God Delivers (High Quality Glassware through φ)
by Jonathan Quince
Saturday, April 1, 2006 10:10:42
For months, now, I have been mourning the end of Jenaer Glaswerks. [If you cannot see that press release, set a cookie by simply visiting this page first; Schott evidently makes fine glass but abysmally unusable websites.] I do so appreciate quality glassware; and the centenarian German shop called Jenaer (or sometimes Schott, thanks to a Cold War-era split) delivered cups and teapots that actually feel like lab glass in my hands. Unfortunately, the consumer products division was hemorrhaging cash at an alarming rate; and Schott, who continues to persist as one of the premier industrial glass manufacturers in the world, shut down the Jena teapot operation and transferred most of their skilled workers one year ago this month.
It appears, however, that somebody harks to my never-ending mathematical prayers.
In my continuing quest for the auric harmony of divine guidance, this eve
I engaged a meandering search for “φ”.
That, as you all know, is the
Golden Ratio
(represented as the Greek lowercase letter
phi, Unicode U+03c6), a transcendental number approximated by 1.61803.
Architecture, art, the
Fibonacci series, and the human body itself are all related to φ.
φ+1=φ², and φ-1=1/φ. ’Tis a fascinating little number, indeed—and as I thought,
a fitting one after which to randomly chase ’cross the Web.
Though a Jenaer teacup was not far from my hand, my thoughts were elsewhere—yet lo! φ, that goldener Schnitt, leads me to the Good News that Jenaer Glas has risen again. Even the Cold War failed to stop them; so I suppose I should be unsurprised that they may be undeterred by the economic reality of unwashed masses who do not even recognize quality, let alone appreciate it. According to the aforelinked blog entry, they are now running with Hungarian labor as Trendglas-Jena.
It remains to be seen if they retain the old German quality (which to me, of course, is their only conceivable raison d’être). Yet for now, I may at least take comfort in the grace of hope for my precious supply of glassware. My breathing will now be easier, my sleep sounder; food will taste better when I wake up on tomorrow’s morn. And for bringing me this news, I am grateful to God and good old φ.
Pray to the God of Math. He delivers.