177
submitted 9 months ago by TheGoonch@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

I know it's an unpopular opinion given current circumstances, but I've always been a huge nerd about Russia. The history, the geography, the music, etc. And as an American, I've always found it fascinating how U.S.-Russian relations have fluctuated over time. We've gone from allies, to enemies, to frenemies. This doesn't mean I support Z or Putin, of course. What are you a nerd about?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] niktemadur@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Baseball - its' history, I can go off on teams and players from a century ago.

Music - rock of nearly all genres, electronic, soul, jazz, blues, some classical and contemporary.

Cinema - I used to screen films for a local cultural center, everything from gritty psychedelic British crime thrillers like Performance to French new wave gems like Pickpocket, from classic Hindu cinema like Pather Panchali to twisted Japanese horror like Suicide Club, and anything in between.

Cosmology and Physics - a lifelong passion, I have some astronomer friends (there's an institute in my city) and can hold my own in conversation with them. Lately I've been getting a handle on things like Lorentz Transformations and Bell's Inequality Experiment (aka Quantum Entanglement).

Painting - the history of the medium, and although I prefer Modern Art, starting in the mid-19th century onwards, I can now navigate and appreciate the styles that have appeared through the centuries, say the differences between Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo.

EDIT: How did I forget Science Fiction?
I've read all of Isaac Asimov's stories on Foundation and the Galactic Empire, including some of the more obscure ones like "The Stars, Like Dust", "The Currents Of Space" and "Pebble In The Sky". Also, many of his standalone stories, such as "Nightfall" and "The Gods Themselves".
Hands down, Asimov is my favorite Sci Fi author, and I love the original "Foundation" trilogy like no other.

The first four books of Frank Herbert's "Dune" saga.
A whole bunch of Harlan Ellison's short stories.
Several of Philip K Dick's novels.
Throw some JG Ballard and William Gibson in there, for good measure.

[-] kromem@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Cosmology and Physics

You might really enjoy looking into Neil Turok's cosmological theory if you haven't seen it:

https://insidetheperimeter.ca/a-mirror-universe-might-tell-a-simpler-story-neil-turok/

Started as a very elegant solution to the asymmetry of matter to antimatter, and by now he and his coauthors have found the theory fits a number of different unexplained open questions in cosmology and have testable predictions we'll probably start having answers to in the next decade.

Bell's Inequality Experiment

There's been a recent head scratcher with this one too. While it is typically referred to as a variation of Wigner's friend, a recent experiment that was perhaps better described as a recursive Bell's Inequality found a similar set of three assumptions, one of which must be false:

https://www.science.org/content/article/quantum-paradox-points-shaky-foundations-reality

Then another recent "one of three must be false" was a mathematical paradox around quantum theory:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/frauchiger-renner-paradox-clarifies-where-our-views-of-reality-go-wrong-20181203/

You might enjoy some of these rabbit holes.

this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2024
177 points (96.8% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27008 readers
495 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS