How Animals See the World | Mezzmer
my entire math life
This is basically the problem with the entire modern educational system.
Time to do unpopular opinion? Time to do unpopular opinion.
Balancing a checkbook is applied addition and subtraction, stuff of the third grade. Okay, yeah, it is a failure of the modern educational system if he hasn’t learned it by now.
Imaginary numbers interact with real numbers (1, 2, π, 1.5, etc) for complex numbers, and are useful if you want to get into engineering or science — you know, high paying jobs.
Remember Tomb Raider? How they make her turn? Quaternions, which use THREE sets of imaginary numbers.
Like how your cell phone gets reception? That requires resonance, the understanding of which can be aided by complex numbers.
And don’t even get me started in the more exotic physics like fluid dynamics or quantum mechanics. That is, the forefront of how planes fly and how computer chips work.
There’s this term, innumeracy, that is to math what illiteracy is to english. One thing that bugs me is when ignorance is paraded about, when one acts as if math is an optional knowledge. Doubly so when it’s the very thing holding them back.
The failure is not in teaching these things, but the lack of teaching about why we should care about these things.
Thank you maths side of tumblr
The failure is not in teaching these things, but the lack of teaching about why we should care about these things.
Come to think of it, that’s applicable to how a lot of subjects are taught.
But I’m afraid maths gets the worst of it, really. I mean, how often have you heard people complaining about history? Social sciences? Even chemistry, which is more specialised than maths? No, maths gets the worst of it by far, and everyone demonises it because no one ever tells them that maths is a language, and a quite difficult one at that, because it’s the language of the Universe (of god, if you will).
Not only that, but it’s also the only language that’s truly universal (we’re certain aliens will arrive at the same maths we have) and that can truly explain everything that’s in principle conceivable. Human language can describe the stuff we see, and some extrapolations we imagine; maths can describe everything that is, was, will be, has never been, and could ever be.
Everything is maths.
This is already excellently explained and defended, so please forgive me for reblogging and adding a veritable novel to it.
This is precisely what nobody ever even tried to make me understand as a kid, and what I try so desperately to make people understand as an adult.
When the above say that math is a language, they are being more or less literal.
The reason that mathematics is so confusing to so many people is pretty much just because it was never properly explained to them.
Math is a language heavily reliant on the symbolic representation of pre-existing concepts. As a language, it is dedicated to the pursuit of absolute grammatical consistency and the simplification of its sentence structures without any accompanying sacrifice of meaning.
So, actually, math is infinitely easier than English.
I’ll get to why below.
if i ever met a genie i wouldnt wish for a million dollars id wish that whenever i bought something i’d always have the right amount of money to pay for it in my pocket
you are one of the great thinkers of our time
If you think abortions ok, remember what Horton says.
Awkward. Dr. Seuss and his wife were really liberal and pro-choice. They’ve even threatened to sue pro-life organizations for using this quote the wrong way (the way you’re doing it actually). I guess you didn’t already know that Horton Hears a Who is about the American occupation of Japan post-WWII. He even dedicated it to his dear Japanese friend.
Mrs. Geisel (Mrs. Seuss) continued donating to Planned Parenthood and advocating for reproductive health and rights after her husband died.
This post has been featured on a 1000notes.com blog.
A QUICK LESSON ON CROPS AND WHIPS FROM YOUR FAVOURITE HORSE RIDER
iwillincendiotheheartoutofyou:
THIS IS A CROP
IT DOES NOT MAKE THE ‘WHH-CH’ WHIP NOISE
IT CAN LEAVE BRUISING BUT WILL NOT CUT YOUR SKIN
THIS IS A WHIP
IT DOES MAKE THE ‘WHH-CH’ WHIP NOISE
IT PROBABLY WON’T LEAVE BRUISING BUT CAN CUT YOUR SKIN
NOW GO FORTH AND WRITE ACCURATE PORN
I JUST SPAT CRANBERRY JUICE ALL OVER MY HOMEWORK AND DESK BECUASE OF THE END OF THAT.
A 12-year-old schoolgirl has been accepted into Mensa after discovering she is brainier than both Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Olivia Manning, from Liverpool, managed to get a whopping score in an IQ test of 162 - well above the 100 average.
Her score is not only two points better than genius German physicist Einstein and Professor Stephen Hawking, but puts her in the top one per cent of intelligent people in the world.
FUCK YEAAAAAH!!!
(and of course the mainstream media won’t even acknowledge this because women doing smart things in math or science? GEDOUTTATOWN.)
This is so awesome!
SIGNAL BOOST! This is AMAZING!
woah
GO GIRL GO
Rock on!!!
this power point is a m e s s but i think that a lot of the complaints about 3d animation stems from the misconception that it’s the easier solution to 2d, which it fucking isn’t.
this is a huuuuge simplification of some of the processes of computer animation but there’s a few things that people don’t know and don’t think about and hopefully this sheds some light on that and helps erase the stigma that 3d animation is really easy.
I learned
I had an auto-repair man once, who, on these intelligence tests, could not possibly have scored more than 80, by my estimate. I always took it for granted that I was far more intelligent than he was. Yet, when anything went wrong with my car I hastened to him with it, watched him anxiously as he explored its vitals, and listened to his pronouncements as though they were divine oracles - and he always fixed my car.
Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man devised questions for an intelligence test. Or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, almost anyone but an academician. By every one of those tests, I’d prove myself a moron, and I’d be a moron, too. In a world where I could not use my academic training and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate or hard, working with my hands, I would do poorly. My intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.
Consider my auto-repair man, again. He had a habit of telling me jokes whenever he saw me. One time he raised his head from under the automobile hood to say: “Doc, a deaf-and-mute guy went into a hardware store to ask for some nails. He put two fingers together on the counter and made hammering motions with the other hand. The clerk brought him a hammer. He shook his head and pointed to the two fingers he was hammering. The clerk brought him nails. He picked out the sizes he wanted, and left. Well, doc, the next guy who came in was a blind man. He wanted scissors. How do you suppose he asked for them?”
Indulgently, I lifted my right hand and made scissoring motions with my first two fingers. Whereupon my auto-repair man laughed raucously and said, “Why, you dumb jerk, He used his voice and asked for them.” Then he said smugly, “I’ve been trying that on all my customers today.” “Did you catch many?” I asked. “Quite a few,” he said, “but I knew for sure I’d catch you.” “Why is that?” I asked. “Because you’re so goddamned educated, doc, I knew you couldn’t be very smart.
Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man devised questions for an intelligence test. Or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, almost anyone but an academician. By every one of those tests, I’d prove myself a moron, and I’d be a moron, too. In a world where I could not use my academic training and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate or hard, working with my hands, I would do poorly. My intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.
Consider my auto-repair man, again. He had a habit of telling me jokes whenever he saw me. One time he raised his head from under the automobile hood to say: “Doc, a deaf-and-mute guy went into a hardware store to ask for some nails. He put two fingers together on the counter and made hammering motions with the other hand. The clerk brought him a hammer. He shook his head and pointed to the two fingers he was hammering. The clerk brought him nails. He picked out the sizes he wanted, and left. Well, doc, the next guy who came in was a blind man. He wanted scissors. How do you suppose he asked for them?”
Indulgently, I lifted my right hand and made scissoring motions with my first two fingers. Whereupon my auto-repair man laughed raucously and said, “Why, you dumb jerk, He used his voice and asked for them.” Then he said smugly, “I’ve been trying that on all my customers today.” “Did you catch many?” I asked. “Quite a few,” he said, “but I knew for sure I’d catch you.” “Why is that?” I asked. “Because you’re so goddamned educated, doc, I knew you couldn’t be very smart.
“
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Never confuse intelligence with education… (via quantumfemme) |
7 Great quotes about libraries on photos of beautiful libraries
With libraries around the world in danger of extinction, Flavorwire posted a series of great quotes about libraries from famous writers. I decided to pair them with some of the world’s most beautiful libraries. You’re welcome;
- Trinity College Library - University of Dublin
- University Club Library – New York City
- Admont Abbey Library – Austria
- Real Gabinete Português de Leitura – Rio de Janeiro
- Suzzalo Library at the University of Washington – Seattle
- Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
- Canadian Library of Parliament – Ottawa
Click on the photo to see it full size. Support your local library, kids.
“Domestic rams are statistically among the most extensively gay mammals in existence.”
An actual sentence I just read
Some of our handy handouts designed to help people learn about queer issues and identities!
Educate yourself, and then educate the world!
I feel like I should send this to someone
This is very informative! :D
I’ve created these flyers for a school activist project where I bring more attention to the women in history that have been forgotten or ignored. This blog will be an extension of those flyers where I post longer biographies of these women and other bad-ass women like them. Too often women’s achievements have been pushed aside, either by others in their lives, or else by the historians who choose to ignore them. This tumblr is dedicated to celebrating them and bringing their achievements to light!
