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Well I'll be here if something interesting happens.
Apr 2, 2010
0
#5
Nahh nothing interesting ever happens here I mean come on this is a chess site right? 
Well, here's a puzzle: White to move and checkmate all 6 kings on White's second move. I think Rxd7 is a start 
What choice of legal moves does black have?
I assume any free place for a king not in check to move.
I just checked the solution, it involves an en passant (2 checks), 3 discovered checks, and 1 check from a removed check-blocker. That should be a good enough hint.
It's hard to imagine the en passant one considering black can play d6 instead of d5 if black is forced to (?)
Right, assuming black must move a pawn. Therefore our pawn capture must be our second move assuming the validity of the solution hint.
Right. Bb3+ forces d5, and en passant produces cxd6######
I like the 6#'s, you usually don't see those!
Apr 5, 2010
0
#15
I just jumped my king over all the other kings and took them off the board.
I have some direct ideas to share. Namely, the first would be about parallel universes (surprise). Let us suppose there exist nonphysical parallel universes such that each universe is a distinct and necessary mathematical structure. Now let us also assume they are independent of each other so as to provide one certain weak anthropic principle. But if every universe is a self-contained mathematical structure (that is consistent of course), there ought to be different universes with different quantum mechanical laws (these being consistent one would hope). But some of these mathematical frameworks (at least one) would make claims about these other universes. So these universes should not be independent, so this must be reducible to a many domains weak anthropic principle (that is, merely entertaining the sub-categories of the weak anthropic principle alone). Correct?
Second topic. Elroch, do you know of any nonstandard analyst (that is, in calculus), or a constructivist who can ignore standard part operators when taking limits and just leaving the bare nacked infinitesimal expression?
Pop quiz: who remembers the dinosauroid?
Well you weren't living in the States so you are excused! It's how a species of dinsosaur could have evolved; specifically, evolutionary inevitability to a certain degree. There's still talk about it nowadays, at least here in the States.
Apr 11, 2010
0
#20
googling the term is most amusing!
By contrast it has been fascinating to see how in my lifetime, the theory that birds are the descendents of dinosaurs has become increasingly well accepted. Interesting how mammals did not displace their competitors from the major ecological niche of flying creatures.
Looking into this a little it is fascinating to ponder how functional intelligence developed. I see it as a combination of things. Firstly creatures living in trees find sophisticated limbs very useful, Secondly warm-bloodedness is better able to support the energy demands of a large brain. There are creatures with larger brains than humans, but all are far more limited in how they can use tools, which is perhaps the most important way intelligence developed, rather than language. It is reasonable to argue that cetaceans have not made as big an impact on the world as humans because they lack limbs, and that birds have not because the majority of them that fly cannot afford a very large brain, and those that live on the ground lack hands. However, the brain/body ratio of parrots and crows is similar to that of primates, showing the great importance of their brain development in terms of evolutionary cost.
My pop quiz (people from the England group may be familiar with this):
Including humans, which animals have
(1) the largest brain by mass (sea and land separately, please)
(2) the largest brain to body weight ratio
I have created this topic for discussing anything that you can't be bothered to create a topic for, rather than use group notes.