The five platonic solids, left to right: octahedron, icosahedron, cube, tetrahedron, and the squishy one is a dodecahedron.
In other words, our lost suitcase was found–almost exactly a week after disappearing. (Thank you, Scandinavian Air, for finding it, and thanks to Continental for delivering it to our house at 1:30 a.m.)
Now, I was extremely pleased–though the next morning was soon enough to check on it–that my winter hat, two pairs of shoes, et cetera, were once again part of my life. Frank, however, was much more excited about his magnetic “stix and balls”* from the Nobel Museum, which he has now turned into five platonic solids.
“The Platonic solids were known to the ancient Greeks,” according to Steve Wolfram. Furthermore, “Plato equated the tetrahedron with the “element” fire, the cube with earth, the icosahedron with water, the octahedron with air, and the dodecahedron with the stuff of which the constellations and heavens were made (Cromwell 1997).”
Of course, if the heavens were made of magnets and balls, they’d also squish out of shape from their own weight. But I know Frank has some tricky un-squishing planned for the immediate future…
* Magnetic stix and balls are made in the UK, and various people sell them online, if you want some. Frank has 3 kits–they cost about $10 each.