Random Incoherency

2024-05-17 Who am I? What will they call me? These are different questions.

2023-04-29 Mathematics and physics are a single endeavor. Mathematical logic objectifies the notion of truth. It demonstrates that very simple ideal actors can distinguish between the true, the false, and the unprovable. It also makes it clear that these actors can invent novel statements, and attempt to construct valid proofs. The physics can explain how actors other than humans can exist. Applied physics provides us with ways to build very simple machines that can perform mathematical reasoning independently from humans. The objective mathematical truth only exists because computer science and engineering provide for it.

2023-03-08 То, что Путин не в состоянии победить — это очевидно, это аксиома; а всё остальное — теорема, которую приходится доказывать на поле боя. ~ Игорь Яковенко.

2023-03-08 VPN — это не бином Ньютона. ~ Игорь Яковенко.

2023-02-10 It is easy to lie with numbers, but it is even easier to lie with words. ~ Edward Tufte

2021-11-08 If you've made up your mind to test a theory, or you want to explain some idea, you should always decide to publish it whichever way it comes out. If we only publish results of a certain kind, we can make the argument look good. We must publish both kinds of results.

I say that's also important in giving certain types of government advice. Supposing a senator asked you for advice about whether drilling a hole should be done in his state; and you decide it would be better in some other state. If you don't publish such a result, it seems to me you're not giving scientific advice. You're being used. If your answer happens to come out in the direction the government or the politicians like, they can use it as an argument in their favor; if it comes out the other way, they don't publish it at all. That's not giving scientific advice.

~ Richard P. Feynman

2020-11-13 Life is a sandbox.

2020-10-21 Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. ~ Hobbes

2014-12-20 A person can do great things while temporarily severed from the net.

2014-12-05 PERSONAL AD! If you are Jerry Berlongieri of Descent, I am your BIGGEST fan, and I would love to hear from you. If you are a fan of JB, be aware I am looking for Goalie Fritz and Rubu Tribe. I got everything else, and would be delighted to share.

2014-05-25 The only free hardware is the one you printed from a free blueprint.

2012-08-08 This image infringes 13 different copyrights. Pictured are Tom & Jerry, Spike Spiegel, Duffy, EVE, Motoko Kusanagi, G.I.R., Homer Jay Simpson, Kyle B., Mickey, Pink Panther, Totoro, Волк, and Jane Lane.

2012-08-07 - Some words describe themselves correctly. For example, the word "word" is a word, the word "noun" is a noun, the word "exists" exists, and a word "unoffensive" is unoffensive. Call such word autognostic (aware of its own property). Call all the words that fail to describe themselves correctly heterognostic. This idea is not original, but making a list of autognostic words is fun. Of special interest are pairs of autognostic words with autognostic antonyms: they seem to be rare.

autognosticheterognostic antonymautognostic antonym
word
noun
adjective
shortlong
polysyllabicmonosyllabic
postmodern
contemporaryarchaicolden
commonrare
English
exists
unoffensiveoffensive
meaningfulmeaningless
conjugates
grandiloquent
prefixed
oldnew
itself
recordableunrecordable
accentedunaccented
pronounceableunpronounceable
unabbreviatedabbreviatedabbrev.
slangish
repeatableunrepeatable

Is the word "autognostic" autognostic? Is the word "heterognostic" autognostic?

2012-07-23 - A self-fulfilling prophecy is still a prophecy.

2012-02-07 - As cats grow up they lose their kitteninity and get a cattitude. -Hailey Hao

2010-01-05 - Good art is hard to imitate.

2010-01-04 - Dr. Ray Flemming (Gene Barry) profiling himself for Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk) in Prescription Murder.

– We are talking about a man who commits a crime... Not the garden variety or a bar room brawl, but an elaborate, intellectual project. What do we know about this man? Obviously, he is not impulsive, he plans, he calculates, he minimises risks, he is oriented by his mind, not by his emotions. And he is probably well educated, too.

– Like, may be, a professional man?

– Like may be. At any rate, an orderly man, with an eye for detail, and courage.

– Courage?

– Well, certainly. To go through a thing like this, whatever it may be, it takes a strong nervous system.

– Well, you could be right. But one thing bothers me, Doctor: this man we are talking about has taken a human life. Now wouldn't you say that he was insane?

– Why? Because he committed an immoral act? Morals are conditioned, Lieutenant. They are relative, like everything else is today. Our murderer may be as sane as you and me. Killing may be repugnant to him. But if it's his only solution, he uses it. That's pragmatism, my friend, not insanity.

– Tell me, Doctor, how do you catch a man like that?

– You don't.

– You're probably right. He sounds just too clever for us. What I mean is, you know, cops, we are not the brightest guys in the world and, eh, of course we got one thing going for us: we are professionals. I mean, you take our friend here, the murderer, he's... he's very smart, but he is an amateur. I mean, he's got just one time to learn, just one, and with us, well, with us it's... it's a business. You see, we do it a hundred times a year. I'll tell you, Doc, that's a lot of practice.

2009-05-31 - The thing about the law of excluded middle, you either believe in it or you do not. -Akihiro Kanamori

2009-03-07 - At the very best, one can be a character.

2009-01-14 - Magic is similar to money. It cannot work at all unless people believe in it. When everyone has faith in magic, it is the most powerful thing in the world.

2008-12-20 - Would you rather be a force of nature or the nature of force?

2008-07-07 - twiddlingbits: I'm pretty sure the current Linux GUIs owe a lot to to Motif. msuarezalvarez: Indeed. The violent urge to get rid of Motif has been a driving force in most of the modern GUI development. -Slashdot

2008-06-23 - Oxymoron: Romantic Comedy

2008-03-19 - Carry forward diet civilization / Bring along food trend
-chopstick inscription

2007-03-13 - He speaks of himself in the third person: how else can he understand himself? He pats himself on the back: how else can he love himself?

Do you think that he is a great person? You are his enemy. Do you think that what he did is of value? You are his enemy.

Do you think that he aspires to be a David facing a Goliath? He is less than that. He is nothing, the emptiness, facing the being. He is victorious without having an interest in winning.

2006-01-26 - When a human makes a mistake, it immediately pours massive processing power into either formulating arguments about why it's not a mistake or finding someone else to blame for it. Machines tend not to do this. -ENOENT

2005-11-23 - I have not yet finished reading the English translation of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, and I never learned any German. Still, I am pleased to announce that I have made my very own complete, unabridged translation.

Philosophical Investigations

By Ludwig Wittgenstein

Fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, Tractatus sucks, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools, fools...

2005-11-06 - Tokay truly is the royal wine: it is strong enough to stir up love in a boy, and sweet enough to cure it in a girl.

2005-11-02 - There are 3 cats living in this house. I have heard that they have proper names, but I gave them my own names, corresponding to their distinguishing features:
Cat,
Red Cat, and
The Cat I haven't Met.

2005-10-12 - Degrees of sarcasm:
(1) People find you funny.
(2) People find you offensive.
(3) People find you genuine.
(4) You find yourself genuine.

2005-05-10 - Sara Rettus, a philosophy student, made a bet that she can spend one class period without arguing with one of her peers, a staunch utilitarian. She lost the bet by saying "If I kick you in the face, will it maximize the utility?"

2005-05-05 - Algebraic topology is a branch of mathematics where they take geometrical problems which we cannot solve and turn them into algebraic problems which we cannot understand. -Maurice Stanley

2005-04-20 - You would not like a carpenter who uses a hammer to drive his arguments into your skull; a mathematician who uses logic in a conversation is not very different.

2005-04-12 - The more you run, the less you walk. -Annie Bao

2005-03-22 - An authentic answer to a question "Are you modest?" is always a lie.

2005-03-08 - When you cross the edge of the existing universe, the latter becomes slightly bigger. In the same manner, knowledge is born. Humanity (together with its implements) is the universe, and the knowledge is created rather than discovered. An individual starts out as a student, and for a long time she does nothing but discover the knowledge which is possessed by others. But when there is nothing more to learn, she becomes an artisan. This is the limit of knowledge. She is. An artist is the terminator. The limit is always here, always well-defined, and yet one can always go over the edge by creating something new and thus becoming the edge.

2005-02-19 - A person of good taste knows that few things are as aesthetically appealing as a nice piece of pie. Well, good journalism is like slicing a pie, and the result is always mouth-watering. Rather than to serve a paper-thin, two-dimensional image of current events, a superior journalist cuts through the thickness of history. She notes tendencies and makes connexions between past and future. She coats events with historical contest. My first encounter with this kind of journalism was Feminine Mystique, and since I read it, I am convinced that this is the right way to write.

2005-01-12 - Humans are inherently flawed and prone to make mistakes. It is only a matter of time before they make the biggest mistake possible -- they will find this flaw and correct it.

2004-07-22 - This is old, but I just realised that now I actually have a place to publish it.

class God * i = jesus->getParent();

2004-07-14 - When a good student learns, her faith is challenged. An excellent student learns to challenge her faith.

2004-03-08 - I've been told a stupid joke today (nothing new here), but, as a result, it dawned on me that I am well justified in calling my guitar my girlfriend. Bella always wears a G-string; white, most of the time, but when I'm in a fancy mood, it could be black or pink.

2004-02-08 - My site is up.

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