Five questions!
Oct. 25th, 2023 12:17 amI got five questions from ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
landofnowhere, thank you! :)
1. Favorite chess opening?
That's easy - my heart belongs to the Ruy Lopez / Spanish opening with white! :D With Black, I'm a Sicilian player, but really, I'm happiest when I can play the Ruy Lopez, which is not just one of the first openings I learned as a little girl, but also frequently results in positions that suit my style well. I have something like a ridiculous 80% win rate in that opening, and I'm just sad I don't get it on the board more often.
2. Tell me about an interesting book that hasn't been translated out of German (or at least not into English)?
Huh... Books... That's an interesting question, since a) I'm not a very bookish person, and b) large parts of my collection consist of political propaganda (of any affiliation whatsoever; I'm just fascinated by the concept) and erotica (which I'm sure you don't want me to discuss here in detail). But I'll combine this with the topology question and recommend - the complete collected writings of Brouwer (yes, the guy with the famous fixed point thingy). I believe his math papers have been translated if they weren't in English in the first place (he published in different languages) but he also wrote some philosophical and personal musings that I read recently, and... Okay, frankly, I concluded the guy was insane or an utter asshole (and that's an inclusive 'or'), but this stuff sure was entertaining - and I don't think anyone ever bothered to translate it. XD
3. What's some interesting wildlife near you?
Wolves. They're cute. :) Interesting, too - some local sheep farmers keep complaining about wolves killing their sheep, and asking for compensation money from the government (which they're getting). The most interesting thing is how many of the sheep carted off to the government show gunshot wounds upon closer examination, so, at some point, the local wolves have learned how to operate firearms! Isn't that fascinating? :D
4. If you could add something to the standard school curriculum, what would it be?
Different techniques for brainstorming / systematic / prompted / assisted thinking and problem-solving. Most school stuff, unfortunately, consists of rote memorization, and even that doesn't work equally well for all learning types, so... Yeah, I'd love teachers to at least mention there are different ways to approach unknown problems, and ideally provide several methods the students can try for themselves. Otherwise? I wouldn't add anything to the school curriculum. I'd remove half the content, though. And that's being generous. Speaking as someone who used to skip a lot of school due to chess: if I return to classes after a two-month absence and haven't missed anything important, clearly, the time of young people is being wasted.
5. A fun topology thing?
All topology is fun... But, since I already mentioned Brouwer's fixed point theorem, let's stick to the historic fundamentals - I'll give a honorary mention to Milnor's Analytic Proofs of the “Hairy Ball Theorem” and the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem since that's clearly the most amusing math paper in existence. Simple! Elegant! And... I laughed my ass off! :D Definite recommendation.
landofnowhere, thank you! :)1. Favorite chess opening?
That's easy - my heart belongs to the Ruy Lopez / Spanish opening with white! :D With Black, I'm a Sicilian player, but really, I'm happiest when I can play the Ruy Lopez, which is not just one of the first openings I learned as a little girl, but also frequently results in positions that suit my style well. I have something like a ridiculous 80% win rate in that opening, and I'm just sad I don't get it on the board more often.
2. Tell me about an interesting book that hasn't been translated out of German (or at least not into English)?
Huh... Books... That's an interesting question, since a) I'm not a very bookish person, and b) large parts of my collection consist of political propaganda (of any affiliation whatsoever; I'm just fascinated by the concept) and erotica (which I'm sure you don't want me to discuss here in detail). But I'll combine this with the topology question and recommend - the complete collected writings of Brouwer (yes, the guy with the famous fixed point thingy). I believe his math papers have been translated if they weren't in English in the first place (he published in different languages) but he also wrote some philosophical and personal musings that I read recently, and... Okay, frankly, I concluded the guy was insane or an utter asshole (and that's an inclusive 'or'), but this stuff sure was entertaining - and I don't think anyone ever bothered to translate it. XD
3. What's some interesting wildlife near you?
Wolves. They're cute. :) Interesting, too - some local sheep farmers keep complaining about wolves killing their sheep, and asking for compensation money from the government (which they're getting). The most interesting thing is how many of the sheep carted off to the government show gunshot wounds upon closer examination, so, at some point, the local wolves have learned how to operate firearms! Isn't that fascinating? :D
4. If you could add something to the standard school curriculum, what would it be?
Different techniques for brainstorming / systematic / prompted / assisted thinking and problem-solving. Most school stuff, unfortunately, consists of rote memorization, and even that doesn't work equally well for all learning types, so... Yeah, I'd love teachers to at least mention there are different ways to approach unknown problems, and ideally provide several methods the students can try for themselves. Otherwise? I wouldn't add anything to the school curriculum. I'd remove half the content, though. And that's being generous. Speaking as someone who used to skip a lot of school due to chess: if I return to classes after a two-month absence and haven't missed anything important, clearly, the time of young people is being wasted.
5. A fun topology thing?
All topology is fun... But, since I already mentioned Brouwer's fixed point theorem, let's stick to the historic fundamentals - I'll give a honorary mention to Milnor's Analytic Proofs of the “Hairy Ball Theorem” and the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem since that's clearly the most amusing math paper in existence. Simple! Elegant! And... I laughed my ass off! :D Definite recommendation.
