Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3386 - 3390 (2nd - 6th January 2017)
Thrudd:
Just to add to the Geek list of geeky constants and numerical values .... I may have used some of these in the past :roll: Guess what my major was. :-D
299792458c6674G6626070h1256637061μ08854187817ε01602176620e2112:laugh:
Skewbrow:
--- Quote from: A small perverse otter on 04 Jan 2017, 07:22 ---
OT, sort of, but back when I was working on my Ph.D. in math, our department required that each of us demonstrate the ability to translate articles in two languages other than English into English. One of the other graduate students translated "supports Poisson" as "fish hooks" during his French translation exam.
The examiners were so taken aback by the translation that they gave it to him, even though it was totally wrong.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for reminding me about the fact that one of the main reasons why I didn't study more algebraic geometry was that the definitive texts are available in French only. :-)
--- Quote from: Case on 04 Jan 2017, 02:45 ---
No, I work in theoretical solid state physics; my toolbox is statistical quantum field theory - but that means I'm 'only a Wick-rotation away' from many of the ideas and concepts from high-energy/particle physics & there's always been an overlap between the two fields (cf. Feynman, Dyson etc.). We also get the basic training in "second quantization" that the high-energy/particle physicists get, and I'm 'comfortable' with most of quantum electrodynamics, but I have no serious training e.g. QCD.
I have no formal training in Algebra - but Lie Algebras are so ubiquitous in quantum theory ((bosonic) Commutator, Poisson Bracket, outer vector (cross-) product, SO(n), SU(n), Campbell-Baker-Haussdorff relation ...) that you 'know' how the gears work long before you pick up a book to "let a mathematician confuse you about stuff you already use on a daily basis". :-D
--- End quote ---
Fair enough. I had theoretical physics as a minor subject as an undergraduate. May be because in high school I dreamed of being a particle physicist? Anyway, my course load ended with elements of QED and something called Lagrangian field theory. One of the final exam questions was to derive the electro-weak Hamiltonian - that one long formula spilling over 3 pages in a textbook. I realized that it was not for me :-)
--- Quote from: Case ---(Especially as a theoretical physicist, you have to take care not to 'drown in the mathematics', because there's "Just so much Shiny!" - technically, my toolbox touches on pretty much three fourths of the hot topics of mathematics of the last two centuries - you need to get a working knowledge on what you need to do your job rather than an exhaustive insight into every subject.)
--- End quote ---
I sort of see where that comes from. When I was trying to read Misner, Thorne & Wheeler differential geometry and tensors didn't feel too bad. But when you try to pick it up from a math book you get this WTF? I tell my physics friends that I gave up physics and went into math because I didn't know enuff math to do physics :-)
--- Quote from: Case ---Hey man - you do understand I'm riffing off of a Bio of Wiles' I once read & the three jargon-buzzwords I picked up from sleeping through sitting in the talks of the quantum-CS department, do you? (Jeez, you Mathematicians are so easy discombobulate ... :laugh:). The stuff about Shor's discrete log algo I picked up on Wiki, btw ...
--- End quote ---
Figures. I have become somewhat desensitized to the fact that the internet has a lot of people sounding reasonably knowledgeable when they are in fact just googling things up. I guess it's the generation gap :roll:
Method of Madness:
--- Quote from: Case on 04 Jan 2017, 07:32 ---
--- Quote from: cesium133 on 04 Jan 2017, 07:29 ---In my graduate classical mechanics course, after a lecture on Poisson brackets, one of the Chinese grad students in the class asked me why they called them "poison brackets." I then had the pleasure of explaining to him that they were named for a guy whose name means Fish.
--- End quote ---
Shoulda told him "Because it's such a derivative concept" ... :emotrex:
--- End quote ---
Kugai:
I shall be extremely disappointed if we get filler after today
And compacting Corpse Withch is something I want to see :-D
brasca:
--- Quote from: BenRG on 03 Jan 2017, 23:18 ---Panel 3 is a lovely Bubbles character moment. She really isn't used to any kind of displays of affection, is she? In fact, I really do wonder if she doesn't feel worthy of them. The way she blushes every time Faye (or anyone else for that matter) gets into her personal space in a nice way is a lovely little 'coming out of her shell' moment.
I'm pretty sure that we're at the end of this arc now. Tomorrow and Friday will either be filler or something else (possibly going back to Brun trying to survive in an alien world full of rules that make no sense to her). However, I'm wondering just how long Bubbles will be able to keep her pretence of defeat around Corpse Witch and I can't shake the worry that she might have a second layer of coercion ready to deploy.
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Since it's going to take some time to figure out what to do most likely the focus will shift to one of the other plotlines. While I'd like to see if Brun found a job I'd also like to revisit some of the other characters and see what they're up to.
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