Hpecker

I love white people, some of my best white friends are white

A snob asked James McNeill Whistler, “Whatever possessed you to be born in a place like Lowell, Massachusetts?”

He said, “I wished to be near my mother.”

In January 2007, inspired by this article by computer scientist Scott Aaronson, philosophers Agustín Rayo of MIT and Adam Elga of Princeton joined in the “large number duel” to come up with the largest finite number ever written on an ordinary-sized chalkboard.

The rules were simple. The two would take turns writing down expressions denoting natural numbers, and whoever could name the largest number would win the duel. No primitive semantic vocabulary was allowed (so that it would be illegal simply to write the phrase “the smallest number bigger than any number named by a human so far”), and the two agreed not to build on one another’s contributions (so neither could simply write “the previous entry plus one”).

Elga went first, writing the number 1. Rayo countered with a string of 1s:

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

and Elga erased a line through the base of half this string to produce a factorial:

1111111111111111111111111111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The two began defining their own functions, and toward the end Rayo wrote this phrase:

The smallest number bigger than any number that can be named by an expression in the language of first-order set theory with less than a googol (10¹⁰⁰) symbols.

With some tweaking, this became the winning entry, now enshrined as “Rayo’s number.”

“It was a great game,” Elga said after the match. “Heated at times, but nevertheless, a really great game.”

The use of philosophy was “crucial,” Rayo said. “The limit of math ability was reached at the end. Knowing a bit of philosophy, that was the key.”

Asked whether he thought his entry had set the Guinness world record, “It’s hard to be sure,” Rayo said, “but the number is bigger than any number I have ever seen.”

(Thanks, Erik.)

Hovertext: He is, of course, forecasting today's Internet.

fansylla:

#Gina is a saint for modeling how to stay in your lane

wadeboogs asked: lol

Don’t worry racists, this is a way to honor white culture, you should be flattered by this.

Hovertext: Anyone who doesn't like this comic for any reason is officially part of the COMIC POLICE.

Hey geeks, there's an SMBC subreddit. 

Hovertext: Of course, the downside is that if you give them the numbers to every lottery winning ticket, they apparently blow it all.

Client: Good morning, I’m interested in a website.

Me: OK, we can help you with that. Can you tell me a little about your business and what the website needs to look like and do?

Client: I can, but before that I want to see some examples of your work.

I then gave him the website address for our portfolio and waited while he typed it in and confirmed he could see it.

Me: Can you see the portfolio?

Client: Your website is making noises at me, make it stop.

I could hear what sounded like a jingle or ringtone somewhere in the background.

Me: I assure you our website does not make noises.

Client: (getting irate) Yes it is, make it stop now! You have no right to do this.

Me: It isn’t our website. Are you sure it’s not your phone?

Client: What? Hold on….

I listened to the sounds of him rummaging through a bag, and then the ringing stopped. He continued without any hint of acknowledgement or apology.

Client: So back to your portfolio, what are you most proud of? What is your best work?

Me: Sorry but I really don’t think we are going to be able to work together. Thanks for the inquiry but we cannot help you with this. Bye.

In 2006, Florida amended its constitution to say that any future amendments must have the approval of 60 percent of the voters.

The measure passed with 57 percent.

Please support Futility Closet on Patreon!

Client: We’re going to need the same signage you made for our new store too. How much will that cost?

Me: Let me find a printing shop in that area and I’ll get you a quote.

Client: You can’t just tell me?

Me: Different print shops charge different rates, you don’t want to have them printed here and shipped, that’d be pretty expensive. I’ll let you know.

Client: Cool, I need that in twenty minutes.

Me: It’s going to take longer than twenty minutes.

Client: So an hour?

Me: Print shops will be closed by now, I can have them by the end of the day tomorrow.

Client: Why does it take so long?!

Me:Let me put it to you this way. You know how you complained about that “crazy woman” that called earlier demanding that her 10,000 unit order of handmade products that she placed this morning needed to be shipped out tomorrow or she would take her business elsewhere? 

Client: What about it?

Me: She’s at your mercy. I’m at the mercy of another company, and right now, you’re being her for me.

He left without saying a word and waited patiently. Quotes were received and approved. I never heard another peep of complaint.

lauracallaghanillustration:

Got an ask about this the other day so here’s all the pieces from the ‘Dante’s Inferno’ series in one looooooong post. >:)

The circles of hell the pieces are based on, in order of appearance are:

Limbo - Lust - Gluttony - Greed - Anger - Heresy - Violence - Fraud - Treachery

amazighprincex:

happy Easter, Jesus wasn’t white

Sins Invalid poster from yesterday’s SickFest in Oakland. So inspired and hyped after an amazing event.

http://www.sickfest.org/#sick-fest

Sick fest was hella sick

Completely inspired by writers/performers:

Kiyaan Abadani
Carolyn Lazard
Claire Light
Mia Mingus
Neve Be(ast) aka Lyric Seal
Amy Berkowitz
Johanna Hedva
Liz Henry

Extra meta: photo taken on/from my bed

Hovertext: Can you at least appreciate how clever my word choice was?

Desperately hoping no else has made the exact same joke... 

The only correct answer to “Beatles or Stones” is Bone Thugs.

Hovertext: Also, some of your friends will be more like a rundown playground than Disneyland.

Asteroid 46610 was named Bésixdouze in homage to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s character Le Petit Prince, who lived on Asteroid B-612.

B-612 is 46610 in hexadecimal.

(Thanks, Dan.)

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