When growing up, our room had lots of toys. As we got older, the toys were replaced with books, cloths, and other "stuff" of growing up. At some point, and it was unclear exactly when that was, we gave them all up and replaced them with throw pillows, duvet covers, and three-piece sectionals. Apparently, guests need and appreciate a place to sit.

All of that is fine and good, but it clearly explains why we are now surrounded by toys in our office (monopole, magnets, gyroscope), some of it well disguised as "equipment", some not so much. The office "acquired" a few more items over the holidays which are now part of our collection. The first item is this fantastic globe from Stellanova. The globe is 4" in diameter, covered by constellations, and can be lit up from the inside. it throws the most wonderful shadows on everything.

The second item is an irrational clock. In math, irrational numbers are those that can't be represented by simple fractions. Two examples are pi and the square root of 2. Our irrational clock was designed by a mathematician, but it is for engineers, scientists, and pretty much anybody who enjoys the show The Big Bang Theory. The clock's time markers are in irrational numbers logically placed on a 360-degree circle. For example, pi (3.14159…) is just a few degrees past where the 3 would be on a regular clock face. Go here if you want to know the rational approximations of the other numbers.

Turn back time. Be irrational. Bring some toys back into your life. Toys are what keeps us young. Look around. Got toys? [Permalink] -Geek Toys