夢見數字

發了一個夢。不是小說而真的是昨晚夢見之物。

純白色的中學，一場同學敘舊，但混進了校外的同齡朋友。主題是數學。

我遲來了一點，主持人派給我一張卡片，上面寫了一堆問題，看上去沒有很數學。但我偷偷瞄了一下身旁的同學他好像寫了一堆數式，我又瞄到主持人手上的答案卡，是頗為漂亮的答案(具體來說是Z[i]裡面的答案)。於是我認真起來開始計算。

但我整張卡片只看的懂第九題：Write an essay on Liouville's theorem.

此處的essay是舊日高考理科會有的試題形式，要你將題目相關的所有知識通通寫進去這樣。我問主持人要不要寫下證明，她大笑起來。當然要啊。

可能是我來遲的關係，剛寫完第九題這個考試就結束了，大家開始分享答案。

原來第一題有關(1+i)甚麼次方的題不是數學題，是討論人生的反復無常。第二第六題那些看上去很像algebraic topology的文字在隱晦的叫你把第一題的答案延伸下去。

我還沒看到其他的題目答案就醒過來了。1269有甚麼特殊性嗎？我記得跟partition有關，可是在OEIS上面連個屁都查不到。

……很少有如此完整的夢，姑且記錄下來好了。

喔對了，在這個場景前其實還有個小片段：在電腦商場遇見兩盒磁碟[floppy drive]，一盒新的一盒二手，二手那盒在十片裝盒子裡只有七隻。新的$50打了半價，二手的倒沒打折。感覺二手的裡面會有甚麼不得了的東西，但我還沒來的及買下來就被世界力強制轉移了。

我能想到與現實有關的事情大概只有最近看過Alan Becker那段新作了吧。不然也解釋不了為何夢到的題目這麼側重於複數，尤其是那個(1+i)次方的比喻。

24/6/23: Blackout2/DDR

Updates to several entries I wrote in June so it's better to merge them in one.

Blackout ep.2

It went on mostly in line of what I have predicted. Spez tolerated the 2 day protests, but take swift actions once it gets prolonged, especially on those big subs. Subs sneakily turned back to public/SFW, mods taken down, and some subs even get banned. It is clear that Reddit has the tools to take the most ruthless measures to break down the protest, and they are ready to do so.

But redditors also proves themselves more capable of just joining the blackouts. Their ways to burning Reddit everywhere is probably the only thing out of my prediction. Other than the standard ways of keeping subs as restricted/NSFW or mods passively resisting admin's order, we have subs changing into themes fitting their name in other ways (e.g. r/wellthatsucks for vacuum cleaners and r/steam for well...steam but is gone now). Attempt to flood Reddit with data request as an obligation under GDPR. Contacting advertisers. Archiving the whole damn site and mass removal of account. And above all, the John Oliver movement -- transforming the sub into one that only posts John Oliver.

These are all great attempts to further protest, but I think they will eventually dies down...just one by one. I honestly don't think the management would react (in ways other than they do now) and apologize. Even if they do so it would be too late, just like how tumble reverted their decision but failed to revert their fate.

I do support these attempts till the last minute though. If you too are interested maybe a visit to r/Save3rdPartyApps would be a good start.

DDR

I was complaining old DDR cabs arrows going faster like gold cabs to the point where I can only read BPM350 boost...but it seems that I am wrong.

I tried a few times this week, and I suddenly find BPM360 boost too slow and BPM300 intolerable. Then I tried BPM420 (High & low x2.0) and...man this is the speed that I am used to. I should try more at the 400-450 range. If that works for me it would be a damn lot easier to adjust the scrolling speed.

*

And of course, world's focus over the weekend would be over Russia...who would have thought that the October Revolution is coming again? It's easier for me to find a western reference but in Chinese history there is one that is quite similar...the An–Shi Rebellion, featuring the Wagner group and the Chechen (oh they just uploaded tiktok vids says that they support Putin) :)