IntenseDebate - ARITHMANCER

12 years ago @ Mark Watches - Mark Watches 'The Retu... · 0 replies · +2 points

You're aware it is played on a Norwegian folk instrument variant of the "standard" violin in the films, right? So you'd never sound "exactly" right...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardanger_fiddle

12 years ago @ Mark Watches - Mark Watches 'The Two ... · 0 replies · +3 points

I guess I need to keep compulsively checking, since I missed the fun this weekend!

12 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Prince... · 0 replies · +2 points

Heh, I went through a phase like that for something like a year in high school after reading "Salem's Lot" (Stepehen King vampire novel). I had to sleep with a rosary under my pillow, to have the cross handy in case a vampire came into the room.

12 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Prince... · 1 reply · +2 points

I could never stand his female characters. *Especially* in Xanth. Though I tried several, for some odd reason, I guess because it seemed the sort of series I should like.

12 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Prince... · 0 replies · +3 points

The Nancy Drew series had a strange fascination for me. I was already reading mysteries and thrillers from the regular shelves in the library (as opposed to the kids/YA ones) when I started, but I loved 'em. And then started to realize how they're all annoyingly the same, and yet *still* kept reading 'em.

12 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Prince... · 0 replies · +1 points

Heh! I can recall poring over a friend's "proof" of Fermat's last theorem in the local coffee shop trying to find the place h went wrong. (It took a prof he showed it to later. That one was unsolved back when I was in school).

I don't find my work sad. Studying math and writing my thesis was uniquely challenging, fascinating, absorbing, and all that, so it was worth doing for the experience alone, not to mention that as a credential, a graduate degree in Math is pretty handy. And my current job, while not what I planned, is varied, involves work with people around the globe, and pays better than my planned career path (college/university teaching) would have.

12 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Prince... · 2 replies · +1 points

My thesis was on a topic related to Galois theory and algebraic number theory, so Algebra also!

But that has limited application to Real Life, so what I get paid to do is be a generalized math/stats expert for a company that forecasts sales of new products before they launch.

12 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Prince... · 4 replies · +4 points

I picked my username for a reason. It's the closest HP-verse equivalent for my profession.

12 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Demands All 'Lord... · 0 replies · +2 points

My own favorite Tolkien-in-pop-culture example - Foxtrot comics with an LotR theme, collected on one webpage!
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/FoxTrot

12 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Return... · 0 replies · +9 points

I've always presumed Saruman knew this, and the footnote was there so that we would know this. Otherwise, we readers might presume the name originates with the big, toothy fish.

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