kryptonite

joined 1 year ago
[–] kryptonite 1 points 2 days ago

Newton wasn't the only one who developed calculus. Leibnitz developed it independently around the same time, and both of them had prior mathematicians' work to base their work on. If it weren't for Newton, we would still have calculus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calculus

That said, we can acknowledge Newton's mathematical and scientific achievements while still acknowledging problematic or terrible things that he also did. We don't need to whitewash history in order to recognize someone's achievements.

[–] kryptonite 2 points 3 days ago

In a similar perspective shift, I hated Lwaxana Troi when I was a kid, but the older I get, the more I like her.

[–] kryptonite 4 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Westley was also a viewer-insert character for kids to relate to. As a little kid watching TNG, I liked him as a character and thought he was cute. I didn't start to find him irritating until I got a few years older than him.

[–] kryptonite 3 points 2 weeks ago

He has a pocket in his cape. It's where he keeps his Clark clothes, shoes, and glasses when he's Superman - super-compressed first, of course.

[–] kryptonite 13 points 1 month ago

As a kid, I had a small dictionary, so I checked whether "gullible" was in it in order to mess with my little sister. It wasn't there, but I still got in trouble when my mom overheard me telling my sister, "Did you know gullible is not in this dictionary?"

I was miffed because I was telling the truth.

[–] kryptonite 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's eth, actually, not thorn.

I had thought that eth was used in Old English for the voiced "th" and thorn for the unvoiced "th", but Wikipedia says they were used interchangeably for both sounds.

You're right otherwise. Thorn was not available on printing presses because they were being made in countries that didn't use the letter, which is why the letter Y was used instead until "th" became more common.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_(letter)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eth

[–] kryptonite 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

humans just put certain expectations into the word.

... which is entirely the way words work to convey ideas. If a word is being used to mean something other than the audience understands it to mean, communication has failed.

By the common definition, it's not "intelligence". If some specialized definition is being used, then that needs to be established and generally agreed upon.

[–] kryptonite 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The cream would rehydrate them.

[–] kryptonite 2 points 2 months ago

Jam is made with pureed fruit, while jelly is made from fruit juice. Colloquially, though, people use the terms interchangeably constantly.

[–] kryptonite 2 points 2 months ago

I always hated the advice to make an L with your hands to see which one was Left. No one ever specified whether you're supposed to have your palms facing you or facing away, so it's ambiguous.

When I was a kid, I would picture a dining place setting because I knew the fork was on the left.

[–] kryptonite 2 points 2 months ago

That article you linked was a really interesting read. Thanks!

[–] kryptonite 4 points 2 months ago

I have it on pretty good authority that everyone

That's where your comment went wrong. Just about everything that anyone claims "everyone" does is false. Maybe "lots of people," "most people," or even "by far, most people" do a thing, but literally "everyone"? BS.

I don't like looking at breasts, and I have absolutely no interest in them.

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