The Pickwick Papers: Chapter 2 Part 1

A continuation of my attempt to recreate one of my favourite childhood lists. The explanation and chapter 1 can be found here. It seems that here I missed the phrase "put 'em under the pump" which means:

Rehashing An Old Post

The image on the right is from a Vichy propaganda poster: "The killers always return to the scene of their crimes". In World War II both sides tried to appropriate Joan for their cause. The cathedral at Rouen in flames is used as the stake for Joan of Arc. The villains returning to the scene of the crime are the English bombers.




I think this image is still the best thing on this blog but since that was in the very first post and so few people make it all the way back to the beginning of the blog, I thought I had better move it up to the front. 




Since this is my second pro-Vichy reference then I will, for the sake of balance add a Free-France Element. After the jump is the famous scene from Casablanca where Czechoslovakian-born freedom-fighter Victor Lazlo leads the patrons of Rik's in singing the Marseillaise in response to the German national anthem.

PWR: Denominonsense

I have come up with a simple idea as an adjunct to teaching kids algebra. The name itself is a portmanteau of denomination and nonsense*. The idea occurred to me during my own senior cycle when I asked myself,  'what is 3 cars * 4 dinosaurs?' The answer, either 12 car-dinosaurs or 12 dinosaur-cars, is usually scoffed at until I point out the usefulness of man-hours.* We can continue with 12 car-dinosaurs / 4 houses gives us 3 car-dinosaurs per house.

* Seconds squared also seems a bit ridculous when you think about it.

The value for me came in the premature discovery of what I subsequently learned is call Dimesional Analysis. I used this to easily remember formulas. For example:

• speed is measured in km/hour (therefore km/hour = km/hour)
• km = distance
• hour = time
• speed = distance/time

I recently watched the Prof. Brian Cox lecture "A Night with the Stars". In the 44^th minute he puts an equation on the board involving Planck's Constant. If you use s (for second) instead of time and p to represent Planck's Constant, the equation is similar to:

• s   = cm*cm*g/p
• sp = cm²g
• p   = cm²g/s

Planck's Constant is actually given as Kgm²/s. So without having seen Planck's Constant before, I was able to work out its unit.

My idea is simple: teach algebra with words (which could be the NATO phonetic alphabet to increase the power-weight ratio). The units are actually called denominations because of the first rule of Denominonsense is similar to multiplying farctions:

number * number; denominantion * denomination

For fractions* that is:

numerator * numerator; denominator * denominator

Again, I think this helps increase the PWR as if a student can handle one it gives them an entry into the other.

* Furthermore for fractions 1/3 + 1/3 = 2/3 just as 1cm + 1cm = 2 cm. But for 1/3 + 1/4 or 1cm + 1km you need to find a common denomination/denominator

 

Reflection On A Java Project

Fair warning that the code here may only be useful to me.

I wrote the program below when I was trying to regain mastery of code I had written. I had stopped working on my project for about three weeks because of exams. What I wanted was a list of all the methods in the project so that I could test my self on their responsibilities. There are no subtleties about how I achieved this.

Best Of 8 Simple Rules

Rory won't reveal who beat him up. CJ fails to get him painkillers. The girls get fake IDs; and Bridget gives their number to a cop. They fear Cate answers his call. CJ fears the pharmacy calls. Cate fears Scott calls. Who answers whose call?


This may be my favourite episode of any comedy in terms of re-watchability. The first ten minutes are funny without being spectacular but they  set up ten of my favourite comedy minutes. Excellent use of irony and James Garner brings the pyrotechnics.

Moneyball: Refuse To Bend

* I originally had this ready to go on Apres-Demi-Moi-La-Deluge day. If I had posted it then I would have felt like Aaron Ramsey.

In Clarissa Explains Moneyball I wrote that to find value in dynamic markets you should be able to explain why the market would get it wrong. The aim of this series is to explain the situations where this guideline has worked for me. My first example is the 2003 2000-Guineas winner Refuse To Bend. After winning the Guineas he flopped in the Derby before producing his best effort in a Group 3 at Leapordstown. However, he finished the season with two more flops in the Prix Moulin and Breeder's Cup Mile.

At some point over that winter I loaded his form to see if I could figure out what was wrong with him. When the page loaded a pattern emerged more quickly than I expected it too. The hint is that I thought I had loaded only his wins. Can you see what I saw?

Assume vs. Presume

The dictionaries have been no friend on this. They have multiple definitions for each that are contradictory. I thought I found an opening with 'suppose' but Merriam Webster has the following definitions:

a : to lay down tentatively as a hypothesis, assumption, or proposal <suppose a fire broke out> <suppose you bring the salad>

Which conforms to assume.

b (1) : to hold as an opinion : believe <they supposed they were early> (2) : to think probable or in keeping with the facts <seems reasonable to suppose that he would profit>

Which is more like presume - especially part two.

Most good bridge players know what an assumption is (see my Everything-Is-Ok-Block and Playing-Them-The-Wrong-Way-Round posts) so I will go elsewhere for examples.