Notice the black smudge on the mushroom cloud? That's a battleship, lifted completely out of the water.
The vertical smudge on the right side of the mushroom "stem"?
Gabriel: Are you trying to destroy this family? Simon: I didn't realize it would be so easy.
'Safe'
Natter 63: Life after PuppyCam
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Steph L. - Jun 29, 2009 11:40:57 am PDT #26526 of 30000
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine
tommyrot - Jun 29, 2009 11:42:16 am PDT #26527 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
The vertical smudge on the right side of the mushroom "stem"?
Yeah.
Steph L. - Jun 29, 2009 11:43:03 am PDT #26528 of 30000
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine
The vertical smudge on the right side of the mushroom "stem"?
Yeah.
Wow. When I magnified it, I still couldn't make out any detail, so I wasn't sure. Man.
-t - Jun 29, 2009 11:43:33 am PDT #26529 of 30000
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
That's disturbing.
DavidS - Jun 29, 2009 11:45:48 am PDT #26530 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
For problems like, how much grain can we store in a silo of particular dimensions? They were less prone to abstractions about that sort of thing than, say, Egyptian mathematicians.
Did you read the book Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea?
Pretty fascinating look at how zero got into mathematics and how and why the Greeks and Romans got along without it.
As you note, Greeks were primarily interested in math for practical applications, particularly portioning land (hence geometry and Pythagoras). Whereas India had a cultural/religious notion of nullity that allowed them to pursue it mathematically.
Zero was actually forbidden by the Pope. Because in a world with God there could be no allowance for nothingness.
tommyrot - Jun 29, 2009 11:47:34 am PDT #26531 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Zero was actually forbidden by the Pope.
Another reason why Zero is my hero.
Polter-Cow - Jun 29, 2009 11:49:20 am PDT #26532 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Man, I read a really interesting article on zero in Atlantic Monthly in high school.
And here it is!! It's focused mainly on the millennium issue and the absence of Year Zero, Trent Reznor notwithstanding.
DavidS - Jun 29, 2009 11:51:10 am PDT #26533 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Another reason why Zero is my hero.
I'm all about Hey Little Twelvetoes.
tommyrot - Jun 29, 2009 11:52:01 am PDT #26534 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Zero was actually forbidden by the Pope.
Oh, I bet this explains why the Catholic Church hated Galileo. My theory is that Galileo just replaced every zero with 'Pope.' So then he says, "The Earth goes around the Sun, which is ninety-three Pope Pope Pope, Pope Pope Pope miles away."
DavidS - Jun 29, 2009 11:53:24 am PDT #26535 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
My theory is that Galileo just replaced every zero with 'Pope.' So then he says, "The Earth goes around the Sun, which is ninety-three Pope Pope Pope, Pope Pope Pope miles away."
That would get annoying. If I were Pope I'd have him on the rack just for that.