Ex-Underachiever

sharing my progress in life, and connecting with others along the way

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

I’m getting busy, so I will not be on this app for a while.

I’ll be taking three classes this semester: mathematical statistics, mathematical logic, and linear algebra. And, I’ll do grad school applications later this fall. I’ll have non-academic activities too, such as my job and social life. I have both academic goals and non-academic goals to accomplish this year.

Real life is always more important than online life.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@justalexoki You can flip that around. Maybe rational numbers are the weird numbers.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

Linguists are too prescriptive about the opinions they think people should have about language. They moralize about this prescriptive/descriptive debate, and also about other topics such as language diversity (language death is “bad”, languages “should” be preserved).

I think intelligent people can recognize the distinction between the science of linguistics and the non-scientific opinions of linguists.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

I’ll take a course on mathematical logic soon. I’m getting one or two library books to help me, because it looks like the instructor isn’t assigning a book.

The gray one is the well-known textbook by Joseph Shoenfield. I’m aware that Mendelson’s is also popular. The yellow book on top looks readable.

Logic is the geekiest subject anyone can study, but I think it’s important. However, I don’t see myself becoming a logician. I really want to be able to make money outside of academia.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

I’m only 38, and I’m irritated by some of the changes people have made to English without my permission. These words irritate me the most:

‘Impact’

I absolutely hate this annoying buzzword. English already has the perfectly good words ‘influence’, ‘effect’/‘affect’, and ‘change’.

‘That’ (in place of ‘who’/‘whom’)

A person should be called ‘who’ or ‘whom’, not ‘that’. Even people my age or older seem to have forgotten how to use these words.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@crusadepepe I’m tired of hearing people whine about how they want to keep Social Security because they “paid in for all those years”. Social Security never was an investment or a saving program. It’s a pyramid scheme. I hope we can cut the losses and simply end it.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@DemoDoomer Meanwhile, Americans say they can’t afford to have kids.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@signulll Beef

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@TannerBuilds Sounds like a lack of self-understanding.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

The equation “x^2 = 4” literally means “x is a square root of 4”.

The equation is extremely simple. Solving it doesn’t merit mechanical symbol manipulation.

The main idea is that every non-zero real number has a positive and a negative square root. I understand what the image is saying, but it’s rather silly.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@Anthony_Bonato This is actually the Lagrange Remainder Theorem! Taylor’s Theorem itself does not give a formula for remainders.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@antidoc Pittsburgh has a lot to do, but it’s not too big.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

He might have actually been adhering to the 1500 Calorie daily limit. But, his energy expenditure would have decreased. That’s one of the major problems with the “Calories in, Calories out” thinking. When the Calories in are reduced, the person literally has less energy, and so the Calories out decrease too.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@Eowyn_the_Fair Can’t couples just want to have sex? Isn’t that normal? Why do they have to “need” it too?

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

These people can go buy the stuff and eat it, but the prices will not be lower than the prices of real meat. This is all about economics.

The markets for real agricultural products are very competitive. That keeps profit margins and prices low. Yes, there are big ag companies with economies of scale and big profits. But, there still are numerous small farms from whom you can buy food directly.

The manufacturing processes for artificial meat, butter, et cetera will be in the hands of only a few producers. People aren’t going to be setting up small-scale local meat factories. So the markets will be less competitive. If the government begins to regulate the natural foods (which is likely to happen—based on environmental excuses), then people will be forced to pay higher prices than ever.

The artificial foods will have lower marginal costs to the producers. But their market power will let them restrict supply. That lets them get higher profit margins while consumers pay more.

https://t.co/zQEWHJbPpr

[Tim Urban @waitbutwhy]

I may be far less jacked than Liv but I also tried (and loved) lab meat and will eat it regularly as soon as it's available to me in Austin.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@peterboghossian @waitbutwhy That stuff will be a profit maker for monopoly or near-monopoly companies that manufacture it, but it will NOT be cheaper for the consumer.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@waitbutwhy That stuff is NOT going to be cheaper than real meat.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@BrianLenzkes A negative number.

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@USA_TW_KR Catchy song

https://t.co/kmdFkop6NM

[Ex-Underachiever @Matthewmatical]

@DisrespectedThe Don’t link to scam websites.