Random Thoughts X: Impromptu Interpretations

[Gori the Grey]

The fortune cookie fortune I got today said "The rubber bands are moving in the right direction."

 

[Ferocitus]

I hope somebody here will be interested in how some of Plato's work informs modern geology.

Gábor Domokos, Douglas J. Jerolmack, Ferenc Kun, and János Török,
Plato’s Cube and the Natural Geometry of Fragmentation.
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/31/18178

Apparently, Jerolmack, first felt uncomfortable over a possibly coincidental connection to Plato,
but then came to embrace it. After all, Plato proposed that ideal geometric forms are central to
understanding the universe but always out of sight, visible only as distorted shadows.

“This is literally the most direct example we can think of. The statistical average of all these
observations is the cube,” Jerolmack said.

“But the cube never exists.”

From: Scientists Uncover the Universal Geometry of Geology
https://www.quantamagazine.org/geometry-reveals-how-the-world-is-assembled-from-cubes-20201119/

 

[Ferocitus]

Apparently, Jerolmack, first felt uncomfortable over a possibly coincidental connection to Plato,
but then came to embrace it. After all, Plato proposed that ideal geometric forms are central to
understanding the universe but always out of sight, visible only as distorted shadows.

He was down to the last third of the bottle when someone in the region of 36-24-36 walked through
his door.

"One helluva region", he said out loud, then wished he hadn't because he was on the internet.

 

[Birdjaguar]

@Ferocitus Nice story!

 

[Ferocitus]

@Ferocitus Nice story!

Thanks, but I'm a mathematician and it's derivative.

 

[Takhisis]

Now imagine him doing it while wearing a kilt.

(normally I'm in favor of men in kilts, but not in that musical)

Even more hilarious, but in a way that would ruin the show. It's like listening to church hymns after they've been sung by Mr. Bean.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Even more hilarious, but in a way that would ruin the show. It's like listening to church hymns after they've been sung by Mr. Bean.

Yes, I am aware that it would ruin the show... if done in a straightforward way.

But there's this thing called a parody. You know... gently mocking something, putting a humorous twist on it. Nearly every Star Trek story I have ever written has been parody/satire, but it doesn't mean I'm disrespecting the source material. I did not suggest this to mock the Jewish faith.

As for Mr. Bean, I don't see the connection. "Fiddler" is about a Jewish family, and I very much doubt that the Connery family is Jewish.

Mr. Bean doesn't actually speak, other than mumbled words that are mostly unintelligible. In his case (ie. the Christmas show) it's Christian/secular that provides the humor. I find the skit where he plays with the manger scene (adding Daleks and a helicopter) rather funny. It's certainly better than the turkey scene.

 

[Takhisis]

Yes, I am aware that it would ruin the show... if done in a straightforward way.

But there's this thing called a parody. You know... gently mocking something, putting a humorous twist on it. Nearly every Star Trek story I have ever written has been parody/satire, but it doesn't mean I'm disrespecting the source material. I did not suggest this to mock the Jewish faith

I know what parody is. And if i ever saw a parody with Sean Connery, etc. etc. I'd be reminded eof ite very time I watched the true Fiddler film again.

As for Mr. Bean, I don't see the connection. "Fiddler" is about a Jewish family, and I very much doubt that the Connery family is Jewish.

Mr. Bean doesn't actually speak, other than mumbled words that are mostly unintelligible. In his case (ie. the Christmas show) it's Christian/secular that provides the humor. I find the skit where he plays with the manger scene (adding Daleks and a helicopter) rather funny. It's certainly better than the turkey scene.

The connection is that Mr. Bean actually does go to church in some episode(s). And ever since I watched them for the first time twenty-odd years ago, whenever the specific hymns that were played on that episode are played live in an actual church ceremony, I have to make a determined effort not to laugh.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I know what parody is. And if i ever saw a parody with Sean Connery, etc. etc. I'd be reminded eof ite very time I watched the true Fiddler film again.

So any time people watch "The Life of Brian", they should giggle through the Crucifixion scene if they watch "The Greatest Story Ever Told" or "Jesus of Nazareth" or "The Passion of the Christ" or even "Jesus Christ Superstar"?

I've only seen bits and pieces of the Python movie, and didn't see the "Passion" movie. I've seen all the others, and worked on two separate productions of JCS. It's called compartmentalizing. Separating one from the other. Though I do giggle during a couple of scenes in "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur". I shouldn't have made those lolpics about wandering in the desert for 40 years because Moses, being a typical guy, was too embarrassed to ask for directions, and the galley slave scene where Ben-Hur is angry because the ship is delivering a pizza that has to be there in "39 minutes or it's free". Otherwise I do enjoy those movies without feeling the need to parody them.

I'm just saying that you (general 'you') can have both a serious version and a parody version of the same thing. And now that I've thought of this whole idea, of a Scottish parody version of "Fiddler"... I might actually write it. As a songfic, of course, not to be taken remotely seriously. Doesn't mean I don't still love the original to the point that I won't watch any other version.

The connection is that Mr. Bean actually does go to church in some episode(s). And ever since I watched them for the first time twenty-odd years ago, whenever the specific hymns that were played on that episode are played live in an actual church ceremony, I have to make a determined effort not to laugh.

Well, I don't have that problem, not being a church-goer. But I've written Star Trek filksongs to the tune of religious Christmas carols, and don't break out in giggles when I hear the originals.

Can't speak for other filkers, though. There are literally hundreds of verses to the filk version of "Old Time Religion." (800 as of 1996, according to my copy of The Westerfilk Collection, which I happen to have handy; there are likely well over 1000 by now). I wrote a filk to that tune, but it wasn't about religion... mostly.

 

[amadeus]

When I was in Sunday school many years ago, I was given an assignment to write about what I would do if Jesus came back and spent the day with me.

I said we would go mini-golfing. The teacher chided me on my answer and said I had missed the point. How? Did Jesus go mini-golfing in the Bible? I don’t have any such recollection, and how could I be wrong about something I would do?

It seems awfully selfish to have the Son of God spend a day with me, and for me to only ask of Him to do stuff for me. Does it sounds strange that I think he could have used a break? The Bible teaches us to keep the Sabbath a holy day. God rests in Genesis. Why can’t He take another rest?

I don’t think I missed the point. I think if being a good Christian means also to be charitable, it wouldn’t stop just at the non-deity level.

But that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

[Takhisis]

Well, I don't have that problem, not being a church-goer. But I've written Star Trek filksongs to the tune of religious Christmas carols, and don't break out in giggles when I hear the originals.

Can't speak for other filkers, though.

Exactly. I'm snipping the post to these two sentences because that's the point, right there. It's my personal reaction; I don't extend it to any other people.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

When I was in Sunday school many years ago, I was given an assignment to write about what I would do if Jesus came back and spent the day with me.

I said we would go mini-golfing. The teacher chided me on my answer and said I had missed the point. How? Did Jesus go mini-golfing in the Bible? I don’t have any such recollection, and how could I be wrong about something I would do?

It seems awfully selfish to have the Son of God spend a day with me, and for me to only ask of Him to do stuff for me. Does it sounds strange that I think he could have used a break? The Bible teaches us to keep the Sabbath a holy day. God rests in Genesis. Why can’t He take another rest?

I don’t think I missed the point. I think if being a good Christian means also to be charitable, it wouldn’t stop just at the non-deity level.

But that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.

I've only played mini golf on the computer (Zany Golf), and have thought that it must be fun to do it in RL.

Of course I doubt that real mini golf would have a hamburger that jumps up and down and you have to time your shot to get the ball into the hole that's underneath the hamburger...

Did the teacher ever tell you what she thought you should have written?

 

[amadeus]

No, but here's a random thought worthy to be stolen by BuzzFeed:

McDonald's: ______ 0
Burger King: _____ 0
Wendy's __________ 0
Arby's ___________ 0
Taco Bell ________ 0
Domino's _________ 0
Pizza Hut ________ 2

What could it be?

 

[Takhisis]

Number of scenes in which that chain is featured in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs?

 

[amadeus]

Number of scenes in which that chain is featured in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs?

Number of people that have, at one point in their lives, controlled both a nuclear arsenal and appeared in that chain’s commercial. Not at the same time, presumably.

Donald Trump and Mikhail Gorbachev

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

An expired bookmark for database software dropped me on a page full of lesbian porn. Awkward.

 

[The_J]

More awkward if anyone is around ^^.


Random thought: The year would make way more sense if it was 13 months, with 12*28+1*29. The semi-random distribution of month lengths bugs me.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

An expired bookmark for database software dropped me on a page full of lesbian porn. Awkward.

At least it wasn't child porn. That happened to me once when I was doing a hit for Amazon Mechanical Turk. The task was classifying blogs, as to whether they were personal or professional, what the general topics were, what language they were in, and so on. I got good at zipping through those fairly quickly, and it was a shock to be taken to a page full of photos of little Asian kids, adult men, and some really disgusting content. Some of those kids weren't any older than about 3 or 4.

All I could do was back out from that page and report the link to AMT. It still bothers me that I had no idea if there was any way to report that site to any anti-child porn law enforcement authorities.

Random thought: The year would make way more sense if it was 13 months, with 12*28+1*29. The semi-random distribution of month lengths bugs me.

Some people are very superstitious about the number 13. And how would you divide the year into an even number of months?

 

[amadeus]

Random thought: The year would make way more sense if it was 13 months, with 12*28+1*29. The semi-random distribution of month lengths bugs me.

Then you’d just be up for another rent payment every year! We should be cutting back on months, not adding to them.

 

[The_J]

But the monthly rent would be cheaper!

Some people are very superstitious about the number 13. And how would you divide the year into an even number of months?

Doesn't need to be even. And you could refer to the middle month, which we can't right now .