Saturday, September 27, 2008

Math Puns Explained

There are only 10 types of people in the world —
those who understand binary, and those who don't.


This joke relies on the fact that mathematical expressions, just as expressions in natural languages, may have multiple meanings. When multiple meanings are available, puns are possible. In this case a pun is made using the expression 10. For non-mathematicians or non-computer programmers 10 almost always refers to the number ten. However, in binary, the expression 10 means the number two. Thus the joke says that there are only two kinds of people, those who understand binary, and those who don't. However, those who do not understand binary will certainly not get the joke. This joke is only feasible in written form; when speaking a binary number aloud, "10" would be phrased as "one zero" or simply "two", rather than "ten".

There are only 10 types of people in the world —
those who understand binary, those who don't, and those who understand Gray code.


In Gray code, "10" would be phrased as "one zero" or simply "three", rather than "ten", adding another layer of subtlety to the joke.

A self-deprecating version is as follows:

There are only 10 types of people in the world —
those who understand binary, and those who get laid.


The following joke refers to the original joke:

There are only 10 types of people in the world —
those who understand ternary, those who don't, and those who mistake it for binary.


A similar joke may be played by asking the question:

If only DEAD people understand hexadecimal, how many people understand hexadecimal?

In this case, DEAD refers to a hexadecimal number (57005 base 10), not the state of being no longer alive.

Another pun using different radices, sometimes attributed to computer scientists, asks:

Why do mathematicians think Halloween and Christmas are the same?
Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec.


The humor lies in the fact that Halloween occurs on October 31 and Christmas occurs on December 25, thus equating "oct" in October and octal, and "dec" in December and decimal. (This one is also often attributed to computer scientists: Real programmers confuse Halloween and Christmas — because dec(25) = oct(31).)

Another joke involving counting is:

There are three kinds of people in the world: those who can count, and those who can't.

This implies, of course, that the person making the statement is the latter.

Almost everyone knows the trite line: "Why did the chicken cross the road?" "To get to the other side". A mathematical variation follows as: "Why did the chicken cross the Möbius strip?" This joke relies on the audience knowing that since the Möbius Strip is a surface with only one "side" (i.e., one "edge"), anyone trying to give the typical answer will realize its impossibility. The answer is sometimes also given as "To get to the same side", with the same rationale.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Friday, September 5, 2008

S.H.A.R.P.: Roddy's Interview

Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP)

In the early 1960s, England saw a continuation of the entrenched class system, which offered most working class people with substandard educational, housing and economic opportunities. However, Britain was also experiencing a post-war economic boom, which led to an increase of disposable income among many young people. Some of those youths invested in new fashions popularized by American soul groups, British RnB bands, certain movie actors, and Carnaby Street clothing merchants. These were the Mods, a youth subculture noted for its consumerism and devotion to style, music and scooters. Mods of lesser means made do with practical styles that suited their lifestyle and/or employment circumstances - steel-toe boots, straight-legged denim jeans, button-down shirts and braces (suspenders in the USA). When possible, their limited funds were spent on smart outfits worn in the evenings to dance halls, where they enjoyed ska, reggae, and rock steady beats.

Around 1965, a schism developed between the "peacock" mods, who always wore the latest expensive clothes, and the "hard" mods (also known as "gang" mods), who were identified by their shorter hair and working-class image. Also known as "lemonheads" and "peanuts", these hard mods were commonly known as skinheads by about 1968. In addition to retaining many mod influences, early skinheads were greatly interested in Jamaican Rude Boy style and culture, especially Reggae and Ska music.

Skinhead culture exploded in 1969 to the extent that even the rock band Slade temporarily adopted the look. By the 1970s, the skinhead subculture started to fade, and some of the original skins dropped into new categories, such as the "Suede-heads" (defined by the ability to manipulate one's hair with a comb), "Smoothies" (often with hairstyles down to shoulder length), and "Bootboys" (associated with gangs and hooliganism). Some fashions returned to the mod roots, reintroducing the wearing of brogues or loafers, suits, and the slacks-and-sweater look.

In the mid-1970s, the skinhead movement was reborn after the introduction of Punk Rock. Skinheads with even shorter hair and less emphasis on style grew in numbers and grabbed the attention of the media, as a result of hooliganism during football matches, sometimes to the point of rioting.

Skinheads also gained a great deal of media attention after some of them were recruited by far right political parties like the National Front. The party's position against blacks and Asians appealed to some working class skinheads who blamed immigrants for economic and social problems. This led to the public's common misconception that all skinheads are neo-Nazis. In the meantime, the skinhead subculture had spread beyond The UK and Europe.

In an attempt to counter this negative stereotype, some anti-racist skinhead organizations were formed. In the USA, Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) started in 1987, and Anti-Racist Action (ARA) began in 1988. SHARP then spread to the UK and beyond, and other less political skinheads also spoke out against neo-Nazis and in support of traditional skinhead culture. Two examples are the Glasgow Spy Kids in Scotland, and the publishers of the Hard As Nails zine in England. The Skinhead sub culture has since spread around the world, and there are many different kinds of Skinheads.

SHARP was born in New York, when mass media rumors and right-wing infiltrations had ruined the original Skinhead cult, spreading out the image of the bonehead (just another term for 'imbecile'), the nazi and brainless 'skinhead'. Some Skinheads, fed up with this situation, gave life to SHARP (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice) under the slogan 'pride without prejudice' to promote a different message, that Skins are not all the same and that every Skinhead has got his own ideas on politics as on every other thing: being a Skinhead is a style and a cultural choice, not a political one.

The first members of SHARP did a good job being interviewed on the radio and on TV, explaining our multiracial, and multicultural roots. Finally in 1989 Roddy Moreno (vocalist for Welsh Oi! band The Oppressed), who back then was in New York, got some anti-racist Skinheads' leaflets and thought that the idea was so good that those fliers were copied and distributed in Europe. SHARP finally became a worldwide reality.

All these things happened nearly twenty years ago, since then many SHARP chapters disappeared and new ones were born and they still keep on coming, and every single chapter is the reflection of its own town's and country's reality, often with deep differences especially on the political side, something that largely contributed to make SHARP members forget what this movement was born for: SHARP's purpose was to fight racism, belonging to SHARP doesn't mean that you are non-political, anarchist or communist, it just means that you're an anti-racist skinhead with your own ideas, proud of your roots and not willing to be nobody's puppet. Now, have we attained our objectives? First of all today a lot of people know that 'Skinhead' doesn't stand for 'racist', and this is something more than a small advantage for our everyday life, this is an important goal in the fight against fascism: notwithstanding the bad information and all the media publicity, nazis are aware that they have lost almost a part of an important recruitment tool; beside that, lots of section gave an important contribution to the scene, creating new oi! and ska bands and publishing new fanzines, diffusing both our anti-racist message and our culture, taking it back to its roots and not living it as a political instrument or as a wing of punk...

Remember SHARP is an anti-racist movement not a political movement...

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Is Free Speech in Jeopardy at the Democratic Convention?

More at www.theuptake.org.

After the site and interior of the secret detention center in Denver, developed in anticipation of the DNC, was exposed, the Sheriff's Office decided they may as well give the media a tour to reassure public sentiment. Undersheriff Bill Lovingier showed TV, newspaper, radio, and new media around the facility, walking through the process a detainee would face.

One change made to the facility because of the media coverage and resulting community outrage is the removal of razor wire on the interior holding pens.

Lovingier explains the change and why the extra security is needed within the facility not just to prevent people from escaping, but also to prevent protest and counter-protest groups from clashing violently while being held.

The ACLU has raised a concern about the process, saying Colorado law requires lawyers to meet with their clients within the detention center. Lovingier sidestepped a question about this, saying only "you're correct, that is what the ACLU has said."