CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
85 WAYS TO TIE A TIE—and TYING OTHER KNOTS
Shortly after 18-year-old David came to live with us he asked my husband Monte to show him how to tie a tie. Our German exchange student was preparing to attend a formal dance and couldn’t recall the technique.
Physicists at Cambridge University presented eighty-five different tie knots requiring three to nine moves. They drew their demonstrations from topology, history (ancient Chinese to the present), fashion, examples from the movies and practicality. Of the thirteen knots that survived their aesthetic constraints on symmetry and balance, they suggest the Kelvin as the one most likely to threaten the prevalence of the four-in-hand currently most common.*
Tying knots is a challenge not only for those who must tie ties, but for biologists too. Simple trefoil knots have been observed in a few proteins, and scientists are attempting to identify them by the mathematical equivalent of pulling the string at both ends.**
Tying (and untying) knots is a skill a learned through struggle and frustration, as many Boy Scouts earning badges can testify to. Yet there are those who find it a natural talent. The average person is probably happy to know one technique while those who are gifted thrill at the challenge of learning all eighty-five knots styles.
It is true with other skills also. A paintbrush is a frustration in my hands while it is a natural for others. I am happy to know the basics for primitive productions while others blend their colors in ways that make me marvel. On the other hand, understanding people and writing are easy skills for me.
It is the skill that is a natural to us that directs us to our passions, our God-given gifts. When we hone and fine-tune these gifts we, like the physicists, will find numerous ways to present that gift. Others who have the same gift may present it in a totally different style or technique. Thus, one gift will turn out like tie knots, with multitudinous ways of being developed and presented. No single presentation predominates and each method sufficiently personal for its most effective use.
What is your unique gift, and how can you develop it so you can present it to others?
*BROWSINGS, Science, Vol. 290, Dec. 8, 2000, pp 1900 (Book, The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie, Thomas Fink, and Yong Mao) **Knot now, Nature, vol. 406, Aug. 24, 2000, pp ix
ADDITONAL READING:
Why Neckties?
EVERYDAY HEROES
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85 Ways to tie a tie—and tying other knots
Tags: 85 ways to tie a tie, Biological knots, COMMENTARY, Community, Contemplation, Creativity, Culture, Daily Life, Diary, Gifts, God-given gifts, Inspiration, Latest post, Life, Lifestream, Lifestyle, Passions, Ramblings, Reflections, Science, Skills, Society, Stories, the Kelvin knot, Thoughts, Trefoil knots, Tying knots, Tying neckties
CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
85 WAYS TO TIE A TIE—and TYING OTHER KNOTS
Shortly after 18-year-old David came to live with us he asked my husband Monte to show him how to tie a tie. Our German exchange student was preparing to attend a formal dance and couldn’t recall the technique.
Physicists at Cambridge University presented eighty-five different tie knots requiring three to nine moves. They drew their demonstrations from topology, history (ancient Chinese to the present), fashion, examples from the movies and practicality. Of the thirteen knots that survived their aesthetic constraints on symmetry and balance, they suggest the Kelvin as the one most likely to threaten the prevalence of the four-in-hand currently most common.*
Tying knots is a challenge not only for those who must tie ties, but for biologists too. Simple trefoil knots have been observed in a few proteins, and scientists are attempting to identify them by the mathematical equivalent of pulling the string at both ends.**
Tying (and untying) knots is a skill a learned through struggle and frustration, as many Boy Scouts earning badges can testify to. Yet there are those who find it a natural talent. The average person is probably happy to know one technique while those who are gifted thrill at the challenge of learning all eighty-five knots styles.
It is true with other skills also. A paintbrush is a frustration in my hands while it is a natural for others. I am happy to know the basics for primitive productions while others blend their colors in ways that make me marvel. On the other hand, understanding people and writing are easy skills for me.
It is the skill that is a natural to us that directs us to our passions, our God-given gifts. When we hone and fine-tune these gifts we, like the physicists, will find numerous ways to present that gift. Others who have the same gift may present it in a totally different style or technique. Thus, one gift will turn out like tie knots, with multitudinous ways of being developed and presented. No single presentation predominates and each method sufficiently personal for its most effective use.
What is your unique gift, and how can you develop it so you can present it to others?
*BROWSINGS, Science, Vol. 290, Dec. 8, 2000, pp 1900 (Book, The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie, Thomas Fink, and Yong Mao) **Knot now, Nature, vol. 406, Aug. 24, 2000, pp ix
ADDITONAL READING:
Why Neckties?
EVERYDAY HEROES
Found: Flash Drive. What should I do?
BEAR CARNIVAL IN CONNELLSVILLE, PA.
BEAR STORIES ACROSS THE NATION
Like this: