A test of the wonderful capabilities of CSS. You have hovered over the words "this is only a test" which resulted in this little box popping up with the actual entry of this post. Please note that no javascript was used in the making of this post - it's simply CSS. Beautiful, no? I thought so, too, which is why I decided to share it with you, my loyal readers. Note: It doesn't seem to work in firefox. I'll have to work on that.
I believe that every field has some conversational keywords. By "conversational keywords" I mean words which although used innocently in the vernacular, trigger large cascades of memories in classes and homework along with a whole plethora of meanings, most of which your conversant did not intend to convey.
Being a mathematician, I would like to share with you some of our conversational keywords.
"What are the chances/odds that...": All mathematicians have had some probability, and I would venture to say that a large number have had one or more probability classes. Although our professors usually use the word "probability" instead of "chance," the phrase is still enough to invoke images of normal curves and chi-squared distributions and questions involving transformations of random variables. When a mathematician hears this phrase, he/she will actually be thinking about what the probability is, which immediately distracts from the remainder of the conversant's statement.
"Infinite Combinations": Both the words "infinity" and "combination" are highly mathematical words with specific definitions. However, in most conversational cases, this phrase is an oxymoron. Example: "Coldstone Creamery has an infinite combination of flavors." False. Since I know Coldstone Creamery has a finite number of flavors, the combinations of those flavors must also be finite. There are many similar situations in which this phrase arises.
"Chaos": Chaos theory, otherwise known as nonlinear dynamics, is a new and specialized branch of mathematics. Chaos does not mean disorder, which is usually how it is used in the vernacular. Chaos does have order, it is simply that the order is not predictible n steps down the road. If you want to know more, ask in the comments.
(This one is just me.) "Random": There is no such thing as random. Every "random" event you have ever known is actually chaotic, and is only "random" because you cannot predict the outcome.
"Trivial": In mathematics, trivial means the easy way out. It's the solution that is dumb. For example, in a system of n equations with n variables, all of which equal zero, the trivial solution is that every variable equals zero. Not exciting. In the vernacular, trivial usually means something inconsequential, which is not the same as in mathematics. Trivial solutions may have consequences, but they are always easy to find.
"Googol (or Google)": This is 10100 . It is not a search engine. Deal with it.
Comment on your own field's conversational keywords. I'd be interested to hear some words that set others heads spinning.
This post goes out to all my single guy readers out there. Girls, you can keep reading too if you want, but I make no promises as to whether or not this will offend you because it's addressed to the guys.
OK, men, I'll bet most of you have had the strange opportunity of meeting some girl who seems smart, attractive, mentally stable, and generally good-smelling and find out (lo and behold) she's single. At this point, before progressing any further, you need to answer this simple question: Is she single by chance or single by choice.
When I say "single by chance" I mean that she is single and really not supposed to be. This is analogous to the case of market arbitrage, where something is priced below (or above) what it should be, and so you complete an appropriate transaction and make some quick cash. These girls may be coming out of the "rebound" period after a break-up, may have just entered the dating scene, or may have been hiding (it happens, believe me). These are green lights - good signs that you want to see and big, blinking "ALL CLEAR" notices allowing you to proceed in for the capture (aka asking out for a date).
The "single by choice" girls, on the other hand, are red lights with big flashing warning signs telling you to steer clear (at least for dating) of this chick. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these girls - except that they don't want anything to do with boys at the moment, and therefore will not be pleased at your attempts to date them. Perhaps these girls have an ideological fortress barring men, like the ultimate "no boys allowed" sign. Maybe they simply have very, very, very high (read: quirky) standards which will not allow them to date anyone but their future husbands, who they then latch on to with the fury of a hawk catching its dinner. Whatever the case, these girls don't want to be bothered, and therefore you can be assured will not be making out with you anytime soon, despite your best efforts.
So how might you go about differentiating between the two? Let's run through some sample conversations.
Boy: How about we go out for coffee sometime?
Single by chance girl: Sure.
Single by choice girl: Sure, but I'm going to bring along 15 of my closest girlfriends with us.
Boy: I'm really starting to like you.
Single by chance girl: I feel the same way.
Single by choice girl: Errr...Thanks...But I don't date.
Boy: (leans in close for a goodnight kiss after a great evening)
Single by chance girl: (kisses him, then says goodnight and scampers away smiling)
Single by choice girl: (slams the door so fast the pressure knocks the boy down)
Boy: How would you feel if I started calling you my girlfriend?
Single by chance girl: I would like that very much.
Single by choice girl: The parametics would have a hard time scraping you off the floor.
Feel free to add your own similar conversations (either imagined or experienced) in the comments. Thanks for reading.
Of late, I have discovered the joy and curse of web programming. In very few other fields is the disparity between amateurs and pros so vast, yet so easily traversed. Now, I'm not very good yet, but I can tell how much I have improved.
I have created two sites so far. One is a browser-based MMORPG named Economies of Scale which still needs much debugging. It is business-themed and is located at http://guardian996.awardspace.com. If you go there, make sure to join the forum, and also note that (for now) the game is not "running." It is a tick-based games, and I haven't set up the necessary requirements to make the ticks advance, although that will be coming soon.
The other site I've made, which is fully functional (to my knowledge) is called Chaotic Outbursts and is located at http://chaoticoutbursts.awardspace.com. Here you may submit an outburst (scroll to the bottom to do so) and you will also have an outburst selected for you at [pseudo-]random. There is also a voting mechanism and top ten list, so vote if you see something you like. That site simply needs more traffic to get it underway.Another site which I would like to pass along, although I have not made, is http://www.myshost.com/. If you join the forums there and make 75 posts, you will be able to get a free domain name. I will be attempting to get a few for the sites I now have. WARNING: Do not go to that site unless you have a good pop-up blocker. Don't go to this site. It had many pop-ups and trojans and messed up my computer for a week. IE still has some problems...but then again it always had its problems, so I'm on Firefox now.
For my faithful readers, I ask some favors:
