[ggwhiz]

I recently sat in with a bunch of other math volunteers in schools with a couple of grad students who's premise is that literacy has taken the big push in recent years with effort and resources and it's time for math to do the same.

Naturally I promoted Bridge as the perfect vehicle.

[Vampyr]

Trinidad, on 2012-February-07, 16:31, said:

That is just as true as saying that everyone can read: i.e. not true at all.

Rik

Sorry, didn't expect "everybody" to be taken literally.

[blackshoe]

barmar, on 2012-February-07, 12:37, said:

There are lots of things people once considered routine skills, but technology has removed the need for people to learn them. We use those brain cells for other things.

I'll bet there were people who said the same thing about young people not being able to start fires by rubbing sticks together -- they'll be screwed if they run out of matches. Somehow we survived the loss of that knowledge.

I was a Boy Scout. I can (probably) still start a fire by rubbing sticks together.

[mgoetze]

Today, at Pizza Hut Express in the train station, the guy in front of me bought one slice for €1.89 and one for €2.49. I had the same two slices and took the menu option of any two slices and a softdrink for €4.39. This caused me to wonder how many people buy two slices for €2.49 each.

[mgoetze]

ggwhiz, on 2012-February-07, 17:20, said:

I recently sat in with a bunch of other math volunteers in schools with a couple of grad students who's premise is that literacy has taken the big push in recent years with effort and resources and it's time for math to do the same.

Isn't it ironic...

[BunnyGo]

mgoetze, on 2012-February-07, 18:53, said:

Today, at Pizza Hut Express in the train station, the guy in front of me bought one slice for €1.89 and one for €2.49. I had the same two slices and took the menu option of any two slices and a softdrink for €4.39. This caused me to wonder how many people buy two slices for €2.49 each.

Maybe he wanted the penny more than the softdrink.

[kenberg]

This thing about technology can be, I think, misleading. When I calculated 423/310 = 1.36452 I of course did not do this by hand. I may be crazy but I am not nuts. Whether people calculate by hand or by software is, as far as I am concerned, their choice. The problems arise when people start talking about percentages and have no idea what they are talking about. Based on the numbers supplied in the cited article, that would seem to be the case there. For the actual calculation, they can use an abacus for all I care. But it would be nice if the supplied numbers made sense. Possibly his numbers add up somehow. It would be nice if he said how by explaining what quantity was what percent of what other quantity. Lacking the willingness to do so, he should deep six the stats. It's fundamentally dishonest to just toss these numbers off as if they had an obvious meaning.

When I finished 8th grade in 1952 I believe that the large majority of the class understood the meaning of percentages. My parents, with their grade school education knew the meaning of percentages. It would appear that a secretary of the Navy and an editor at the Washington Post do not. The issue is absolutely not whether they calculate by hand or by machine.

Often, people just don't care whether the numbers add up. As the old saying goes, 67% of the statistics you are given are made up on the spot.

[barmar]

Vampyr, on 2012-February-07, 17:22, said:

Sorry, didn't expect "everybody" to be taken literally.

Which reminds me of my pet peeve: people who interpret online messages literally.

[Trinidad]

Vampyr, on 2012-February-07, 17:22, said:

Sorry, didn't expect "everybody" to be taken literally.

No problem, but for me it is important to realize that the whole world is not made up of bridge players who can calculate the odds for a 2-3 split or an onside queen and compare it to the odds for a 4-3 split. At one end of the spectrum we have geeky folks with PhD's in Math or Engineering that post on BBF. On the other end of the spectrum there are folks that cannot learn to write, read or add 4 to 7. It is important to me that these people, who deviate as much from "normal" as some of the geeks here, belong to "everybody".

Call it one of my pet peeves.

Rik

[kenberg]

Geeks? Where? I don't see any geeks.

[y66]

I really hate having to set people straight on stuff repeatedly. Maybe I need Prozac.

Quote

Tony Soprano: You don't sell that ***** around those routes, you hear me?

Richie Aprile: I'm workin' with Junior on this.

Tony Soprano: I don't give a ***** if you're workin' with Wal-Mart. Knock it the ***** off.

Richie Aprile: It's just a little coke. What is the big deal?

Tony Soprano: You and my uncle - you deal drugs, it's your business. You do it on association garbage routes, it's my ***** business. It stops today. You got it? (Richie stares at Tony.)

Tony Soprano: Don't give me your ***** Manson lamps; just ***** stop. And another thing, don't tip a truck on a problem customer. You know, I ***** hate the way you make me ***** ride you. Now get the ***** out of here!

[Fluffy]

I hate when there are 4/5 posts in a thread saying the same, but then someone will quote the one from Justin or Fred and make a (Stupid) counter argument like if everyone else was non existant.

[gwnn]

Any function that is not linear.

[billw55]

kenberg, on 2012-February-06, 15:30, said:

Many years back I was listening to one of these shows where a host has guests discuss a topic of interest, in this case it was capital punishment. They were discussing the data on something, I forget exactly what, and one guest was speaking of a 3% change the other guest was speaking of a 50% change. Same data.

Reminds me of a year ago when they raised the state income tax in Illinois. The old rate was 3%. The new rate is 5%. Naturally the supporters of the change called it a 2% increase, while opponents called it a 66% increase.

[Xiaolongnu]

People who deliberately misapply, overapply and extrapolateapply the Asian concept of "respect for elders" often to their own benefit. Especially in bridge. Especially against young Directors. Specifically older people (here older means by a number of decades) who demand that young people respect and bow down to them, taking it for granted, when they not only do not know their stuff but neither are they very worth respect as a person.

In bridge I have a few.

1. People who come to me when I am directing (these often happen to be those people mentioned above) when I am setting up, which is the busiest time, asking me where could I get a seat that is a sitting pair, not switching or at most switching only one time instead of every other round, near the window because of whatever reason, NS because it is their lucky direction, cool enough but not directly under the aircon, then best of all complaining that they do not want Pair 13 the unlucky number which is one of the only three sitting pairs (the Director table being one of them) such that the last sitting pair has been comfortably seated there since the club opened that night. Please, I can't possibly ask them to move away right? And for the record, my master, the Director who trained me, is 70+ this year and I have never had such nonsense from her.

2. Players treating Directors / caddies like maids to order, for water / drinks, to babysit children, and so on. With a bad attitude and tone, oh, because they are older and therefore we should respect them. Sure. You are so worth my respect. Of course I must respect you.

3. When I play with weaker players tutoring them, I explain something, they argue back, without thinking, as a reflex of defending themselves. I have already asserted firmly with 100% certainty and they still need to argue back. Some people simply do not understand the difference between textbook and judgment situations.

[Scarabin]

I have 3 pet peeves:

(1) topics on religion.

(2) topics on cheating at bridge, these both bring no 3 out of the woodwork.

(3) people who post and have no sense of humour.

[gordontd]

Xiaolongnu, on 2012-February-20, 13:29, said:

switching only one time instead of every other round,

What is this idea, and how does it work?

[Winstonm]

blackshoe, on 2012-February-07, 18:36, said:

I was a Boy Scout. I can (probably) still start a fire by rubbing sticks together.

The girl scouts are more interesting - they can start a fire just by rubbing a boy.

[broze]

barmar, on 2012-February-08, 11:33, said:

Which reminds me of my pet peeve: people who interpret online messages literally.

I'm curious. Was this a joke?


Oh, and at risk of completely de-railing the thread, my pet peeve: people who are very politically partisan. Even the sentence "I'm a democrat" or "I'm a tory" annoys me coming from a member of the public.

[barmar]

broze, on 2012-March-07, 13:28, said:

I'm curious. Was this a joke?

No. Suppose you write something like "Everyone does XXX" in an online forum. There will always be some pedantic nitwit who responds to this to point out the exceptions.

For example, I wrote "always" in that sentence, and now someone should point out that it doesn't really happen 100% of the time, just to prove my point. But if no one does, it doesn't disprove it, either.