Maths/Stats Question

A section to discuss matters not related to Chess in particular.
Jonathan Bryant
Posts: 3452
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Fri May 20, 2016 8:08 pm

Tom Hanks fans may want to check out his interview with Simon Mayo from this afternoon ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lvdr ... /downloads

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Sat May 21, 2016 12:31 am

T.Hanks

Jonathan Bryant
Posts: 3452
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Sat May 21, 2016 6:55 pm

They Will Have to Kill Us First

Documentary about music/musicians from Mali. When Jihadists ban music in large areas of your contrary, putting on a concert becomes a major act of rebellion.

No chess.

Jonathan Bryant
Posts: 3452
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Sun May 22, 2016 8:30 pm

Me Before You

Love between two people from different sides of the tracks. Except for tracks read castle. And he owns the castle.

It’s an actual castle as opposed to a misnamed rook so no chess.


Death of the Fireflies
Dunno. Saw two minutes without sound. The cinema tried to fix it. Couldn’t. End of show.

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Mon May 23, 2016 12:11 am

It's Monday, already, so I just missed my deadline. I'll still file my report even though a little late.

Continuing the Tom Hanks theme -

I believe that there was an interview with him, about his latest movie, on Classic FM this afternoon. (I missed it.)

Jonathan, thanks for your comments about what you quoted me on, above, not sorry to say that I would not regard film makers as responsible for the situation you described.

(Except if they manage to make a film utterly incomprehensible to virtually everyone who ever sees it, and there may have been a few such films!?)

They make the film in their own 'image' (or 'way' if you prefer) with their own embedded messages and version of reality.or fantasy, etc. That is the relatively objective part because the film will remain a constant factor - unchanging, apart from any physical deterioration.

The other, subjective, part is provided by the multifarious audiences who view the film.

Each person brings their own individual experiences to the film and interprets the film in light of them. I have heard some people say, "I didn't understand that film." That is due to their lack of experience of, and empathy with, the characters and events portrayed in the film.

A brief excursion to Mars may help to explain...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mar ... iniseries)

In The Martian Chronicles TV miniseries (based loosely on Ray Bradbury's book) a number of colonists from Earth encounter one of the few remaining (or the very last survivor of the) Martians.

The strange Martian(s) involuntarily assume(s) the appearance and character traits of any person the Earthling is thinking about when they meet.

So, the Earthling 'projects' his thoughts and memories of a particular person onto the Martian, who has no choice but to reflect them - despite being a separate entity.

In each encounter between an Earthling and a/the Martian the latter is eventually forced to flee to avoid being subsumed by alien experiences (that are very unpleasant to him/her), only to repeat the experience each time in each new encounter with the growing number of Earthlings. (As opposed to the ever diminishing number of Martians.)

In the film-audience situation the film is like the Martian, (who reflects the thoughts and feelings projected by the individual members of the audience) and the audience is like the Earthlings (who bring their personal experiences to the film).

The film and audience spend some time together, but in this case, the audience leaves (rather than flees) contented (as opposed to terrorised) and its members go in search of another film to experience, usually with pleasure rather than pain, and so it goes on, and on...

(Above, I'm just explaining the way I see this topic and don't expect others to necessarily either agree or disagree. Unless they wish to, of course.)

Fin.

[Edit: Another interview with Tom Hanks was included on Radio 4, tonight, at about 23:00 hrs. He's certainly doing the rounds to plug his latest movie and giving his personal version of the American Way.]

Jonathan Bryant
Posts: 3452
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Wed May 25, 2016 8:16 pm

Tom Hanks day and my report is .... I arrived at the cinema to find out that I’d got there a day early. The film is actually on tomorrow night

I blame John McK for getting me into a Tom Hanks frenzy.

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Thu May 26, 2016 12:20 am

Jonathan, sorry to hear that all is not going to schedule. I think the failure of the cinema to show Death of the Fireflies the other night was a sign that things were going awry.

The Hanks' "frenzy" is a known phenomemon. (Just like Morphy's "chess fever".) Nothing wrong with being early - even by a day.

You maybe seeing too many movies in too short a time. Please try to pace yourself.

I have seen The Big Short - great film. However, I can't understand how an audience can simply get up and walk away at the end.

The message of it is - we've all been shafted.

First, by the establishment, then the disestablishment shafted the establishment, and we got shafted a second time and had to pay the price for both.

How could that not cause an anti-establishment AND an anti-disestablishment backlash of huge proportions?

The answer is cupidity and stupidity, both theirs and ours.
Last edited by John McKenna on Thu May 26, 2016 2:05 am, edited 2 times in total.

Brian Towers
Posts: 1266
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2014 7:23 pm

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Brian Towers » Thu May 26, 2016 1:11 am

John McKenna wrote:I have seen The Big Short - great film. However, I can't understand how an audience can simply get up and walk away at the end.
But they haven't!
In the UK they've voted in Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. In the US they've set up a Trump v Bernie presidential race (provided Bernie is still in the race when Hilary gets indicted).
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Thu May 26, 2016 2:00 am

You must be an incorrigible optimist, Brian.

Trump is more likely to be elected to the highest office in the US and maybe quite soon.

Jeremy is unlikely ever to get elected to the equivalent position here in the UK.

That's not a backlash it's a wake.

Jonathan Bryant
Posts: 3452
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Thu May 26, 2016 7:07 am

John McKenna wrote:Jonathan, sorry to hear that all is not going to schedule. I think the failure of the cinema to show Death of the Fireflies the other night was a sign that things were going awry.

That and the fact that I got the name of the film wrong. It’s Grave of the Fireflies.


Anyhoo, Tom Hanks definitely on tonight

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Thu May 26, 2016 1:17 pm

Tom Hanks definitely on tonight
Anything you can do I can do... later, so I'll also see it, eventually.

Please try to keep an open mind while watching it, Jonathan.

Tom says everyone wants to go to America. He's got it right in my case but I don't want to go back to N. America. I want to visit S. America.

Jonathan Bryant
Posts: 3452
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Thu May 26, 2016 7:28 pm

It's Tom Time.

Just a few minutes to go so let me quickly post a query to the thread that will surely cover every single aspect of human existence sooner or later ...

Is it really ever possible to have a truly open mind?

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Fri May 27, 2016 12:46 am

We must try -
... Consequently in chess the mind comes as near as possible to pure vision... With it we get the illusion (because it is an illusion) of passivity and calm... It is as if (the) mind lay open, and facts and ideas were flowing into it...(Gerald Abrahams)
Hope you enjoyed it.

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Sat May 28, 2016 9:16 am

"Tom time" must be over but where's our man at the movies, Jonathan? (Answer - playing chess at e2e4 Gatwick.)

Now the word is 'tontine'- a financial instrument. (Don't you just love the sound of that, it's like music to the ears.)

A group of investors who all put the same amount of money into an investment fund owned exclusively by them must wait - and hopefully watch the fund grow - until only one of them remains alive. That lucky old person then receives all the proceeds from the 'tontine' as the fund is cashed in when he becomes the last living member.

The old British comedy film The Wrong Box revolves around a 'tontine'. The film could also be entitled - The Little Long. And, it could then be compared to contemporary movie The Big Short.

There are similarities and parallels in the two films (but one being old British and the other new American makes for significant differences).

The Wrong Box (read The Little Long) is about betting ON being the last one standing and gaining a personal fortune at the expense of the other dearly departeds in a willing, but dwindling, group.

The Big Short is about betting AGAINST the whole financial system and skimming the cream off the top of the wealth of nations as it goes down the pan.

There is one ironic financial instrumental parallel - the 'tontine' was invented by Lorenzo Tonti in 1695, and the mortgage-backed security - on which the whole house of cards depicted in The Big Short was built - was invented in 1977 by Lewis Ranieri.

I did say here, earlier, that I'd try to compare the two films. Now I've done it.

User avatar
IM Jack Rudd
Posts: 4819
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:13 am
Location: Bideford

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Sat May 28, 2016 9:38 am

Tontines are, incidentally, illegal nowadays, for one very good reason: people were trying too hard to make sure they would be the beneficiaries of them.