Today the list had 101 posts! About 50 were people arguing about the math of the recent election.
Here's an example:
"NAME REDACTED, this reminds me of the time my highschool calculus teacher tried to prove
to the class that .99999999 (ad infinitum) = 1. On the face of the exercise it
seemed plausible, but we all just know that the two aren't equal."
Followed by:
"Huh. Then you're probably the kind of guy who doesn't believe that the
sum of the infinite series 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 (etc.) equals 1, either.
Although they're both easily provable."
Then there was an extremely long and honestly bizarre comparison of farm animals to politicians with a bunch of math thrown in. I did not read the entire thing because I was an English major and I know when the math geeks are getting their grok on.
Finally, it was suggested that the farm animals be turned into barbeque with a leaf blower on Mass Ave. Not a bad idea actually.
Kudos to this lady for recognizing humor when she she reads it.
"I hope those people who love to pick out unusual Arlington list
conversations and blog about them can fully recognize the wonderful
undertones and leg pulling that this thread is full of!!! Net result (a
vaguely math term): The Schlichtman Way will get you to pastrami, while
sneaking up on the George Washington Bridge. It works
.9999999 of the time, which we all now realize is 100%".
NAME REDACTED
About 51 posts are about bike path etiquette. It starts out all polite.
"Hello Listers,
I have a few requests of the many bikers here on the List.
1. When you are coming up behind a pedestrian, and intend to pass that
person, could you please indicate that intent either with a "On your left"
or perhaps one of those cheery bells of yesteryear? The dogs and I get
taken off guard many times, causing us to go in opposite directions, often
into the path of the biker.
2. And when you pass, could you only pass on the left?
3. And when you pass on the left, if it causes you to go into oncoming
"traffic", please realize it is not the responsibility of the oncoming to
get out of your way.
Thank you very much, in advance, for your courtesies in these requests."
After about 15 posts arguing about whether people should yell, "On your left!" or whether that is too annoying on a sunny day, 15 about whether dogs should be leashed or unleashed, 10 about whether the bikepath should be used for walking at all, and 5 requesting the return of the bicycle bell we arrive at this:
"You're right, of course. How many times can we re-hash the same nonsense.
We should go back to talking about things like Coyotes.
Or leaf blowers.
Or Mass Ave!
Tell me, again, about how rotaries are safer, and bicycle paths, like communism, are just bad European ideas that failed..."
And this:
"We haven't talked about power-outage-causing squirrels in a loooong time."
And finally this:
"I've been lurking this list now for three days, and all I can say is, wow.
You people have TIME.
Jealously,
NAME REDACTED"
Me too, NAME REDACTED, me too.
1 comment:
> this reminds me of the time my highschool calculus teacher tried to prove
to the class that .99999999 (ad infinitum) = 1. On the face of the exercise it
seemed plausible, but we all just know that the two aren't equal."
What amazes me is that people who've proven their lack of critical thinking skills by their inability to handle middle school math concepts are allowed to vote.
How can someone who doesn't understand something like this possible by capable of understanding compound interest, or positive feedback loops, or game theory?
Yet another reason that I loathe democracy.
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