re: buttered toast

anima@devi.demon.co.uk
Tue, 31 Oct 1995 22:43:55 +0000

Bill Ramsay writes:

>I recollect reading somewhere that some guy
>had spent time researching the "butter side down" phenomenon and had
>concluded that the Universe was just built that way. Included stuff about
>heights of tables and rotational inertia etc., and presumably the
>gravitational constant.

You bet. The reference in question is:

Pyke M. _Butter Side Up! or The Delights of Science_ London: Pan Books 1978.

Magnus Pyke is a bit heavy but, for a died-in-the-wool positivist, (quote:
"scientific truth is very difficult to discover") quite amusing and
penetrating really. You'll enjoy it if you can keep your blood pressure
down. God, what a straightjacket positivist thinking has been... Frames,
yes. But Cages too.

Kindest regards,

Devi jankowicz

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