<![CDATA[There's honestly a certain element of truth in this.]]>RE: https://mastodon.com.br/@xkcd/116480390342730879

There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. A mathematician specialising in topology once got chatting to a lady who was knitting, fascinated by the parallels, of which there are many.
He approached her, very excited, a week later, with a whole new way of doing it.
"Yes, dear, that's called a purl stitch."

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/23617729-e222-476e-916e-c17ad79b5ed5/there-s-honestly-a-certain-element-of-truth-in-this.RSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 08:25:54 GMTTue, 28 Apr 2026 19:47:47 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:32:45 GMT]]>@_thegeoff I love it when young people come up independently with things that are already known. I just hope there's always someone around to point that out to them. Otherwise we get idiots like you know who inventing trains again

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.terbeest.org/users/johan/statuses/01KQD1BXK6S68CGHSAN0WYZFSEhttps://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.terbeest.org/users/johan/statuses/01KQD1BXK6S68CGHSAN0WYZFSEWed, 29 Apr 2026 16:32:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:29:33 GMT]]>@johan @ShaulaEvans We do the zinc electroscope and UV light experiment without initial explanation, a few ~16yo students have independently proposed the quanta ๐Ÿ™‚

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_thegeoff/statuses/116488940667980672https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_thegeoff/statuses/116488940667980672Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:29:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:24:42 GMT]]>@_thegeoff @ShaulaEvans Oh very true, I felt super smart even after he told me I just reinvented it

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.terbeest.org/users/johan/statuses/01KQD0X5S33SF0JZX4JQ1WK1CThttps://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.terbeest.org/users/johan/statuses/01KQD0X5S33SF0JZX4JQ1WK1CTWed, 29 Apr 2026 16:24:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:23:08 GMT]]>@johan @ShaulaEvans Independent discovery at least feels a bit satisfying when you find out you'd have been cutting edge or won a Nobel if you'd done it 100 years ago...you don't even get that with "AI" stuff. (Researchers using ML properly aside, e.g. protein folding.)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_thegeoff/statuses/116488915397741009https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_thegeoff/statuses/116488915397741009Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:23:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:21:27 GMT]]>@varx @_thegeoff @simonbp

Planets are unrelenting. The do not give up.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/JeffGrigg/statuses/116488908794515212https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/JeffGrigg/statuses/116488908794515212Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:21:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:14:57 GMT]]>@_thegeoff @ShaulaEvans When I was young I got very excited once when I came up with a sorting algorithm. Until a more senior dev looked at it and said: great, you invented bubble sort ๐Ÿ˜‚ This is btw exactly whatโ€™s happening in tech over and over, made worse by LLMโ€™s so now everyone can reinvent something ๐Ÿ™„

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.terbeest.org/users/johan/statuses/01KQD0B9YYT6FTRBMPVEDF0J3Fhttps://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.terbeest.org/users/johan/statuses/01KQD0B9YYT6FTRBMPVEDF0J3FWed, 29 Apr 2026 16:14:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:12:59 GMT]]>@JeffGrigg @_thegeoff @simonbp Planets: Threat, or Menace?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cybersecurity.theater/users/varx/statuses/116488639606312889https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cybersecurity.theater/users/varx/statuses/116488639606312889Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:12:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 08:03:40 GMT]]>@_thegeoff reminds me of the economist "discovering" likert scale-type measurement in a paper in 2020-something.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/odr_k4tana/statuses/116486951439262416https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/odr_k4tana/statuses/116486951439262416Wed, 29 Apr 2026 08:03:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 01:06:05 GMT]]>@BashStKid Ah, thank you, was trying to remember the source. (But does sound very chatty for Dirac!)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_thegeoff/statuses/116485309431195968https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_thegeoff/statuses/116485309431195968Wed, 29 Apr 2026 01:06:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 23:38:19 GMT]]>@_thegeoff Mathsplaining

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/scurvy_duck/statuses/116484964294701839https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/scurvy_duck/statuses/116484964294701839Tue, 28 Apr 2026 23:38:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 23:27:19 GMT]]>@_thegeoff @simonbp

My father, as an airborne air controller in Korea, was directing a fighter aircraft returning at night who reported a pursuing aircraft that he could not shake. Sent two fighters out to deal with it. Confusion when they arrived. But they quickly identified the light as Venus.

๐Ÿ™„

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/JeffGrigg/statuses/116484921037657068https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/JeffGrigg/statuses/116484921037657068Tue, 28 Apr 2026 23:27:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 23:00:50 GMT]]>@_thegeoff Isnโ€™t that a Dirac story?

(Possibly featuring Peierlsโ€™ wife as the knitter โ€ฆ)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/BashStKid/statuses/116484816947619149https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/BashStKid/statuses/116484816947619149Tue, 28 Apr 2026 23:00:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:51:16 GMT]]>@simonbp Ahh, poor bloke! Easy done! I had a call from a neighbour who was on duty as a police officer, lots of calls coming in about a flickering, multicoloured light, darting around close to the horizon. Local airport couldn't see it on radar. It was Sirius, doing its sparkly thing.
I've included "UFO consultant to Scottish Police" on every CV I thought would get away with it since. Got at least 2 unrelated jobs.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_thegeoff/statuses/116484307426057415https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_thegeoff/statuses/116484307426057415Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:51:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:44:07 GMT]]>@_thegeoff The absolute classic in extragalactic ppl forgetting the solar system exists

Link Preview Image
A Cosmology Professor Accidentally Announces The Re-Discovery of Mars

Sometimes you think you've stumbled across a ground-breaking astronomical discovery, only to find out that you were actually looking at Mars.

favicon

ScienceAlert (www.sciencealert.com)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.linux.pizza/users/simonbp/statuses/116484279307976481https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.linux.pizza/users/simonbp/statuses/116484279307976481Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:44:07 GMT