04 NOV 2018 by ideonexus
Degenerate Strategies and Cheating
Why isn't using a degenerate strategy considered cheating? Degenerate strategies take advantage of weaknesses in the rules of a game, but do not actually violate the rules. What kind of player would play in this way? The answer is both a dedicated player, who is overzealously seeking the perfect strategy, and an unsportsmanlike player, who has found a hole in the rules to exploit, even though he understands that he is not playing the game the way it was intended. These two kinds of players ca... 1 
notes
notesIs the same true of memorizing algorithms to solve the rubiks cube?
27 SEP 2013 by ideonexus
?? as a Term of Encouragement
The Chinese characters say ?? (Jia1 you2).? is composed of ? (power) and ? (mouth). It means 'to add'? is made out of ? (?, water) and ?(from/ due). It means oil.??to add? ??oil?= add oil or make an extra effort
?? is a terribly common phrase in day to day life. If you want to encourage someone to carry on great work, or in a sports competition, you say ??! A bit like 'go on!' in English.
Of course another literal meaning of ?? is to refuel.
1 ShaoLan explains how the symbols break down.
07 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
History of Science and Religion
Some people want to put warning stickers on biology textbooks, saying that the theory of evolution is just one of many theories, take it or leave it. Now, religion long predates science; it'll be here forever. That's not the issue. The problem comes when religion enters the science classroom. There's no tradition of scientists knocking down the Sunday school door, telling preachers what to teach. Scientists don't picket churches. By and arge—though it may not look this way today—science and r... 1 notes
notesHow the Middle East was the center of scientific progress until religious fever took over it, the same is seen in Jewish and Christian cultures.
04 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The Decline of the Horse
There was a type of employee at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution whose job and livelihood largely vanished in the early twentieth century. This was the horse. The population of working horses actually peaked in England long after the Industrial Revolution, in 1901, when 3.25 million were at work. Though they had been replaced by rail for long-distance haulage and by steam engines for driving machinery, they still plowed fields, hauled wagons and carriages short distances, pulled boa...How cars replacing horses reduces their populations.
15 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
The Difficult Choice of Being the First Heart Donor
For a dying man it is not a difficult decision [to agree to become the world's first heart transplant] ... because he knows he is at the end. If a lion chases you to the bank of a river filled with crocodiles, you will leap into the water convinced you have a chance to swim to the other side. But you would not accept such odds if there were no lion.Folksonomies: metaphor organ transplant
Folksonomies: metaphor organ transplant
1 notes
notesChristiaan Barnard quote uses a metaphor of being stuck between a lion and a river filled with crocodiles.
16 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Atavism In Modern Horses
Modern horses, which descend from smaller, five-toed ancestors,
show similar atavisms. The fossil record documents the gradual loss
of toes over time, so that in modern horses only the middle one—the
hoof—remains. It turns out that horse embryos begin development with
three toes, which grow at equal rates. Later, however, the middle toe
begins to grow faster than the other two, which at birth are left as thin
“splint bones” along either side of the leg. (Splint bones are true vestigial
featur... 1 notes
notesModern horses have a common birth defect of growing extra toes from when their ancestors had them.
20 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
An Origami Metaphor for Fetal Development
The sheets of tissue that
fold, invaginate and turn inside out in a developing embryo do indeed grow, and it is that very growth that provides part of the motive force which, in origami, is supplied by the human hand. If
you wanted to make an origami model with a sheet of living tissue instead of dead paper, there is at
least a sporting chance that, if the sheet were to grow in just the right way, not uniformly but faster
in some parts of the sheet than in others, this might automatically cau...Cells divide and fold into new forms, just as origami structures become other structures through new folds.
20 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Enjoying Science Requires Effort
When you have reached and entered the gates of science, how are you to use and enjoy this new and beautiful land?
This is a very important question for you may make a twofold use of it. If you are only ambitious to shine in the world, you may use it chiefly to get prizes, to be at the top of your class, or to pass in examinations; but if you also enjoy discovering its secrets, and desire to learn more and more of nature and to revel in dreams of its beauty, then you will study science for it...
1 Many don't love nature and don't fall in love with science as a result.
19 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
The Empty Space in an Atom
A favourite analogy portrays the nucleus as a fly
in the middle of a sports stadium. The nearest neighbouring nucleus is another fly, in the middle of
an adjacent stadium. The electrons of each atom are buzzing about in orbit around their respective flies, smaller than the tiniest gnats, too small to be seen on the same scale as the flies. When we
look at a solid lump of iron or rock, we are 'really' looking at what is almost entirely empty space. It
looks and feels solid and opaque because o...Our senses are not adapted to experience the empty space between atoms.
08 JAN 2011 by ideonexus
The Samurai are Prohibited from Professional Sports
Gentlemen of honour, according to the old standards, rode horses, raced chariots, fought, and played competitive games of skill, and the dull, cowardly and base came in thousands to admire, and howl, and bet. The gentlemen of honour degenerated fast enough into a sort of athletic prostitute, with all the defects, all the vanity, trickery, and self-assertion of the common actor, and with even less intelligence. Our Founders made no peace with this organisation of public sports. They did not sp...Folksonomies: voluntary nobility
Folksonomies: voluntary nobility
A professional athlete is an "athletic prostitute," and the Samurai do not participate.
