I did not like Perdido Street Station very much, mainly because it's heavily dystopian. China Mieville is a great author--his books came alive when I read them. But perhaps that's the problem. His characters and societies just bug the heck out of me.
The bit about the knife wasn't when he was cutting; rather, it was the way he held it in his hand when he was trying to open the box. Ideally he should have put it down on the desk.
He can have a second Bar Mitzvah when he reaches age 83.
From Wikipedia: "Among some Jews, it is customary for a man who has reached the age of 83 to celebrate a second bar mitzvah, under the logic that a "normal" lifespan is 70 years, so that an 83-year-old can be considered 13 in a second lifetime. This practice is now becoming increasingly common among other denominations as well."
Delta is a Greek letter that looks like a triangle. It's used by mathematicians to mean the change in a value.
Let's say that I moved from my computer chair to the couch. The change in distance is about 5 feet, so I could say that my delta x is 5 feet. Sometimes you'll hear people talk about delta-v, which is the change in velocity.
One minor edit: the California "draught" should be spelled "drought".
Egads! What's with that knife? Keep that boy out of the kitchen.
From Wikipedia: "Among some Jews, it is customary for a man who has reached the age of 83 to celebrate a second bar mitzvah, under the logic that a "normal" lifespan is 70 years, so that an 83-year-old can be considered 13 in a second lifetime. This practice is now becoming increasingly common among other denominations as well."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euG1y0KtP_Q
Δx² + Δy² + Δz² - c²Δt² = s²
δx² + δy² + δz² - c²δt² = s²
Let's say that I moved from my computer chair to the couch. The change in distance is about 5 feet, so I could say that my delta x is 5 feet. Sometimes you'll hear people talk about delta-v, which is the change in velocity.