[ View Thread ] [ Post Response ] [ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ]

BGonline.org Forums

"Tim, the math-giver"

Posted By: MK
Date: Tuesday, 25 June 2024, at 3:15 a.m.

In Response To: Please write Latin correctly, (Timothy Chow)

Thanks for your service of introducing me to the members of the forum who possibly may know nothing about me.

For the past year or two, it looked like you had finally outgrown your inferiority complexes but here comes somebody correcting my sub-zero Latin grammar and you go into a full flasback... :(

So, now, let me return the favor.

Scumbug: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scumbug

In 2016 I called Tim a "non-scumbug". He said being called that might hurt his feelings and gave a link to a picture of a Scumbug sponge. I replied "Aww, you look soo cute... :))" Sorry to have caused him such permanent trauma. :(

See: https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.backgammon/c/M1sBLrOFb3s/m/iy0CYTznAwAJ

For more, just search RGB archives for "scumbug"

Corpi: it was in allusion to prior related comments. I have participated in the Usenet group sci.lang and other forums since 1996, where corpus and corpora were everyday words. So, sorry, but it wasn't from Tim that I had first heard the word corpora.

For more, just search RGB archive for "corpi". In the future, for example, if I pluralize "cubus" as "cubora", it will be in mocking reference to these comments here, sadly irrelevant to the subject of the thread.

Trucks: "red big truck" answers the question "which big truck?" and "big red truck" answers the question "which red truck". Both are correct depending what you want to stress. I had suggested to Tim "the math-giver" that putting them in parentheses like in math formulae, as (red (big truck)) and (big (red truck)) may help him understand but apparently he has a language problem.

Ilks: not to give a lesson but I'll be glad to share another bit of my knowledge.

Ilk can be pluralized just like "native peoples of America", "salt water fishes", etc. Unlike "thy", "your" can be singular or plural, thus in addressing Roland and Timothy separately or together, one can say "your ilk" to each in referring only to one's ilk or say it to both in referring to their common ilk or say "your ilks" to refer to their individual ilk separately at the same time. Even "Tim's ilks" is correct if one wants to refer to different people sharing his different characteristics like mathematician, gambler, scumbug, etc. with each ilk not having to be mathematician, gambler and scumbug all at the same time.

RNG's: Aha! This is the big one! On this, this RGB thread is a must-read:

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.backgammon/c/OU1S1p5H1jU/m/WNCyiIMgAgAJ

One day, while Tim was lecturing in RGB, his prompter broke and he said:

"There are 21 possible rolls. They're not all equally likely, but
"we're just trying to estimate, so let's ignore that nuance. Now
"21^7 < 2^32 < 21^8
"So you should be able to infer a 32-bit seed after 8 rolls."

As I kept questioning him to keep him talking ;) he finally pompously put an end to it by saying:

"I gave all the math already.

That's when I started calling RGB's PhD prof mascot "Tim, the math-giver". :)

My above article contains links to three other articles, in different threads that you should read also.

Especially the one about the gem from Kit Woolsey, from his article at:

https://www.bkgm.com/articles/GOL/Jan00/roll.htm

in which he says right in the first paragraph "Since there are 21 possible dice rolls at every turn...", probably speaking with a broken prompter also. :)

I'm not sure if he was the first one to utter that utter fallacy but his disciple "Tim, the math-giver" sure had picked up on that... :(

MK

Messages In This Thread

 

Post Response
Your Name:
Your E-Mail Address:
Subject:
Message:

If necessary, enter your password below:

Password:
 

 

[ View Thread ] [ Post Response ] [ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ]

BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.