frankPodmore @ frankPodmore @slrpnk.net

London-based writer. Often climbing.

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Genuine question: have there been any terrorist attacks planned or executed by people in the UK in the name of any of those ideas? I know there have genuinely been communist terrorist acts in other places, but I can't think of any that happened here.

Not sure how accurate this is, but in The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, some monks stay up all night chanting so that they can wake up the other monks for morning prayers. So, the night monks chant a Hail Mary X number of times, and that takes them Y amount of time.

They're not Marxist; they're not aimed at eradicating inequality; if they did aim at eradicating inequality, that wouldn't necessarily make them Marxist, because Marxism did not aim at eradicating inequality.

Apart from that, yep, all good points.

I think you can simulate an infinite number, in a sense, but my issue is whether you can create infinite numbers, even hypothetically, in a simulation.

We simulate Pi all the time, for example. But that simulation of Pi is not Pi. A circle generated by simulated-Pi can only be described with Pi itself, i.e., outside the simulation in a space which does contain infinite numbers.

I have to admit that I don't know much about fractals. I have two main questions about this:

1. Are fractals reaaly infinite? I've heard the coastline of Britain described as fractal, but I'm sure it's not infinite in the sense I understand. As I say, I don't know much about fractals so I may have misunderstood something here.
2. If fractals are or can be infinite, do computer simulations of fractals actually create fractals of the infinite kind or are they a type of approximation?

The existence of infinite numbers suggests that the power increase required to simulate our universe wouldn't be a small step up in power usage, but an infinite one!

I mean, we Brits kind of did stamp them out. After Cromwell most of the Puritans were driven out or voluntarily went into exile... in America (sorry).

But no simulation within our Universe could be infinitely complex, which the Universe itself seems to be (e.g., as other people have pointed out, irrational numbers). If it is a simulation, then there must be another infinitely complex universe running it. Two infinitely complex universes seems like one too many.

This isn't a strict proof, but Occam's razor applies here.

If we claim the Universe is a simulation, we're supposing, on no evidence whatsoever, that there's a whole other unknown universe running our Universe. That certainly makes us guilty of multiplying entities beyond necessity!

I've been cycling all over the place since I was a kid and I've never had a bike stolen. Either I've got lucky or my approach is a good one!

The standard advice in the UK is to have two locks, at least one of which should be a good D-lock. Two locks are twice as good as one, because breaking two locks takes twice as long as breaking one, and thieves generally want to be able to steal bikes very quickly.

By a 'good lock', I mean in short, an expensive and usually very heavy lock. I have a couple of D-locks for taking out with me and a couple of very heavy chain locks that I keep for locking my bike up at home. I only take the chain locks out if I'm unsure about where to lock my bike, because they're so heavy as to be barely worth the hassle!

Ideally, a lock should be secured around a frame and a wheel, and then to an immoveable object. So, extending that idea slightly, the ideal place to secure two locks is one around each wheel and the frame. I personally find that this is often difficult to achieve in real life. But, again, that's where having two locks comes in: a bike that's secured to a bikerack with one lock and has the rear wheel imobilised with another lock is difficult to steal.

Regardless of lock type and placement, the best places to secure a bike are those that either have their own security or have lots of foot traffic. Thieves are less likely to operate where there are lots of potential witnesses.

Good luck! Bike theft is sadly common but it shouldn't put you off cycling if you're going to be smart about security, which it sounds like you are.

Ah-ha as !debris@beehaw.org said, this is indeed Morning Mood, by Grieg. Oddly, I also immediately thought of The Simpsons' use of it!

Possibly the aptly named 'Love Theme' from Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet?

Try the Rite of AshkEnte from the Discworld novels, see if you can summon Death himself.

experience fear and thrill of of overcoming it

Riffing off this idea slightly, but I strongly recommend lead climbing. Perfect combo of fear factor - you fall a lot - with limited risk of actually injuring yourself - you're attached to a rope!

People. Family, friends, community. We need one another. We get fulfillment and happiness from being with other people, helping and being helped. And just hanging out!

Unbelievable. And she only stopped 'after the car became too damaged to drive'!

You don’t add the 27 and the 2 - the 27 is the total of the 25 and the 2.

Thanks - this is the explanation that I finally understood!

Ah, thanks! I knew I'd read something like this before, but all my searches were for trolls and sheep, so nothing came up!

I think I get that, but I still don't understand who has the 'missing sheep' from the original 30. Is it the troll father or the shepherds?

EDIT: Hang on, I got it now. There's no missing sheep, the riddle tricks you into adding the wrong numbers together!

Lots of bigger workplaces actually have some sort of private organisation you can basically vent to and ask advice from, so that might be a good idea place to start. The whole point of these is that they're totally anonymous, so you basically cannot get any blowback from talking to them.

You can also speak to your boss if you have a good relationship with them. Just explain as neutrally as possible that you're finding it a little difficult to work with this particular co-worker. You don't need to ask them to do anything specific, just be honest that it's difficult. They might be able to either bring it up with your co-worker (keeping you anonymous, of course), that other people are finding their behaviour offputting, or just arrange it so that you don't have to work together.