michaeldone
72/M/Perth, Western Australia
I started to write stories and poems when I was 8. Then I stopped. They said: "No! You're smart, made for better, get a real life". So I stopped. 50 years later, I said: "No! I'm smart, made for better, get a real life". So I started again. And here I am.
THEOREM: √2 is not a rational number
ASSUME: √2 is a rational number
i.e. √2 = X/Y where X, Y are integers with no common factors (1)
(cos by definition that what it means to be a rational number)
==> (√2)^2 = (X/Y)^2 (2) (by squaring (^) each side)
==> 2 = X^2/Y^2 (3) (by multiplying everything out)
==> 2Y^2 = X^2 (4) (by multiplying both sides by Y^2)
==> X^2 = 2Y^2 (5) (by reversing the equation)
==> X^2 is even (6) (cos 2 times anything is even)
==> X is even (7) (cos if X it were odd, X^2 would be odd)
==> X = 2P where P is some other positive integer (8)
(cos by definition that’s what it means for X to be even)
(4) and (8) ==> 2Y^2 = (2P)^2 (9) (by substituting for X)
==> 2Y^2 = 4P^2 (10) (by multiplying everything out)
==> Y^2 = 2P^2 (11) (by dividing both sides by 2)
==> Y^2 is even (12) (cos 2 times anything is even)
==> Y is even (13) (cos if Y it were odd, Y^2 would be odd)
==> Y = 2Q where Q is some other positive integer (14)
(cos by definition that’s what it means for Y to be even)
(1), (8) and (14) ==> X/Y = 2P/2Q (17) (by substituting for X and Y)
==> X and Y have a common factor of 2 (18) (cos we can see the 2’s)
==> The assumption at (1) is false (19)
(cos it says: “X, Y are integers with no common factors”)
==> √2 is NOT rational
Q.E.D
POETRY!
Nov 26, 2024
Nov 26, 2024 at 6:17 PM UTC
Ah, silent wordless love,
Sweet smiling melancholy,
Solitary, symphonic,
Saying nothing, answering nothing.
All the while your tireless arms
Nurse my trembling life,
Caress the gleaming cosmos,
Bringing close the happy heart of God.
Oct 21, 2024
Oct 21, 2024 at 1:09 AM UTC
God and I have a pretty simple relationship.
I ask nothing of her and she asks nothing of me.
Nothing!
There are no strings. No conditions at all.
God doesn’t even require me to believe in her.
And I don’t, really.
Yet she is truly the God I love,
and, true to the old commandment,
I shall have no other gods before her.
She is the air I breathe.
In her I live and move and have my being.
To her and her alone I happily entrust my living and my dying.
She has held me tenderly and faithfully from the very start,
and sometimes, in moments of deep joy, deep distress or deep stillness,
I catch her fragrance and feel afresh her blissful, ineffable touch.
Selah.
Oct 12, 2024
Oct 12, 2024 at 5:11 PM UTC
Come, dearest love, let us speak tenderly to one another.
Sit here, up close, where you can hear the trembling of my breath.
See for yourself, I’m defenceless too.
Come, let us create a new and lasting peace between us,
end this tug-of-war, this battle of wits and wills that has beaten us both,
and agree never to trample or harm each other again in any way.
Come, let us forgive every trespass, mistake, betrayal and abandonment,
every unfair expectation, ignorant presumption and misunderstanding,
every accusation, true and false.
Come, let us rediscover the deep love we’ve always had for one another,
the love we lost sight of without realising,
the friendship we drifted out of without ever meaning to.
And from now on let’s tell a brighter story about ourselves,
a story that holds a light to our gold, celebrates our goodness
and dismisses our failings with nonchalant, cheerful compassion.
Come, my dearest love, let us speak tenderly to one another.
Sit here, up close, where you can feel the soft warmth of my skin.
Rest in this closeness, and let’s be the best of friends once again.
Amen.
Oct 12, 2024
Oct 12, 2024 at 10:10 AM UTC