Today I Learned #4: Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

[Comrade Ceasefire]

TIL that authorship order in some philosophical papers is not just about who contributed most, or who is the primary contact for the paper, etc. See the footnote.

The paper itself is a very influential one and made the 2nd author, an Australian surfie mathematician
turned philosopher quite famous. It has had a profound impact on AI research in particular.

Why we have co-evolved with technology
...
Their paper predated the rise of the smartphone, and the thesis was so radical at the time that they had trouble finding a publisher, but it has now come to seem almost like common sense. If your phone batteries run out, you feel like a little bit of your mind is missing.

Why we have co-evolved with technology

Our relationship with technology has a far deeper history than it seems, argues the philosopher and author Tom Chatfield in his book Wise Animals.

www.bbc.com

I'd love to read about the discussions of "belief" when physics, astronomy or genetics papers have > 100 authors.

 

[Birdjaguar]

made the 2nd author, an Australian surfie mathematician
turned philosopher quite famous.

I first read that as "an Australian sufie mathematician," personal bias I guess.

The authors seemed to miss the fourth option: give them physical items that they have to actually handle and find out if they can be fit together. It would be interesting to see how that kind of brain activity was the same or different from the other three.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

That 'Andalusia' comes from 'Vandals'

https://twitter.com/x/status/1781056182313971953

 

[EgonSpengler]

That 'Andalusia' comes from 'Vandals'

https://twitter.com/x/status/1781056182313971953

They got around, those Vandals.

 

[Gori the Grey]

The paper itself is a very influential one and made the 2nd author, an Australian surfie mathematician
turned philosopher quite famous.

When he's the one who believed it less!?!

That has to be tongue in cheek. A few months back I noted a footnote that I found hilarious. I'll track it back down.

What Book Are You Reading XV - The Pile Keeps Growing!

And yet we have a St. Ursula.

forums.civfanatics.com

 

[Comrade Ceasefire]

When he's the one who believed it less!?!

That has to be tongue in cheek. A few months back I noted a footnote that I found hilarious. I'll track it back down.

What Book Are You Reading XV - The Pile Keeps Growing!

And yet we have a St. Ursula.

forums.civfanatics.com

My favourite is a mathematics article that cited some of T. E. Kaczynski's papers with a footnote saying:
Best known for other work.

 

[EgonSpengler]

TIL that the number of possible combinations of cards in a regular 52-card deck is 8.06e+67. That means that every time you shuffle a deck, it's unlikely that particular combination of cards has ever occurred before, and it probably won't happen ever again.

 

[EgonSpengler]

TIL that Maya Erskine's father is Peter Erskine, drummer for the 1970s jazz band Weather Report (Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, and others).

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I just ran across this video about the recent eclipse, discussing a short-term comet that was noticed ("sun-grazers" are hard to spot unless an eclipse is happening), animal behavior, and various views from satellites, telescopes, and the International Space Station:

 

[Birdjaguar]

‘Great enigma’: Amateur archaeologists unearth mysterious Roman object​

By Emily Blumenthal, CNN
3 minute read
Published 11:36 AM EDT, Mon April 29, 2024

[IMG width="720px" height="506.25px" alt="A rare Roman dodecahedron was found in Lincolnshire, England last summer and is set to go on display in the Lincoln Museum in Lincoln, England."]https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/img-2932-cr.jpg?q=w_2000,c_fill[/IMG]
A rare Roman dodecahedron was found in Lincolnshire, England last summer and is set to go on display in the Lincoln Museum in Lincoln, England.
Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/29/style/dodecahedron-roman-object-mystery-scn-scli-intl/index.html

 

[PhroX]

‘Great enigma’: Amateur archaeologists unearth mysterious Roman object​

By Emily Blumenthal, CNN
3 minute read
Published 11:36 AM EDT, Mon April 29, 2024

[IMG width="720px" height="506.25px" alt="A rare Roman dodecahedron was found in Lincolnshire, England last summer and is set to go on display in the Lincoln Museum in Lincoln, England."]https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/img-2932-cr.jpg?q=w_2000,c_fill[/IMG]
A rare Roman dodecahedron was found in Lincolnshire, England last summer and is set to go on display in the Lincoln Museum in Lincoln, England.
Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/29/style/dodecahedron-roman-object-mystery-scn-scli-intl/index.html

Clearly you're meant to put fossils in it....

 

[Birdjaguar]

Clearly you're meant to put fossils in it....

Perfect answer!

 

[EgonSpengler]

TIL that Drake is 'to the manor born': His uncle is Larry Graham, of Sly & The Family Stone and Graham Central Station, one of the most influential bass players of all time and a member of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. He basically invented the "slap-bass" style, which was picked up by punk and alternative players like Les Claypool of Primus and Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Another of Drake's uncles is Teenie Hodges, Al Green's guitarist. Hodges co-wrote "Love & Happiness" with Green, which is one of my favorite songs of all time. I don't know if I've ever heard a Drake song - I just know him by name - but I see him in a new light today.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Polaris - 70 million years old
Sharks - 400 million years old

 

[Valka D'Ur]

View attachment 690322

Polaris - 70 million years old
Sharks - 400 million years old

Be glad we can see the brighter stars, as so many of them are the massive or supermassive ones that live fast and die young (as stellar timelines go).

 

[Lexicus]

Polaris is actually a triple star system; while Polaris Aa is fairly young, Polaris B is about a billion and a half years old and Polaris Ab is over half a billion years old. Polaris Aa is the big bright star we can see with the naked eye though. The others had to be discovered by telescope.

 

[Gori the Grey]

'Splains why sharks have lost their way, in any case.

 

[Kyriakos]

Til that fly swatters have those holes so as to minimize air disruption - insects are very sensitive to it and would otherwise take off long before the swatter hit them.
Made me think about whether large enough holes (which would allow the insect to feasibly pass partly through them before being hit by the wall around the hole) would also work (you know, for gruesomely incapacitating it on air; the small holes wouldn't, since the hit by the wall would instantly push the insect to the opposite direction) or if the larger ones simply would alert it.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Today is the 200th anniversary of the first performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

I wonder if I can fit a listen into my day.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Today is the 200th anniversary of the first performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

I wonder if I can fit a listen into my day.

I don't think I've ever listened to the whole thing at once.