What are we reading? 8th June 2022

[Andy]

AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "Heh SN…
Any idea why I’m getting moderated for this comment I’m trying to post on the Pink Horse thread over at WWR..




Power corrupts.

Something happened to Douglass during his ..."

It’s up now. Must be an automated system sensitive to a particular words..

[Robert]

Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "Heh SN…
Any idea why I’m getting moderated for this comment I’m trying to post on the Pink Horse thread over at WWR..




Power corrupts.

Something happened to Douglas..."

Similar problem with AOL. You can call a politician a traitor but can't call him a fool.

[scarletnoir]

Tam wrote: "Chabrol's film are much faster paced, from what I remember, sort of detective, 'crime of passion' type films with a lot of atmosphere..."

Chabrol fancied himself as a bit of a French Hitchcock... at his best he could do really good work (say, 'Le Boucher' - genuinely tense), but he was pretty inconsistent and turned out some turkeys too. Le Boucher starred his wife at the time Stéphane Audran - like you, I admire her work - more consistently good than Chabrol's!

[scarletnoir]

Andy wrote: "Must be an automated system sensitive to a particular words..."

Actually, I contacted HushPuppy about this (as the Guardian resurrection of WWR is down to her)... I could not seem to get an innocuous review of Marsé's book 'published', despite cutting it into smaller pieces when the full length version didn't appear.

Her advice - which seems confirmed by events - is that the G. has too few mods, so that there is often a delay between posting and the comment appearing. (It may be that this applies particularly to longer reviews, or ones including links.)

My review did appear in full, but some time after I posted it!

[CCCubbon]

Good to see another woman receiving the Fields Medal for Mathematics - Maryna Viazovska.
Only the second woman ever to receive the medal which is regarded as equivalent to a Nobel Prize.

[FrustratedArtist]

CCCubbon wrote: "Good to see another woman receiving the Fields Medal for Mathematics - Maryna Viazovska.
Only the second woman ever to receive the medal which is regarded as equivalent to a Nobel Prize."


Congratulations to the winners! I see (in the Guardian) that Viazovska proved the " best way to pack spheres in eight dimensions to take up the least space" . Which reminds me of this superb podcast from the BBC (in fact the whole series is great) which I listened to a month or so while weeding the blackberry bed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...

There is a connection, I promise.

[Lljones]

Hey, folks...I'll put up a new thread in the next hour or so.

[scarletnoir]

CCCubbon wrote: "Good to see another woman receiving the Fields Medal for Mathematics - Maryna Viazovska.
Only the second woman ever to receive the medal which is regarded as equivalent to a Nobel Prize."

A significant achievement... especially when you consider there seems to be a gender bias when it comes to citations in science, as shown by research published in very august journals:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158...

I would assume the same bias is at play in mathematics as well, though I don't have proof of that.

(My own experience of teaching maths and physics tended to show that girls had the same abilities as boys, but those subjects were often perceived as being more 'suited' to boys. Naturally, I tried to discourage this view.)

[[deleted user]]

scarletnoir wrote: "Tam wrote: "Chabrol's film are much faster paced,...Chabrol fancied himself as a bit of a French Hitchcock...Le Boucher"

Le Boucher is brilliant – must have seen it 5-6 times, in the days when you had to go to the cinema to see anything foreign. But you have to say it has one totally unbelievable element - the idea that the dreamy Stéphane Audran would be a village school teacher. Mademoiselle Hélène...Mademoiselle Hélène…

[CCCubbon]

scarletnoir wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Good to see another woman receiving the Fields Medal for Mathematics - Maryna Viazovska.
Only the second woman ever to receive the medal which is regarded as equivalent to a Nobel ..."Yes, same here.
Did get some girls taking A level Stats but hardly any in Pure and none for Further Maths. This was even with the three A level Maths teachers all being female.
Hope things have changed now.

[CCCubbon]

May I sneak in a personal question to those who have had cataract surgery? Could you tell me how much sight you had before the surgery in the affected eye?

[Tam]

CCCubbon wrote: "May I sneak in a personal question to those who have had cataract surgery? Could you tell me how much sight you had before the surgery in the affected eye?"

I had reasonable sight, but have been short-sighted with some astigmatism since teenage years, so needed glasses to drive and to read. Over time I have been told that generally my shortsightedness was improving but my astigmatism was getting worse, if that helps?...

The worse bit of having cataracts was the halos and rays of light that emanated from car headlights, and lamp posts, at night, when driving, I pretty much gave up driving at night about six months before the operation. I haven't tried driving at night since the op so I dont know , must give it a try...

[CCCubbon]

Thanks Tam. I wondered because of various comments made and heard. I have very little sight just vague foggy grey in my bad eye - they can no longer scan it and I cannot see any letters on the eye chart but there are compensations in less double vision and fewer distortions. Good eye not so foggy.