Today on a flight from New York to Toronto I got into a long conversation with a very pleasant young woman. She told me she was an actress and I said “I hope you’re not somebody famous and I should know who you are.” It turns out that she is indeed famous, one of the leads in one of the highest rated shows on TV. Not having a TV I kind of miss these things sometimes. But in a way it was nice. I could relate to her as the person, not the famous role, since I’d never seen her on TV.
And it turned out that she was very interested in the work we’re doing at the University using computer games to help get kids – especially girls – more interested in learning math and science. Since the character she plays on TV is one that girls look up to, I said she might be a good public spokeperson for that, and the idea intrigued her. We exchanged info and we’ll see what happens.
You never know who you’re going to run into on any random day.
I am wondering who she really is. Pity that you have not a photo of her. Maybe oneday she can advertise your product in a TV show~
Most of the people we are familiar with now run into our life in a normal day.
I didn’t say who she was because I think it’s up to her to first decide whether she wants to become involved with our project, before anybody connects her with it publicly. Right now, she’s just an interesting person I met travelling on a plane her private life, and I think it’s important to respect that distinction.
Was it Lindsay Lohan? I bet it was. . . (laughing thinking of you explaining what you do to LL, or the idea that even she would think girls should “look up” to her)
Just wanted to say that I found your blog the other day and enjoy reading it a LOT. You’re a very talented writer (no snark at all, I mean it). I’ve read back a while and like the depth and breadth of your topics.
That’s very kind of you to say Zeth! I am certainly enjoying the freedom that a blog gives to roam through a wide range of topics. In a sense, words are the ultimate multimedia.
No offense to Ms. Lohan, but I think you’ve already inferred from context that I wasn’t referring to her. š
This story reminded me of the “math for girls” books by actress Danica McKellar. Have you seen them?: “Math Doesn’t Suck” and “Kiss My Math”.
I also just found out that you’re famous as well! I’ve been doing a lot of random terrain generation previously, but didn’t make the connection that you’re THE Perlin in Perlin noise.
You should have asked her if she recognised you! š
“perlin” : Do you KNOW who I am ?
“girl” : Should I know you ?
“perlin” : Iām the guy behind perlin FREAKING noise!
“girl” : *head explodes*
I once went to a conference, since I had to show up at a talk given by a business partner. The talk bored me beyond belief, so I had a look at the programme and found another talk with a promising headline. And guess this talk was excellent, a brilliant idea, explained clear and structured, with a decent sense of humour.
I got back to my office and told my colleague about it. He had to listen to me for fifteen minutes…After I finished, he asked me, who the hell gave this talk?! I said, I don’t know, I have to look it up in the programme.
It was some teacher at a university in NY, his name was Ken Perlin. š
And in spite I am a woman and blond, I knew about Perlin noise….
But who the hell is Lindsay Lohan? Never heard of her.
And who is Ken Perlin? I hardly can tell who I am and reducing Ken to ‘Ken Perlin’ to ‘Perlin noise’, would be easy but sad, right?!
But what I know is that getting girls more interested in math, science and technology is quite important. Since women can’t get into leadership positions as long as they ignore this kind of knowledge, leaving those fields to men only.
Is this blog blue, pink, red, violet, grey, white or Perlin noise??????