>>>>> On Mon, 21 Apr 1997 09:51:33 -0400 (EDT)
>>>>> "Karl" == Karl Mamer <kamamer@interlog.com> wrote:
Karl> Did anyone catch that item about one of Penrose's mathematical
Karl> objects (a "tile" or something, sorry don't know the lingo)
Karl> being used on bathroom tissue. Penrose hit the roof! He was
Karl> talking about suing. He had a great line, something about you
Karl> don't take the work of a Knight of the Realm and let people wipe
Karl> their ass with it.
This was reported all over the shop - certainly the Guardian and New
Scientist carried it. To summarise: Kleenex put a nonperiodic tiling
pattern on their `quilted' toilet roll to avoid unsightly bunching.
Penrose objected, and as far as I know is in the process of suing
them. The `knight of the realm...' stuff is from his legal
representative, and there's more about Penrose tilings at the
following addresses:
* <http://rysy.msm.cam.ac.uk/~msms/penrose.html>
Some blurb from Cambridge University about Penrose himself.
* <http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~casey931/puzzle/penrose/penrose.html>
Cut-out-and-colour-in Penrose tiles (toilet paper is a bit flimsy, I
suspect - try cardboard)
* <http://www.aie.nl/~geert/java/public/Penrose.html>
A Java version of the above: quasitiling in an applet.
* <http://www.nbn.com/people/davew/installations.html>
Some actual honest-to-god real-world (not computerised) non-periodic
tilings.
-- Robin Stephenson - send mail with subject `send pgp key' for my key Do Not Apply To Broken Skin