Today’s expression: “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Meaning: Let’s not talk about that problem right now. We may or may not see the problem come into reality in the future, so we will only address it if it does.

Alternative: Let’s cross that bridge when we get there.

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Tessellation: A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps.

Look at a honeycomb and what do you find? Tessellating hexagons. Perhaps it’s because it’s the most efficient of tessellations. How do the bees know to design their hives in this fashion? It’s mindboggling. 

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Tessellations in art

M.C. Escher is known for experimenting with tessellations in his art. 

There’s more than you could ever want to know about tessellations on Wikipedia. If you enjoy geometry and art, you should check it out. Trying to think about tessellations in the third and fourth dimensions will break your brain. 

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Even though this is a Saturday post, I can’t resist including the etymology for “tessellation:”

1690s, from Late Latin tessellatus, which means “made of small square stones or tiles.” From the past participle of tesselare, from tessella meaning “small square stone or tile,” diminutive of tessera “a cube or square of stone or wood,” perhaps from Greek tessera, neuter of tesseres, Ionic variant of tessares “the numeral four” (from PIE root *kwetwer- “four”), in reference to four corners. 

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Brain teaser:

I will give you five words and five definitions. Each word can be anagrammed into a two-word phrase that matches one of the definitions. Then, you have to assign each definition to its corresponding word.

Example: Given the word “cobalt,” you could rearrange it to “cat lob” and match the definition “to hit a feline in a high arc.”

Words: Chameleon, medium, physical, president, tungsten

Definitions:

A boat constructed of thick mud-like soil

A cozy canvas shelter

A device for trapping tarantulas

A not-too-bright bird

A tidy house