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Billiards is a good game (1975)

mag.uchicago.edu

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Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#5
> The waitress told us he drew sketches of the faculty he did not care to eat with. She said they all had long noses.

I’m trying to understand this comment. I can’t tell if this is somehow a vague hint of an anti-Semitic attitude? It’s a weird thing to say or write in modern times if not.

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#6
post #5

> The waitress told us he drew sketches of the faculty he did not care to eat with. She said they all had long noses. I’m trying to understand this comment. I can’t tell if this is somehow a vague hint of an anti-Semitic attitude? It’s a weird thing to say or write in modern times if not.

> I can’t tell if this is somehow a vague hint of an anti-Semitic attitude?

Doesn’t seem likely. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_A._Michelson#Life: “Michelson was born in Strelno, Posen, Kingdom of Prussia (modern-day Strzelno, Poland), to Jewish parents […] His family was non-religious, and Michelson himself was a lifelong agnostic”

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#7
post #5

> The waitress told us he drew sketches of the faculty he did not care to eat with. She said they all had long noses. I’m trying to understand this comment. I can’t tell if this is somehow a vague hint of an anti-Semitic attitude? It’s a weird thing to say or write in modern times if not.

[deleted]

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#8
post #5

> The waitress told us he drew sketches of the faculty he did not care to eat with. She said they all had long noses. I’m trying to understand this comment. I can’t tell if this is somehow a vague hint of an anti-Semitic attitude? It’s a weird thing to say or write in modern times if not.

Considering he was Jewish it seems unlikely?

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#9
post #5

> The waitress told us he drew sketches of the faculty he did not care to eat with. She said they all had long noses. I’m trying to understand this comment. I can’t tell if this is somehow a vague hint of an anti-Semitic attitude? It’s a weird thing to say or write in modern times if not.

Considering he was Jewish it seems unlikely?

You have to admit, it’s a strange comment though.

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#10

My father, who died in 2010, would play Yahoo Games Pool and was good at it. It is all angles and physics and good for the brain.

This is a complete tangent, but I would note that we don't have physical models nearly good enough to actually compute the way billiards balls (or even worse, snooker balls) interact with each other and the fabric on the table. It's all guesswork and experience, mostly. The interactions between the balls and the fabric are critical for the vast majority of the movements, and they are far too complex for any physical first-principles based model to capture.
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