Statistics. in A small but passable life.

I want to thank everyone for the Happy Birthday’s. You people are the greatest!

I like to have something to keep track of. At first it was the first and last 100 degree days of the year. That would be somewhere in May and October. It is getting earlier and later. I’ll let you know if the months change. Then it was the number of 100 degree days in a year. And after several years living here, who cares? Then I thought why not how many days 110 degrees or hotter? Well, the old record of 33 days has been broken. Yawn. How about days over 115 degrees? Well, Friday the 14th it was eight days so far in 2020, which broke another record. I believe there was another one yesterday.

Yawn. June and July 2020 were the hottest on record.

I went to pick up the Roger Penrose book from the library this morning. I’ve read the Preface. He says the words in the book can be read and the math skipped. Which is a good thing to know. I had to drop out of college because I don’t get algebra.

He tries to explain that the whole of mathematics is “… the cancelling rule just built in to the definition of a fraction …”

What the Fuck?

I spent a couple of years and a fair amount of cash trying to pass algebra. The instructor explained it one way, the book another, the internet another, and the geeks in the math lab another way. The advisor, wanting to know why I’ve dropped Intermediate twice (along with half the class each time!), said that if I listened to the instructor’s words instead of trying to follow what they were putting on the board …

What the Fuck?

Just tell me what makes it real, or relevant to anything.

Okay, Mr. Penrose, I’m just going to read the words!

Last updated August 25, 2020