Key Letter By Descartes Found After 170 Years 165
Schiphol writes of a long-lost letter by René Descartes to Marin Mersenne that has come to light at Haverford College, in Pennsylvania, where it had lain buried in the archives for more than a century. The discovery could revolutionize our view of one of the 17th-century French philosopher's major works. "[T]housands of treasured documents... vanished from the Institut de France in the mid-1800s, stolen by an Italian mathematician. Among them were 72 letters by René Descartes... Now one of those purloined letters has turned up at a small private college in eastern Pennsylvania... The letter, dated May 27, 1641, concerns the publication of Meditations on First Philosophy, a celebrated work whose use of reason and scientific methods helped to ignite a revolution in thought."
I'm guessing the letter was: "é " (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, we don't have that "é " letter in our alphabet, so we must have lost it. However I'm thinking René Descartes may have just stolen it... you know how those French are...
Rene Descartes (Score:5, Funny)
Rene Descartes walks into a bar. The bartender asks "can I get you a beer?" Descartes replies "I think not!" and he disappears.
Thanks, I'm here all week!
Re:So (Score:5, Funny)
can we have the text please? (Preferably in a human language)
Sorry, it's written in French.
Re:I'm guessing the letter was: "é " (Score:2, Funny)
Logitech will showcase the new 1105 keys keyboard and legendary threads will pop up in slashdot such as "1105 keys ? Ok, but does it come in DVORAK."
How about horses? (Score:5, Funny)
The moral of this story is that you can't put Descartes before de horse.
*ducks*
Re:It said that Descartes liked turtles. (Score:5, Funny)
It's turtles all the way down, young man.
Re:I'm confused (Score:3, Funny)
Well, the letter itself is incapable of thought, so logic fails when trying to determine whether or not the letter exists.
Re:So (Score:3, Funny)
He just waited until their backs were turned.
Re:I'm guessing the letter was: "é " (Score:4, Funny)
é è ê ô ù à ë ç î
We call these caracters "caractère accentués" in French.
Re:I'm guessing the letter was: "é " (Score:3, Funny)
You may keep them! Can you imagine how many days I spent learning the friggin' difference between e, é and è? And no, "you can hear it" is NOT a suitable explanation for someone who doesn't know how it's pronounced either!
Friggin' French and their urge to pepper harmless letters with various sorts of crap...
Re:Rene Descartes (Score:4, Funny)
Re:So (Score:1, Funny)
Sure, here you go.
Hey man. You know that whole Meditations thing? Sorry about that. I was totally high when I wrote it. "I think, therefore I am," sounds really deep when you've got orange frogs singing Pink Floyd to you. If you get a chance can you help me retract this thing? I don't want to look like an idiot.
P.S. Do you know what a Pink Floyd is?
Re:...And René Descartes (Score:3, Funny)
cheers bruce!
Re:I'm guessing the letter was: "é " (Score:4, Funny)
English is worse because you have e, e and e that are pronounced differently, but there is no accent to tell which pronunciation to use.
Re:I'm guessing the letter was: "é " (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So (Score:5, Funny)
I think it's the variant on the old joke.
"For 30 years, the guard at the French Public Library for the evening shift noticed Gugli walking out with a book tucked under his arm. He always make sure to talk to Gugli, as Gugli would look very suspicious, as if he'd done something wrong. The guard always figured there wasn't something quite right about Gugli. So he'd search him, but always find nothing.
"After retiring, the guard wanted this mystery solved, so one day he followed Gugli home. He asked, 'Okay, I know you've been making some kind of mischief all these years, but I've never been able to figure out what. What have you been stealing?'
"Gugli responded, 'Books!'"
Re:I'm guessing the letter was: "é " (Score:4, Funny)
Dear Marin (Score:5, Funny)
I still can't get laid at the local bars, maybe I should stop talking about Math.
Perhaps astrology might work better. Do you have any good charts?
Thanx,
Rene
Re:Rene Descartes (Score:3, Funny)
[MONTY-PYTHON song="Philosophers Song"]
Rene Descartes was a drunken fart, "I drink therefore I am!"
[/MONTY-PYTHON]
Re:I'm guessing the letter was: "é " (Score:5, Funny)
é is like the "eh?" in "Let's go see The Phantom Menace, eh?" (canada)
è is like the "eh." in "The Phantom Menace? Eh. I'm in no mood to ruin my childhood memories."
ê is like an appropriately-angry version of è.
Re:Dear Marin (Score:4, Funny)
Re:My claim to fame... (Score:1, Funny)
O rly? My body contains water molecule from the cum of Jesus. Top that.
Correction (Score:3, Funny)
Meh, it's getting a bit stale. Besides, it wasn't really that funny when Decartes thought he told it in 1630.
Re:I'm guessing the letter was: "é " (Score:3, Funny)
ç
I've never understood the need for this letter, at least the way it is used in Portuguese. There is a restaurant nearby my home called Café Opçao. It's pronounced "ohp-SAO". It's a bloody S! Why don't you just put a bloody S there?!
Re:You got to be kidding! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:DRM violations! (Score:3, Funny)
Marvin? Is that you?