Sorrow

physics is scary what the hell is the Riemann zeta function doing in the equation for the critical temperature of a Bose-Einstein condensate

@paradife-loft​ recently posted something jokingly commenting about how the fact that Hobbits call the Baranduin the “Brandywine” implies that the words for “brandy” and “wine” in Westron are in fact, “brandy” and “wine.”

I used to wonder about that myself and a while ago I looked it up. The truth is, maybe unfortunately, something different, but really interesting and it involves not one but two layers of puns:

 Brandywine is actually a very loose translation of the pun. The Hobbits first named the river Branda-nîn, which means border water, because it is, in fact, a border marker, and it sounds like the Sindarin name, Baranduin. But then later they started calling it the Bralda-hîn, which means “heady ale.”

So from there we have Tolkien “translate” it to Brandywine, to preserve the pun being based on a very Hobbit-like alcoholic drink and the sound similarity to the Baranduin, even if it did miss one of the linguistic layers.

But here’s the best part - the Hobbits named the river the Bralda-hîn because it was the color of ale. And the original Sindarin name, Baranduin? It means golden-brown river. So basically the Hobbits took a Sindarin name whose meaning they probably didn’t know, gave it a similar sounding name in Westron, and then made a pun off that Westron to give the river’s name a meaning similar to its original Sindarin one in the first place.

Tag yourself I’m Aled’s iPad

fields of mathematics

number theory: The Queen of Mathematics, in that it takes a lot from other fields and provides little in return, and people are weirdly sentimental about it.

combinatorics: Somehow simultaneously the kind of people who get really excited about Martin Gardner puzzles and very serious no-nonsense types who don’t care about understanding why something is true as long as they can prove that it’s true.

algebraic geometry: Here’s an interesting metaphor, and here’s several thousand pages of work fleshing it out.

differential geometry: There’s a lot of really cool stuff built on top of a lot of boring technical details, but they frequently fill entire textbooks or courses full of just the boring stuff, and they seem to think students will find this interesting in itself rather than as a necessary prerequisite to something better. So there’s definitely something wrong with them.

category theory: They don’t really seem to understand that the point of generalizing a result is so that you can apply it to other situations.

differential equations: physicists

real analysis: What if we took the most boring parts of a proof and just spent all our time studying those?

point-set topology: See real analysis, but less relevant to the real world.

complex analysis: Sorcery. I thought it seemed like sorcery because I didn’t know much about it, but then I learned more, and now the stuff I learned just seems like sorcery that I know how to do.

algebraic topology: Some of them are part of a conspiracy with category theorists to take over mathematics. I’m pretty sure that most algebraic topologists aren’t involved in that, but I don’t really know what else they’re up to.

functional analysis: Like real analysis but with category theorists’ generalization fetish.

group theory: Probably masochists? It’s hard to imagine how else someone could be motivated to read a thousand-page paper, let alone write one.

operator algebras: Seems cool but I can’t understand a word of it, so I can’t be sure they’re not just bullshitting the whole thing.

commutative/homological algebra: Diagram chases are of the devil, and these people are his worshipers.

Thoughts on the phrase ‘Knowledge is power’, and on learning ‘enough’ about a skill/topic before doing a project about it

I’ve thought for a long time about the phrase ‘Knowledge is power’, and have lived most of my life aware of the negative impact of ignorance and lack of knowledge on our lives. But the more I think about it, I feel like a better phrase would be ‘It is the application of knowledge that brings true wisdom and power’. Knowledge can only help us to a certain extent - what is the point of knowledge, if we’re unable to utilise it well, and if we’re not strong or able to apply knowledge into our lives? It requires both strength and wisdom to be able to apply what we’ve learnt into real life.

This is kind of linked to a conversation I had with someone recently.

During that conversation, they told me that they prefer learning everything - or learning enough - before starting a project, because they were afraid of failure or messing things up along the way. I feel like that’s something many people do, but by doing that, they’re overlooking the importance of learning from experience and failure. Learning the theoretical knowledge, and trying to retain all the knowledge you gain, is helpful - but what is not helpful is NOT doing the project, NOT learning to apply your knowledge into life or into ongoing problems because you believe you aren’t ‘ready’ or that you don’t know ‘enough’ to do the project.

It is important to enhance your ability to apply your knowledge in creative ways in real life to deal with complex situations - and that means being able to put aside some time to apply your limited skills - be it your art skills, music skills, math skills, critical thinking skills, reflection skills, socialising skills etc. To use and learn more about your flaws and areas of improvement. Knowing is helpful, knowing theories and a methodical step by step way of solving things is useful - but being able to do things as you learn, being able to spot your mistakes and learn from them WHILE doing the project you’re doing, is so, so important.

It’s important to allow yourself the grace to make mistakes, to learn from failure, to pick yourself up, to cope with pain, guilt, anger, sadness, and grief - even if you think you aren’t ‘fully’ ready or prepared for certain things sometimes. DO that project, TRY that new activity, APPLY whatever limited knowledge you have into your life or personal goals after you’ve learnt enough to do some basic things. Of course, keep learning, do spend more time learning, but as you slowly become advanced and no longer a ‘newbie’, I hope you don’t restrict yourself in the ‘newbie’ section just because you aren’t a master, and create that new song, create that new artwork, try writing a critical review on a historical source or critical response to a philosophical argument. You might make mistakes, you might mess up a bit, but you will also learn along the way!

There are some things you can only learn through experience.

Ok, I think I yapped enough ahaha.

TLDR; While knowledge may bring power, it is the application of knowledge that brings true wisdom and strength.

RAHHH THE ONLY CORRECT WAY TO START 2025!!

people trying to insist a fandom is tiny when it /only/ has a few thousand works on ao3 meanwhile my current fandom is a sixteen book series and has several hundred fewer works than goncharov, a movie that, and i cannot stress this enough, doesn’t even exist

(Gordon ramsay chewing out a restaurant owner over his old expired ingredients) And where the fuck does this door lead? If I see a- (there is a hallway miles long, with ashen black walls and no end in sight)¹

1. oh for fucks sake

Tentative Timeline for the Jeeves Stories

Note: This is almost impossible to get exactly accurate and should be viewed as hypothetical. Wodehouse himself seemed to pay little attention to chronology and consistency of cultural references, so the best I can do is guess. The novels in particular are difficult to arrange, since they are supposed to take place in such a short time period, yet seem to require more time if they are to occur as described.

According to this hypothetical timeline, Bertie Wooster was born around 1901. If so, he would have been seventeen when World War I ended and so could not have participated. If we suppose Jeeves to be ten to twenty years older, he would have been born around 1881-1891, making him between twenty-three and thirty-three when WWI began and ensuring that he would definitely have “dabbled in it to a certain extent,” as he tells Lord Rowcester in Ring for Jeeves.

“Jeeves Takes Charge” – Summer 1925 (Bertie is twenty-four, and the narration is taking place six years in the future, presumably 1931.)

“Extricating Young Gussie” – September 1925 (This story isn’t usually included in the series, but its events are referred to in later stories and so it’s clearly part of the timeline.)

“The Artistic Career of Corky”- Autumn 1925-sometime in 1926 (Necessarily takes place over a long period of time, possibly the entire New York trip.)

“Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg” – Autumn 1925 (A few months into the NY stay.)

“Jeeves and the Chump Cyril” – 1925 or 1926

 “Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest” – Autumn 1926 (Set during Coolidge’s presidency (1923-1929), about a year into the stay in NY, “about the time of the year when New York is at its best.”)

“The Aunt and the Sluggard” – Spring 1927

“Jeeves in the Springtime” – April/May 1927

“Scoring off Jeeves” – Summer 1927

“Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch” – Summer 1927

“Aunt Agatha Takes the Count” – Summer 1927

 “Comrade Bingo” – Late July or early August 1927 (Around the time of the Goodwood Cup.)

“The Great Sermon Handicap” – August 1927

“The Purity of the Turf” – August or September 1927 (Three weeks into the stay at Twing.)

“Bertie Changes His Mind” –

“The Metropolitan Touch” – November-December 1927 (A Friday, December 23 is mentioned, making the only possible years in the right range 1921, 1927, or 1932. In light of information in later stories, 1927 seemed the most plausible option.)

“The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace” – Probably early in 1928 (Set during the time of an unspecified Oxford term. Bertie’s age is given as around twenty-five or –six.)

“Bingo and the Little Woman” – Between October 1927 and February 1928 (Invitation received to go shooting in Norfolk indicates that it’s sometime during the hunting season.)

“Without the Option” – March or April 1928 (Boat Race Night is usually the last weekend in March or the first weekend in April.)

 “Clustering Round Young Bingo” – Sometime in 1928

“Jeeves and the Impending Doom” – Spring[?] 1928

“The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy” – Spring[?] 1928 (Takes place sometime before June 1.)

[“The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy” – The mention of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley would set it around April-October 1924 or 1925. However, this does not fit the timeline as I’ve guessed at it, because it’s clearly set after Bertie’s brief engagement to Honoria Glossop. Adjusting the timeline to fit around this date would cause other problems, so I’ll call this an anomaly.]

“Fixing It for Freddie” – Summer[?] 1928

 “Jeeves and the Yule-tide Spirit” – December 1928

“Jeeves and the Song of Songs” – Sometime in 1929

“Episode of the Dog McIntosh” – Spring[?] 1929

“The Spot of Art” – Summer[?] 1929

“Jeeves and the Kid Clementina” – Summer[?] 1929

“The Love that Purifies” – August 1929

“Jeeves and the Old School Chum” – Autumn 1929

“Indian Summer of an Uncle” – Sometime in 1929

“The Ordeal of Young Tuppy” – November 1929

“Jeeves Makes an Omelette” – Winter 1929 or 1930

Thank You, Jeeves – July 1930

Right Ho, Jeeves – July 29-31, 1931 (Cannot take place the same year as Thank You, Jeeves, because TYJ begins around July 15 after a three-month trip to America, while RHJ opens around July 25 after a trip to Cannes that started at the beginning of June.)

The Code of the Woosters – Autumn 1931

“Jeeves and the Greasy Bird” – December 1931 (It’s said to be more than a year after Sir Roderick’s engagement in Thank You, Jeeves, and Bertie’s awareness of the Junior Ganymede Club suggests that it’s after The Code of the Woosters.)

The Mating Season – April 1932 (The events of Right Ho, Jeeves occurred the previous summer, while the mention of Boat Race Night and Bertie’s cousin Thomas returning to school—presumably for the summer term—suggest an early April date.)

Joy in the Morning – Summer 1932

Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit – July 1932 (Aunt Dahlia is said to have been running Milady’s Boudoir, first mentioned in “Clustering Round Young Bingo,” for three years.)

How Right You Are, Jeeves – Summer 1933 (Jeeves goes on holiday, not the same one mentioned in Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit. Bertie’s moustache from the previous book is mentioned as having occurred a year ago. Aunt Dahlia is said to have run her journal for four years. The one thing I can’t account for is the claim that the events of Right Ho, Jeeves occurred the previous summer, so for purposes of expediency I will consider it an error.)

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves – Fall[?] 1933

Jeeves and the Tie That Binds – Fall[?] 1933 (Tuppy and Angela have been engaged for two years.)

Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen – Spring or summer 1934

Ring for Jeeves – June, sometime between 1946-1953 (Set explicitly post-World War II, with an emphasis on societal changes in the UK. Television is mentioned.)

Morten Morland (@mortenmorland) gives Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne the cartoon-test

“It’s simple, really. If a person is easy to draw, he’ll do well [in politics]. Because the likelihood is he’ll have other interesting characteristics too, which will make him appealing to journalists, thus raising the party’s profile in the media. And people watching are more likely to remember him, which is a bonus!

A quick cartoon-test shows that Nick Clegg, probably the favourite in the party at the moment, will lead the party into eternal oblivion, if elected. He is Mr. Some Bloke embodified – despite the fact that he can speak several languages.

I did a couple of quick sketches, and worringly for him, the best caricature came after I in frustration drew a lifeless mask.

People will see Nick Clegg on TV and wonder whether he’s that guy from marketing whose name they can’t recall – or someone they’ve met at All Bar One.

Chris Huhne on the other hand, is better. Not great, but better. He’s got a prominent crazy eye – a feature that he famously shares with both Maggie and Tony. His mouth is similar to that of a hamster…or a mouse, and remember, those ears will keep growing.

Between Clegg and Huhne, there really is no contest.”

In full here: http://poldraw.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/lib-dems-insist-on-having-an-election/