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I notice Phil has changed his one liner at the bottom of his posts to something like; "A short story about SACD; -0.7568".

What does this mean? I have tried google.

They have had twitter short stories, some of which are very good. I must rather grumpily admit that I was very fond of Hemmingway's (pompous halfwit) six word short story;

For sale; baby shoes, never worn.

LGTrotter wrote:Hemmingway

I have no idea what the maths bods are raving about now but you, sir, are on a warning. Please correct.

djewesbury wrote:

LGTrotter wrote:Hemmingway

I have no idea what the maths bods are raving about now but you, sir, are on a warning. Please correct.

Sorry, Hummingbird.

I think his friends just called him Hem.

AW77 wrote:I think his friends just called him Hem.

What about people like me who never knew him and would have thrown themselves out of an upper window to avoid him?

LGTrotter wrote:

AW77 wrote:I think his friends just called him Hem.

What about people like me who never knew him and would have thrown themselves out of an upper window to avoid him?

They called him Git.

LGTrotter wrote:

AW77 wrote:I think his friends just called him Hem.

What about people like me who never knew him and would have thrown themselves out of an upper window to avoid him?

They called him Ming-way

Or Papa Doc

LGTrotter wrote: What about people like me who never knew him and would have thrown themselves out of an upper window to avoid him?

Hm, I wonder why you would avoid Hemingway. I think he would have been a good companion to share a bottle of wine with. And he would have appreciated a good bottle, too.

He seemed more concerned with constructing an image, a legacy than with his writing. I quite liked 'The old man and the sea' when I was young. I find it a little laboured for such a short book these days. His foray into the Spanish civil war was portentous and empty, lacking either the journalistic clarity of Orwell or the narrative strength of 'As I walked out one midsummer morning'. His journalism showed little empathy for what he was describing and he seemed to be of the opinion that his arrival was the main story. He seems to have, for a while achieved his goal of becoming a gold standard of how to be a writer. I thank goodness that he seems to be slipping into obscurity now that it is his writing that remains rather than his narcissistic projection of himself.

Sounds a bit harsh now I look at it, but opinions are just that. And I freely own that I struggle with quite a lot of North American literature.

And for someone who drinks as much as I do I have very little sympathy for such obvious alcoholics.

I always find pompous people who take themselves too seriously very funny. Perhaps you should look at him in this way.

LGTrotter wrote:I notice Phil has changed his one liner at the bottom of his posts to something like; "A short story about SACD; -0.7568".

What does this mean? I have tried google.

Google is unlikely to help. My previous signature might; an additional clue is that the original story was longer than my version.

PhilW wrote:

LGTrotter wrote:I notice Phil has changed his one liner at the bottom of his posts to something like; "A short story about SACD; -0.7568".

What does this mean? I have tried google.

Google is unlikely to help. My previous signature might; an additional clue is that the original story was longer than my version.

Phil, thank you for noticing this.

The last signature was something like; 'maths puns are the first sine of madness'. I think that was it. But it does not help, given that I am rather mathematically challenged. Is it a pun? Related to sines?

Can I ask for another, more obvious clue? I should like to know the answer but I see I am to be made to work for it.

LGTrotter wrote:

PhilW wrote:

LGTrotter wrote:I notice Phil has changed his one liner at the bottom of his posts to something like; "A short story about SACD; -0.7568".

What does this mean? I have tried google.

Google is unlikely to help. My previous signature might; an additional clue is that the original story was longer than my version.

Phil, thank you for noticing this.

I did see the original post, but left it in case of other replies, thought it was side-tracked, so thought I'd reply now.

LGTrotter wrote:Can I ask for another, more obvious clue? I should like to know the answer but I see I am to be made to work for it.

Of course.

LGTrotter wrote:The last signature was something like; 'maths puns are the first sine of madness'. I think that was it. But it does not help, given that I am rather mathematically challenged.

It should help. No mental maths is required.

LGTrotter wrote:Is it a pun?

Yes.

LGTrotter wrote:Related to sines?

Yes.
You're almost there.

I can do puns, but sines of puns seems impossible. And I have yet to discern what SACD refers to. Is it the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques?

-0.7568 ≈ Sin[−49°].

And no, I don’t know the what or why.

Super Audio Compact Disc?

A couple of extra clues:

• "A short story by SACD" - SACD is a person.
• −49° is not the only angle for which sine(x)=-0.7568.

(n.b. While the mathematically inclined might solve this from the numerics, I expected the maths to only be used as a simple check to confirm a realisation of the answer).

Is it Sacha Distel?

"Math puns are the first sine of madness" was his previous signature.

Is there an irrational (e.g. mad) number for which the sine is ≈ -0.7568?

PhilW wrote:

• −49° is not the only angle for which sine(x)=-0.7568.

Including −131°, −49°, 229°, 311°, 589°, 671°, 949°, 1031°, 1309°, 1391°, 1669°, 1751°, 2029°, 2111°, 2389°, etc. Are any of these numbers appropriate literary or musical references?

jdaw1 wrote:

PhilW wrote:

• −49° is not the only angle for which sine(x)=-0.7568.

Including .... Are any of these numbers appropriate literary or musical references?

229° would be the relevant one, but I'm really not sure it will help you to know this, unless you realise something else...

djewesbury wrote:Is it Sacha Distel?

no.

Is it; "the taxidermist never loved his daughter more"?

LGTrotter wrote:Is it; "the taxidermist never loved his daughter more"?

No, but I'm intrigued to hear your explanation as to why that could have been the answer?

The answer, once known, will be clear and unambiguous (aside from the pun!).