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Saturday 31 May 2008

I may be wrong, but I believe that . . .

Well, I picked this meme up off the Exterminator. And yes, I know I owe at least two of you a meme from way back that I may or may not ever get around to giving you (sorry about that), but this one just sort of looked like fun. The rules are:

Think of some things you believe that may be wrong. Write them on your blog. Don’t tag anyone, but drop the hint that if your friends really care about your feelings, they’ll follow through with their own lists.

1. My passport has vanished off the face of the Earth and if I'm going to get a visa in time I'll need to apply for a new one pronto. Pity. That passport was an old friend.

2. String theory is not an accurate description of reality on the small scale. Oh, and we're stuck with quantum weirdness. The sensible way to react to quantum mechanics is simply to accept that many things that we would consider basic truisms are actually merely the product of having evolved at a level where quantum effects are not perceptible.

3. Death is the end. When you die, you cease to exist.

4. It's not quite so evil to download Series Four of Doctor Who off the internet if you've already paid the show quite a lot of money by buying the whole of Series Three.

5. Philosophy is not a waste of time.

6. If I turn up to this cute, witty short guy's show on Thursday, I've got half a chance of kissing him if I can get him alone. Hope my cold has cleared up by then.

7. Nobody reading this really cares whether I end on a 'lucky' number like seven or a perfect number like six.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is six a perfect number? I thought seven was supposed to be perfect, as well as lucky?

Lynet said...

The factors of six are:

1x6
2x3

So if you add all factors of six apart from the number itself . . .

1+2+3

. . . you get six, which is the number itself. That's the definition of a perfect number.

Anonymous said...

I think you're right about #7, although there is something to be said for lucky numbers--13 is considered lucky in some cultures, so the next lucky number is reasonably close, whereas if you wanted to do a larger perfect number you'd have to think up as many as 28.

However, as long as you pick an interesting number that's alright with me (and as we all know, every number is interesting).

John Evo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Exterminator said...

OK, Lynet, you're clearly right about some of these, clearly wrong about others.

1. Right. Your passport did vanish off the face of the Earth. It's floating in eternity somewhere with my wife's MasterCard bill from last September, and Woody Allen's sense of humor.

2. You're probably right about string theory, but I still like string bathing suits on non-stringy women.

3. Yup. Of course, when you die, there's no "you" any more, so technically "you" don't cease to exist because ...

4. It's evil to steal any intellectual property, including Series Four of Doctor Who. Of course, evil is relative; it's also evil to overcharge for DVDs of TV shows. So you're kind of following a precept of the ancient Hebrews: an eye for an eye and a booth for a booth. (I know you call them "police boxes," but it's not much of a pun that way. Actually, it's not much of a pun my way, either.)

5. Philosophy is a waste of time, at least in my philosophical system.

6. If you've only got half a chance, give him half a kiss. Then he'll only catch half your cold.

7. I feel shortchanged. I was kinda hoping you'd end on some number in the Fibonacci series that also happens to be a cube.

L.L. Barkat said...

I admit I got lost. Wondering how the negatives (ie, "philosophy is NOT a waste of time) worked with what might be wrong. In other words, I wondered which of these were right. Not in reality necessarily, but in your perception.

Okay, you see I got lost. As I said to begin with. :)

Anonymous said...

"Relative Evil" makes up for ending on 7...

Lynet said...

Well, LL, philosophy might be a waste of time, mightn't it? I'm pretty sure it isn't, but there are those who disagree.

In my defence with regard to number 4, by the way, I have to point out that watching the latest series legally isn't currently an option from over here.

Oh, and if anyone knows whether there are any other numbers in the Fibonacci series that are also cubes, I'd be much obliged. The Exterminator's comment with regard to number seven is going to niggle at me for ages, otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Rest easy, Lynet - 8 is the largest number in the Fibonnacci series that is also a cube (the only other, of course, being 1).

Good luck with number 6, by the way!

Lynet said...

Thanks, Yunshui. Alas, however, Thursday has been and gone over here and I still have that cold -- and it's a really nasty one, too -- so I couldn't really make any moves.

All of which is, somehow, making me considerably less sure about the whole thing. That's not a rational reaction, but it probably is a wise one, even so!

Joffan said...

Anyone who thinks perfect numbers aren't important must be Mersenne (or very odd).

Lynet said...

Oh, Joffan, that's just being too clever by half!

(I wish I could say that 'half' in that sentence has a similarly clever mathematical meaning, but it doesn't).