Papyrocentric Performativity Presents:
• Wattir an Wirds – The Strange Adventures of Mr Andrew Hawthorn & Other Stories, John Buchan (Penguin Books 2009)
• Caveat Lector – Will This Do? The First Fifty Years of Auberon Waugh, Auberon Waugh (Century 1991)
Or Read a Review at Random: RaRaR
Q. How many Guardianistas does it take to change a light-bulb?
A. In terms of an initial / preliminary response around this obviously loaded question, I’d like to begin by problematicizing the notion that it is possible to erect an overt illuminational hierarchy whereby notions of “light” are privileged over notions of “darkness” through deployment of an “objective” and/or “value-free” modality of environmental interrogation via soi disant “sensory” channels. Next, it will (of course) be vital to undertake an in-depth consultation-exercise / impact-assessment with any and all vulnerable minority-communities of ethnicity, sexuality, gender-fluidity and/or other alternate ontology. We must ensure, on a keyly non-negotiable basis of absolute core non-negotiability, that their “fringe” inputs are prioritized on an on-going basis in terms of the decision-making process taking place around the problematicized notion of “changing” the allegedly “dead” so-called “bulb”. Issues around adequate resourcing of the consultation-exercise / impact-assessment must be addressed as a matter of urgency, with ring-fenced contingencies in place safeguarding provision of all necessary trauma counselling for vulnerable communities and/or individuals adversely impacted on a negative basis by the “bulb”-transitioning procedure and/or (indeed) the consultation-exercise / impact-assessment it/them/self/ves. Furthermore…
Vatican Clarification on Filioque
[…] We grant that the Holy Spirit proceeds principally from the Father, in the technical sense. That means, the Father is his principal without principal. It is not that the Spirit proceeds “less” from the Son. But that the Son, his principal, is himself from a principal. In short, the teaching here shores up the monarchy of the Father.
But it is odd to say that the HS proceeds from the Father alone in a “proper” manner. Is this opposed to an “improper” manner? Does it mean the term “proceeds” should not be linked to the Son? Does it mean that “proceeds” means only coming from an ultimate principal? Why then should the document include the expression “proceeds (ekporeuetai) from the Father through the Son?” Wouldn’t that be oxymoronic? Or is “proper” simply a redundant synonym for “principal”? These are questions. […]
• Vatican Clarification on Filioque, Thomistica.net, 7/xi/2014.
The Latin phrase multum in parvo means “much in little”. It’s a good way of describing the construction of fractals, where the application of very simple rules can produce great complexity and beauty. For example, what could be simpler than dividing a square into smaller squares and discarding some of the smaller squares?
Yet repeated applications of divide-and-discard can produce complexity out of even a 2×2 square. Divide a square into four squares, discard one of the squares, then repeat with the smaller squares, like this:
Increase the sides of the square by a little and you increase the number of fractals by a lot. A 3×3 square yields these fractals:
And the 4×4 and 5×5 fractals yield more:
When the biologist E.O. Wilson was asked by a friend what to do about the ants that had invaded his kitchen, Wilson said: “Watch where you step.” — Christopher Potter, How to Make a Human Being: A Body of Evidence (2014), pg. 214
Wolfgang Tillmans, Toucan (2010)
Duels are interesting things. Flashman made his name in one and earnt an impressive scar in another. Maupassant explored their psychology and so did his imitator Maugham. Game theory might be a good guide on how to fight one, but I’d like to look at something simpler: the concept of duelling numbers.
How would two numbers fight? One way is to use digit-sums. Find the digit-sum of each number, then take it away from the other number. Repeat until one or both numbers <= 0, like this:
function duel(n1,n2){
print(n1," <-> ",n2);
do{
s1=digitsum(n1);
s2=digitsum(n2);
n1 -= s2;
n2 -= s1;
print(” -> ",n1," <-> ",n2);
}while(n1>0 && n2>0);
}
Suppose n1 = 23 and n2 = 22. At the first step, s1 = digitsum(23) = 5 and s2 = digitsum(22) = 4. So n1 = 23 – 4 = 19 and n2 = 22 – 5 = 17. And what happens in the end?
23 ↔ 22 ➔ 19 ↔ 17 ➔ 11 ↔ 7 ➔ 4 ↔ 5 ➔ -1 ↔ 1
So 23 loses the duel with 22. Now try 23 vs 24:
23 ↔ 24 ➔ 17 ↔ 19 ➔ 7 ↔ 11 ➔ 5 ↔ 4 ➔ 1 ↔ -1
23 wins the duel with 24. The gap can be bigger. For example, 85 and 100 are what might be called David and Goliath numbers, because the David of 85 beats the Goliath of 100:
85 ↔ 100 ➔ 84 ↔ 87 ➔ 69 ↔ 75 ➔ 57 ↔ 60 ➔ 51 ↔ 48 ➔ 39 ↔ 42 ➔ 33 ↔ 30 ➔ 30 ↔ 24 ➔ 24 ↔ 21 ➔ 21 ↔ 15 ➔ 15 ↔ 12 ➔ 12 ↔ 6 ➔ 6 ↔ 3 ➔ 3 ↔ -3
999 and 1130 are also David and Goliath numbers:
999 ↔ 1130 ➔ 994 ↔ 1103 ➔ 989 ↔ 1081 ➔ 979 ↔ 1055 ➔ 968 ↔ 1030 ➔ 964 ↔ 1007 ➔ 956 ↔ 988 ➔ 931 ↔ 968 ➔ 908 ↔ 955 ➔ 889 ↔ 938 ➔ 869 ↔ 913 ➔ 856 ↔ 890 ➔ 839 ↔ 871 ➔ 823 ↔ 851 ➔ 809 ↔ 838 ➔ 790 ↔ 821 ➔ 779 ↔ 805 ➔ 766 ↔ 782 ➔ 749 ↔ 763 ➔ 733 ↔ 743 ➔ 719 ↔ 730 ➔ 709 ↔ 713 ➔ 698 ↔ 697 ➔ 676 ↔ 674 ➔ 659 ↔ 655 ➔ 643 ↔ 635 ➔ 629 ↔ 622 ➔ 619 ↔ 605 ➔ 608 ↔ 589 ➔ 586 ↔ 575 ➔ 569 ↔ 556 ➔ 553 ↔ 536 ➔ 539 ↔ 523 ➔ 529 ↔ 506 ➔ 518 ↔ 490 ➔ 505 ↔ 476 ➔ 488 ↔ 466 ➔ 472 ↔ 446 ➔ 458 ↔ 433 ➔ 448 ↔ 416 ➔ 437 ↔ 400 ➔ 433 ↔ 386 ➔ 416 ↔ 376 ➔ 400 ↔ 365 ➔ 386 ↔ 361 ➔ 376 ↔ 344 ➔ 365 ↔ 328 ➔ 352 ↔ 314 ➔ 344 ↔ 304 ➔ 337 ↔ 293 ➔ 323 ↔ 280 ➔ 313 ↔ 272 ➔ 302 ↔ 265 ➔ 289 ↔ 260 ➔ 281 ↔ 241 ➔ 274 ↔ 230 ➔ 269 ↔ 217 ➔ 259 ↔ 200 ➔ 257 ↔ 184 ➔ 244 ↔ 170 ➔ 236 ↔ 160 ➔ 229 ↔ 149 ➔ 215 ↔ 136 ➔ 205 ↔ 128 ➔ 194 ↔ 121 ➔ 190 ↔ 107 ➔ 182 ↔ 97 ➔ 166 ↔ 86 ➔ 152 ↔ 73 ➔ 142 ↔ 65 ➔ 131 ↔ 58 ➔ 118 ↔ 53 ➔ 110 ↔ 43 ➔ 103 ↔ 41 ➔ 98 ↔ 37 ➔ 88 ↔ 20 ➔ 86 ↔ 4 ➔ 82 ↔ -10
You can look in the other direction and find bully numbers, or numbers that beat all numbers smaller than themselves. In base 10, the numbers 2 to 9 obviously do. So do these:
35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 47, 48, 49, 58, 59, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 76, 77, 78, 79, 189
In other bases, bullies are sometimes common, sometimes rare. Sometimes they don’t exist at all for n > b. Here are bully numbers for bases 2 to 30:
base=2: 3, 5, 7, 13, 15, 21, 27, 29, 31, 37, 43, 45, 47, 54, 59
b=3: 4, 5, 7, 8, 14
b=4: 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 27, 63
b=5: 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 23, 24
b=6: 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 65, 71, 101
b=7: 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 32, 33, 34, 40, 41, 45, 46, 47, 48, 76
b=8: 37, 38, 39, 46, 47, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 95, 103, 111, 119
b=9: 42, 43, 44, 52, 53, 61, 62
b=10: 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 47, 48, 49, 58, 59, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 76, 77, 78, 79, 189
b=11: 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 62, 63, 64, 65, 73, 74, 75, 76, 85, 86, 87
b=12: 57, 58, 59
b=13: 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 74, 75, 76, 77, 87, 88, 89, 90, 101, 102, 103, 115, 116, 127, 128, 129
b=14: none (except 2 to 13)
b=15: 116, 117, 118, 119, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 147, 148, 149
b=16: 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 140, 141, 142, 143, 156, 157, 158, 159, 173, 174, 175, 190, 191, 222, 223
b=17: 151, 152, 168, 169, 185, 186
b=18: 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 212, 213, 214, 215
b=19: 242, 243, 244, 245, 246
b=20: none
b=21: 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 206, 207, 208, 209, 227, 228, 229, 230, 248, 249, 250, 251, 270, 271, 272
b=22: 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483
b=23: none
b=24: none
b=25: 271, 272, 273, 274, 296, 297, 298, 299, 322, 323, 324, 348, 349, 372, 373, 374
b=26: none
b=27: none
b=28: none
b=29: 431, 432, 433, 434, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 490, 491, 492, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550
b=30: none
Papyrocentric Performativity Presents:
• At the Margins of Mapness – Mapping the World: The Story of Cartography, Beau Riffenburgh (Carlton Books 2011, 2014)
• Vivid Viral – Flora: An Artistic Voyage through the World of Plants, Sandra Knapp (Natural History Museum 2014)
• Auto Motive – Dream Cars: The Hot 100, Sam Philip (BBC Books 2014)
Or Read a Review at Random: RaRaR
“What they will find is a clear look into the molten core of a certain mind-set, a place where conspiracies are legion, victims are portrayed as perpetrators and so-called news is a fig leaf on a far darker art.” — “Sowing Mayhem, One Click at a Time”, David Carr, The New York Times, 15/xii/2014, viâ Steve Sailer.
Papyrocentric Performativity Presents:
• Nor Severn Shore – The Poems of A.E. Housman, edited by Archie Burnett (Clarendon Press 1997) (posted @ Overlord of the Über-Feral)
• Knight and Clay – The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code and the Uncovering of a Lost Civilisation, Margalit Fox (Profile Books 2013)
• Goal God Guide – The Secret Footballer’s Guide to the Modern Game: Tips and Tactics from the Ultimate Insider, The Secret Footballer (Guardian Books 2014)
Or Read a Review at Random: RaRaR
Overlord In Terms of Core Issues Around Maximal Engagement with Key Notions of the Über-Feral 