"Ahhh. A man with a sharp wit. Someone ought to take it away from him before he cuts himself." - Peter da Silva

***

MFM: the logical fallacies popping up in the calculus assignments I'm grading are driving me nuts. I'm starting to think elementary logic should be a compulsory course for everyone.

Me: wait wait
how does logic appear in calculus?

MFM: proofs

Me: uhh
please give me an example
this is fascinating

MFM: calculus in america is not about calculating

"if x exists when y exists, then y does not exist when x does not exist"

Me: this seems rather abstract
examples would be nice

MFM: er, replace x with lim(x->c)f(x)
and y with lim(x->c)g(x)

don't be silly, it's just the classic negation of the antecedent fallacy

correctly, if x implies y, then not y imples not x
but not x does not imply not y

but really the most endemic problem is to assume the result they're supposed to prove

Me: you need an if and only if somewhere

anyway that's why there're so many science students in my logic class
hurr hurr
they've done the maths version of logic


Someone: i don't trust internet resources
people may have easily come up with some rubbish online to lure people away from christianity
evidence that may not be real

Me: I don't trust internet resources
people may have easily come up with some rubbish online to lure people away from the PAP
evidence that may not be real

[Addendum: Substitute also the Communist Party of China and Scientology]


Someone else on Zwiebel-Sahne Hähnchen: i just realised that u can never get that packet of mix in singapore even though singapore has maggi stuff

stupid halal requirements
singapore's maggi can only be halal
that's like so discriminating
sucks...

i wanted to buy some knorr condiments for pork but cannot find any
because the knorr we get here all have to be halal too
shucks~

stupid halal requirement
it's so unfair!!!
it's discrimination!!!


Someone: haha yeah and your standards are too high for malaysia eh.
oh but i seriously cannot stand malaysian pringles. >< thats about the only thing though.

oh yknow there's like a little supermarket in my condo estate. and the pringles, there's one shelf labelled, PRINGLES, and one labelled ORIGINAL PRINGLES FROM THE US.

and the pringles one is always full. but the other one runs out of flavours so quickly. :(


Someone else: i'm off to do more constructive things
­i have an assignment to do
­therefore, i will now proceed to play computer games


Someone: you have a very idea of what postmodernism is, all out of line of really existing postmodernism

then again i don't blame you

99.9% of people who claim to be postmodernists or acquainted with postmod theory in casual conversation have no idea what they're talking about, and give an oversimplified, distorted representation

like "there is no truth
"we can never be sure of anything"

a true postmodernist NEVER claims to be one
like foucault. he insisted he was never a foucauldian theorist

99.9% of christians take that perverted, distorted idea of postmodernism and then claim that postmodernism is destroying the world, etc

simple. the idea that there is no truth... is very threatening to some christians
­that and cultural relativism
­and of course, historicism
­
that the truth is not literal, that meanings can change and be lost over time, that social translation and triangulation is needed to *interpret* the bible... that is extremely threatening to some christians


Someone else: I tried once
two periods back

Me: wow you're like timing by the moon
women have a strange relationship with the moon :P

Someone else: yeah I know
i was going to say "two moons ago"

someone speculated that women used to cycle with the moon
which sort of connects with the 28 day thing

Me: bah
cock lah

Someone else: maybe when the moon is full special magneto-kinetic forces unite women and the moon in a wonderful blood dripping exercise

Me: blood moon
then werewolves change form too

Someone else: oh oh that's where the werewolf thing stemmed from
it's actually a euphemism for women and periods I suppose

Me: wth


A nick I saw: "support the arts. sleep with a musician."