You'll get quite a laugh
If you cut one in half
For it stays in one piece when divided!"

A mathematician named Klein
Thought the Mobius band was divine.
He said "If you glue
The edges of two
You'll get a weird bottle like mine!"

[alice-curiouser.livejournal.com]

It would be wrong to point out what a righteous bong could be made with one of those, huh?

[madfilkentist]

Could you make a habitrail of one? :)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

And the fellow who makes them is Cliff Stohl, of "The Cuckoo's Egg" fame!

yay!

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

I knew about ACME Klein bottle, but I didn't know that Cliff Stoll was the proprietor. Excellent!

[jducoeur]

Oooh -- I've been there before, but I've never seen the Tantalus Cup before. I may have to get one of these. I love the quote:

"Don't confuse these with cheap dribble-glasses. Nope, these are expensive dribble glasses, made from genuine borosilicate glass with *real* silicon atoms."