15 June 25

For Father's Day 2025 I'm wearing my tie that I think resembles one my father Arthur Jeremiah Kleppinger (1916-2004) wore. He wore ties to work every day at Bethlehem Fabricators, which became part of Whitehead & Kales. Today also marks 85 years since Arthur married Ethel Howland York. My tie clip says "Papa Seeds," what my grandchildren call me!

2 November 23

We're back to the annual event called Looking For Circles Day! The red and white shapes on my tie are oval-ish but look circular as i view them from above. I found a circular cupcake liner and a spherical potato to look at.

2 November 22

It came around again! The second day of November is always Looking for Circles Day. My tie is covered with circles (actually ovals but it you look at angle they are circular) in black, red and white. My tie tack is genuinely circular, as is the core of a roll of paper towels. Also your math trivium for this date is 11 times 2 equals 22.

2 November 21

 Today is the annual celebration of "Looking For Circles Day." My tie is covered with circles and I have an obsolete circular mouse pad. And I have a lot of circular mugs! Extra thought for today: every ellipse (oval) can be considered as the orthogonal projection of its principal circle. Just look sideways at your own mug.

23 March 20

Your math for today: 23 - 3 = 20. I'm working from home, like at least 60% of the country, during the Great Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020. But I'm still wearing ties, for my classes and faculty consultations! Today's choice is the tie from my collection that best represents my father's neckwear, for his daily work at Bethlehem Fabricators, Inc. Arthur Jeremiah Kleppinger died on this date in 2004.

15 November 18

Today's tie originally belonged to Otha Dell Brigance, born on this date in 1922. He became the grandfather of our daughter-by-loving-inclusion Rachel Haskins, and she gave me his tie!

15 November 17

Today's tie belonged to Otha Dell Brigance (1922-2000), who was born on this date. Mr. Brigance eventually had a granddaughter whom we know as Rachel Haskins -- and who counts as one of our daughters! I am happy to help Rachel remember her grandfather.

2 November 16

Looking For Circles Day has come around again! For my photo I'm holding some of the objects that Nate David (now 18 months old) uses as his favorite circular things. Now I hope I've made you notice at least one circle near you!

20 July 16

Today I'm wearing what I think is my most "imperial" tie, with circlets of white and red on gray and dark red diagonals, to honor the birthday of Alexander the Great, in 356 BCE. I would not agree with his militaristic politics aimed at world domination, but there can be no doubt at all that he was a "great" character. Early in life he was tutored by the great philosopher Aristotle (whose teacher was Plato, whose teacher was Socrates), but he seems to have found intellectual studies quite boring, and chose instead to conquer the known world through military force. This date is also the birthday (in 1893 CE) of Alexander, King of Greece from 1917-1920. Oh, by the way, humans first walked on the Moon on this date in 1969 CE.

22 July 15

Happy ∏ Approximation Day! One easy-to-remember fraction that's close to the true value for pi is 22/7, and so the 22nd of July is always ∏ Approximation Day. My tie for today displays red and white ovals, which are approximately circular. At Beth's suggestion/insistence I will be enjoying Free Pie Wednesday today at O'Charley's®, at approximately lunchtime.

15-16 November 14

Today's tie originally belonged to Otha Dell Brigance, grandfather of our daughter-by-inclusion Rachel Haskins. Yesterday (Saturday) would have been Mr. Brigance's 92nd birthday.

23 September 13

Marking the birthday of Augustus Caesar, in 63 BCE. His name at birth was Gaius Octavius Thurinus, but after adoption by his uncle Julius Caesar he became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. He took the name Augustus when he became Emperor, in 27 BCE. I think the circlets on this tie resemble the Roman imperial "civic crown."

4 September 12

The element carbon exists in nature in many different forms, including coal, diamond, and graphite. In one of its most amazing allotropes, sixty carbon atoms are bonded in a hollow-spherical framework of pentagons and hexagons, like the surface geometry of a soccer ball. On this date in 1985, organic chemists first synthesized this substance, which they nicknamed "Buckminsterfullerene" because its structure resembles the geodesic domes designed by Buckminster Fuller. Today's tie has cycles of black circles for Buckminsterfullerene.



Molecular structure of Buckminsterfullerene:

2 November 11

"Looking for Circles Day" has come around again! And this November 2 is also a palindrome date (11-02-2011). Is every circle a geometric palindrome? Are you looking forward, backward or both directions as you look for circles today?

28 June 11

The "zeroes" on this tie celebrate the birthday earlier this week (June 25) of Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), who first developed the theory of absolute zero, the lowest limit for temperature. The absolute temperature scale is named for Kelvin. The freezing point of water, which is 32 degrees Fahrenheit and also 0 degrees Celsius, comes in at 273.15 K. Today's high temperature for Berea, Kentucky, will be around 300 K! But that's not anything to get excited about; tonight's low ("in the low 60's") will be around 290 K.

15 November 10

Today marks the birthday (in 1922) of Otha Dell Brigance, grandfather of our family friend and near-daughter Rachel Haskins. This was one of his ties, so it is also very appropriate for "America Recycles Day." In the photo I am holding a clipboard made from a recycled circuit board.

16 November 09

November 15 marks the birthday (in 1922) of Otha Dell Brigance, grandfather of our family "daughter" Rachel Haskins. She gave me this tie from his collection.

02 June 09

Arthur J. Kleppinger (1916-2004) was born on June 2. He was an accountant and group insurance supervisor for Bethlehem Fabricators, Inc., a steel engineering company in Bethlehem, PA. I selected my tie for today based on its resemblance to the one he's wearing in this picture from 1990. (The tie I'm wearing originally belonged to the grandfather of our family friend Rachel Haskins.)

















Note for 01 June: Yesterday was International Children's Day, and to celebrate I wore my tie featuring children ready to play various outdoor games.

23 September 08

Red and white circlets to mark the birthday of Augustus Caesar, in 63 BCE. His name at birth was Gaius Octavius Thurinus, but after adoption by his uncle Julius Caesar he became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. He took the name Augustus when he became Emperor, in 27 BCE. According to published histories his birthday was precisely 2070 years ago today (not "2071," because there is no year "zero"). I don't have absolute confidence in correlating our current counting of days and months with dates from that long ago, but we will render to Caesar* that which bears his mark . . .

(*This phrase comes from Jesus' teachings, who was living during the reign of Tiberius, Augustus' successor.)

22 July 08

22/7 is known to some humorous mathematicians (or mathematical humorists) as Pi Approximation Day, because the fraction 22/7 = 3.142857 . . . which is close to the true value of π = 3.14159 . . .
For more circles, see 19 June.