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Billiards is a good game (1975)

mag.uchicago.edu

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Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#41

Post by sfilmeyer »

>In 1928, three years before his death, everyone said of Michelson, "He measured light," and today he is one of the few Nobel Prize winners whom nearly all educated people can name and give the reason for the award, although Michelson’s award actually was based on a wide spectrum of experiments.

I found this line (particularly "nearly all educated people can name and give the reason for the award") pretty amusing. Prior to this article, I'd heard of Michaelson, knew he was part of the Michelson and Morley experiment, and remembered a couple of details of the experiment design. But I also have a bachelors degree in physics, and I still couldn't have confidently told you whether he won a Nobel prize. I'm sure the intervening 50 years have dulled his fame a bit, but I've got to wonder how true it was when written.

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#42

Post by fracus »

I had no idea Billiards had no pockets and no objective to sink balls into pockets. I had no idea a game like that existed, although, I certainly heard of Billiards but always thought it was, I now know is the game known as Snooker.

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#43

Post by Ylpertnodi »

fracus wrote: post #42

I had no idea Billiards had no pockets and no objective to sink balls into pockets. I had no idea a game like that existed, although, I certainly heard of Billiards but always thought it was, I now know is the game known as Snooker.

Billiards can be played on a snooker table (depending on company a potted ball is a penalty, £5 in the 'pot')

A great skill improver is often financially aligned.

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#44

Post by aetherson »

Towaway69 wrote: post #37
fredzel wrote: post #24

It's also one of the hardest games (sports) mentally, you can sit for a few minutes or few breakes and all you can do is wait for opponent to make a mistake - or play a safe. All you can do is try to stay focused and positive, not sulking over mistake you just made that might've lost you the whole match, to not mess up a chance when it comes.

Basically I've been playing billards all my life. Never really got better, playing at the same level for years. Meaning that getting more than two or three balls at one go was a rarity. Until one day when I stopped looking at the white when playing a shot and instead I started looking at the target ball. It's weird that it took me so long to make that little change but it completely changed my skill level. Something…

Do you mean pool?

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#45

Post by tsimionescu »

nemo44x wrote: post #22
tsimionescu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Is this because of imperfections in the fabric? Golf has a similar situation where if you use a machine to roll a ball on a perfect line and speed, sometimes it won’t go in. This is because of imperfections in the gradient and that grass changes constantly as it slowly grows and bends towards light, etc. Wow now that’s a tangent to a tangent!

Not imperfections, the fabric itself. If the balls were on a frictionless surface, their movement would be completely different, they would barely spin. Much of their movement is caused by their interaction with the fabric. But that is very hard to model from Newton's laws of motion.

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#47

Post by pimlottc »

jb1991 wrote: 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 wondered too. It may simply indicate that the portraits were (intentionally) unflattering.

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#48

Post by osrec »

hnlmorg wrote: post #26
osrec wrote: post #19

A more difficult variant is snooker, played on a 12ft x 6ft table with tighter pockets and smaller balls. It can be frustrating to play well, but when you "get it", it really is a beautiful game to play, and a real mental workout. For anyone interested, Ronnie O'Sullivan is the best ever player, and his YouTube highlights are worth a watch: https://youtu.be/PE8XPHnCNpg - makes the game look incredibly easy, but I ass…

Ronnie might be the best but I’ve always enjoyed Mark Williams style of play more. The whole of the “Class of 92” are beyond special though.

Class of 92 are indeed very special. Williams is still doing amazingly well - just got to the final of the Saudi masters, and nearly clinched the deciding frame. Not bad for someone nearly 50 years old!

Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)

#49

Post by emmelaich »

calmbonsai wrote: post #15
Etheryte wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many cultures this signifies being a fool, e.g. think Pinocchio. Similar connotations exist for a wide variety of exaggerated proportions you might see in caricatures. So in this context it seems he didn't think highly of the faculty members at an intellectual level.

I forget the name of the specific art style, but "exagerated noses" is a known caricature motif. You can see this vividly depicted in the opening sequence of the BBC's "Yes Minister" TV series from the '80s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDEMthILzpA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Scarfe

also did drawings for Pink Floyd's The Wall.

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