The thread of learning something new every day
-
@Bones my best mate's brother has a doctorate in engineering and pointed that out to me when I remarked he had superhuman ability to do maths.
-
@antipodean who knew it was that easy - I'm off to get a doctorate in engineering then.
-
In 1838 Edgar Allan Poe wrote a book called The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. It was about four survivors of a shipwreck who, after days at sea, decide to kill and eat the cabin boy, whose name was Richard Parker (just like in Life of Pi). In 1884 a ship called Mignonette sank of Trinidad. Only 4 people survived. Eventually the crew who were adrift at sea decided to kill and eat the cabin boy, Richard Parker.
-
Arizona entomologist Justin O Schmidt has ranked the sting of over 80 species of insect on his personal suffering, usually accidental, but occasionally induced.
My personal favourite is:
Maricopa Harvester Ant: After eight unrelenting hours of drilling into that ingrown toenail, you find the drill wedged into the toe.
The Natural History Museum has some of them:
-
@Bones said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@antipodean who knew it was that easy - I'm off to get a doctorate in engineering then.
All Math is a trick
-
@NTA said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@Bones said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@antipodean who knew it was that easy - I'm off to get a doctorate in engineering then.
All Math is
a trickracist and patriarchal.Fixed.
-
@NTA said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@Bones said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@antipodean who knew it was that easy - I'm off to get a doctorate in engineering then.
All Math is a trick
Since when we're you Murkan? Where's your s?
-
@booboo said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@NTA said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@Bones said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@antipodean who knew it was that easy - I'm off to get a doctorate in engineering then.
All Math is a trick
Since when we're you Murkan? Where's your s?
Don't you live in Little Murica/Oz?
The little lapdogs will do anything to be like big brother.
The z's instead of s are far too frequent over here.
-
@Nepia said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@booboo said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@NTA said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@Bones said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@antipodean who knew it was that easy - I'm off to get a doctorate in engineering then.
All Math is a trick
Since when we're you Murkan? Where's your s?
Don't you live in Little Murica/Oz?
The little lapdogs will do anything to be like big brother.
The z's instead of s are far too frequent over here.
We've got a GOM thread so I won't expand. This could descend rapidly
. I've said too much already. -
@NTA said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Stay on topic you peasants
Wow. A whole new concept. Let's try it.
Watched QI the other night and they said that many things they have said as fact, is in fact, wrong.
That fact may also be wrong of course.The concept of accepted fact changing as we learn more is fascinating in itself. Until we learn enough to disprove that too.
-
@Snowy said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@NTA said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Stay on topic you peasants
Wow. A whole new concept. Let's try it.
Watched QI the other night and they said that many things they have said as fact, is in fact, wrong.
That fact may also be wrong of course.The concept of accepted fact changing as we learn more is fascinating in itself. Until we learn enough to disprove that too.
Reminds me of the one time in my life where I was wrong about something - the time when I thought I was wrong but I was actually right.
-
@voodoo said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@Snowy said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@NTA said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Stay on topic you peasants
Wow. A whole new concept. Let's try it.
Watched QI the other night and they said that many things they have said as fact, is in fact, wrong.
That fact may also be wrong of course.The concept of accepted fact changing as we learn more is fascinating in itself. Until we learn enough to disprove that too.
Reminds me of the one time in my life where I was wrong about something - the time when I thought I was wrong but I was actually right.
I know you somehow...
Oh yeah, I married you.
-
@Snowy said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@NTA said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Stay on topic you peasants
Wow. A whole new concept. Let's try it.
Watched QI the other night and they said that many things they have said as fact, is in fact, wrong.
That fact may also be wrong of course.The concept of accepted fact changing as we learn more is fascinating in itself. Until we learn enough to disprove that too.
I did a course called "Philosophy of Science" at Uni... and yeah, a lot of it was about the theory of science being based on a "kernel" fact/theory (always, actually, theory... the one and only knowable fact is "Cogito, ergo Sum") - which we want to assume is true... and all related "facts" (theories, evidence) form up layers around this kernel, with the outer layers being more "flexible" - in that you can remove/replace/update these as necessary to support/"prove" the inner layers.
And I've always felt a little disconcerted about how smug/certain QI can be, with the whole buzzer-thing, etc - and then presenting the "truth" - when a large number of their questions/factoids/etc are by very nature - questionable, or very open to being proven wrong later.
(I do seem to recall they have a strangely written disclaimer, in the credits, something about "all facts were true at time of broadcast"... which is taking some rather large liberties with the definitions of the words "facts" and "true") -
@Kruse said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@Snowy said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@NTA said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Stay on topic you peasants
Wow. A whole new concept. Let's try it.
Watched QI the other night and they said that many things they have said as fact, is in fact, wrong.
That fact may also be wrong of course.The concept of accepted fact changing as we learn more is fascinating in itself. Until we learn enough to disprove that too.
I did a course called "Philosophy of Science" at Uni... and yeah, a lot of it was about the theory of science being based on a "kernel" fact/theory (always, actually, theory... the one and only knowable fact is "Cogito, ergo Sum") - which we want to assume is true... and all related "facts" (theories, evidence) form up layers around this kernel, with the outer layers being more "flexible" - in that you can remove/replace/update these as necessary to support/"prove" the inner layers.
And I've always felt a little disconcerted about how smug/certain QI can be, with the whole buzzer-thing, etc - and then presenting the "truth" - when a large number of their questions/factoids/etc are by very nature - questionable, or very open to being proven wrong later.
(I do seem to recall they have a strangely written disclaimer, in the credits, something about "all facts were true at time of broadcast"... which is taking some rather large liberties with the definitions of the words "facts" and "true")Descartes. IIRC.
Hadn't seen that philosophy of science. So I learnt something today (and on topic for @nta).
I like it. I guess the basic premise may well be true but the expansion of the fact can easily evolve into fiction.As for QI - completely agree about the use of the words facts and true, but that gets us back to the philosophical discussion about what actually is.
I still like the show though.
-
@Snowy said in The thread of learning something new every day:
the use of the words facts and true, but that gets us back to the philosophical discussion about what actually is.
Yep - exactly... and from memory, that was covered off in another Philosophy first-year course... "Knowledge and Reality".
Which taught one the whole thing that Descartes figured out - the one true a priori fact of "I think, therefore I am",
And that all a posteriori "knowledge", ie: figured out from observation - might be complete bullshit.They laboured for one semester to pretty much just drill in that one concept.
And I had massive drunken arguments with mates trying to explain that the whole world is possibly just an illusion, and some or all of what they think they know could be absolute bullshit.And then "The Matrix" came out... and presumably, teaching that course became a whole lot simpler. And suddenly, those mates I'd had drunken debates with, understood perfectly what I'd been trying to say - and denied ever refuting it.
-
@Snowy said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@voodoo said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@Snowy said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@NTA said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Stay on topic you peasants
Wow. A whole new concept. Let's try it.
Watched QI the other night and they said that many things they have said as fact, is in fact, wrong.
That fact may also be wrong of course.The concept of accepted fact changing as we learn more is fascinating in itself. Until we learn enough to disprove that too.
Reminds me of the one time in my life where I was wrong about something - the time when I thought I was wrong but I was actually right.
I know you somehow...
Oh yeah, I married you.
😚
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket - Wikipedia
