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The Krampus Whale appears to be a homophone chimera of the Grampus [1] in Melville's Moby Dick and the Krampus of Central European folklore [2].

Parent's final request is a clear reference to Coq [3]. I yield, mumbling something about lions and claws.

[1] https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/grampus

[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus#Origins

[3] https://coq.inria.fr/

I believe that the parent is referring to the translation of a term formerly used among the Maori and Polynesian peoples for human flesh as food [1]; their reasoning being that pigs resemble humans, since they taste alike.

This taste-based taxonomy is reminiscent of Ishmael's taxonomy of whales in Melville's Moby Dick [2].

It is known, and can indeed be readily proved by inspection, that everything tastes like chicken [3]. I thus propose a taste-based taxonomy of edible organisms, aiming at restoring the former prominent role of Gallus gallus [4].

[1] https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/long_pig

[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetology_of_Moby-Dick

[3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tastes_like_chicken

[4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallic_rooster

Re:The Art of Not Thinking on Tuesday August 04, 2020 @09:12AM (#24049594)
Hopefully saving someone some time: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punnett_square
In the paper: "It is worth noting that the proposal of a "wake/sleep" specific algorithm for unsupervised learning of generative models based on feedback from stochastic stimulation goes back 25 years (Hinton et al., 1995)"
Re:Room 641A on Friday May 29, 2020 @07:33PM (#23356872)
Are you trying to point out the missing Oxford comma?
Re:Can 1/3 and 1/3 = 2/6? It seemed so on Tuesday May 26, 2020 @06:58PM (#23317443)
I'm not sure we can really guess what the student meant, but I do know for sure that she was wrong.

If you add up a sixth of a six-pack and a sixth of another six-pack you get a sixth of two six-packs -- two twelveths.

The student's misunderstanding comes from being taught fraction addition in terms of items in a collection -- which only holds if you keep to the same set (what you called scale).

This is a common choice -- "students already know how to add integers, so let's start from there", but as it did in this case, it doesn't always work as intended.

This is a great example of taking an analogy so far that the student didn't learn anything new at all. Everyone feels happy -- teacher's teaching, student's learning -- until you test what your knowledge on outside the domain of the analogy.

Fraction and integer addition are one and the same, yes -- but from the point of view of fractions, wherefrom integer addition is a special case. It remains challenging to teach and understand from the point of view of the integers, which is where the student stands.