Fuzzy Logic

The previous post attracted a comment which incensed me greatly. The comment was about probability and quantum mechanics, and made dubious claims.

What the reader failed to state at any time was this:

"Suppose normal everyday objects obeyed the Laws of Quantum Mechanics".

And the person went on to describe a "marble-in-box" puzzle where the marble could have been been anywhere.

IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!! In normal everyday life, there is NO quantum mechanics!!! Quantum Mechanics was invented to explain normal everyday life when it got very small!

To those people who want to apply these rules to everything they see, let them. They will fail. There is a video out called "What the (bleep) do we know?" that claims everything is just an illusion because of Quantum Mechanics. Is it a vision by scientists, known and respected throughout the community? NO! it is a video made by doctors (neuro surgeons), philosophers, psychiartrists and other thinkers who claim they know Quantum Mechanics better than those who actually use those laws.

The best example of what I call to be the "Quantum Fuzziness" is Shrodinger's Cat (see the post "Wanted - Dead or alive"). He invented the Cat just to show everyone how silly it is to take Quantum Mechanics beyond the realm it was invented for.

Sadly, some people still believe that when they go to the store to buy an apple, there is a distinct probability that they will instead, buy a 14-toed giant sluglike marsupial Mexican Bandit instead.

On the planet Oohhuhuhooompha.

In subjunctive tents.

Phone "Games"

When the home computer industry was in its infancy (25 years ago), games players were considered fortunate to play a game that required only 48Kb. RAM of memory. They were played on a normal TV and the controller option was the keyboard, usually the arrow keys, or, if you are lucky, OPQA. Primitive, huh?

In short, limited gameplay, bad and tiny graphics with equally bad resolution, with keyboard control.

Nowadays, with quad-core pcs and more games consoles than actual games, you CAN play decent games. BUT what do the "trendy" peeps do? Get games for their phones, of course!

These also have limited gameplay (they don't download Halo 3 , do they?), with tiny graphics (hey! it's on a phone!), and are keyboard controlled (unless you have seen a phone with a joystick).

Sound familiar? Yes, you are right, we are back where we where 25 years ago, only this time they are called "phone games". No-one calls these "primitive" because the are the "latest stuff"!!!!

Parry Hotter and the Order of the Phoenix

I HATE him! I HATE him!

WHO.......?

Mr Harry Potter of course! The bar-steward, who obviously had the hots for poor little Japanese girl Cho Chang, the girl who had just about recovered from the death of her boyfriend Cedric in " Parry Hotter and the Goblet of Fire", takes advantage of her frailty and tongue-wrestles with her in his class.

THEN.....he dumps her for Ron's littler sister Ginny!

AND.....how could he possibly dump a lovely Japanese girl anyway? How dare he parry a hotter girl!

WHAT.......has Starry Blotter got against little Japanese girls?????

IS HE........Mad as Moody?

Oooh I'm trembling like a Blast-Ended Skrewt on Polyjuice Potion, so don't call me "Moaning Myrtle" but "Antagonised Aki".


(NB THIS POST HAS BEEN "COMEDIC RELIEFIO"!!)

England Soccer "Blues"!!!!!!

First, England Soccer Club had this:







He was called Emlyn "crazy horse" Hughes. (the seventies)








Then, they got this:



He was called "Gazza" and was famous for crying. (the nineties)



























NOW, in the "noughties", (or should it be said "Naughties"?) they have this:



HE is just known as "LOONEY", whoops, sorry, Rooney.

This man is almost entirely responsible for England's defeat at the hands of Portugal in the World Cup. He committed a foul by stamping on another player's Family Allowance, and then, in a fit of petulance, pushed another player out of his way so that he could argue with the referee, only a yard away!!! First foul - Yellow Card. Second foul, for just being too stupid to know better, the Red Card. I say well done referee. I bet Sven Goran had a few choice words afterwards, and maybe even a boot flew in somebody's forehead's direction. (Ask David Beckham about that one) .

The England Team consist of One Genius (Gerrard), 8 or 9 fools, and one Looney, Whoops! I meant complete Idiot! Sorry Mr Roooooney!

All in the in the Best POSSIBLE taste!

Anybody who susses all the allusions in this one gets a Green Card.

The World Cup suddenly gets "interesting"....

We are nearing the latter stage of stage 1 in the World Cup of Football (Soccer).

It is at this point that things really start to HOT up, so to speak. For example......

If Ecuador beat Germany then England will play them in the next round if they draw with Sweden or beat them. However, if South Korea draw with Switzerland then they MAY meet Ukraine if the Ukraine beat Spain.

If South Korea beat Switzerland then they may meet Spain if Spain beat Ukraine. If the price of tomatoes on Thursday increases by $0.39 per pound by Saturday in Caracas, then global warming will not take place unless any President’s birthday falls on a Friday AND there is an R in the month of the Judaic calendar, unless OJ Simpson confesses, in which case, it will only happen when Krakatoa erupts again and there is peace in the Middle East with Albert Einstein as the next Astronaut to go to Mars on consecutive missions.

....and even then, they may lose....!

The Death Star is real ! ! !

Which image seems more familiar? The one on the left or the one on the right?

Well, we all know the Death Star, as invented by George Lucas in Star Wars in 1977, the left image, but what is the right-hand image all about?

The right-hand image is, in fact, a real photograph of one of Saturn's moons, and her name is Mimas. This moon was unknown in 1977 when Star Wars came out, and was not discovered until 1981 when the Voyager spacecraft (launched in 1977!) visited the Saturnian system.

When scientists first saw the huge crater, now named Herschel, they were quite literally astonished out of their shoes. Had George Lucas some prior knowledge? Was he, in fact, an alien himself?

This image of Mimas was taken with the Cassini craft's cameras and is the best we have. The angle by which the camera has caught Mimas is no accident.

Notice how, in the photo of Mimas, there is no "star-background", like the Death Star has. This is because the light from the "star-background" is so faint, AND out of focus, you cannot see it in the image.

Sometimes science kicks up something which almost defies description in terms of surprise and wonderment. This is just one of them, and one of the reasons why I love my physics.

The "Mys"Tori Deepens...

This is the latest sign adorning the stairwell at our local Lotteria. Since I took the last photo, the whole place has been completely refurbished and the sign updated to this!

One wonders if the Deep Dark Management caught me snickering as I took the last photo, resulting in the said alterations.

Notice how the English , ermm, "translation" is a lot shorter now. I will have to get on to a higher authority for the specifics of the actual translation (my good friend Miss Tori again).

Needless to say, life in Korea is still interesting from an etmylogical point of view! No "Mys"Tori there!

It's a "Mys"tery

Just like many a sundry Oriental Language, Korean, or Hang-gul, sometimes "mis"ses something in the translation of simple texts.

I mean, I have seen "mis"-translations of simple directions but the above has to be an award winner, found above the stairs to the upper floor of the local fast-food chain here (Jung-ma "Lotteria").

I think it was meant to say "Be careful when carrying your meal upstairs".

Wonderful!

Apologies to my Good Korean Friend "Miss" Tori, or shall we say "Enigma"?

Grunts or Groans?

Serena Williams, the loudest tennis "grunter" since Monica Seles was knifed during a match for it, exited Wimbledon yesterday.

Tournament referee at Wimbledon, Alan Mills, dumped Serena Williams' match from Centre Court to Court number 2, the infamous "Graveyard of the Champions", because of Andy Murray's extended 5-setter. Court 2 is so called because so many, many former Champions have "died" there in early rounds.

The British public wanted to watch the 18-year-old Scot, against a former finalist, Nalbandian.

So Alan Mills, a face well-known around the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club made a decision.

Serena's match was to be played on Court 2.

Dumped onto Court 2. How ignominious!

And dumped she was. Serenely. She was promptly beaten in straight sets. Despite the grunting. Or maybe because of it.........

.....Isn't it funny how earlier on in the week, Alan Mills himself said he would prefer measures taken against grunters (tennis players who utter loud noises when hitting the ball), so as to make the game fairer?

Well, either he was expedient in his choice of court, or he is just superstitious

Maybe he knows more about the Wimbledon grounds than we will ever know.

Either way, Wimbledon will be quieter during the second week by 101 decibels.

Popes, Camillas and Horses (but not necessarily in that order or preference)

Well, here I am in Jolly old England. Charlie-boy has had his irreverent (irrelevant?) wedding postponed more than once, and now, it had been rescheduled again due to some other dead person(Sorry John-Paul, respects later). And now I find that the Grand National has been moved to 1605 rather than the traditional 1520 because of this.

Well, I made my Great Trip to Manchester, and I now get to Liverpool for the National. Local traditions, purrlease! Grand National starts at 1520. Period!

Please say that it was postponed for the Pontiff, not the Pretender.

I am neither Catholic nor Muslim, Buddhist nor Hindu, but there is at least enough good faith in me to realise that this bloke J-P2 deserves a sainthood.

Cynicism aside, The guy travelled the equivalent of the distance to the moon and back three times in aid of World Peace, and who else can simply say "I fathered the birth of a New World". To that, John-Paul, II, you have my deepest respect, and I trust that you and your maker are having a good old rumbustuous time together right now, toasting to the successful job you both put together.