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Posted

Jeeesh. It's amazing how excited people can get over vertical mud.

 

Hey, does anybody know whether Erik Wolfe is the same Erik Wolfe who used to hang at the U.W. rock? You know, the guy who honestly believed he was Patch Adams (before he morphed into a humming bird or a tortoise or some damn thing)?

Posted

quote:

Originally posted by sexual chocolate:

No. Yes. Well, let me think about it for a sec.

 

Yes, he might be. It might be the same Erik Wolfe. But I wouldn't bet my last copy of Royal Robbins' Rockcraft on it, if I were you.

 

Tortoise, hummingbird. Damn.

Thanks for your prompt (sincere Pope) and useful (sarcastic Pope) reply. Erik Wolfe (gave himself that last name after "the great American author") used to come down to the wall in a clown outfit and pull down pretty hard. I asked him about the outfit and he told a story about working on the Patch Adams ranch or something. In the middle of his story, some kids came up and requested balloons but he didn't have any.

 

The next time I saw him, he had transformed into a hummingbird. Yeah, no shit, that's what he told me. I sarcastically replied that I was the Easter Bunny, and I think I hurt his feelings. That's the last time I was really sarcastic with somebody, since I went home feeling shitty about insulting him. I don't know....he used to be a cool hippie, back when we did ROTC (that's the only time I climbed with him), but the last time I talked to him he had obviously evolved.

 

He's the guy who coauthored the UW bouldering guide with Scotty Hopkins.

Posted

I'm no historian, but logarithm stands for "logical arithmetic". Log tables were useful for multiplying large numbers quickly, in the following way:

 

The log of 100 is 2, since 10^2=100. The log of 10,000 is 4 since 10^4=10,000. Now, you can determine what 100 times 10,000 is by adding 4+2=6 and looking 6 up in a log table: log(1,000,000) is 6, and so 100 times 10,000 is 1,000,000.

 

You don't need logs for this simple problem, but imagine two large, nasty numbers that you need to multiply, and imagine that you need your answer to be fairly accurate, but that it's more important that you get it quickly. Without technology, you can look up their logs in a table, add them together, and then find what super large number has this sum of logs as its log. That large number will be the product of the two numbers you intended to multiply quickly. Pretty slick, especially if you have to multiply several big numbers quickly.

 

OK, there you have it. And who said you don't use math in real life!

Posted

Ahh jeesus, Nietzsche's rolling in his grave right now.

 

BTW, the new beaujolais is out, and word is that it's great. "Zee gwapes haf fantasteek concentwation", says Georges Duboeuf, owner of the largest boujolais producer in the world.

Bottoms up!

Posted

quote:

Originally posted by chucK:

Hey Pope,

Can you regale us with tales of slide rules now?

Chuck, you're older than I am, aren't you? I never used one of those bad boys. But here's some more math history. The word "algorithm" was actually coined at the National Democratic Caucus. It is basically the juxtaposition of the words "Al", "Gore", and "rhythm", and it was intended to remind the public that not only did Gore invent the internet, but also that he is a happenin' guy.

Posted

That's funny! -

 

He's been spotted quite a bit lately, starting to make his way around the talk shows. Wants to see how the masses respond to his visage after being gone for a couple of years. I guess he'll check the ratings, check the results from some focus groups, and then announce his intentions early next year, huh? (I bet he runs....)

Posted

quote:

Originally posted by sexual chocolate:

 

(I bet he runs....)

I'll bet you're correct. He's their only hope. That's pathetic.

 

[ 11-22-2002, 05:21 AM: Message edited by: pope ]

Posted

True. Did anybody catch Al 'n' Tipper on Fresh Air the other night? The guy couldn't just answer a question; you could almost hear the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out how to craft the most politically acceptable response. Fuckin' [sleep] -o-rama.

Posted

Two headlines from today's Washington Post:

"Gore: Bush Loses Terror Focus 2000 Rival Says Focus on Iraq Aided GOP but Not Nation"

 

"U.S. Identifies Captured Al Qaeda Official Suspected Head of USS Cole Bombing Caught Earlier This Month"

 

SOme guys just can't catch a break. Gore isn't the Dem's best hope and he won't run a serious campaign.

 

PP

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