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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Ingrid Bergman Will Play Part Of Hypotenuse

Ingrid Bergman Will Play Part Of Hypotenuse

by Tom Levenson|  November 13, 20187:26 pm| 92 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I’ve got a bunch of sad and/or angry posts waiting to be written, but I’ve got enough melancholy and rage to fill a Liberty Ship* and I just want to take a break from my inner madness for a bit.  So back to the American Grotesque tomorrow, and for now, here’s something purely fun.

In order not to do a bit of academic admin that fell to my plate today, I browsed over to an interesting interview with Valeria Pettorino, a cosmologist who works on problems raised by the mysterious status of dark matter and dark energy.

As the introduction to the Quanta conversation explains, back in 2004, Pettorino was doing her doctoral research, and found time, and perhaps the mental need, to pursue another pleasure as well:

As a side project, she translated the opening lines of Dante’s Divine Comedy into a geometry problem.

“I felt there was mathematics already within Dante’s writing,” Pettorino said recently.

Here’s an English version of the original Pettorino set out to rewrite:

Midway along the journey of our life
I woke to find myself in a dark wood,
for I had wandered off from the straight path.

And here’s Pettorino’s take:

Given a line segment AB of size equal to our life path, consider its midpoint M. If D is a man called Dante, D shall be coincident with M.
The segment AB shall be contained in a dark field DF.
Assuming that a circumference C exists, circumscribed to the dark field DF, verify that the straight line r is external to such circumference.

Proof positive that there is poetry in mathematics, but that, perhaps, not all poems map to the math.

Oh — and if you want to know what the post title has to do with all this, have a listen.

Any literary exuberances y’all want to share in what is otherwise an open thread?

*Go visit. And marvel at its three cylinder, triple expansion marine engine — still operational!

Image: William Blake, The Ancient of Days, frontspiece to Europe a Prophecy, 1794

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Previous Post: « Open Thread: Oh, Yay, Another Crappy Repub Reboot!
Next Post: Stayed in Mississippi a day too long »

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  1. 1.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 13, 2018 at 7:32 pm

    Tom Lehrer “Lobachevsky” reference FTW!!

  2. 2.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 13, 2018 at 7:32 pm

    “I am never forget the day….”

  3. 3.

    Jacel

    November 13, 2018 at 7:34 pm

    On several occasions I’ve led a concert band on the deck of the SS Jeremiah O’Brien Liberty Ship when it cruises around the San Francisco Bay. One time was for the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge. We were playing “Happy Birthday To You” while crossing under the bridge — and secretly that was to celebrate my own birthday that day as well.

  4. 4.

    Schlemazel

    November 13, 2018 at 7:35 pm

    gawd I love Tom Lehrer. I m so sad he was such a good mathematician, It stole some great songs from us

  5. 5.

    Cermet

    November 13, 2018 at 7:40 pm

    Dark matter, like a lot of ideas, isn’t right and looks more and more, wrong – experiment after experiment is null or proves countering evidence. Even some galaxies have been found with no dark matter when that is, by the theory, impossible. Best conclusion, there is none. Dark energy, maybe – the jury is still out

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 13, 2018 at 7:42 pm

    @Schlemazel:

    Me too!

    I have a friend (actually, I think, also a mutual friend of Tom Levenson) who had lunch with Tom Lehrer a year or so ago. What I would give for an opportunity like that!

  7. 7.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 7:43 pm

    Speaking of”Liberty”

    The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats, on 8 June 1967, during the Six-Day War.[3] The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members (naval officers, seamen, two marines, and one civilian), wounded 171 crew members, and severely damaged the ship.[4] At the time, the ship was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula, about 25.5 nmi (29.3 mi; 47.2 km) northwest from the Egyptian city of Arish.[1][5]

  8. 8.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2018 at 7:46 pm

    For your next trick, please go to “Explain xkcd” and tell them how the last two lines in the cartoon refer to The Name Game, because apparently the math-heads there are so obsessed with finding proof errors in a cartoon that they’ve forgotten all the novelty songs they’ve ever heard.

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    November 13, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    We took a cruise on the other surviving Liberty ship, SS John Brown in Baltimore, about ten years ago. It was fabulous.

  10. 10.

    Mary G

    November 13, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    I was told there would be no math.

  11. 11.

    oatler.

    November 13, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    That Blake pic was reproduced in the Night Gallery episode “Return of the Sorcerer” as well as for the band Ithaca’s album “A Game For All Who Know”

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 13, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    @Mary G:

    I was told there would be no math.

    I am never forget day you are sadly misinformed, Komrad Mariya.

  13. 13.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 8:01 pm

    @Mike in NC: My buddy’s grandfather had one named after him. “3023 Hadley F Brown 18-Mar-44 29-Apr-44 15-May-44 20 Mar 1945, struck mine in North Sea. No fatalities. US
    reserve fleet.” This guy was something, he had honorable discharges from the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force and his family disowned him because he didn’t go in the Navy.

  14. 14.

    TenguPhule

    November 13, 2018 at 8:01 pm

    @Mary G:

    I was told there would be no math.

    I was told there would be cake.

  15. 15.

    TenguPhule

    November 13, 2018 at 8:02 pm

    @raven: Yes, because what this thread needs is yet another argument over Israelis vs Palestinians. //s

  16. 16.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    @TenguPhule: You see anything there that mentions Palestinians? Fuckers killed Americans and knew exactly what they were doing.

  17. 17.

    TenguPhule

    November 13, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    @raven: My mistake, you wanted just a thread of Israeli bashing. So you really want to get started on fucked up military shit when our navy shot down a civilian Iranian commercial passenger plane?

  18. 18.

    Mary G

    November 13, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    Katie Porter (who I volunteered for a bit) has passed Mimi Walters in CA45! 116,732 to 116,471! Add another House seat to the blue wave, and Martin now has a Democratic rep!

  19. 19.

    sdhays

    November 13, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    @TenguPhule: I’m still lamenting the lack of the taco trunks on every corner we were promised if Hillary had won.

  20. 20.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 8:13 pm

    @TenguPhule: Fuck you asshole, post what you want to and I’ll goddamn sure post what I want to.

  21. 21.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    @TenguPhule: And fuck Israel while I’m at. Fucking fascists.

  22. 22.

    TenguPhule

    November 13, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    @sdhays:

    I’m still lamenting the lack of the taco trunks on every corner we were promised if Hillary had won.

    You have interesting taste in luggage.

  23. 23.

    TenguPhule

    November 13, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    @raven:

    Fucking fascists.

    So collective guilt is your thing. I’m sure that’ll be fun when its our nation’s turn.

  24. 24.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 8:19 pm

    @TenguPhule: You’re a moron, it’s been “our nation’s turn” for decades.

  25. 25.

    Jerzy Russian

    November 13, 2018 at 8:20 pm

    @Cermet: do you have any citations to “dark matter is wrong”? As I recall, a recent Nature paper reporting a (nearly) dark matter dwarf galaxy has been disputed. Evidence for dark matter is everywhere, from flat rotation curves for spiral galaxies, X-ray observations of galaxy clusters, and gravitational lensing.

  26. 26.

    Roger Moore

    November 13, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    I was told there would be cake.

    The cake is a lie.

  27. 27.

    Mary G

    November 13, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    WaPo has a new report about how cranky Twitler was all weekend:

    During his 43-hour stay in Paris, Trump brooded over the Florida recount and sulked over other key races being called for Democrats in the midterm elections that he had claimed as a “big victory.” He erupted at his staff over media coverage of his decision to skip a ceremony honoring the military sacrifice of World War I.

    The president also was angry and resentful over French President Emmanuel Macron’s public rebuke of rising nationalism, which Trump considered a personal attack. And that was after his difficult meeting with Macron, where officials said little progress was made as Trump again brought up his frustrations over trade and Iran.

    “He’s just a bull carrying his own china shop with him wherever he travels the world,” presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said.

    Also, too, says a bunch of aides are trying to talk him out of replacing Kelly with Nick Ayers.

  28. 28.

    Jerzy Russian

    November 13, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    @Mary G:

    “He’s just a bull carrying his own china shop with him wherever he travels the world,” presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said.

    Jesus, Mary, & Joseph. That is both funny and depressing at the same time.

  29. 29.

    different-church-lady

    November 13, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    @TenguPhule: Old Goon Show gag:

    SEAGOON: Now, which room is this piano in?
    GRYTPYPE-THYNNE: It’s erm… It’s in the Louvre.
    (pause)
    SEAGOON: Strange taste you have.

  30. 30.

    TenguPhule

    November 13, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    @Mary G:

    And that was after his difficult meeting with Macron, where officials said little progress was made as Trump again brought up his frustrations over trade and Iran.

    he’s focused on Iran while the intelligence agencies are eyeballing North Korea.

    Does not make for sound sleeping.

  31. 31.

    Roger Moore

    November 13, 2018 at 8:38 pm

    @Mary G:

    Also, too, says a bunch of aides are trying to talk him out of replacing Kelly with Nick Ayers.

    Trump will never be happy with any chief of staff he appoints, because he’s the problem. He doesn’t want to do the work his job entails. Any chief of staff who’s actually up to doing the job will piss him off because they’re forcing him to work, and anyone who’s a spineless toady will let the rest of the government run him over. What he really wants is a subservient, non-feckless clone of himself who will do the hard work of presidenting exactly as he wishes it done while he goes out and enjoys the glory.

  32. 32.

    TenguPhule

    November 13, 2018 at 8:38 pm

    I see Teresa May achieved the impossible with Brexit negotiations.

    A deal everyone else in Great Britain hates.

  33. 33.

    Immanentize

    November 13, 2018 at 8:38 pm

    Raven,. That guy is a jackass he is the Kanye of BJ.

  34. 34.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    November 13, 2018 at 8:39 pm

    Breaking News: Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she tripped over the new guy passed out drunk in the hallway. pic.twitter.com/WiXZERw2kQ— Stone Cold (@stonecold2050) November 13, 2018

  35. 35.

    Mary G

    November 13, 2018 at 8:40 pm

    Flag of surrender going up:

    Quite a statement from the former GOP leader in the California State Assembly: “The California Republican Party isn’t salvageable at this time. The Grand Old Party is dead…if the Republican Party can’t evolve, it may be time for a third party.” https://t.co/vXxaqOAcJr— Ben Christopher (@FromBenC) November 13, 2018

  36. 36.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 8:40 pm

    @Immanentize: Yea fuck him. . .or her!

  37. 37.

    TenguPhule

    November 13, 2018 at 8:43 pm

    @Immanentize: Asshole decides to bring a “Fuck Israel” into the thread out of the blue and I’m supposed to be the one in the wrong here?

    /golf clap

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    November 13, 2018 at 8:44 pm

    @different-church-lady: Hah!

  39. 39.

    Schlemazel

    November 13, 2018 at 8:45 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    I think he would be a fascinating dinner partner. My only fear is I would bore him

  40. 40.

    Schlemazel

    November 13, 2018 at 8:46 pm

    @Mary G:
    An ancient SNL reference!

    Let’s see who gets it

  41. 41.

    debbie

    November 13, 2018 at 8:49 pm

    @Mary G:

    I’m glad Trump took Macron’s remarks as a personal attack. It’s about time he got something right.

  42. 42.

    A Ghost To Most

    November 13, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    @raven:
    I’m glad to hear I am not alone in that opinion.

    As to the math, my brain is rejecting it after 10 months of retirement. My suppressed artistic side is taking over. Finally.

  43. 43.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    @TenguPhule: Eat shit motherfucker, I didn’t “bring” shit out of the blue. You want to cheerlead the fucking Izzy government you go right ahead. Enjoy the pie fuck face.

  44. 44.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 8:52 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: Who with a pulse supports that shit? I’m reading a book about Vietnam and the author talks about how stunning it was that France, after being occupied by the Nazi’s, did the same shit to their colonies. Fuck Israel and whoever that dopey motherfucker is.

  45. 45.

    A Ghost To Most

    November 13, 2018 at 8:55 pm

    @raven:
    I’ve been puzzling over that. It’s like the child victim of a sexual predator growing up and becoming a predator. Or something.

  46. 46.

    FRANK MCCORMICK

    November 13, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    Interesting take on the role of Hypotenuse via Wikipedia:

    “In this early version, Ingrid Bergman is named to star in the role of “Hypotenuse” in The Eternal Triangle, a film purportedly based on the narrator’s book.[6] It was recorded again for Revisited (Tom Lehrer album), with Brigitte Bardot as Hypotenuse. A third recording is included in Tom Lehrer Discovers Australia (And Vice Versa), a live album recorded in Australia, featuring Marilyn Monroe as Hypotenuse. A fourth recording was made in 1966 when Songs by Tom Lehrer was reissued in stereo, with Doris Day playing Hypotenuse.”

  47. 47.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: I’ve got plenty of Jewish friends who feel the same way, they know the score.

  48. 48.

    debbie

    November 13, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    @Schlemazel:

    I wish I could find a video of the bit where “Ford” did a PSA demonstrating how to use a voting booth. “Umm, where’s the toilet paper?”

  49. 49.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2018 at 9:00 pm

    @Mary G: That’s what the kid said when I started explaining the 500 rule*.

    The “500 rule” is what you use to calculate the exposure time so you don’t get star trails in astrophotography. It’s 500/focal length and then divide the result by the crop factor.

  50. 50.

    debbie

    November 13, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    @raven:

    I’m with you and your friends, and not just about the present situation. If I were speaking to any of them, I could make my brothers’ heads explode just by telling them Israel died the day Yitzak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish settler.

  51. 51.

    A Ghost To Most

    November 13, 2018 at 9:03 pm

    @raven:
    That’s good to know. I despise the very concept of religion, but I don’t think of Israel as Jewish, but fascist.

  52. 52.

    Mary G

    November 13, 2018 at 9:05 pm

    Politico has their own article up on anger at the White House with another great quote:

    Bottled-up hostility in President Donald Trump’s administration flowed to the surface Tuesday during a remarkable 12-hour period following an awkward midterm détente and tense trip to Paris over which the president is still seething.

    “It’s like an episode of ‘Maury,’” one former Trump aide observed to POLITICO as the spectacle unfolded. “The only thing that’s missing is a paternity test.”

  53. 53.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 13, 2018 at 9:05 pm

    So what’s the final tally in the House now?

  54. 54.

    hellslittlestangel

    November 13, 2018 at 9:06 pm

    Why does every Tom Lehrer song sound exactly the same? He’s like the Wesley Willis of political satire.

  55. 55.

    Another Scott

    November 13, 2018 at 9:09 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    https://www.politico.com/election-results/2018/house/

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  56. 56.

    Mike in NC

    November 13, 2018 at 9:11 pm

    @raven: Several years ago I was getting processed for my annual training pay at NAB Little Creek, VA. The disbursing clerk — a DK2, I think — was wearing ‘working blues’ and I couldn’t help but notice his ribbons included both the Army and Air Force Good Conduct Medals. Glutton for punishment, maybe?

  57. 57.

    cain

    November 13, 2018 at 9:11 pm

    Eat Shit and Die, McConnell

    This asshole says – “My latest Op-Ed: Will Dems work with us, or simply put partisan politics ahead of the country?” The man who stole a supreme court justice and is the fucking master of partisan politics is declaring whether Democrats will play ball. Go fuck yourself, you turtled faced, shit eater!

  58. 58.

    cwmoss

    November 13, 2018 at 9:22 pm

    @Schlemazel: I gets it, from the fall (pun intended) of 1976.

  59. 59.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 13, 2018 at 9:26 pm

    Newest concern trolling from the media.

    Reagan got a drubbing after 2 years but then went on to win a second term in a landslide.

  60. 60.

    Burnspbesq

    November 13, 2018 at 9:27 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    She had plenty of help from the fucking DUP.

    P.S. a Jewish apartheid state is no better than a Boer apartheid state.

  61. 61.

    guachi

    November 13, 2018 at 9:31 pm

    As mentioned earlier, Katie Porter has edged ahead in CA-45. Gil Cisneros will likely go ahead some time tomorrow in CA-39. He’s at 49.8% and is getting about 56% of the late count, so it shouldn’t be too long until he’s made up his 700 vote deficit.

    This will give Democrats a net +6 from California bringing the delegation to 45-8 from 39-14. The Republican party was hit hard in New York, New Jersey, and California. They lost 13 of their 28 seats.

  62. 62.

    raven

    November 13, 2018 at 9:32 pm

    @Mike in NC: We had a major in Vietnam who also had been in the Corps.

  63. 63.

    Ruckus

    November 13, 2018 at 9:33 pm

    @Mike in NC:
    Even when I was in the navy, what 3 or 4 hundred years ago, there were a few lifers that had done say 10 in another branch and were now trying the navy to see what it was like. So Yeah, I’d go with glutton.

  64. 64.

    guachi

    November 13, 2018 at 9:34 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: I think it’ll end up +38. The Democrat will probably win in Maine but lose in Utah as more votes come in. The two remaining uncalled seats in California should go to the Democrats. There are a Texas, Georgia, and New Jersey seat still uncalled. I suspect the first two will go to the Republicans and the New Jersey seat to the Democrats.

    FWIW, the final 538 Classic prediction had the Democrats at +39. The Democrats will have won every seat 538 gave them a >50% chance of winning except MN-01.

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    November 13, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Reagan got a drubbing after 2 years but then went on to win a second term in a landslide.

    I will go you one better. Reagan was bashed by California reporters for being cruel to the poor, out of touch and insensitive when he was governor. And yet he went on to be elected president.

    Trump ain’t Reagan, and the past is not always prologue to the future. There is no reason to pay attention to prophetic punditry. Things are never that simple.

  66. 66.

    Mary G

    November 13, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    @guachi: Superintendent of Public Instruction has flipped too – Thurmond leads the race with 3,628,650 votes, or about 50 percent. Tuck trails with 3,626,650 votes, or about 50 percent.

  67. 67.

    guachi

    November 13, 2018 at 9:40 pm

    @Mary G: Is that a Democrat vs. Democrat race? I’m a California voter but I’ll admit I don’t actually know. My excuse is I’m in the military and not actually living in California.

  68. 68.

    Brachiator

    November 13, 2018 at 9:41 pm

    @guachi:

    This will give Democrats a net +6 from California bringing the delegation to 45-8 from 39-14. The Republican party was hit hard in New York, New Jersey, and California. They lost 13 of their 28 seats

    State delegations are not really that important by themselves. One question might be whether there are conservative Democrats who might vote with the Republicans and whether the House Majority Leader can still rally enough Democrats to offset this.

  69. 69.

    Mary G

    November 13, 2018 at 9:46 pm

    @guachi: It’s allegedly nonpartisan, but it was the rich white guy who loves charter schools and vouchers against the black guy who wants all education in CA to be good.

  70. 70.

    zhena gogolia

    November 13, 2018 at 9:47 pm

    Cecily Strong did sterling work on SNL as the White House intern.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b6ttHSgIFM

  71. 71.

    barbequebob

    November 13, 2018 at 9:47 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Sorry, but for too long Israel has become a rogue state that flaunts international conventions and devotes itself to repressing minorities within its borders and doing all it can to steal lands it has no legal claim to, by supporting its right wing radicals and their settlements. Its use of excessive force in response to attack is so reminiscent of Nazi atrocities. Its a real shame to see a people who suffered so much at the hands of the Nazis adopt so many of the same practices and tactics themselves against the Palestinians.

    I know that these policies are not supported by all the citizens of Israel, and it is my hope that those who support peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians will take charge and negotiate a just peace.

  72. 72.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 13, 2018 at 9:47 pm

    @guachi: It’s technically non-partisan.

  73. 73.

    zhena gogolia

    November 13, 2018 at 9:47 pm

    @guachi:

    So do you feel better now? Man, you had me on the ledge that night.

  74. 74.

    guachi

    November 13, 2018 at 9:47 pm

    I mention the state delegations as an indicator of the type of seats that flipped – upscale suburban type seats in otherwise heavily Democratic areas.

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    November 13, 2018 at 9:50 pm

    @Mary G:

    “It’s like an episode of ‘Maury,’” one former Trump aide observed to POLITICO as the spectacle unfolded. “The only thing that’s missing is a paternity test.”

    Very interesting.

    It’s hard to say whether Trump will be weaker or crazier as he tries to deal with these self-inflicted wounds.

    The right wing media bubble doesn’t help. They are dedicated to ignoring any problems, falsely believing that lies are the same thing as loving protection.

  76. 76.

    lgerard

    November 13, 2018 at 9:51 pm

    @guachi:

    Lots of whining from Mimi and Young Kim how the libtards are stealing the election by counting votes

    California Rep. Mimi Walters’ campaign accuses Democrats of planning to ‘steal’ her seat as her lead shrinks in tough reelection bid

  77. 77.

    guachi

    November 13, 2018 at 9:54 pm

    That’s sad. It’s not like it isn’t widely known that mail-in and provisional votes heavily tilt towards Democrats.

    Sore losers.

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    November 13, 2018 at 9:56 pm

    @Mary G:

    It’s allegedly nonpartisan, but it was the rich white guy who loves charter schools and vouchers against the black guy who wants all education in CA to be good.

    Both candidates were flawed. Tuck has some good ideas, but is not a skilled in dealing with school politics at a state level.

    Thurmond cares about students, has great ideas about helping those who traditionally were left behind, but might have in to the teachers unions.

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    November 13, 2018 at 9:59 pm

    @Mary G:

    “It’s like an episode of ‘Maury,’” one former Trump aide observed to POLITICO as the spectacle unfolded. “The only thing that’s missing is a paternity test.”

    Wasn’t there an early Trump aide who impregnated his secret girlfriend and then fired her, and she sued him?

    IOW, I think the paternity test already happened.

  80. 80.

    NotMax

    November 13, 2018 at 10:10 pm

    Site is (what’s the technical term?) el fukkoed.

    Stupid, stupid stackpathcdn. Aiain.

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    November 13, 2018 at 10:11 pm

    @NotMax

    Meant to type “Again,” but the typo works too.

    ;)

  82. 82.

    lgerard

    November 13, 2018 at 10:17 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Wasn’t there an early Trump aide who impregnated his secret girlfriend and then fired her, and she sued him?

    Jason Miller, the original communications director!

    i guess that was one way to communicate

    He gets bonus points for his wife being pregnant at the same time as his mistress.

  83. 83.

    Steeplejack

    November 13, 2018 at 10:23 pm

    I heartily recommend The Thread: A Mathematical Yarn (1983), by mathematician Philip J. Davis. (Out of print, sadly, but copies still available on Amazon, of course.) He starts with a letter from a reader of his tome Interpolation and Approximation complaining about his transliteration of the Russian mathematician Pafnuty Chebyshev’s name as “Tschebyscheff”—“barbaric, Teutonic, non-standard orthography,” in the reader’s words.

    Davis describes his dismay at having labored to produce a large, serious work and receiving mostly complaints about typos and trivia, muses on the problems of Cyrillic transliteration, then gradually takes flight into a stream of digressions, each one connected ephemerally to the one before, all of them interesting and often very funny.

    One review dismissed the book as “a prodigious mind playing solitaire.” That fits, but I think in a good way. My copy is long lost; now I’m thinking about getting another one.

  84. 84.

    Steve in the ATL

    November 13, 2018 at 10:32 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I have a friend

    Uh huh. Sure you do.

    Steve in the 407

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    November 13, 2018 at 10:35 pm

    @Mary G:
    Had not been following, great news if this holds. Last thing we need in that office is a charter school shill.

  86. 86.

    PST

    November 13, 2018 at 10:45 pm

    @guachi:

    This will give Democrats a net +6 from California bringing the delegation to 45-8 from 39-14. The Republican party was hit hard in New York, New Jersey, and California. They lost 13 of their 28 seats.

    Lost 2 of 7 in Illinois as well. Those are the high-tax high-property-value states where the tax “cut” helped the filthy rich but screwed the merely well off. Not that I’m bitter.

  87. 87.

    Jay

    November 13, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @raven: @barbequebob:

    Maybe in Balloon Juice 9.1 we’ll get upvotes,

    Until then, ?

  88. 88.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 13, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @Steeplejack: That is barbaric orthography.

  89. 89.

    catclub

    November 13, 2018 at 10:54 pm

    Well, I was impressed reading Dante’s Paradiso, that he had the idea of what it would be like to travel on the beam of light that corresponds to what you are seeing. At least that is how I looked at, knowing that Einstein had also wondered what the world looked like if you are traveling on a beam of light.
    The imagery in Paradiso is mostly vision related.

  90. 90.

    catclub

    November 13, 2018 at 11:01 pm

    @Brachiator: Reagan also had a huge recession his first two years caused by paul Volcker bringing down inflation from 15%? to more reasonable values, and the economy was booming in 1984 – thanks to unpaid for tax cuts and massive militray spending, plus recovery from the recession.

    Trump has had very good economic times his first two years.

  91. 91.

    Steeplejack

    November 13, 2018 at 11:03 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I report, you decide. It has been probably 30 years since I read the book, but I think part of Davis’s meditation on the topic was about variations in source materials (in several languages) and changes in academic style (as in everything else). Perhaps similar to Pekin/​Peking/​Beijing, etc.

  92. 92.

    Corner Stone

    November 14, 2018 at 12:12 am

    @Steeplejack:

    Davis describes his dismay at having labored to produce a large, serious work and receiving mostly complaints about typos and trivia, muses on the problems of Cyrillic transliteration, then gradually takes flight into a stream of digressions,

    You have to admit…

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