Interesting Links for 05-08-2020

[andrewducker]

The mysterious case of man who can read letters—but not numbers

(tags:viaDrPlokta numbers vision brain )

What if Plesiosaurs were giant penguins?

(tags:dinosaurs birds penguins )

Teacher Trainees Are More Likely To Misread Black Children As Angry Than White Children

(tags:racism psychology emotion children teachers )

Balrogs cannot fly

(tags:lotr flying )

400 million additional customs checks a year and fines for entering Kent without the proper documentation - the future of British trade with Europe

(tags:UK Europe trade Doom )

Mini cyclones are very cool

(tags:weather video viaCipherGoth )

Mysterious spiral structures found extending out of strange star

(tags:space weird )

Harry Potter - But all the wands are guns

(tags:harrypotter guns funny video trailer )

Parents share the times their children were creepy

(tags:children scary Twitter )

The Matrix Was Intended to Be a Trans Story, Says Lilly Wachowski

(tags:transgender TheMatrix movies )

Coronavirus: 'Inexplicable' failure to quarantine travellers to the UK made pandemic far worse

(tags:OhForFucksSake UK pandemic )

Scotland's results day: Thousands of pupils have exam grades lowered

(tags:exams scotland pandemic )

Edinburgh Waverley redevelopment: city centre set for incredible and dramatic transformation

(tags:edinburgh )

Comments

[jack]

The mysterious case of man who can read letters—but not numbers

Gosh. I'm sorry for him, but interested in how brains work like this!

Balrogs cannot fly

That's a helpful and comprehensive response. I liked the points about the military strategies!

I'd also add, "When Gandalf tried to stop the balrog crossing the chasm, he blocked the bridge."

It does occur to me, if Balrogs are (now) interpreted as lesser angels like Gandalf, what controls their physical form. Presumably Gandalf COULD have incarnated as an eagloid instead of a humanoid? But it seems like he doesn't switch at will. Presumably the same applies to balrogs?

[andrewducker]

An excellent question! To which there doesn't seem to have an obvious answer.

I've just read through
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Hr%C3%B6a
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Children_of_Il%C3%BAvatar
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Ainur
and it's not at all clear whether they have any conscious control over their physical forms.

[melchar]

... or, Balrogs could ALSO be penguins.

Truly -loving- the idea of plesiosaur penguins!

[andrewducker]

Love the idea of 🐧 Balrogs!

[andrewducker]

I had not considered Balrog penguins! An answer which will make everyone happy!

[ironyoxide]

>I liked the points about the military strategies!

Among his many other skills and talents, we tend to forget that Tolkien was also an infantry officer.

[jack]

I've recently been reading https://acoup.blog/resources-for-world-builders/ who puts some effort into critiquing LOTR's military tactics, and it's not perfect but he references a lot of the time where it's described in narrative terms but what actually happens makes a lot of sense from a strategic perspective, often drawn either from classical battles, or WWI.

[anna_wing]

I remember reading someone in HoME (somewhere). Ainur created their own bodies, but the more body-type things they did (eating, drinking, sleeping, killing, having children etc), especially the Maiar, the more they were tied to their bodies and the less they could just change them. Morgoth ended up unable to change (I always wondered if Tolkien was inspired by the old admonition to children "don't make faces like that, you'll be stuck that way!"). He also made bodies and put spirits in them, like the dragons. Gandalf couldn't change either because of that. He had a real body, that needed to eat and sleep, and got depressed and angry and happy (all of which are hormonal effluxions), and to leave it he had to actually die.

I am totally persuaded about the Balrogs, the strategic argument makes perfect sense.

I am persuaded by the penguin-plesiosaur hypothesis too. Convergent evolution in action, presumably.

[cmcmck]

I wonder if that's connected to being dysnumeric which I am?

I have real issues with the language of numbers.

[andrewducker]

Could well be! It's fascinating stuff