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From: Charlie Gibbs on 7 May 2010 11:46 In article <PM00048600963691E9(a)ac810ad6.ipt.aol.com>, See.above(a)aol.com (jmfbahciv) writes: > Charles Richmond wrote: > >> Joe Pfeiffer wrote: >> >>> Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> writes: >>> >>>> In article <hruvjg$bvo$7(a)news.eternal-september.org>, >>>> Charles Richmond <frizzle(a)tx.rr.com> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Two plus two equals five... for very large values of two. >>>> >>>> No, for *sufficiently* large values of two. 2.251 is sufficiently >>>> large (in applescript at least). >>>> >>>> round (2.251) + round (2.251) = 4 >>>> round (2.251 + 2.251) = 5 >>>> >>>> (Applescript rounds numbers ending in .5 to the nearest even number >>>> unless specified otherwise.) >>> >>> I would regard 2.251 as a *huge* value of two. >> >> But you always *did* see the glass as half full... > > Not if it contains beer. If it contains beer, it represents a situation which must be corrected. I once saw a sign in a bar: Fill the glass that's empty. Empty the glass that's full. Never leave it empty. Never leave it full. -- /~\ cgibbs(a)kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs) \ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way. X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855. / \ HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!
From: Ahem A Rivet's Shot on 7 May 2010 11:35 On Fri, 07 May 2010 09:47:49 -0500 Charles Richmond <frizzle(a)tx.rr.com> wrote: > Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote: > > It makes no difference to the proof - put the numbers 1 to n in > > columns forwards in one row and then in the next put them in columns in > > reverse. Note that each column adds up to n+1 (trivial the colunm with m > > on the top has n-m+1 on the bottom) and that the first two rows add up > > to the sum you want and the row of column sums adds up to n*(n+1), so > > twice the required sum is n*(n+1). > > > > ISTM that Gauss discovered this when he was in the first grade... That's the story I heard too, although I'm pretty sure it wasn't called the first grade there and then. -- Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays C:>WIN | A better way to focus the sun The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
From: Wes Groleau on 7 May 2010 18:36 On 05-06-2010 11:21, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote: > Wes Groleau<Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> wrote: >> >> Writing it off as _impossible_ is equivalent to saying that relativity >> is religiously revealed reality (as opposed to a useful model describing >> reality, a model subject to replacement if and when >> a more useful one comes along). > > Nope those papers that I referred to were examining the > possibilities of getting FTL travel assuming relativity to be correct. Then I presume they didn't write it off as impossible. But if _everyone_ thought like so many, i.e., that relativity is reality rather than a model, then relativity would never be even challenged, much less transcended. -- Wes Groleau Film Review: The Blue Butterfly http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/russell?itemid=1565
From: Joe Pfeiffer on 7 May 2010 18:52 Wes Groleau <Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> writes: > On 05-06-2010 11:21, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote: >> Wes Groleau<Groleau+news(a)FreeShell.org> wrote: >>> >>> Writing it off as _impossible_ is equivalent to saying that relativity >>> is religiously revealed reality (as opposed to a useful model describing >>> reality, a model subject to replacement if and when >>> a more useful one comes along). >> >> Nope those papers that I referred to were examining the >> possibilities of getting FTL travel assuming relativity to be correct. > > Then I presume they didn't write it off as impossible. > But if _everyone_ thought like so many, i.e., that relativity > is reality rather than a model, then relativity would never be > even challenged, much less transcended. The papers were in speculative physics, which deals in what-ifs rather than reality. "If we make the following assumption that we have no reason to think is actually true, here's what follows". -- As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously. (Benjamin Franklin)
From: Warren Oates on 8 May 2010 08:20
In article <1290.814T2905T4665758(a)kltpzyxm.invalid>, "Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs(a)kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote: > > Fill the glass that's empty. > Empty the glass that's full. > Never leave it empty. > Never leave it full. Exactly. If your glass is half empty, call the waiter. If life gives you lemons, order a gin and tonic. -- Very old woody beets will never cook tender. -- Fannie Farmer |