Answers to Questions, Etc.

Hello!

You need not make apology for the posting break: if posting becomes burdensome, the purpose of this blog (or part of it, at least), would be defeated. Nor are condolences necessary to patch the 'disorder' rough - perhaps my tone was unintentionally harsh, for no offense was taken.

My Christmas was good, albeit brief, in retrospect. It seems that the grandeur of the holiday dwindles with age, or acclimation. I recall the intensity of my desire, in those early Christmases, for the dawn of Christmas Day: a restless night through the Eve, waking early in anticipation, a daunting feast with many relatives situated about a long table. But this Christmas, all of these things were absent. Whatever - money is tight, and life is in transition. I suppose that's what happens.

Recently, I've been re-reading some Redwall books (currently Taggerung). I was thinking about an appropriate vole name for myself, and situated on Bayil Ringtail, decided only out of phonetic appeasability.

If you ever wish to unburden your mind, please don't hesitate to ask.

Your friend,
Vergil.

Whoops...

I'm sorry it took me so long to post again. Forgive me if I don't continue fully the conversation you posted in the last post. I think we see fairly eye to eye, if not as entirely as usual. : )

As for your 'disorder', I apologize. I'm afraid I made an assumption. I'm extremely glad that you have found a beneficiary source. Please don't take any offense. I meant only good by bringing up the subject.

I dearly hope you had a merry Christmas! Mine was fairly good, I suppose. Not as..... well, if you read my blog you'll understand that I'm feeling a bit depressed. But don't let me push that on you. I wanted to ask what you've been reading lately. I recently re-read part of Watership Down and thought of you and our shared enjoyment of the story. Any new books that you've found diverting?

Megan

Lukewarm, Perhaps

Comfort is certainly nice, but also certainly commodity: unnecessary, and temporary. Consider, for example, winter house-heating. The heat provides comfort in the midst of chill, but doesn't actually bolster cold resistance. For this to occur, of course, one would need to expose herself to increasing levels of cold over time; and in this way, the body itself would acclimate to the cold. The same can be said of medicine and illness: the more one allows the body itself to eradicate disease, etc., the stronger it becomes in fighting it. So, if we were to disregard medicines entirely, excepting cases of singular severity, our personal immune systems would not only become well-fortified, but these traits would be passed to future generations, onward, hardening the overall makeup of the immune systems of all future humans (after several generations).

Concerning my 'disorder', I don't think I've told you of everything associated with it, but can assure you that its diagnosis has been beneficial, and continues to be.

I apologize for the terseness and very rough syntax of this post - I've been translating literal Latin at length for some hours. I hope all is well!

Vergil.

Cold medicines, eh?

Well, I must say that I agree with you- and her. More with you. I do think that America likes to name everything an illness and ascribe a medicine for it. Even with your syndrome. It isn't that serious from what I have heard in comparison to what my mom tells me about the more severe cases she comes into contact with. Even the less severe. I don't know your situation fully, but I would venture to say that you might have been better off without the diagnosis. Only you can really tell, but I feel like this is an example of the over usage of medical knowledge. Telling a child that they have a learning disability doesn't help them do any better in school. It only gives them an excuse to put in less effort. And yes, this has been irritating me for some time.

On the other hand, the common cold. I do believe that it is useful to use medication here, but only in two situations. Firstly, at bare symptoms it is best to take vitamins of some kind (Airborne works wonderfully- specifically made to ward off colds). Secondly, to relieve the annoyance of constant drip-age and clogged feeling. If you're going to sit out a cold, why not be more comfortable?

I don't know. I do certainly agree that America depends way too much on medication.

Megan

Med'sins

I'm glad to have been helpful! But no, I've never attempted to solve a^n+b^n=x^n, as a solution was paired with the first occurrence of it to me. And yes! It's all very fascinating! I think my favorite study in pre-cal thus far has been that of patterns and sequences.

I should like to rant for a moment. I recently caught a cold, which has been progressively worsening. My mom insists that I take medication to rid me of it, and when I expressed to her that the body is designed to purge itself of maladies, without external influence, she denied it. She literally said that medicine was necessary to cure the common cold. How great her dependence on medicine has become! It disgusts me that society has impressed so much vain commodity upon its collective citizens, that they have forgotten their own strength! She corrected herself moments after her utterance, but that she was confident of this fallacy, truly, for any duration, is telling. if this trend continues, will the body eventually sprout literal dependence on medicine? Will this be the path of human eradication? The implications are quite severe...

A very vibratile Virgil

Wow.

Gah!!! Wow, that's a lot of information.

I must say that I enjoy exponents quite a bit and once I master logarithms I shall love them too. So far my favorites have been the logs and functions. I really enjoy functions. Especially the composition operation. Fasanting, isn't it?

I assume you have heard of the famous equation a^n + b^n=c^n (I believe that's correct). Have you attempted to solve it? My professor, Mr. Owens, mentioned it in passing when telling us the stories of Pierre de Fermat, Carl Friedric Gauss (whom is Mr. Owens favorite mathmatitian), and my personal favorite, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

Thank you for your coverage of logarithms. Twas helpful. I must put my mind to practicing it now.....

Megan

Logarithms!

Logarithms are fascinating, and exponential math is certainly a favorite of mine. I think your confusion might derive from a misconception. Let us define notation: "^x" will denote an exponent, and logarithms will be written as "log(b,y)" (that is, log base 'b' of 'y'). If we write an exponent as y=b^x, its corresponding logarithm would be x=log(b,y), which is equivalent to writing (y=b^x)^-1 (the inverse). Now, a logarithm, like an exponent, has no value without a base... 3^2=9, but ^2 has no value, as nothing is being multiplied. So, if we take the inverse of (3^2=9), which is (2=log(3,9)), and remove the base, 3, (2=log(_,9)), we find an invalid logarithm; this has no value.

Or perhaps you are confused by the implied base 10 convention of logs:
The inverse of (100=10^2) is (2=log(10,100)), which can be simplified to (2=log100). Here, the base 10 of the log is implied, but is not missing.

I hope this has helped!

Virgil

Purpose...

Well, as to the purpose of the blog. I don't know if one is needed. I believe that we'd be alright with out one. Naturally we could introduce topics of discussion from time to time and that sort of thing, but in general I believe would would be letters from one blogger to another.

I am quite glad you like Nougat. I'm rather fond of him.

We recently learned logarithms in Pre-cal. I am be confused as to what a log is however. As I understand it, it is the inverse of an exponent. So, log base 10, or just log is equal to.... 10? I am of course assuming that you understand this better than I....

Megan

The Thought Emanating from the First of the Thoughts

Greetings, Gemini of thoughts! The blog layout is fantastic, alongside the title and address; and I quite anticipate writing to you (with hope) more regularly than I have written to any readers on my own blog. Nougat is wonderful.

What may the purpose of the blog be? Does it need one? Perhaps we should simply write to each other: quandries, ideas, emotions, etc. This could become, indeed, a shared repository of our minds - Twin Thoughts!

But I should burrow into some homework, 'ere the sun's peek pilfer pleasing grade's hope from my mind. Echoed thanks!

Virgil

The first of the thoughts

Here we go! From one blogger to another. I'm writing to Virgil and announcing officially the start of our combined blog. Hopefully it will be up and running swiftly. (In other words, I hope we actually post something regularly). Anyways, this is just a start-off post so I'll leave the first actual post to you.

The Rose/Megan

P.S. like the address? We can change it if you've got something better. I don't currently. Or the blog title. I'm not totally gone on this one.