Alloneword: Errors, deceptions, and abmiguity

Shakespeare, W. Merchant of Venice (act 1 scene 1). Incidentally, this play may cast light on the Bard's sexual preferences: "My ventures are not in one bottom trusted."

In my school, Latin v's were pronounced as w's. In German and Polish we were taught to reverse this rule--most confusing. Caesar's declaration has been much parodied: "Veni, vidi, volo in domum redire" (I came, I saw, I wanna go home) and "Veni, vidi, Visa" (I came, I saw, I shopped).

I was reminded of this ancient anecdote by an entry in Wiki! Strangely, I now feel less inclined to believe it. It has that too-telling-to-be-true, urban-mythic feel. Why draw attention so openly to Beria's downfall while Russia is going through the motions of mourning Stalin? Reader input will be rewarded.

From Leopold Kronecker (1823-1891) and his famous dictum, "God made the integers; all else is the work of Man." This is one of those many slick aphorisms that defy reasonable analysis (if you spot the pun on analysis, a branch of mathematics, forgive me). Both theists and atheists have problems with Kronecker. Theists can claim that a Real God, by definition, is perfectly capable of extending the discrete integers to the Real number continuum. Atheists say that "God don't enter into the equation." Early man invented the integers (how else can one impose taxes or count slaves?); later, after much trial and error, came the rationals or fractions (how else to divide the pie?), followed by the badly named irrationals, made fully Real and reasonable by Richard Dedekind and other demigods in the late 19th century.