Mathematicians are facing a stark choice — embrace monstrous infinite entities or admit the basic rules of arithmetic are broken
Well, here’s an even more subversive thought: are the rules of arithmetic, the basic logical premises underlying things like long division, unsound? Implausible, you might think. After all, human error aside, our number system delivers pretty reliable results. Yet the closer mathematicians peer beneath the hood of arithmetic, the more they are becoming convinced that something about numbers doesn’t quite add up. The motor might be still running, but some essential parts seem to be missing — and we’re not sure where to find the spares.
(via kottke)
quote out of context
Even worse, Arroyo said, “He’s charging more than Shaft.’’
Ali G, art and theater
The James Lipton interview starts about a minute forty.
from the comments
I love the way this shows the different worlds that kids and adults live in, even as they exist together. Adults are distracted by one range of things, children by another–and they are often not seeing the same things at all. And isn’t it odd how we remember childhood by way of images and incidents of the sort that we are later led to think are not significant. I was telling Cindy yesterday that I just noticed an odd feature of my early memories: it occurred to me that every time I think of being ten years old, the same image of myself arises. I’m in the back yard of my parents’ suburban house, doing yard work and pausing to look at the mid-day sky to the west, wishing that I were down at the creek shooting my new slingshot. I guess memory makes icons of moments, placeholders of tone and light–and those moments shed the whole, rather than the other way around. There is no completeness, there is only emergent memory of emergent experience. A sail billowing on the boat that hasn’t been built yet.
from the spam
Every man has a fool in his sleeve.
spam name
Mr. William Leung Wing Cheung.
Where Yertle the Turtle Lives
“Ok, so what if Earth is just a dot in the picture? Well, it’s incredible to think that dot encompasses all the achievements, joys, fears, and tears of the 100 billion people who have occupied this celestial pebble since the dawn of our species.”
Calling Dr. Freud
Last night I dreamed I was in a play. It was Shakespeare (don’t know which play), and I had a relatively minor role. We were meeting in Colorado for a final rehearsal. Rick was also in the play, and he gently expressed concern that I hadn’t fully learned my lines. The director was that asshole from Inside the Actors’ Studio, and he also expressed concern. I told each not to worry, that I always come through in the end–that, in fact, I generally had no problem memorizing the entire script, and perhaps my present problem was due to the fact that I had a smaller role than usual and somehow that caused me to lose context. I could see that my assurances didn’t assuage their concerns, and I sat and pondered how new that was for me–people always trusted me in the past, why not now? Then I realized that I was wearing only a thin wrap and it had fallen, so I was naked in full view of my fellow actors as well as tourists. Everyone laughed.
Up and over.
I just went from having not enough money to buy gas for my car, and having to eat nothing but apples for a week, to having six-thousand dollars. A fulcrum moment if ever there fuckin’ was one.
National Library of Haiti (January 12 2010)
Security cameras at Haiti’s National Library in Port-au-Prince captured these scenes from the initial moments of January’s quake. I find the footage weirdly hypnotic.
And yes, the date/time stamp is a week off.
Umbria whilst ruminating on Calvino
I’m not much of a story-teller, especially out loud, but here’s my latest dispatch from the Umbria region & my inspired thoughts on reading Italo Calvino’s mega-meta-story If on a winter’s night a traveler & story-telling & language & self-reference & truffles.
notes from the first half of a belly dance show that lasted five and a half hours
Leave them wanting less.
My ass is giving birth to itself.
Dream during second sleep*.
We rented a house. A house in a north woods-type forest but apparently located somewhere in the Caribbean. I decided to host a small party. Friends from college I hadn’t seen in ages showed up. Lovely to see you! Oh, hi Deron, hi Michael! So many people came up the drive, discussing this party they heard so much about. I’m sorry, do I know you? I slipped into town. We were out of ice/beer/wanderings. The owners of the house were also in town- two women and their biological child. Seems you’re having a party? Yes but not too big, don’t worry, your house will be safe. They looked relieved. They gave me a sheet of paper with some published town statistics: 5 of 6 people you meet here will be much wealthier than you; 7 donkeys were beaten today. Back at the house. Deron was sitting alone in an armchair, his back to a mirror. Hello love, how are you? Not well. My mom is dying and they don’t know why. Deron looked in the mirror, he was shouting now. She is so hard on herself, she beats herself up all the time and I don’t know why. Floating on inner tubes in the Caribbean. A large stadium-like structure of apartments floated to the right. Deron and Michael declared they didn’t much care for German architecture. Deron smiled. Everyone was gone.
*Second sleep is the period of sleep that occurs after you first wake up.
-Ronya
Normal in Every Respect
Poop Story
Porky Piggin’ it means wearing only a T-shirt.
to the pool
Winona, Minnesota
My camera is on the fritz, so you only get a recording.
[audio src="http://www.clusterflock.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/winona.mp3"]
Also, here is the Stevie Ray Vaughan song I mention.
Story Story
spam name
Odis Tackett.
Three Chairs In Two Rooms, Crete.
Prelude and Fugue in Andrew Major
Video Saturday is here!
Portal now in required university course
Portal, arguably the greatest video game of all time (at least, IMHO), is paired with classic works of western literature:
This year, for the first time, a video game will appear on the syllabus of a course required for all students at Wabash College, where I teach. For me – and for a traditional liberal arts college founded in 1832 – this is a big deal.
Alongside Gilgamesh, Aristotle’s Politics, John Donne’s poetry, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the Tao Te Ching, freshmen at Wabash will also encounter a video game called Portal.
The class is a required freshmen seminar entitled “Enduring Question” which confronts “what it means to be human and how we understand ourselves, our relationships, and our world.” Suddenly, I wish I were back in college.
let’s make August Stupid American Month
Every August something happens that reminds me just how stupid America has become. This month is full of fresh reminders of our dwindling National intelligence.
Quote out of context — and some damned good advice.
You won’t pant in the roadside thistles wondering if you’ll ever be able to forget this, won’t vomit your own bile into a heavily ripped faux-leather passenger seat, or feel an indescribable chill when you turn the world over to find a name tag reading “Dale.” You’ll just be fucked.
My fellow graduates, don’t be fucked. Stand up, take a deep breath, and strangle the ham thick breath out of whatever hillbilly is holding you down.
-Ronya
Apple’s compare a Mac feature is pretty spiffy
When you go into the Apple store, you select the computer you want to look at, then at the top there is the Compare a Mac option. Once you select it, you can click two additional systems and compare their features side by side.
