July 20, 2005
A penny for your Thotian principle
Because I have to leave work comparatively promptly today to meet up with my mix CD trading club (I'd point you to the mix, but Art of the Mix is down at the moment), I'm taking the day off from Six Things today -- in fact, I must confess, I'm thinking of lightening up on my update schedule in general, to stave off my inevitable burnout. Maybe three days a week instead of five.
But here is a possibly amusing, certainly mysterious thing I saw when I was at the airport two weeks ago, waiting to catch my flight to Los Angeles (and why didn't I blog about it sooner? Because I just found my note about it): a fellow wearing a T-shirt which read (on the back, affording me ample opportunity to transcribe without detection): "The continuous splitting into two is the Thotian principle." I find exactly one reference to this online, here. If anyone can help explain further, please do not restrain yourself.
Posted by Francis at 05:56 PMAppears to be a "the Egyptians knew math before the Greeks did" sort of page. I've seen this sort of thing before, usually connected to pro-African politics. (Though if connecting Egyptian gods to mathematical concepts gets kids to learn math, I'm all for it.)
Posted by: rikchik at July 20, 2005 09:58 PMIt should have actually read "Throatian principle."
This has to do with the human vocal chords and our ability to sing in ever higher octaves. First, you'll notice our vocal chords are split in two, one on each side of the Mariah Carynx. As we (or Mariah) push the limits of our own voices ever higher into octaves unknown, our vocal chords (or Mariah's) are continually halved (per octave!) in the amount of vibration they perceive...or receive...or sieve.
And therefore, inconclusion, we are better off now than we were before smallpox.
Look it up.
Posted by: Tom at July 21, 2005 09:23 AMI think Thotian means having to do with Thoth (the Egyptian god). I don't know how much forwarder that gets us.
Posted by: ACW at July 21, 2005 10:24 AMIt looks like "Thothian" is another common spelling -- you get lots of creepy links by Googling either one. Most of those pages seem to be loaded with all kinds of pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo. He said in a completely nonjudgmental way.
The little "Thotian principle" applet on the page suggests that whatever they're talking about involves powers of 2. The only thing I know of that might be related is so-called "Egyptian Multiplication", which is a very nice method for multiplying a couple of numbers. And it does indeed involve powers of 2. It's actually kind of fun. It's explained pretty well here:
http://www.jimloy.com/egypt/mult.htm
And if you're interested, you too can get one of their T-shirts! Buy It Now! Sadly, no pictures.
http://stores.ebay.com/African-Culture-and-Arts