@ColinTheMathmo The fastest-moving reptile in the world is a turtle. The leatherback sea turtle can swim at just over 35 km/h, just beating out the black iguana which sprints at 33 km/h.
@ColinTheMathmo More time passed between the building of the Egyptian pyramids and the reign of Cleopatra than has passed between the reign of Cleopatra and today.
(Speaking of Cleopatra, she spoke eight languages and was the first of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt who actually spoke Egyptian at all. The stories about her beauty are a modern invention; contemporaries mostly noted her wit and intellect, and described her as plain-looking if they even mentioned her physical appearance at all.)
@icecolbeveridge@ColinTheMathmo that doesn't feel counterintuitive to me. Dublin is closer to Glasgow and London than London is to Glasgow. Am I missing something?
@christianp It's mainly the scale of it for me. Chennai feels more-or-less tropical, Russia more-or-less Arctic. Chennai feels a long way east and Moscow European. (Vladivostok? Who knows where that is?)
@ColinTheMathmo Cast a die and count the number of pips that come up. In case that this number is equal to some x -- say, x=6 -- roll again. Count the total number of pips that come up until (and including) a roll where the number of pips that come up is something other than x, breaking the chain.
The average of this total number of pips, for an n-sided die, is
n/2 + n/(n-1),
which is independent of x.
So for a six-sided die we may have chosen x=6 or x=1, leading to the same average total.
@ompaul@loke@ColinTheMathmo in case you've not come across it, The Thrilling Adventures Of Lovelace And Babbage, by Sydney Padua, is very funny and includes a lot of biographical detail.
@ColinTheMathmo In 1950, the ballet/pantomime "Isotopia" was performed. It was a creation by Muriel Howarth, apparently a radioactivity enthusiast. It featured people portraying protons, neutrons, electrons and a Geiger counter. Apparently, this is what Time magazine wrote about it:
“13 bosomy A.E. Associates in flowing evening gowns gyrated gracefully about a stage in earnest imitation of atomic forces at work. An ample electron in black lace wound her way around two matrons labeled ‘proton’ and ‘neutron’ while an elderly ginger-haired Geiger counter clicked out their radioactive effect on a pretty girl named Agriculture. At a climactic moment, a Mrs. Monica Davial raced across the stage in spirited representation of a rat eating radioactive cheese.”
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