Pages tagged “alien”

23 Sep 2015

Aliens and Knots

I love knots. Using just a piece of cord/string/rope/stuff, combined with knowledge and skill, you can solve a multitude of problems, in all sorts of ways. Often the most elegant solution is the best, but not always. Knots have apparently mysterious properties, history, nomenclature, everything a geek like me could want. On a recent boating trip (I don’t go on many), while we were tying a clove hitch, my friend Michael got me thinking with this question:

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20 Aug 2013

Unsearchableness and homochirality

Is there a word for things whose existence is hard to uncover by keyword search? I’m thinking about concepts, or solutions to problems, that aren’t too tricky to describe in words, but are difficult to find in a computerised system. For example, having an amateur interest in zoology, I find organisms like sea gooseberries interesting. Taxonomically, they branch off high up in the “tree of life” - but they’re pretty common, occurring all round the world in decent numbers.

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