At just the right time, we Americans could catch ten digits today.  The 
rest of the world will have to wait for the crude approximation in July. 
  :-P

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'pi_day_2015_cap.png' (604 KB)

Preview of image 'pi_day_2015_cap.png'

Am 15.03.2015 um 03:14 schrieb Cousin Ricky:
> At just the right time, we Americans could catch ten digits today.  The
> rest of the world will have to wait for the crude approximation in July.
>   :-P

Uh, yeah... because when it comes to date formats, the Gregorian date in 
American notation is the pinnacle of mathematical thinking... >_<

To get it right, wait for 2031-06-01, 19:30:59.236077... (if I got the 
math right)

Post a reply to this message

On 15/03/15 02:14, Cousin Ricky wrote:
> At just the right time, we Americans could catch ten digits today.  The
> rest of the world will have to wait for the crude approximation in July.
>  :-P

It's a pity you couldn't win the KMahjong game you were playing ;-)

John
-- 
Protect the Earth
It was not given to you by your parents
You hold it in trust for your children

Post a reply to this message

On 15/03/2015 12:21 PM, Doctor John wrote:
> It's a pity you couldn't win the KMahjong game you were playing ;-)

Is it bad that I knew it was KMahjong just by the poorly-drawn tiles?

Post a reply to this message

Am 15.03.2015 um 23:00 schrieb Orchid Win7 v1:
> On 15/03/2015 12:21 PM, Doctor John wrote:
>> It's a pity you couldn't win the KMahjong game you were playing ;-)
>
> Is it bad that I knew it was KMahjong just by the poorly-drawn tiles?

Should I be worried that I recognized it was /some/ Mah-Jong game, but 
didn't bother a bit about it otherwise? :P

Post a reply to this message

On 03/15/2015 01:21 AM, clipka wrote:
> Am 15.03.2015 um 03:14 schrieb Cousin Ricky:
>> At just the right time, we Americans could catch ten digits today.  The
>> rest of the world will have to wait for the crude approximation in July.
>>   :-P
>
> Uh, yeah... because when it comes to date formats, the Gregorian date in
> American notation is the pinnacle of mathematical thinking... >_<

What do you expect from a country that still uses inches and feet?

Nevertheless, there is one area of math where America excels: voter 
demographics.  Check out:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois%27s_4th_congressional_district

I changed my system date format back to ISO after I took the screen shot.

Post a reply to this message

Le 2015-03-15 01:21, clipka a écrit :
> Am 15.03.2015 um 03:14 schrieb Cousin Ricky:
>> At just the right time, we Americans could catch ten digits today.  The
>> rest of the world will have to wait for the crude approximation in July.
>>   :-P
>
> Uh, yeah... because when it comes to date formats, the Gregorian date in
> American notation is the pinnacle of mathematical thinking... >_<
>
> To get it right, wait for 2031-06-01, 19:30:59.236077... (if I got the
> math right)
>
Says the guy who's native language describes 154 as "one hundred, 4 and 
fifty."  ;-)

-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

Post a reply to this message

>> Uh, yeah... because when it comes to date formats, the Gregorian date in
>> American notation is the pinnacle of mathematical thinking... >_<
>>
>> To get it right, wait for 2031-06-01, 19:30:59.236077... (if I got the
>> math right)
>>
> Says the guy who's native language describes 154 as "one hundred, 4 and
> fifty."  ;-)

And who probably has an address of the form: street, house number, 
zip-code, town name ;-)

Post a reply to this message

On 16/03/2015 13:38, scott wrote:
>>> Uh, yeah... because when it comes to date formats, the Gregorian date in
>>> American notation is the pinnacle of mathematical thinking... >_<
>>>
>>> To get it right, wait for 2031-06-01, 19:30:59.236077... (if I got the
>>> math right)
>>>
>> Says the guy who's native language describes 154 as "one hundred, 4 and
>> fifty."  ;-)
>
> And who probably has an address of the form: street, house number,
> zip-code, town name ;-)
>

That's better than:
Under the third stone nearest the well, Dingly Dell .

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 16-3-2015 14:38, scott wrote:
>>> Uh, yeah... because when it comes to date formats, the Gregorian date in
>>> American notation is the pinnacle of mathematical thinking... >_<
>>>
>>> To get it right, wait for 2031-06-01, 19:30:59.236077... (if I got the
>>> math right)
>>>
>> Says the guy who's native language describes 154 as "one hundred, 4 and
>> fifty."  ;-)
>
> And who probably has an address of the form: street, house number,
> zip-code, town name ;-)
>
Of course! It is sooo stupid to look /first/ for the house number and 
only then for the street ;-)

-- 
Thomas

Post a reply to this message

>>> Says the guy who's native language describes 154 as "one hundred, 4 and
>>> fifty."  ;-)
>>
>> And who probably has an address of the form: street, house number,
>> zip-code, town name ;-)
>>
> Of course! It is sooo stupid to look /first/ for the house number and
> only then for the street ;-)

And then once you've confirmed you're at the correct housenumber and in 
the correct street, you find you're in the wrong town! Yes I've done 
this before when going to look at a place to rent...

Post a reply to this message

Am 16.03.2015 um 14:27 schrieb Francois Labreque:
> Le 2015-03-15 01:21, clipka a écrit :
>> Am 15.03.2015 um 03:14 schrieb Cousin Ricky:
>>> At just the right time, we Americans could catch ten digits today.  The
>>> rest of the world will have to wait for the crude approximation in July.
>>>   :-P
>>
>> Uh, yeah... because when it comes to date formats, the Gregorian date in
>> American notation is the pinnacle of mathematical thinking... >_<
>>
>> To get it right, wait for 2031-06-01, 19:30:59.236077... (if I got the
>> math right)
>>
> Says the guy who's native language describes 154 as "one hundred, 4 and
> fifty."  ;-)

Says the guy who speaks a language in which 99 is commonly called 
"four-twenty-ten-nine" :P

Post a reply to this message

On 16/03/15 20:11, clipka wrote:
> Am 16.03.2015 um 14:27 schrieb Francois Labreque:
>> Le 2015-03-15 01:21, clipka a écrit :
>>> Am 15.03.2015 um 03:14 schrieb Cousin Ricky:
>>>> At just the right time, we Americans could catch ten digits today.  The
>>>> rest of the world will have to wait for the crude approximation in
>>>> July.
>>>>   :-P
>>>
>>> Uh, yeah... because when it comes to date formats, the Gregorian date in
>>> American notation is the pinnacle of mathematical thinking... >_<
>>>
>>> To get it right, wait for 2031-06-01, 19:30:59.236077... (if I got the
>>> math right)
>>>
>> Says the guy who's native language describes 154 as "one hundred, 4 and
>> fifty."  ;-)
> 
> Says the guy who speaks a language in which 99 is commonly called
> "four-twenty-ten-nine" :P
> 

Christine, stop pulling Francoise's pigtails! ...and all of you, it's
not Ricky's fault that he was unlucky enough to be born in the US of A

John
-- 
Protect the Earth
It was not given to you by your parents
You hold it in trust for your children

Post a reply to this message

On 03/16/2015 05:21 PM, Doctor John wrote:
> Christine, stop pulling Francoise's pigtails! ...and all of you, it's
> not Ricky's fault that he was unlucky enough to be born in the US of A

I'm not even /that/ lucky:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CesHr99ezWE

Post a reply to this message

On 16-3-2015 16:19, scott wrote:
>>>> Says the guy who's native language describes 154 as "one hundred, 4 and
>>>> fifty."  ;-)
>>>
>>> And who probably has an address of the form: street, house number,
>>> zip-code, town name ;-)
>>>
>> Of course! It is sooo stupid to look /first/ for the house number and
>> only then for the street ;-)
>
> And then once you've confirmed you're at the correct housenumber and in
> the correct street, you find you're in the wrong town! Yes I've done
> this before when going to look at a place to rent...
>
Oh dear! :-)

-- 
Thomas

Post a reply to this message

On 17/03/15 02:03, Cousin Ricky wrote:
> On 03/16/2015 05:21 PM, Doctor John wrote:
>> Christine, stop pulling Francoise's pigtails! ...and all of you, it's
>> not Ricky's fault that he was unlucky enough to be born in the US of A
> 
> I'm not even /that/ lucky:
> 
>    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CesHr99ezWE
> 

'The uploader has not made this video available in your country.'

:-(

John
-- 
Protect the Earth
It was not given to you by your parents
You hold it in trust for your children

Post a reply to this message

On 03/17/2015 08:15 AM, Doctor John wrote:
> On 17/03/15 02:03, Cousin Ricky wrote:
>> On 03/16/2015 05:21 PM, Doctor John wrote:
>>> Christine, stop pulling Francoise's pigtails! ...and all of you, it's
>>> not Ricky's fault that he was unlucky enough to be born in the US of A
>>
>> I'm not even /that/ lucky:
>>
>>     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CesHr99ezWE
>>
>
> 'The uploader has not made this video available in your country.'
>
> :-(

Great.  This technology was utilized so that global corporations such as 
The Google could do business in totalitarian countries such as China 
that wished to censor content based on geographic origin, but 
corporations seem to love it more than governments do.

The video is a commentary by John Oliver on the voting rights of 
residents of the USA's territories.

As you may have heard, the USA just celebrated the 50th anniversary of 
the march to Selma, Alabama.  The state violence on that march led to 
the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which assured the rights of black 
Americans to vote--a mere 95 years after the Constitution gave us this 
right.

A fact that sits uncomfortably in the back of the mind of every American 
who isn't a neocon[1] is that there are 4.1 million American citizens in 
Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands 
who still do not have the right to vote for president, and have no 
voting representation in Congress. Even worse, the Americans in American 
Samoa aren't even granted citizenship.  ([1]The neocons aren't even 
aware that we are Americans.)

As a Virgin Islander, I had considered this to be an artifact of the 
Constitution, which devotes all of half a sentence to the territories 
(article IV, section 3).  However, the video shows that this matter was 
decided in the Insular Cases in 1901, using horrifyingly racist 
reasoning.  What's more, even as racist as the Supreme Court was back 
then, it was a patronizing racism, rather than hate-based racism. 
(Science had not yet fully realized that race is a culturally relative 
artifact, not a biological reality.)  The court intended our 
disenfranchisement to be only temporary.

Post a reply to this message

Am 17.03.2015 um 22:26 schrieb Cousin Ricky:

> A fact that sits uncomfortably in the back of the mind of every American
> who isn't a neocon[1] is that there are 4.1 million American citizens in
> Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands
> who still do not have the right to vote for president, and have no
> voting representation in Congress. Even worse, the Americans in American
> Samoa aren't even granted citizenship.  ([1]The neocons aren't even
> aware that we are Americans.)

I presume they do pay taxes, right?

So much for "no taxation without representation"...

> As a Virgin Islander, I had considered this to be an artifact of the
> Constitution, which devotes all of half a sentence to the territories
> (article IV, section 3).  However, the video shows that this matter was
> decided in the Insular Cases in 1901, using horrifyingly racist
> reasoning.

Yeah, the first half of the 20th century was that way. Hitler was only 
the tip of the iceberg.

Post a reply to this message

On 17/03/2015 21:26, Cousin Ricky wrote:
> On 03/17/2015 08:15 AM, Doctor John wrote:

>
> The video is a commentary by John Oliver on the voting rights of
> residents of the USA's territories.
>

I like John Oliver. He is biased in the right direction and he is funny.

Why don't you tell them to go away if they don't want to give you voting 
rights. And apply to be a British Overseas Territory. You could join up 
with the ready made community there. And get free entry into museums. ;-)



-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 03/16/2015 02:27 PM, Francois Labreque wrote:
> Le 2015-03-15 01:21, clipka a écrit :
>> Am 15.03.2015 um 03:14 schrieb Cousin Ricky:
>>> At just the right time, we Americans could catch ten digits today.  The
>>> rest of the world will have to wait for the crude approximation in July.
>>>   :-P
>>
>> Uh, yeah... because when it comes to date formats, the Gregorian date in
>> American notation is the pinnacle of mathematical thinking... >_<
>>
>> To get it right, wait for 2031-06-01, 19:30:59.236077... (if I got the
>> math right)
>>
> Says the guy who's native language describes 154 as "one hundred, 4 and
> fifty."  ;-)
>
Hi Guys, been busy lately, so not always time to check p.o-t

The story about this as I remember it is that most of GB used to say 4 
and fifty (and some still do) but that some king or queen decided that 
fifty four better fitted what was written.
And that we write 54 because four and fifty was exactly what the arabs 
were saying too, and they write right to left.

Post a reply to this message

On 27/03/2015 21:52, Andrel wrote:

> Hi Guys, been busy lately, so not always time to check p.o-t
>

That's good.

> The story about this as I remember it is that most of GB used to say 4
> and fifty (and some still do) but that some king or queen decided that
> fifty four better fitted what was written.
> And that we write 54 because four and fifty was exactly what the arabs
> were saying too, and they write right to left.
>

The King bit does not seem right to me. So I went looking. This is the 
only thing I could find.
You might find it interesting. On the other hand you might find it 
patronising and with the odd racist comment.


http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/lexicon_valley/2014/11/lexicon_valley_the_history_and_evolution_of_writing_out_numbers_in_the_english.html


-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 28-3-2015 10:23, Stephen wrote:
> On 27/03/2015 21:52, Andrel wrote:
>
>> Hi Guys, been busy lately, so not always time to check p.o-t
>>
>
> That's good.
>
>> The story about this as I remember it is that most of GB used to say 4
>> and fifty (and some still do) but that some king or queen decided that
>> fifty four better fitted what was written.
>> And that we write 54 because four and fifty was exactly what the arabs
>> were saying too, and they write right to left.
>>
>
> The King bit does not seem right to me. So I went looking. This is the
> only thing I could find.
> You might find it interesting. On the other hand you might find it
> patronising and with the odd racist comment.
>
>
>
http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/lexicon_valley/2014/11/lexicon_valley_the_history_and_evolution_of_writing_out_numbers_in_the_english.html
>
>
>
27 minutes long? No patience ;-)
I found this (short) answer:
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3903/19th-century-english-texts-occasionally-use-germanic-style-number-words-such-as

Not entirely satisfying though.

-- 
Thomas

Post a reply to this message

On 28/03/2015 12:23, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> 27 minutes long? No patience ;-)

27 minutes of wishing they would stop being in love with each other and 
get on with it.

> I found this (short) answer:
>
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3903/19th-century-english-texts-occasionally-use-germanic-style-number-words-such-as
>
>
> Not entirely satisfying though.

I think I've got it and Andrel may be right. Henry V of England was a 
native English speaker and was the first to use English in government. 
One particular dialect, Chancery Standard, was used.
So I'll give the benefit of the doubt to Andrel. And he has 27 seconds 
left on the subject of "Pi Day of the century"

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 29-3-2015 14:19, Stephen wrote:
> On 28/03/2015 12:23, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>> 27 minutes long? No patience ;-)
>
> 27 minutes of wishing they would stop being in love with each other and
> get on with it.
>
>> I found this (short) answer:
>>
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3903/19th-century-english-texts-occasionally-use-germanic-style-number-words-such-as
>>
>>
>>
>> Not entirely satisfying though.
>
> I think I've got it and Andrel may be right. Henry V of England was a
> native English speaker and was the first to use English in government.
> One particular dialect, Chancery Standard, was used.
> So I'll give the benefit of the doubt to Andrel. And he has 27 seconds
> left on the subject of "Pi Day of the century"
>
Fascinating. I looked up Middle English and Chancery Standard. I love 
languages!

-- 
Thomas

Post a reply to this message

[hmm thunderbird interface may have changed, this is the second time I 
'reply' in stead of 'follow up']

On 03/28/2015 10:23 AM, Stephen wrote:
> On 27/03/2015 21:52, Andrel wrote:
>
>> Hi Guys, been busy lately, so not always time to check p.o-t
>>
>
> That's good.
>
>> The story about this as I remember it is that most of GB used to say 4
>> and fifty (and some still do) but that some king or queen decided that
>> fifty four better fitted what was written.
>> And that we write 54 because four and fifty was exactly what the arabs
>> were saying too, and they write right to left.
>>
>
> The King bit does not seem right to me. So I went looking. This is the
> only thing I could find.
> You might find it interesting. On the other hand you might find it
> patronising and with the odd racist comment.
>
>
>
http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/lexicon_valley/2014/11/lexicon_valley_the_history_and_evolution_of_writing_out_numbers_in_the_english.html
>

yes patronizing and very american in not understanding how familiarity 
with something is not the same as something being more logical. (yes I 
know that is patronizing)

What they missed:
- what the spoken order is for arab (and hebrew) and how that might 
influence the way our numbers are written (i.e. big endian). (which I 
still find an interesting point)
- that both dutch and german say three thousand two hundred four and 
fifty. So an odd mix. Which also invalidates their 22 and 5000 example.
- that in multiplication the way the carry is used makes little endian 
more actually 'logical' Which was IIRC one reason for the 4040, z80 etc. 
to adopt that scheme. (which is irrelevant for this discussion in much 
the same way as their examples)

Post a reply to this message

On 03/29/2015 02:19 PM, Stephen wrote:
> On 28/03/2015 12:23, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>> 27 minutes long? No patience ;-)
>
> 27 minutes of wishing they would stop being in love with each other and
> get on with it.
>
>> I found this (short) answer:
>>
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3903/19th-century-english-texts-occasionally-use-germanic-style-number-words-such-as
>>
>>
>>
>> Not entirely satisfying though.
>
> I think I've got it and Andrel may be right. Henry V of England was a
> native English speaker and was the first to use English in government.
> One particular dialect, Chancery Standard, was used.
> So I'll give the benefit of the doubt to Andrel. And he has 27 seconds
> left on the subject of "Pi Day of the century"
>

Sorry was not at home for that many seconds. :(

So it may not be the whole truth but there is an element of:
the english say twenty four because the arabs say four and twenty and 
they write right to left whereas the english write left to right.

At least there is confusion enough to be able to claim that when in 
computer science class a teacher or a student claims that big-endian is 
much more logical. That will hopefully confuse them enough to refrain 
from absolute statements in the future.

Post a reply to this message

Am 29.03.2015 um 18:46 schrieb Andrel:

> At least there is confusion enough to be able to claim that when in
> computer science class a teacher or a student claims that big-endian is
> much more logical. That will hopefully confuse them enough to refrain
> from absolute statements in the future.

Fun fact to know: Big-Endian byte ordering is also referred to as 
Network Order, because that's what is used in TCP/IP and Ethernet...

... but the bit ordering within each byte on Ethernet is Little-Endian!

Post a reply to this message

Am 29.03.2015 um 18:40 schrieb Andrel:

> - that in multiplication the way the carry is used makes little endian
> more actually 'logical' Which was IIRC one reason for the 4040, z80 etc.
> to adopt that scheme. (which is irrelevant for this discussion in much
> the same way as their examples)

That's an interesting point there.

Post a reply to this message

> The story about this as I remember it is that most of GB used to say 4
> and fifty (and some still do) but that some king or queen decided that
> fifty four better fitted what was written.

Must have been nice to just be able to make changes like that. Today it 
would have taken 4 years for a committee to produce a report making a 
recommendation, then another 2 years for parliament to debate a spelling 
mistake on page 7, another 2 years to rewrite the report, then more 
debating and finally the government decides actually we won't bother.

Post a reply to this message