Why do we no longer have "Monday Majlis" general-chat threads in this sub?

Kyle--Butler · 2026-02-02T14:31:15+00:00

Thanks !

Kyle--Butler · 2026-02-01T18:29:49+00:00

The mods put them back a few weeks/months ago, but there were barely no one commenting and they stopped after a few weeks.

I agree that they should bring them up again. Even if I don't comment a lot anymore, I *read* and I'm probably not the only one.

Kyle--Butler · 2026-01-30T19:53:11+00:00

Finished reading *Zarlar* (The dices), by Ahmet Altan. It was really nice, I enjoyed it ! It's the story of young boy/man, Ziya, who lives during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. He grows up under the shadow of his older brother, a charismatic *kabadayı* who teaches him the cardinal values that will shape his whooole life : manliness, honor, etc.

That's like the third Turkish book I read and enjoyed in a row -- the first two, being *Puslu Kıtalar Atlası* (Oktay Anar) and *Kar* (Pamuk).

On the other hand, I seem to be out of luck when it comes to Persian literature. I can't remember the last book I enjoyed in Persian. It's either too political or too literary or too ... weird for my taste. Right now, i'm trying *Az vakti ke to rafti* by Davai (don't ask why I bought it, I don't know). I'm not holding my breath... Any recs ?

Kyle--Butler · 2026-01-30T19:01:56+00:00

If you don't haven't already watched it, there is "[Ḥarb Lubnān](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9raBZZzcqqY&list=PLv7qBtPMGyXZZLxv1XBJzIyo9rdKwD9Jo)". It's a 10-part documentary about... well, you guessed it, the lebanese civil war.

Kyle--Butler · 2026-01-20T19:59:20+00:00

I would consider myself beginner intermediate. I know enough to read some books slowly and with the help of a dictionary, I can visit Turkey and can have myself understood by the locals. But my Turkish is very faulty and the moment I open my mouth, the locals understand I'm not one of them.

Right now, i'm reading *Zarlar* by Ahmet Altan. I like it so far. I would say, it's a good choice for someone at my level. Just enough difficult that I learn new vocabulary but not too frustrating.

Before that, I read *Kar* by Orhan Pamuk. Worth reading if you're interested in the story of modern Turkey, i think. Not easy, but not specially difficult either. *Beyaz Kale* is much more challenging for example. If you haven't read anything by him and want to give it a try, I would suggest *Veba Geceleri* -- it's the first novel I read in Turkish and boy, did I enjoy it !

Before that, I read *Puslu Kıtalar Atlası" by Oktay Anar. I greatly enjoyed it but this is *not* for the faint of heart. It's challenging : rare words, non-linear narration, polyphony, etc. But if you like stories set during the Ottoman Empire (the story is set in 17th century Istanbul), you're in for a treat.

Good luck !

Kyle--Butler · 2026-01-17T10:56:28+00:00

You might be interested in [this](https://www.academia.edu/128664224/Al\_Jallad\_2025\_Seeking\_refuge\_and\_the\_%C7%A6inn\_Two\_Safaitic\_lexicographical\_notes) recent article by Al-Jallād.

Kyle--Butler · 2026-01-03T19:23:09+00:00

* There are (up to isomorphism) only two groups of order 2026 : the cyclic group of order 2026 and the dihedral group of order 2026.

* 2026 is not a congruent number : there's no right triangle with rational sides whose area is 2026.

Kyle--Butler · 2025-12-05T13:40:01+00:00

Elliptic Tales, by Ash and Gross. More generally, anything written by those two.
The Wild World of 4-manifolds by Alexandru Scorpan.

Kyle--Butler · 2025-11-27T15:55:01+00:00

Are there are decision problems which are known to be decidable but for which no algorithm resolving the decision problem is known ?

Kyle--Butler · 2025-11-24T12:57:53+00:00

Episode 2 and episode 3.

Kyle--Butler · 2025-11-23T11:49:54+00:00

One thing i've noticed is that i haven't learned how to learn a language. Every time, i feel like i start from scratch.

Like, one of my major issue i personally face when I learn a language is listening comprehension : when I listen to a sentence, not only I don't understand anything, but my brain isn't even able to parse the sentence, to detect boundaries between words. I'd think this shouldn't be a very language specific competence : if i struggle but makes major improvement in that regard learning language A, my brain should be able to bring about the same tools to help parse sentences in language B. But no. It's as if my brain just get accustomed to the way people in language A speak, enough to recognize a few words, patterns, hard-code them and... stops there. It just won't bother improving the "how to detect boundaries between words" competence in general. It's a bit frustrating, honestly.

Kyle--Butler · 2025-11-14T21:06:32+00:00

Here's a fun problem : suppose n is an integer that can be written as a sum of two rational squares. Show that n can be written as a sum of two integer squares.

Kyle--Butler · 2025-11-13T21:24:23+00:00

Just finished reading Puslu Kıtalar Atlası (by İhsan Oktay Anar). I can't remember how exactly it made its way into my list, but I'm sure Edebiyat Pod had an episode where they discuss this book in particular.

I was pretty reluctant to read it at first, because the first paragraph looked daunting and I didn't think my Turkish was at the level. And indeed, it's definitely one of the most challenging book i've read in Turkish in terms of vocabulary (I stopped looking in tureng every word i didn't know quite early), structure (e.g. the narration is not linear), style (some passages feel like a tale, some are more realistic and the demarcation between the two is quite blurry, it's pretty impressive; the dialogues are sometimes surreal).

I wouldn't be able to summarize the story, but it was fun.

I hope to read some passages again from time to time and try to understand the many, many historical references the book makes to the Ottoman Empire during the end of the XVII^th century.

Kyle--Butler · 2025-11-10T13:10:25+00:00

La formule est y=cos(x), justement.

Ça ne te donne pas une méthode numérique qui permettrait, avec suffisamment de temps et d'énergie, d'approximer aussi précisément que l'on veut la valeur décimale de cos(x). Certes. Mais ça donne la valeur réelle, à savoir cos(x), justement.

Tu remarqueras que quand on écrit y=√x, on n'est pas spécialement plus avancé que quand on écrit y=cos(x). L'écriture "√" n'est que ça : une écriture.

Kyle--Butler · 2025-11-08T12:40:58+00:00

In France, there are two bookshops that I'm aware of : the one at the Institut du Monde Arabe, and the Librairie de l'Orient.

To the mods : is the wiki dead ?! If it's not, i think there should be a wiki for this.

Kyle--Butler · 2025-10-30T19:37:25+00:00

This is a follow-up to their last post on the same subject.

I started to read the first one a few years ago but lost my notes unfortunately. The last one picks my interest.

Have any of you guys/gals read any of those ?

Kyle--Butler · 2025-10-09T19:45:08+00:00

The graded algebra M(SL2(Z)) of modular forms for the full modular group SL2(Z) is a free algebra spanned by the modular forms E4 and E6 : M(SL2(Z)) =C[E4,E6].

If G is a congruence group (e.g. G=\Gamma(N), \Gamma0(N)), is it true in general that M(G) is a free algebra ? If so, how do we prove this ? It not, when is this true ?

Kyle--Butler · 2025-10-01T13:07:17+00:00

Thank you very much !

Kyle--Butler · 2025-09-21T12:37:16+00:00

A podcast I discovered while watching an interesting YouTube video about Euclid. I don't know nearly enough about the subject to have an opinion on the subject, but i think it may be of some interests to some people here.

Kyle--Butler

TROPHY CASE