04 NOV 2018 by ideonexus
Probability is Truth-Resembling
The study of mathematical uncertainty is called probability. According to Richard Epstein, "The word 'probability' stems from the Latin probabilis, meaning 'truth-resembling'; thus the word itself literally invites semantic misinterpretation." [1]What Epstein means by "semantic misinterpretation" is that if something is "truthresembling," then it isn't actually truthful; at the same time, the truth is exactly what the something does resemble.Folksonomies: etymology
Folksonomies: etymology
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notes18 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
The Importance of Comparative Alphabets
But when I had grasped the facts that spellings are often false, that words can be invented,
and that explanations are often wrong, I found that worse remained behind. The science of phi-
lology is comparatively modern, so that our earlier writers had no means of ascertaining principles
that are now well established, and, instead of proceeding by rule, had to go blindly by guesswork, thus
sowing crops of errors which have sprung up and multiplied till it requires very careful investigatio...25 AUG 2013 by ideonexus
Chinese Character for Star
生 - to be born
日 - Sun
星 = 日 生
水星 - Mercury (Water Star)
金星 - Venus (Gold Star)
火星 - Mars (Fire Star)
木星 - Jupiter (Wood Star)
土星 - Saturn (Earth Star)
海王星 - Neptune (Sea King Star)
天王星 - Uranus (King Star)
冥王星 - Pluto (Deep King Star)
厄里斯 - Eris (Adversity ?????)1 
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notesChinese character for star is "sun to be born" indicating a more sophisticated understanding of astronomy than the West.
16 MAR 2013 by ideonexus
The British Empire Circled the World
With the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 the British Empire won "the world's power structures championship" and became historically the first empire "upon which," it was said, "the sun never sets." This is because it was the first empire in history to embrace the entire spherical planet Earth's 71-per¬ cent maritime, 29-percent landed, wealth-producing activities. All previous empires—Genghis Khan's, Alexander the Great's, the Romans', et al.— were unified European, North African, and Asian-... 1 notes
notesOrigin of why the "sun never sets" on this Empire.
22 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Etymology of Chemistry Terms
Each of us has read somewhere that in New Guinea pidgin the word for 'piano' is (I use English spelling) 'this fellow you hit teeth belonging to him he squeal all same pig'. I am inclined to doubt whether this expression is authentic; it looks just like the kind of thing a visitor to the Islands would facetiously invent. But I accept 'cut grass belong head belong me' for 'haircut' as genuine... Such phrases seem very funny to us, and make us feel very superior to the ignorant foreigners who u... 1 notes
notesCompared to the etymology of "backwards" rural terms.
06 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Genes and Genotypes
No hypothesis concerning the nature of this 'something' shall be advanced thereby or based thereon. Therefore it appears as most simple to use the last syllable 'gen' taken from Darwin's well-known word pangene since it alone is of interest to use, in order thereby to replace the poor, more ambiguous word, 'Anlage'. Thus, we will say for 'das pangene' and 'die pangene' simply 'Das Gen' and 'Die Gene,' The word Gen is fully free from every hypothesis; it expresses only the safely proved fact t...Folksonomies: etymology
Folksonomies: etymology
1 notes
notesThe origin of the words.
02 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The Origin of the Word "Scientist"
At one meeting, chaired by William Whewell, Coleridge was drawn into a passionate discussion of semantics. It revolved around the question of what exactly someone who works ‘in the real sciences’ (as he had phrased it) should be called. This is how Whewell reported the British Association debate in the Quarterly Review of 1834:
Formerly the ‘learned’ embraced in their wide grasp all the branches of the tree of knowledge, mathematicians as well as philologers, physical as well as ant... 1 notes
notes"Philosopher" was too lofty and indistinguishable from the soft science. "Atheist" was fatal. "Savans" (French for "learned) was too assuming, but "science" (from the Lating "scientia" meaning "knowledge") combined with "ist" was perfect, like "artist" or "economist."
