Random Thoughts XV: Temere Cogito, Ergo . . .

Or "fan," because she's supposed to look like she's cheering.

Or "fab," cuz look at that outfit, amirite?

Or "fad," if we are supposed to imagine her doing the latest Tik-Tok dance.
 
Or "fav," if she's the drawing you like best of all. (It's why she was saved for last.)

Really, just add a letter. Who's going to tell you you're wrong?
 
"Fag," if you think she's cupping a cigarette behind that one hand near her mouth (and she might because she looks young, so her parents might object).

"Fam" if you think she looks like your sister.
 
Yes, I had thought of those too. Fam was my original thought, although maybe it is too informal to be taught in a school setting - then again, it's kindergarten.
I like "far" because it requires some abstraction - even more than "fan" does.
 
Yeah, they shouldn't be teaching abbreviation-words, like "fav" or "fam" in kindergarten.

On an unrelated note (but having to do with words). It's here or TIL that I should note that the OED's word of the year is "brain rot."
 
I went mentally with "fart."
 
All the others I could see allowed only a single extra letter (though I don't know what word ending in just "f" could apply to the dog next door; maybe it's a poorly formed "t" and the two letters were "pe").

I wonder what two-letter sequence forms the largest number of three-letter words in English, i.e. the largest number of letters of the alphabet could be added and a word would result.
 
All the others I could see allowed only a single extra letter (though I don't know what word ending in just "f" could apply to the dog next door; maybe it's a poorly formed "t" and the two letters were "pe").
Pretty sure it's a "p" -- presumably for "pup"
 
Is there some term used in boxing or some sort of martial art or exercise that starts with "fa"?

None of the regular words fit. Even the irregular words don't make sense in this context. The missing letter can't be "g" if this assignment was from an American or Canadian school, because that word no longer means what it used to mean, at least in this part of the world.
 
Fatality! if my memory of playing Mortal Kombat 30 years ago serves as anything.
That's more than one letter. The solution to this is that we need to find one letter that makes sense and isn't a slur.

C'mon, people, we're all reasonably smart. We should be able to figure out the same homework that a 6-year-old was assigned.
 
For young zoomers it is FAQ.
 
Faa
Fab
Fac
Fad
Fae
Faf
Fag
Fah
Fai
Faj
Fak
Fal
Fam
Fan
Fao
Fap
Faq
Far
Fas
Fat
Fau
Fav
Faw
Fax
Fay
Faz
 
Up until this week when I watched 2 hour interview with Chris Langan ( the so called 195 IQ guy who has his own theory of everything)
I didn't take quest for truth that seriously.

In middle school I had a nickname "philosopher" given by my peers, because I was bad at physical sports and I always asked uneasy questions to teachers.

Now, 25 years later, I realize, they were actually right. After having spent 10 years in academia, studying math/physics/philosophy/languages and keeping on with my uneasy questions
up to this day the one thing I have invested my full energy in is finding the universal truths about this planet, environment and society.

My mom, being a musicologist and a stern advocate of hard sciences always laughed at my efforts and expected me to fail as a linguist, because my grandpa was a math teacher
and someone told my mom I was gifted in math. I have studied 6 languages and self-taught several more and I got stipends while doing that.

Up to this week I thought that saying without self-loathing that, while other men search for the best ways to become millionaires (like my dad), I always searched for
ways how to connect the dots between math/languages/logic, would be impossible, it has changed.

That guy opened my eyes. I consciously declined a career in well paying jobs like programming despite winning a math competition and being awarded free programming courses when I was 11.
I declined a job in physics as well when I realized that theoretical physics is something you can't live on in Latvia.

Last two years I thought that to be accepted as a man in society you need to be a good provider. You have to be able to provide for yourself and your potential children.

From age of 22 to today I have been studying for most of the time. I never did anything for money, always for more knowledge. I left most of my degrees after the first year, because I felt like
I had extracted from my professors what I wanted. At the moment I have settled with pedagogy and I'm about to finally finish the degree.

Why I couldn't have had pride in being an independent thinker like Chris did my whole life? In Latvia where semi-poverty is commonplace, middle class is few in numbers, a lot of people earn 700 euros a month while 1% earns 10000 euros a month, money has been the talking point of most of my peers.

But I never gave up. Never took a job for money. Didn't go to UK when given a chance just to earn more. Never worked for someone I didn't like.

Why it's so hard to take pride in yourself when healthy amount of self-esteem is crucial to be an adult?

This week I realized that yes, I can't sustain a family of two, my own pupils are 28 now and they work in IT and earn thousands while I do what I love and earn the bare minimum.
But everything has been my own choice. I'm not poor or starving, I have held to my ideals and I should see my self-worth flourish due to that.

So what if engineers, IT guys and businessmen don't understand me. As Italian saying goes "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti."
- translated "Follow your own road, and let the people talk" from Dante.

As I realize it more and more that my thirst for knowledge is as big as ever.

I study calculus once more and prof today asked if I have a special interest in improper integrals.
I said yes, because some things in life are divergent, some are convergent just like integrals. Prof didn't have anything to add. She's there to talk about integrals not philosophy.

But I gave a presentation about philosophy of mathematics already in faculty and I plan to work on. It's lovely.
 
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