Ham

Math 119W is a math course, but it is communication intensive.. the students have to do some writing projects.. what do you think.. how about if a student wants to prove to the class that the square root of two is irrational.. would that qualify? I would want a little bit of historical background.. it's not much. fifty points out of three hundred some.. it's not really that hard.. I mean.. there is loads of this on the internet somewhere, easy to access, easy to understand, easy to *copy*.. I know what is like to be a student.. copy, but carefully..

that is.. well. Irrational numbers? Numbers one cannot express as a ratio of whole or integer numbers.. if one can convince oneself that they actually exist..

So far I have not used any terms that anyone who has been through any high school math has not heard, or at least mostly understood.. rational numbers. any number, one can express as a ratio.. a/b, a and b are integers, or whole numbers. but b cannot be zero. can't divide by zero. Real numbers. That is, numbers that can assume any value in real world situations. Irrational numbers.. real numbers that cannot possibly be expressed as as a ratio..

Kronecker was a dolt. He may have been brilliant at times, but he was otherwise a feeble idiot.. well, at least in my opinion. He had too hard of a time, if any at all, thinking abstractly.. Cantor was really the beginning of brilliance, in the last (or was that the former) century..

There is an old story about Pythagoras.. one of his students proved that the square root of two is irrational. It is said that Pythagoras rewarded this student by strangulation. Others say he drowned him.. It's a very very old Greek urban legend.

Why is the square root of two irrational? Is it really? Or do you just take my word for it? Irrational means that it is IMPOSSIBLE to accurately describe this real world number in terms of the ratio of any two integers. the number itself exists. one can produce it with a right triangle, with two legs of length one unit.. Don't get me even started on PI.. or e.. generally the proof involves assuming one can express an irrational number as the ratio of two integers, and logically arriving at a contradiction..

If you look at the real number line, only in regards to rational numbers. In other words.. if you plot every number that can be expressed as a ratio, or a fraction.. the line has more holes than it has numbers.. No wonder.. the first few pages of any math instruction book.. the instructors just quietly skip over.. No, you won't need that until the next class.. then one hears in the next class, no you really don't need that to do math until the next class.. then finally, one is in THE class. No wonder one can't figure what the hell the guy is trying to say at that point..

:) that's what I call it.. those were the happiest times of life for me.. young children in the house..

I dunno. Then again.. I've seen different "sects" of the Roman religion.. depends on where you are, the community.. just what I've observed.. there are some churches that provide a traditional, static religion for the aged population. Then there are some churches which have a LOT of young children, and growth.. then there are mixtures, somewhat between the two. I do not belong to a Roman church. but when I visited with close relatives in Grand Rapids.. I don't remember the name of the church.. but they had a mixed service.. a puppet show, something appropriate for the children, but may I add meaningful. and then a conservative, traditional service and communion for the aging population.. I don't know about anyone else, but the sound of children is a blessing. And I think that thought was shared in that particular church..

I think Crowley tried something like that.. lot of metaphysical mumbo jumbo, but in the end it was attempt to possess and reincarnate in some miserable slob or something.. The first volley of emails with the new vicster included "did you happen to be born on May 21, 1985? I don't think he ever got what I was really saying..

heh.. but really, that wasn't it. Not even casually clothed, half or more nekkid.. The perceptive side of me can still see the vision. The logical side of me is still laughing it's a** off at the perceptive side of me.. It's nice and logical. "If you want to go and get funny in the head.. well, there's not a heck of a lot that I can really do about it..".. Is there a real answer here? I don't know even if I really would want to know it even if I could.. who wants certainty, when one can have this kind of entertainment? sowy. I'm sure this makes some kind of sense in the context of this thread to somebody..

Live forever.. hmm. Maybe we do anyway.. I'm not sure I want to be reincarnated in what can be described as what some are turning this place into a s*ithole..

I dunno. It's old stuff now.. but still seems new today.. have you ever nearly had your skin burned off by the light? Met an angel.. heh.. maybe.. it was an angel in time out for half a lifetime or something.. the logical part of me is still working this over.. might never have an answer..

Maybe he really was.. angels come in all kinds of sizes, shapes, Demeanours, , etc.. mostly they wear their skins well. Well.. mostly..

The only thing I am really wondering.. why isn't da way suing the living s*it out of him? maybe they walk a fine line.. who knows. Publication vs. performance rights or something.. You know.. kinda like Paul McCartney. He has performance rights to pretty much anything he and John collaborated on.. but publication rights can be more owned or something.. But do performance rights extend to one's children, grandchildren.. etc..?

He considers the publicity here a good thing. Any press is better than no press you know.. people come to "Sunday Night Service".. "hey.. *they* told me you were devil worshipping, Jesus hating swine.." No son, we're just a copy of a copy of a copy.. the little itty bitty boy of gawd actually got a bachellor's degree from some place in Florida, I think. I think it was in history.. but pa and mac tell him he wouldn't get heat here, unless he was pursuing the will of gawd or something.. he went through cff's program, doesn't that count for something? I forget the name of it.. fellow-laborers. that was named after an old way idea as well..

I didn't think there were any astute observers even left there.. sounds like a typical way marriage..

I think Tania is his daughter..

When my dad was able to leave the little community.. sure, he loved the place. He'd go back to visit with his mother and others he loved.. but when the war hit.. and he was in the first draft.. he never really went back. He chose to raise his two sons at least three hundred miles away, and in a city. The old homestead was regarded as a "camp".. a place you go to hunt and fish, enjoy the surroundings without too many modern conveniences, swim and take baths in the river, and then come back.. very interesting. I think that WWII, and the G.I. bill brought a lot of people out of these static, isolated places.. so what does this have to with good old J.L.? I dunno. I think maybe.. he's looking for others like him.. maybe in a spiritual sense, he wants to marry his sister.. or at least to sell her his "newfangled"(?) class..

I would call it more a playground designed for close inbreeding. There have been places like that, and still are in the world.. Some of my ancestors came and settled the land. Not too many other folks around.. Not much travel. It was a big deal to get where you were at to begin with.. not much socializing.. other than with the local tribe.. first and second cousins and the like. one farming settlement died out mainly because the men were susceptible to heart failure at a young age. Like 39, 42, and not many lived passed 55. It wasn't until they dispersed and mixed with the rest of the population that their offspring started living just a *tad* longer.

It wouldn't take much to overthrow her. Just a few discrete, quiet conversations.. unless they are terrified, knowing not whom they can really trust. I would want to find out. What's the worst that could happen? I mean.. you're what.. fifty some years old, the kids are grown up, educated, (hopefully) moved on out of the house, or trailer, or whatever you're "living" in.. I mean.. one could live in a trailer almost anywhere. Can't be worse than where you're at..

leaching miseries.. I won't say any more. At least tonight.. then again.. anybody else have words morph like this? If I look close enough the original words are still there..

The last time I looked at the title the t in teaching turned into an l. is there some significance to this, or is my mind just making stuff up.. just a *minor* hallucination..

Hmm. Maybe appearances are everything..

If you don't mind me adding.. if one actually sees God's light, for a fraction of a second and manages to live through the experience.. one just MIGHT come to the conclusion that they can't exactly carry it..