I was reminded of this yesterday by something commenter “huxley” wrote:
Comments
Open thread 9/21/23 — 30 Comments
Because of the media pushing a narrative and the uniqueness of DJT and his ability to amass attention, the overall quality of the Republican primary candidates is often overlooked this term. But I think one gets perspective when comparing with former GOP nominees; Romney, McCain and Bush the younger (in his first term).
I’m curious if any of you agree with this:
Ignoring Trump for a moment; I would prefer Haley and DeSantis over Romney, McCain and Bush. Scott and Burgum are right up there. I wish Burgum had helmed a more populous state, but he seems more conservative than Romney, McCain or Bush and he was an effective governor. Scott is a more reliable Senator than McCain.
Is Christie any worse than Romney, McCain and Bush?
Ramaswamy is better based on his policies and statements, but he has no record to gauge his effectiveness or sincerity.
And, I think many here would put Trump way above Romney, McCain and Bush.
What do you say, neophiles, are there two or more candidates in this GOP primary you believe are better candidates than Romney, McCain and Bush? Three? Four?
Thank you for posting the Tom Lehrer song. It was one I had never heard before and, as Lehrer usually does, gave me some great laughs.
Listening to the bit where he is singing about how he plans to steal from various colleagues in Minsk, Pinsk, Omsk, etc. I was interested when I recognized most of the names. Thinking about it I realized that it was a result of following the news of the war in Ukraine. So an example of the sardonic saying (attributed to Ambrose Bierce) that “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.”
Rufus T. Firefly – I agree. To this day, I still can’t explain W., but I think that the Romney and McCain nominations were the direct result of the shelackings that the GOP suffered in 2006 and 2008.
But if you look at the GOP primaries from 2008 and 2012, I think they reinforce the conclusion that the party had historically weak candidate pools in those years. In 2008, McCain was still the hated insurgent and ended up as the “establishment” candidate simply because they didn’t have anyone better. If you remember, McCain’s primary campaign was going so poorly at one point that he was down to handful of staffers and flying to campaign events on commercial flights. Romney in 2012 had a whale of a time putting away Newt Gingrich (already a decade and a half after he resigned the Speakership in failure) and Santorum (who had been pounded in Pennsylvania in 2006).
So yes, after all of the GOP victories during the Obama years, we have a much stronger crop of presidential candidates than we did in 2008 and 2012. I would take DeSantis, Haley, Scott, and Bergum over anyone who ran in 2008 and 2012.
Also, some people talk like there was some kind of establishment plot to foist Romney and McCain on the GOP electorate in 2008 and 2012. I don’t think so. Who else should the GOP have nominated in those years? Alan Keyes? Do you think Mike Huckabee would have beaten Obama? Would Mitt Romney have been better in 2008 than he was in 2012? How about 2012, would Newt or Santorum have been a better candidate than Romney? Would they have been more likely to win? (I think not.) 2008 and 2012 weren’t about a GOPe plot, they were making the best of a bad situation with a dearth of high-quality candidates.
(Perhaps oddly, I actually do think that Mitt would have been a better candidate in 2008. Absent the Obamacare albatross, it’s conceivable that his business expertise would have been viewed as an asset in the fall of 2008 as banks were collapsing. Also, despite his experience, I think that McCain’s errative behavior that fall contributed to his loss.)
I once had an ambition in mathematics.
(neo will get that attribution.)
In high school I read Eric Temple Bell’s “Men of Mathematics” which included a chapter on Lobachevsky I found entrancing. My goodness, just use a slightly different axiom from Euclid and a whole new weird world emerges — which is in some cases useful.
I missed the Lobachevsky / plagiarism connection. According to wiki:
___________________________________________
Some mathematicians and historians have wrongly claimed that Lobachevsky in his studies in non-Euclidean geometry was influenced by Gauss, which is untrue. Gauss himself appreciated Lobachevsky’s published works highly, but they never had personal correspondence between them prior to the publication. Although three people—Gauss, Lobachevsky and Bolyai—can be credited with discovery of hyperbolic geometry, Gauss never published his ideas, and Lobachevsky was the first to present his views to the world mathematical community.
I did not become a mathematician, so I have no dog in this hunt. I do enjoy watching from the sidelines.
It seems a bit premature, but Burgam is running radio ads here in eastern Washington (the state, not the swamp).
What are they thinking?
Thanks for the Tom Lehrer song. It brought back memories of my callow youth and such Lehrer toe tappers as “Be Prepared” and “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.”
So…
New York City’s government is removing all of its statues of President Washington + President Jefferson because, (oh no), someone told these NYC government people that these two, American Presidents, existed in “the slavery years”.
Yes, that wasn’t a great time, I agree.
Yes, there were times where people were made into slaves, + there were times that people of different groups were treated like second class citizens, I agree.
Trying to erase part of history, or ignoring it, won’t change that part of the past.
Oh…how about the problems of sexism? How do we solve “the bad feelings” about that?
Lots of New York City girls and women, and lots of US girls + women, weren’t given the right to vote, before the 1920s.
That was unfair.
Well, we can’t have statues, and structures, of US people + NYC people stay in NYC, and remind us of THOSE years!
Gosh, I KNOW:
Let’s tear down [all of the stone, big buildings in New York City] that were built before the 1920s, and let’s tear up [all of the PAVED ROADS in New York City that were put in before the 1920s. That should make us feel better.
Darn, except…that would likely tear down most or [all] of- the roads, and the government buildings, in New York City.
That idea is not very practical.
I tell you what, my New York City cousins: if you want to calm your conscience, in a practical way:
kindly [ignore] the statues of people before The US, Emancipation Proclamation, and please try to [help] the people who are facing types of- discrimination, racism, sexism, and other kinds of unfairness, [now].
I feel that, you will find,- you will no longer feel badly about the past, while you are building a better present, and a better future.
Delightful.
On politics, I never had a particular problem with Romney. I must have missed something.
I always suspected that McCain was nominated as compensation for being a POW. I never knew him, but knew people who knew him well, and I did not like what I heard. I would have taken him over Obama for sure.
Rufus T. Firefly (12:30 pm), Haley and DeSantis in either order.
Neither will score 100 on an ideology purity test — but neither would M J R.
So be it.
huxley (1:33 pm) said: “I did not become a mathematician . . . .”
I did, made a buck or three at it along the way, and lived to tell about it.
I’m sure Neo will smile … but also perhaps be a bit annoyed …
huxley (4:05 pm), “Being aware of your [M J R ‘s] alma mater,” I am *flabbergasted*. I am 100 percent unaware that I have ever mentioned my academic background any time here at neo’s place. And my “handle” here (M J R) certainly doesn’t hint at any sort of clue. May I ask, how are you aware of such sensitive information?
“Do you have any light to shed on Lobachevsky and plagiarism?”
All I ever knew of Lobachevsky and plagiarism has been the Tom Lehrer tune, long a favorite of mine — particularly because of my interest in non-Euclidean geometries: specifically Lobachevskian and Riemannian. Eventually, my interest turned to the work of L.E.J. Brouwer, but we’ll not wander too far afield here, y’know?
That was academia. In the real world, I eventually wandered into mathematical modeling, specifically in air traffic control and air traffic management applications.
Far afield again . . .
But again, how are you aware of such sensitive information? Please??
Well, that does not give me the warm fuzzies. Hard to imagine Churchill traveling to the League of Nations in 1940 and using his time to speak about the weather.
It also doesn’t make me feel less comfortable that world leaders are using climate as a method to panic people.
And it feels a lot like the Left’s recent episodes of accusing the other side of what they are doing.
But again, how are you aware of such sensitive information? Please??
M J R:
Perhaps I have mixed you up with someone else, but you once described a city landmark near your school and I had once lived in that neighborhood.
Sorry if I’ve given offense.
huxley (5:51 pm), heavens, no offense /at all/ !!!!
M J R:
Given that the OT is partly mathematical, I’d be curious to hear a bit about your experience as a professional mathematician.
A couple years ago at UNM I had a fleeting moment of mathematical glory when I came up with an improvement on the textbook method for calculating Bezout coefficients. My discrete math professor said he would teach my method going forward.
What might have been…. 🙂
We’re from ‘The Government’ and are here to help you.
Those are pretty funny. I bet the Bee Gees would have been amused. They had a pretty raunchy sense of humor, apparently – although they kept it under wraps in public, for the most part.
I translated a paper on Riemann integrals once. Took me eight fourteen-hour days – was quite fun. I don’t now remember anything about the contents except the small disagreement with my client over whether I would be permitted to render “Endlichkeit” as “finitude” on page one. (Number theory context.)
On the R’s for 2008 or 2012: I still carry a torch for the intellect and political insight of Newt Gingrich. I was very impressed by the Contract with America, and some later successes. Perhaps that early exposure has blinded me to some later failings [that some here might ably present?]. I fear that more recently his age and past circumstances have sapped some of his fire and energy. He would have eaten Obama for lunch if/when the proper time had arrived.
On Romney and Ryan, I think they welched on their promise to provide “leadership” on the deficit/natl debt. [I voted for Perot in ’92.]They did not even get past giving up some “tax exclusions” that the populace would have preferred still be retained. Cowardly avoided the third rail after acting like they would take it on.
Still wanted attention on the deficit/debt addressed so much that I was kind of hoping for John Kasich to provide some meaningful leadership on that, but then he went rogue supporting the D’s and Biden. Ugh!
I translated a paper on Riemann integrals once. Took me eight fourteen-hour days – was quite fun.
Philip Sells:
You have a peculiar idea of fun. I think we’d get along!
I thought of phasing into a math degree at UNM. Compsci is a huge, wildly moving target, beset by various fashions. Math provides at least the possibility of focusing on the true, the beautiful and the eternal, befitting one’s golden years.
If university education, at least at UNM, weren’t such an unpleasant, inefficient, motivation-destroying educational experience, I might have gone that way.
So, I’m self-learning French instead. Less aggravation, more satisfaction. It’s actually going pretty well.
huxley (7:07 pm) said:
“M J R: Given that the OT is partly mathematical, I’d be curious to hear a bit about your experience as a professional mathematician.”
I would be very pleased to have this conversation with you, but I am sheepish about diving in so deeply on this (or on any) of neo’s comment threads.
I can think of one way to accomplish this: neo has both our e-mail addresses; if neo could send my e-mail address over to huxley, or vice versa, (or both ways), we can get it done without being a distraction for others.
*** neo, I give my permission to send my e-mail address over to huxley. Can do? ***
M J R:
I have great respect for you and would enjoy conversing in any form. So sure.
*** neo, I give my permission to send my e-mail address over to M J R. Can do? ***
However, don’t feel obliged and I would not wish compromising you in any way, nor particularly burdening this Open Thread.
Though I think True Stories from the Math Trench wouldn’t be unwelcome.
In a semi-mathematical bank shot my current experimentation with ChatGPT suggests that the boys in the backroom (not many girls, I suspect) are clamping down on Chat from saying Bad Things to the point it’s hard to get a straight answer without a lot of boiler-plate — it could be this and it could be that.
A classic joke in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is that “Belgium” is the One True Rude Word to Rule Them All.
But get Chat to admit that. Chat had no idea what I was talking about until I pinned it to the wall with a direct quote:
_________________________________
Full quote: “But though even words like “juju-flop,” “swut,” and “turlingdrome” are now perfectly acceptable in common usage, there is one word that is still beyond the pale. The concept it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the galaxy except one – where they don’t know what it means. That word is “Belgium””
_________________________________
Chat:
_________________________________
Thank you for providing the full quote. In this context, Douglas Adams is indeed using the word “Belgium” humorously to highlight the absurdity of a word being so taboo that it is forbidden throughout the galaxy, except in one place where it’s not understood.
This is a classic example of the type of humor found in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series, where ordinary words and concepts are given unusual and humorous twists. It’s important to understand that Douglas Adams was not making fun of Belgium or its people but was using the word as a comedic device to create a sense of the bizarre and absurd in the universe he was creating.
_________________________________
Try asking Chat about your favorite songs, films or stories and see what you get.
Because of the media pushing a narrative and the uniqueness of DJT and his ability to amass attention, the overall quality of the Republican primary candidates is often overlooked this term. But I think one gets perspective when comparing with former GOP nominees; Romney, McCain and Bush the younger (in his first term).
I’m curious if any of you agree with this:
Ignoring Trump for a moment; I would prefer Haley and DeSantis over Romney, McCain and Bush. Scott and Burgum are right up there. I wish Burgum had helmed a more populous state, but he seems more conservative than Romney, McCain or Bush and he was an effective governor. Scott is a more reliable Senator than McCain.
Is Christie any worse than Romney, McCain and Bush?
Ramaswamy is better based on his policies and statements, but he has no record to gauge his effectiveness or sincerity.
And, I think many here would put Trump way above Romney, McCain and Bush.
What do you say, neophiles, are there two or more candidates in this GOP primary you believe are better candidates than Romney, McCain and Bush? Three? Four?
Thank you for posting the Tom Lehrer song. It was one I had never heard before and, as Lehrer usually does, gave me some great laughs.
Listening to the bit where he is singing about how he plans to steal from various colleagues in Minsk, Pinsk, Omsk, etc. I was interested when I recognized most of the names. Thinking about it I realized that it was a result of following the news of the war in Ukraine. So an example of the sardonic saying (attributed to Ambrose Bierce) that “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.”
Rufus T. Firefly – I agree. To this day, I still can’t explain W., but I think that the Romney and McCain nominations were the direct result of the shelackings that the GOP suffered in 2006 and 2008.
But if you look at the GOP primaries from 2008 and 2012, I think they reinforce the conclusion that the party had historically weak candidate pools in those years. In 2008, McCain was still the hated insurgent and ended up as the “establishment” candidate simply because they didn’t have anyone better. If you remember, McCain’s primary campaign was going so poorly at one point that he was down to handful of staffers and flying to campaign events on commercial flights. Romney in 2012 had a whale of a time putting away Newt Gingrich (already a decade and a half after he resigned the Speakership in failure) and Santorum (who had been pounded in Pennsylvania in 2006).
So yes, after all of the GOP victories during the Obama years, we have a much stronger crop of presidential candidates than we did in 2008 and 2012. I would take DeSantis, Haley, Scott, and Bergum over anyone who ran in 2008 and 2012.
Also, some people talk like there was some kind of establishment plot to foist Romney and McCain on the GOP electorate in 2008 and 2012. I don’t think so. Who else should the GOP have nominated in those years? Alan Keyes? Do you think Mike Huckabee would have beaten Obama? Would Mitt Romney have been better in 2008 than he was in 2012? How about 2012, would Newt or Santorum have been a better candidate than Romney? Would they have been more likely to win? (I think not.) 2008 and 2012 weren’t about a GOPe plot, they were making the best of a bad situation with a dearth of high-quality candidates.
(Perhaps oddly, I actually do think that Mitt would have been a better candidate in 2008. Absent the Obamacare albatross, it’s conceivable that his business expertise would have been viewed as an asset in the fall of 2008 as banks were collapsing. Also, despite his experience, I think that McCain’s errative behavior that fall contributed to his loss.)
I once had an ambition in mathematics.
(neo will get that attribution.)
In high school I read Eric Temple Bell’s “Men of Mathematics” which included a chapter on Lobachevsky I found entrancing. My goodness, just use a slightly different axiom from Euclid and a whole new weird world emerges — which is in some cases useful.
I missed the Lobachevsky / plagiarism connection. According to wiki:
___________________________________________
Some mathematicians and historians have wrongly claimed that Lobachevsky in his studies in non-Euclidean geometry was influenced by Gauss, which is untrue. Gauss himself appreciated Lobachevsky’s published works highly, but they never had personal correspondence between them prior to the publication. Although three people—Gauss, Lobachevsky and Bolyai—can be credited with discovery of hyperbolic geometry, Gauss never published his ideas, and Lobachevsky was the first to present his views to the world mathematical community.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Lobachevsky
___________________________________________
I did not become a mathematician, so I have no dog in this hunt. I do enjoy watching from the sidelines.
It seems a bit premature, but Burgam is running radio ads here in eastern Washington (the state, not the swamp).
What are they thinking?
Thanks for the Tom Lehrer song. It brought back memories of my callow youth and such Lehrer toe tappers as “Be Prepared” and “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.”
So…
New York City’s government is removing all of its statues of President Washington + President Jefferson because, (oh no), someone told these NYC government people that these two, American Presidents, existed in “the slavery years”.
Yes, that wasn’t a great time, I agree.
Yes, there were times where people were made into slaves, + there were times that people of different groups were treated like second class citizens, I agree.
Trying to erase part of history, or ignoring it, won’t change that part of the past.
Oh…how about the problems of sexism? How do we solve “the bad feelings” about that?
Lots of New York City girls and women, and lots of US girls + women, weren’t given the right to vote, before the 1920s.
That was unfair.
Well, we can’t have statues, and structures, of US people + NYC people stay in NYC, and remind us of THOSE years!
Gosh, I KNOW:
Let’s tear down [all of the stone, big buildings in New York City] that were built before the 1920s, and let’s tear up [all of the PAVED ROADS in New York City that were put in before the 1920s. That should make us feel better.
Darn, except…that would likely tear down most or [all] of- the roads, and the government buildings, in New York City.
That idea is not very practical.
I tell you what, my New York City cousins: if you want to calm your conscience, in a practical way:
kindly [ignore] the statues of people before The US, Emancipation Proclamation, and please try to [help] the people who are facing types of- discrimination, racism, sexism, and other kinds of unfairness, [now].
I feel that, you will find,- you will no longer feel badly about the past, while you are building a better present, and a better future.
Delightful.
On politics, I never had a particular problem with Romney. I must have missed something.
I always suspected that McCain was nominated as compensation for being a POW. I never knew him, but knew people who knew him well, and I did not like what I heard. I would have taken him over Obama for sure.
Rufus T. Firefly (12:30 pm), Haley and DeSantis in either order.
Neither will score 100 on an ideology purity test — but neither would M J R.
So be it.
huxley (1:33 pm) said: “I did not become a mathematician . . . .”
I did, made a buck or three at it along the way, and lived to tell about it.
Pleased to meetcha, nonetheless . . . [smile] . . .
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1704665052031172641
“Biden” has one month to transform (IOW destroy) SCOTUS.
“Supreme Court May Put Administrative-State On Chopping-Block In Upcoming Term, Lawyers Say”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/supreme-court-may-put-administrative-state-chopping-block-upcoming-term-lawyers-say
Gentlepersons, start yer engines….
(The rest of us must get ready to be distracted and gaslighted by “Biden” and his evil minions until Kingdom Come….)
I did [become a mathetmatician], made a buck or three at it along the way, and lived to tell about it.
M J R:
Being aware of your alma mater, I’m particularly impressed!
Do you have any light to shed on Lobachevsky and plagiarism?
A karaoke friend sent me this great link of a few Bee Gees snippets on FB reels.
Do those links work here?
https://www.facebook.com/reel/646734167439505
I’m sure Neo will smile … but also perhaps be a bit annoyed …
huxley (4:05 pm), “Being aware of your [M J R ‘s] alma mater,” I am *flabbergasted*. I am 100 percent unaware that I have ever mentioned my academic background any time here at neo’s place. And my “handle” here (M J R) certainly doesn’t hint at any sort of clue. May I ask, how are you aware of such sensitive information?
“Do you have any light to shed on Lobachevsky and plagiarism?”
All I ever knew of Lobachevsky and plagiarism has been the Tom Lehrer tune, long a favorite of mine — particularly because of my interest in non-Euclidean geometries: specifically Lobachevskian and Riemannian. Eventually, my interest turned to the work of L.E.J. Brouwer, but we’ll not wander too far afield here, y’know?
That was academia. In the real world, I eventually wandered into mathematical modeling, specifically in air traffic control and air traffic management applications.
Far afield again . . .
But again, how are you aware of such sensitive information? Please??
Zelensky at the U.N. two days ago:
“Thank god people have not learned to use climate as a weapon.”
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/09/19/zelensky_thank_god_people_have_not_yet_learned_to_use_climate_as_a_weapon.html
Well, that does not give me the warm fuzzies. Hard to imagine Churchill traveling to the League of Nations in 1940 and using his time to speak about the weather.
It also doesn’t make me feel less comfortable that world leaders are using climate as a method to panic people.
And it feels a lot like the Left’s recent episodes of accusing the other side of what they are doing.
But again, how are you aware of such sensitive information? Please??
M J R:
Perhaps I have mixed you up with someone else, but you once described a city landmark near your school and I had once lived in that neighborhood.
Sorry if I’ve given offense.
huxley (5:51 pm), heavens, no offense /at all/ !!!!
M J R:
Given that the OT is partly mathematical, I’d be curious to hear a bit about your experience as a professional mathematician.
A couple years ago at UNM I had a fleeting moment of mathematical glory when I came up with an improvement on the textbook method for calculating Bezout coefficients. My discrete math professor said he would teach my method going forward.
What might have been…. 🙂
We’re from ‘The Government’ and are here to help you.
https://granitegrok.com/blog/2023/09/biden-admin-announces-plan-for-army-of-climate-commissars
Tom Grey:
Those are pretty funny. I bet the Bee Gees would have been amused. They had a pretty raunchy sense of humor, apparently – although they kept it under wraps in public, for the most part.
I translated a paper on Riemann integrals once. Took me eight fourteen-hour days – was quite fun. I don’t now remember anything about the contents except the small disagreement with my client over whether I would be permitted to render “Endlichkeit” as “finitude” on page one. (Number theory context.)
On the R’s for 2008 or 2012: I still carry a torch for the intellect and political insight of Newt Gingrich. I was very impressed by the Contract with America, and some later successes. Perhaps that early exposure has blinded me to some later failings [that some here might ably present?]. I fear that more recently his age and past circumstances have sapped some of his fire and energy. He would have eaten Obama for lunch if/when the proper time had arrived.
On Romney and Ryan, I think they welched on their promise to provide “leadership” on the deficit/natl debt. [I voted for Perot in ’92.]They did not even get past giving up some “tax exclusions” that the populace would have preferred still be retained. Cowardly avoided the third rail after acting like they would take it on.
Still wanted attention on the deficit/debt addressed so much that I was kind of hoping for John Kasich to provide some meaningful leadership on that, but then he went rogue supporting the D’s and Biden. Ugh!
I translated a paper on Riemann integrals once. Took me eight fourteen-hour days – was quite fun.
Philip Sells:
You have a peculiar idea of fun. I think we’d get along!
I thought of phasing into a math degree at UNM. Compsci is a huge, wildly moving target, beset by various fashions. Math provides at least the possibility of focusing on the true, the beautiful and the eternal, befitting one’s golden years.
If university education, at least at UNM, weren’t such an unpleasant, inefficient, motivation-destroying educational experience, I might have gone that way.
So, I’m self-learning French instead. Less aggravation, more satisfaction. It’s actually going pretty well.
huxley (7:07 pm) said:
“M J R: Given that the OT is partly mathematical, I’d be curious to hear a bit about your experience as a professional mathematician.”
I would be very pleased to have this conversation with you, but I am sheepish about diving in so deeply on this (or on any) of neo’s comment threads.
I can think of one way to accomplish this: neo has both our e-mail addresses; if neo could send my e-mail address over to huxley, or vice versa, (or both ways), we can get it done without being a distraction for others.
*** neo, I give my permission to send my e-mail address over to huxley. Can do? ***
M J R:
I have great respect for you and would enjoy conversing in any form. So sure.
*** neo, I give my permission to send my e-mail address over to M J R. Can do? ***
However, don’t feel obliged and I would not wish compromising you in any way, nor particularly burdening this Open Thread.
Though I think True Stories from the Math Trench wouldn’t be unwelcome.
In a semi-mathematical bank shot my current experimentation with ChatGPT suggests that the boys in the backroom (not many girls, I suspect) are clamping down on Chat from saying Bad Things to the point it’s hard to get a straight answer without a lot of boiler-plate — it could be this and it could be that.
A classic joke in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is that “Belgium” is the One True Rude Word to Rule Them All.
But get Chat to admit that. Chat had no idea what I was talking about until I pinned it to the wall with a direct quote:
_________________________________
Full quote: “But though even words like “juju-flop,” “swut,” and “turlingdrome” are now perfectly acceptable in common usage, there is one word that is still beyond the pale. The concept it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the galaxy except one – where they don’t know what it means. That word is “Belgium””
_________________________________
Chat:
_________________________________
Thank you for providing the full quote. In this context, Douglas Adams is indeed using the word “Belgium” humorously to highlight the absurdity of a word being so taboo that it is forbidden throughout the galaxy, except in one place where it’s not understood.
This is a classic example of the type of humor found in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series, where ordinary words and concepts are given unusual and humorous twists. It’s important to understand that Douglas Adams was not making fun of Belgium or its people but was using the word as a comedic device to create a sense of the bizarre and absurd in the universe he was creating.
_________________________________
Try asking Chat about your favorite songs, films or stories and see what you get.
https://chat.openai.com/
ChatGPT is like a 21st century Magic 8-Ball.
Egypt is a target of the regime, hence bob’s your uncle
Obama vs. Mubarak, Round 2….