Homework

This is a part of the homework feature of my blog, which is an ongoing conversation with my mate S.F.

Hey mate. Lovely to see you again, as always. Can’t wait to do it all again soon!

I have a note here for “Odd Socks”, but I don’t remember what that was about. Do you?

I mentioned about Elle Cordova. She’s made some really creative and humorous YouTube videos including Grammarian vs Errorist.

You mentioned about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

The sublime is a way of simplifying what you don’t understand.

You mentioned The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell.

“Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper. Down deep the fish are more powerful and more pure. They’re huge and abstract. And they’re very beautiful.” — David Lynch on Big Ideas. In fact he wrote a book titled Catching the Big Fish.

I mentioned about the Sex Ed Sketch from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life. Speaking of Monty Python there was also medical experiments for the lot of you.

I mentioned about Chesterton’s fence which is the principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood.

I mentioned about Cantor’s diagonal argument. This method can be used to construct the more numerous real numbers from the rationals.

My essay on Cartesian Dualism is here: 2008-2-PHI130.Essay.2.

I mentioned this humorous sketch: They’re Made Out Of Meat.

Homework

This is a part of the homework feature of my blog, which is an ongoing conversation with my mate S.F.

Hey mate. Lovely to see you again, as always. Sorry it took me so long to get this homework written up!

Tyke is a slang term for Catholic.

The book about zero is: Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, I will get you a copy.

Andrew Bustamante is the EverydaySpy. I really think he shouldn’t be doing what he is doing. Businesses shouldn’t use the techniques of clandestine belligerent organizations like the CIA.

Chase Hughes is an interesting cat.

HeForShe, referred to as He for She, is a solidarity movement for the advancement of gender equality initiated by the United Nations. On the web here: https://www.heforshe.org/en.

There are many books written by Kamala Harris. I haven’t read any of them, yet.

The “political compass” is the idea that there are two dimensions to a person’s politics: economic and social. To find out which quadrant you’re in you can take the test.

Hope is not a strategy.

The Bureau of Meteorology upgraded their website for $96.5m and managed to upset a lot of people.

Mel Robbins made a name for herself as a blogger and internet personality. She talks about personal development and things like that.

The “phono out” is an unamplified signal coming out of a record player and “line in” is an input for a signal which is already amplified to “line level”.

You recommended Planet America.

The classic send up of form over substance in academia is: Chicken chicken chicken.

Nirvana Unplugged in New York.

Grammarian vs Errorist – a supervillain showdown is among the best of what the internet has to offer. @ElleCordova makes great stuff.

The nbn options in roughly decreasing order of signal speed and reliability:

  • Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), Fibre-optic cable runs all the way from the network to your house.
  • Fibre to the Curb (FTTC), Fibre runs close — to a pit or junction near your street (the “curb”), then a short length of copper connects to your home.
  • Fibre to the Node (FTTN), Fibre runs to a street cabinet (node), then copper phone lines connect each home.
  • Fibre to the Building (FTTB), Fibre goes to a basement or comms room of a unit/apartment building, then internal copper wiring serves individual units.
  • Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC), Fibre optic to the street, then coaxial cable (often old cable TV wiring) to the home.
  • Fixed Wireless (FW), Wireless signal from a nearby transmission tower to an antenna installed on your roof.
  • Satellite (e.g., Sky Muster), Internet is beamed to/from communications satellites (e.g., Sky Muster) for remote areas.

South Park lampooned Melania Trump.

Phase one: collect underpants.

The winner of 2025 Component Abuse Challenge was LED candles.

Altronics is an Australian electronics reseller. They have a brand of industrial electronics equipment Redback.

If you’re interested in human intelligence you should read about Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory. CHC is a psychological theory on the structure of human cognitive abilities.

You mentioned about Point Counter Point, a novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1928.

You mentioned about Foundation, a science fiction novel series written by American author Isaac Asimov.

I mentioned about The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.

The idea behind reductio ad absurdum is the idea that if your proof leads to an absurdity in cannot be valid.

The Greek mathematician Euclid wrote the second best selling book ever written, Elements. Second only to the bible.

The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias where people who are experts assume others know what they do (but they don’t!).

The 2009 film The Invention of Lying starring Ricky Gervais is hilarious.