RE: https://mastodon.social/@glynmoody/117426942991153158

I think the sensible course is to meet halfway and call it superficial intelligence.

I also found it really interesting that 12yo knows Lord Byron primarily as Ada Lovelace's father rather than a celebrity in his own right.

TIL that Byron Bay, Australia was named after Lord Byron's grandad, Foul-Weather Jack Byron.

*adverbs, dagnabbit.

I'm reminded of @dag's law of adjectives, which makes me think that if Jenrick were confident, he needn't be very confident, and if the donations were legal, they needn't be perfectly so.

This is a question that might appear niche, but does anyone know whether Mr Farage has resigned his post as Steward of the Manor of Northstead?

If Wikipedia is correct (I suspect it isn't):
(1) He's still the incumbent; and
(2) Ss of the M of N are not eligible to stand in elections to Parliament.

I think one of the most obnoxious things in the world is a recorded message saying "You can solve problem X by going to our website." No I bloody can't. If I could solve problem X on your website, I wouldn't be in your stupid phone tree.

(I should clarify: the punter explained that he had memory problems, and this was a creative collaboration problem that left everyone delighted. I'm thrilled that my open mic community is so welcoming and accommodating, it's a joy to be part of it.)

Punter at open mic meekly asks a performer for a request. "Sure, I can have a go."

"I don't know what it's called. It's got a donkey in it."

There is a lengthy discussion that involves much of the audience, the bar staff, punter, host and performer. We eventually settle on A Horse With No Name, and everyone is happy.

TIL: a precursor to Mornington Crescent, Finchley Central, was written up by mathematicians Beck and Fowler in a magazine edited by Ian Stewart. Love it 🙂

In the group chat: "The UK's effective constitution is a game of Mornington Crescent[^0] that got out of hand."

[^0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game)

I'm starting a heavy metal baking magazine called MERRANG!

A nice tournament anomaly has crossed my path, looking at Group D of the World Cup: the group-stage tie-breaker is head-to-head record, while the tie-breaker in the ranking of third-placed teams is goal difference.

Paraguay (currently third with 3 points) beat Turkey (last with 0 points) at the weekend, meaning that Turkey will finish fourth whatever happens in the last round of matches. In particular, if they were to beat the USA 3-0 and Paraguay lost to Australia, Paraguay would be the third-placed team with three points and -3 or worse goal difference -- likely not enough to progress. Meanwhile, Turkey would finish fourth with three points and a goal difference of 0, which would almost certainly have been enough to reach the round of 32.

It took me a few attempts to understand it, too: a team could be eliminated in third place, ahead of a team with a record that would have been enough to qualify.

Please talk to mathematicians before designing your tournaments. #responsibleTournamentDesign

The answer they wanted was "force" -- meter as in "measuring device" rather than "American-style unit of length" -- one can never tell with homework quizzes. "Torque" was my immediate answer.

Terrible question on 12yo's homework: "What quantity is measured by a newton meter?"

lmao

In case anyone wants, uh, chapter and verse, it's para 25 here: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html

I like the Pope
The Pope's got notes on polytopes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2vMn45YuvI&list=PL2Qp-duB3X7ED5XoaWQ8NvMaC0M7Xp0aG&index=3

The thing about polarising sunglasses is, you either love them or you hate them.

As I understand it: the Eerste Division has six play-off spots. These are allocated:

* Firstly, to the winner of each quarter-season (period), unless they've been promoted or already guaranteed a play-off place.
* If a period-winner doesn't need the place but the period runner-up does, then the runner-up takes it. Crucially, it doesn't then go to the third-placed team.
* The remaining places are assigned to the next-highest placed eligible teams in the league.

Still with me?

Now, ADO Den Haag are already promoted as champions and currently second to Willem II (also guaranteed a playoff place) in the period standings, followed by mid-table Vitesse Arnhem. If Vitesse overtake either, they'll pick up the fourth-period playoff spot. Otherwise, it'll go to the ninth-placed team in the league (two automatic promotion spots, and Jong PSV in 6th are a reserve team and ineligible for promotion).

The 9th-placed team is Den Bosch, who play ADO this weekend, thus need ADO to stay ahead of Vitesse -- and the obvious way to do that is to lose to them.

Amazing stuff.