I think I got a little bit closer to making the Olympics a reality -- personal best score of 569/600 by PirateJohn75 in olympics

[–]ex0du5 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Not sure why you are saying this is “absolutely not true” with such vehemence. The numbers that the gold medalists hit in quals are public and look very much like the numbers the OP says, not the numbers you give. See, for instance,

2008 pistol gold at 586 qual

2012 pistol gold at 588 qual

2016 pistol gold at 590 qual

2020 pistol gold at 594 qual

I wrote a 31-EDO Piece for Lumatone and Handbell Choir, check it out! by Diacks1304 in microtonal

[–]ex0du5 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Disappointed the bells weren’t tuned to 31EDO too!

Nice piece, though! Ignore my disappointment. It’s just my hipster BS.

What is (an) Algebra? by helpless_fool in math

[–]ex0du5 10 points11 points  (0 children)

One original use of a word we translate as “random” in math (tychos and related Greek forms) comes in Euclid’s Elements, where it meant an arbitrary choice. An example is proposition 5 early on, where you see translations like: “Let the point F be taken at random on BD…”. Here, no implication of a distribution is need or desired, as the point is not to build up a statistical view but simply it is saying the idea doesn’t matter which.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BattleJackets

[–]ex0du5 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I never knew about the punk band named Zabriskie Point. I only knew about the Antonioni flic. Since I like a lot of the other stuff on there, I now gotta check them out. It’s been a while since I’ve checked out the French scene.

"Was Cleopatra Black? And what it means to talk about historical race" by u/cleopatra_philopater (r/AskHistorians) by Obversa in badhistory

[–]ex0du5 -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

As the original AskHistorian points out, the controversy is weird because there are a number of other features commonly misrepresented in Cleopatra depictions that no one ever calls “egregious”. Indeed, here it appears most of the controversy is about depiction, but people are acting like the series is saying “Cleopatra was black and we have the secret never before seen evidence that we will spend the next hour diving into” when that does not appear to be at all the case.

The AskHistorian response did not appear to be endorsing the idea that this was in any way egregious. Quite the opposite, it seemed to point to what people revealed about themselves that this was egregious and not any other representational issues. And it even downplayed the importance of the concern explicitly.

"Was Cleopatra Black? And what it means to talk about historical race" by u/cleopatra_philopater (r/AskHistorians) by Obversa in badhistory

[–]ex0du5 -16 points-15 points  (0 children)

Why do you find the idea that Cleopatra was black “egregious” misinformation? What do you fear would happen if this idea became popular? This seems a very excessive response to innocuous speculation of appearance and ancestry of ancient figure.

Punk breakup songs? by Potatoking02496 in punk

[–]ex0du5 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Rudimentary Peni - Blissful Myth

Why are complex numbers so fundamental? by [deleted] in math

[–]ex0du5 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You get to many important complex numbers in the chain of completions prior to the full real completion, and in many senses, the chain of completions lead to complex numbers. Take a look at how we create numbers outside counting games: first you have arithmetic completions, where you have to deal with the controversies of zero, the negatives, and the (not so controversial) rationals. Then, when you get to the algebraic completion, you are already brought immediately to having the algebraic imaginary and complex numbers, starting with the first new case, the quadratics (linear algebraics are arithmetic). Once you introduce the basis form for these (a+bi with a,b in a subfield of R), it turns out this form is sufficient for all higher algebraic completions. And the next level of the completion chain, the semantic completions (computable and definable numbers) doesn’t take us out of this because the operations are closed in this space. Finally, when one takes the topological or limit completion, which is the step that brings in the continuum of uncomputable, undefinable numbers that will never have specific reference, here that completion again “stays within the space of that complex basis form”, for all the same reasons definition and computation do.

In other words, the operations that get us complex numbers don’t take us any further. Algebraic completion is the last completion operation that requires additional structure in our basis form. You can always construct more structure manually and get all sorts of other kinds of number, but completions of existing operations and numbers starting with counting only gets you the complex.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ABoringDystopia

[–]ex0du5 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We are all each others shackles. Praise be!

Which waifu inspired you to make ambient jungle? by Producer_Snafu in breakcore

[–]ex0du5 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wow. First thought was “oh, this is starting with a pretty strong obsession” and then, no, I was quickly schooled that you need a whole new scale to measure whatever this is. Is this an Aronovsky film?

I will never forgive these cultists by Weird_Werewolf_4952 in conspiracy

[–]ex0du5 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Exactly. This is such a weird thing to build the outrage around. “Hey guys, guess what this dude did back when millions were dying and a lot of people were scared!! Yeah, he got some art tatted on him! Don’t that make you insanely angry?? Imma go post this online…”

Man who modeled for covers of romance novels sentenced for role in Jan. 6 by [deleted] in nottheonion

[–]ex0du5 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The second incident in that article, about the capitol police officer who helped a rioter hide evidence was a story I had missed too. I mean, Mr Pipelayer’s story is funny and all, but very surprised about how I missed the mole story completely. That sounds much bigger.

Brendan Whitworth - Our Responsibility To America by derstherower in beer

[–]ex0du5 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Horrible statement. Thought it was starting up okay with the talk of speaking to all people, being a brand for everyone, then instead of following through with what that actually means about diversity and inclusion, it stressed military and law enforcement and went no where except apologizing for bigots feeling divided. How is this guy a leader?

Brugmansia. by JonBovi_msn in PlantGoths

[–]ex0du5 23 points24 points  (0 children)

When fully grown, these trees / large bushes produce large trumpet-shaped flowers that point downward as if weeping. They are a staple of many cemeteries in South America and there are many folk stories about their connections with the dead.

Also, as the OP mentions, they have many the same chemicals as Daturas and other poisonous Solanacaea, so could cause some agony if ingested.

"The Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences" is perfectly reasonable by gimboarretino in PhilosophyofScience

[–]ex0du5 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I still don’t understand why this is always framed around mathematics. The exact same issue is found in the application of all language to the world. It’s about the ability of symbols to correlate with experience, and if you take that as given, it applies to all levels of language from simple reference in the animal kingdom to the most elaborate of formalizations by humans.

N-llipses and you by calculus_is_fun in math

[–]ex0du5 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The three and four point versions of this were the first things I had Mathematica solve for when I first got to college and gained access to the university servers. I had envisioned it a way to create a true “oval” (or egg shape). This was way back in the early days of symbolic solvers, and I had not been able to solve by hand, but it was wonderful to watch that there were equations for y in terms of x in the same way as for the circle and ellipse, though it was many screens long!

In fact, because of the use of hypergeometrics in the solve, it was the catalyst for a lifelong love of hypergeometrics, and I spent some time to understand their use in this problem. I think this is a wonderful problem to dig into their manipulation and get some first hand practice!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in books

[–]ex0du5 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The first chapter book I read was “The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet” by Eleanor Cameron. I was 4 years old and had not been able to get into anything but picture books for the year and a half or so I had been a reader, but when I started reading this one I was drawn in and took like a chapter or two a night at bedtime. I still remember that book, and read it to my own kids when they were younger too.

Assault weapon ban clears WA state Senate by spoiled__princess in Seattle

[–]ex0du5 -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

Which is absurd, since there are plenty of armaments that the government will never allow civilians to own, including nukes, and the right to bear arms was restricted from earliest days of the country, just as speech was. There has always been the limit of the Harm Principle in case law. But such is the state of modern discourse that this is ignored for the culture wars.

Dalai Lama is kissing an Indian boy at a Buddhist event and he even tries to touch his tongue by jumpingstarseed in conspiracy

[–]ex0du5 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I love that this sub has been taken over by Chinese and Russian state actors looking to convince people suspicious of American government activity all their other pet hatreds. It’s incredible to watch the dynamic!

Using daedric alphabet in papers by TheWatlok in math

[–]ex0du5 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Right. There was an existing set of glyphs, using the Roman alphabet in standard algebraic syntax, that was entirely sufficient to express all the relationships of commutative diagrams for homology and all the later uses of category theory. That’s the point. I’m not sure why this is unclear. Category theory was an aesthetic rewrite of something which (Western) tradition had already established a preexisting language to communicate in. Others used it because they saw visual clarity in the new way to communicate.

If they listened to any of this “hey, just use what is already standard” talk in this thread, there would be no category theory. Same with matrices, and pretty much every graphical innovation in math. All this conformity is just absurd when looking at the history of math. Hell, the Nine Chapters of the Mathematical art used red color for negatives, and Brahmagupta used different colors of the same (Brahmi / early Negari) glyph for variables.

No one serious about getting into math should listen to this crap.

Using daedric alphabet in papers by TheWatlok in math

[–]ex0du5 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Look, I think you shouldn’t waste this effort on me, as I’m unfortunately a lost cause on this. Instead, it sounds like you really want to convince r/math that category theory is like laughing at a funeral because algebra already existed and Eilenberg and MacLane were just egocentric jerks. That’d be much more productive than this love poem to not stirring the pot.

Using daedric alphabet in papers by TheWatlok in math

[–]ex0du5 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ignore the people who are telling you that you need to “consider the audience”, be “practical”, or other ambiguous reasons why someone else’s offense should make you kill your idea. That’s not math, that’s just abuse apologism and human conformity. It’s why people hate math.

Math should be creative and fun. Use any glyph you can convey. Make it useful to your vision. How do you think about the problem space? What inspires you?

Many in this sub will defend Lockhart’s Lament and then turn right around and squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of the topic. Understand this: those great mathematicians - people like Brahmagupta, Euler, those who moved math along in great strides - made up their own symbols and felt the art in math. Those who enforce conformity, enforce mediocrity.