The Official TPH Education Thread (POTENTIAL GAME DAY SPOILERS)

[1stlvlthinker]

From March 2, 2016:

I've NHO Devil's Island, but I guessed it anyway off the French cognates. "Small" right below it had me thinking TOO small and trying to

It comes up two or three times a season, so you'll get another crack this season.

At least this time I only said that I didn't recognize it.

YES!!!!!!!! It's working!!!!

[TenPoundHammer]

Calculus, or more generally mathematics, allows us to build things. Like airplanes and skyscrapers and computers. Knowledge of history keeps us from repeating the mistakes of the past (like slavery and 10,000 lightbulb designs that don’t work) and keeps alive the dreams for the future (maybe getting a man to the moon and returning him safely).

The alternative to learning is ignorance, which leads to a life that is dark, brutish, and short.

There is also a distinction between knowing things and making is of that knowledge. Knowing where every closed Hardee’s was in Michigan by itself isn’t very useful. But if you study those locations to figure out why they closed, you might be able to distinguish between a good place and a bad place to open a fast food restaurant. That could be very useful to know if you were going to open such a restaurant.

But I'm never going to do any of those.

The pursuit of knowledge wears you out and doesn't accomplish anything. It's all futility.

THEN WHY BOTHER LEARNING ANYTHING?!?!

[opusthepenguin]

The pursuit of knowledge wears you out and doesn't accomplish anything. It's all futility.

THEN WHY BOTHER LEARNING ANYTHING?!?!

Exactly!

Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is futility. For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools? So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is futility and a chasing after wind.

[dhkendall]

Which got me thinking: what is the point in learning anything? I can tell you where every closed up Hardee's in Michigan is. But what benefit is that to anyone else? What benefit is there to anyone knowing about Charlemagne or president Monroe or calculus?

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. Beware of anything beyond these, my son. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

In English please?

Solomon tells you in the Bible that "it's cool to be smart".

Opus the Biblical scholar can back me up on this but there’s no proof Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, his name isn’t even on it. (The author’s self-description hat sounds a lot like what we know about Solomon). It’s usially attributed to “The Teacher” or Qoholet.

And to answer TPH’s question, it’s because we enjoy to. It’s not my wife’s thing or my kids’ thing, but then they don’t watch Jeopardy! like we do. Jeopardy! is made for people who like to learn things. If you aren’t, that’s cool, you could always take up stamp collecting, or bird watching, or mall information. But don’t go wondering why a show meant for those who like to learn new things isn’t appealing to you, someone who doesn’t like to learn new things.

[TenPoundHammer]

And to answer TPH’s question, it’s because we enjoy to. It’s not my wife’s thing or my kids’ thing, but then they don’t watch Jeopardy! like we do. Jeopardy! is made for people who like to learn things. If you aren’t, that’s cool, you could always take up stamp collecting, or bird watching, or mall information. But don’t go wondering why a show meant for those who like to learn new things isn’t appealing to you, someone who doesn’t like to learn new things.

Clearly some part of me wants to, because otherwise I'd have stopped asking. But I can't get out of my own way.

[opusthepenguin]

Which got me thinking: what is the point in learning anything? I can tell you where every closed up Hardee's in Michigan is. But what benefit is that to anyone else? What benefit is there to anyone knowing about Charlemagne or president Monroe or calculus?

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. Beware of anything beyond these, my son. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

In English please?

Solomon tells you in the Bible that "it's cool to be smart".

Opus the Biblical scholar can back me up on this but there’s no proof Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, his name isn’t even on it. (The author’s self-description hat sounds a lot like what we know about Solomon). It’s usially attributed to “The Teacher” or Qoholet.

Correct. "Qohelet" is a transliteration of the Hebrew word that's usually rendered as The Teacher or The Preacher. If I recall, it technically means something like "Convener of the Assembly". While Qohelet is presented as a Solomonic figure, the book does not claim to be by Solomon. The Hebrew used in Ecclesiastes is from the post-exilic period, so a good 900+ years after Solomon. It would have been clear to the original audience that the book wasn't by Solomon and wasn't claiming to be. However, for those who understand this, it can still be a convenient shorthand to refer to the speaker in Ecclesiastes as "Solomon."

[Wheatley]

Greek seemed very YEKIOYD too.

As Alanis Morisette one said, "You oughta know," because not only is a lot of the English language derived from Greek, but it's extremely prominent in science, so memorizing those gives you an edge in two categories for the price of one.

[TenPoundHammer]

[trainman]

Had you persisted with the video, you would have encountered the legend of Ouroboros, which strikes me as an appropriate symbol for this entire thread.

(This is a shirt, available here.)

[This Is Kirk!]

The man, the legend? So what's the air date?

[TenPoundHammer]

The man, the legend? So what's the air date?

December 8

[dhkendall]

You look almost as excited to be there as I am to watch you on Dec. 8! (Well, probably more excited, given your love of the show, but I will be setting up the recorder to watch Wheel when the date is close enough, and that's not something I do for just anyone.)

[This Is Kirk!]

The man, the legend? So what's the air date?

December 8

That's awesome. I'll be watching and I'll be rooting for you. May the wheel be kind!

[SweepingDeveloper]

Retro good luck TPH!

[twelvefootboy]

You look almost as excited to be there as I am to watch you on Dec. 8! (Well, probably more excited, given your love of the show, but I will be setting up the recorder to watch Wheel when the date is close enough, and that's not something I do for just anyone.)

I Hawley Smoot and cromulent that sentiment! I've endured glimpses of that show sitting in doctor's offices or mechanic's shops, but will force myself to watch a whole episode to root for you . If, however, you should ever appear on "19 Kids and Counting" , or "Keeping up with the

Spoiler

the name that shall not be spoken

, you are on your own.

Best of Retro luck, T_N P__ND H_MM_R

[opusthepenguin]

Best of Retro luck, T_N P__ND H_MM_R

Oh man... I know this one.... Umm, Pat, I'd like to buy an "I".

[Peter the accountant]

Best of Retro luck, T_N P__ND H_MM_R

Oh man... I know this one.... Umm, Pat, I'd like to buy an "I".

Pat, I'd like to solve:
Tan poind hummer

(What you call your light brown military vehicle after it is seized by the sheriff.)


Word of the day: poind
Scottish
: to take forceful legal possession of especially so as to sell under warrant

[Wheatley]

I started tivo'ing Wheel a short while ago. Now I'm glad I did.

[TenPoundHammer]

So again, that math thing.

If 1400-592 is too complex for me...

[Peter the accountant]

re: Planets

Once again, I can't keep any of the planets straight. Apollo = Mercury was news to me, and I can NEVER manage to keep Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus-Neptune straight in terms of "which is biggest", "which has rings", etc.

I'll admit the Mercury/Apollo thing was news to me as well. That surprised me in the top row.

As to sizes, for the 4 gas giants, their order from the Sun is also their size order. Jupiter is biggest, then Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. For the smaller (aka rocky) planets, we live on the biggest. Mercury is the smallest and closest to the Sun. That leaves the toss up between Venus and Mars. If you can remember that Venus is the closest in size, but Mars is the closest in habitability, you've got it.

Rings: Technically, all 4 gas giants have rings. But Saturn is the one with RINGS!!! The other three have wimpy little rings in comparison (which we didn't fully know about until sending spacecraft there). Saturn's rings were known about from the very early time of telescopes (so going back to the 1600s or so).