I was recently explaining to Someone (he knows who he is) that Captain Picard's directive "Tea, Earl Grey, hot," is not nonsensical simply because no-one would drink Earl Grey cold.
It's clear that he's talking to a computer, and "Earl Grey" is a subset of "tea", and "hot/cold" is a subset of whatever tea flavor it is (Earl Grey).
(My conversation partner muttered something to the effect that I should have gone into programming.)
Anyway, much in the spirit of that exchange, I found this great site. The thing I like most about it is the graphic representation of the different cooking activities and which parts of the food are involved. Very comprehensible!
Cooking for Engineers
MISTRESS OF SCIENCE! Mwah ha ha ha.
(Actually now with PhD, but Doctor of Philosophy just doesn't have the same evil ring, does it?)
About Me
- liz
- If you're looking for my primary blog, it's the Doctorlizardo one there at the bottom. (The parenting one is the Furmother one.)
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13 comments:
[GASP!] I *love* the recipe tables! It makes everything so clear! Too bad I don't like to cook.
Now [pushes up glasses], I could have sworn that it was "Tea, hot, Earl Grey," which would have made more sense with the subsets and all:
All teas
Teas served hot
Earl Grey
General to specific, you know.
But you must be right, because I found this:
http://www.matthewbarr.co.uk/sounds/tea_earl_grey.wav
Now it bugs me -- I don't think that order makes any sense at all!
Hey, it's the 24th century...maybe some folks DO drink their Earl Gray tea cold! Although I'm sure cap'n Picard would cluck his tongue and shake his head if they did.
Now I'm all confused...*is* it in the order I thought? I hear it that way in my mind's...ear.
(However, that doesn't always mean it's reality.)
Engage pastry. Full speed ahead!
I don't know, anyway. It looks good to me like this:
-All teas
-Variety of tea
-Method of preparation
-Condiments (though Picard doesn't specify any, so the default would have to be "none")
That seems like general-to-specific to me.
After giving this a little more thought I stand by my first conclusion that the Enterprise Beverage System is crap.
Earl Grey is a type of tea. Stating “Earl Grey” to the ship’s computer by definition Picard is asking for tea. Earl Grey has no relationship with say Meatballs or a Veggie burger. By asking for “Tea, Earl Grey” he is using redundant words.
Also, Earl Grey is usually drank hot with milk. It was invented by an Englishman after all!
Therefore all Picard should need to say is “Earl Grey” – this will make the perfect cup of tea. He should have the ability to give parameters to override the default. For Example:
“Earl Grey, 95.67 degrees, no milk”.
Below is couple of simple classes to illustrate the Tea/Earl Grey relationship. One will note that Earl Grey inherits from Tea.
Feel free to Add/Change and generally improve upon the Tea-Earl Grey Enterprise Beverage System classes
namespace EnterpriseBeverageSystem
{
public class Tea
{
// Class variables
private float _temp;
private bool _milk;
// Class Constants
private const float PERFECT_TEA_TEMP = 98.64;
#region CLASS CONTRUCTORS
//Contructors
public Tea()
{
_temp = PERFECT_TEA_TEMP; //Probably better stored in the app //web.config
// as user may need to alter perfect temp for own
// preference.
_milk = true; // Milk is the default as everybody knows
// its the proper way to drink tea.
}
public Tea(float temp, bool milk)
{
_temp = temp;
_milk = milk;
}
#endregion
//Other code goes here. Properties, Methods, Events... etc.
}
}
namespace EnterpriseBeverageSystem
{
/// Summary description for EarlGrey.
/// This is just a basic class to illustrate the
/// relationship between EarlGrey and Tea
public class EarlGrey : Tea
{
#region CLASS CONTRUCTORS
// Makes Earl Grey at the perfect temp and with milk
public EarlGrey() :base()
{
}
// Makes Earl Grey at a specified temp
public EarlGrey(float tmp, bool milk) : base(tmp, milk)
{
}
#endregion
//Other Properties, Methods, Events
}
}
Conclusion:
Picard should not have to explicitly state the relationship between Tea and Earl Grey. The relationship is implicit.
The programmers in the 24th century are crap.
What do you expect from a Yank built Star Ship.
Oh, who the heck drinks tea at body temperature anyway?! (I mean, besides me, but I'm weird.) I know for a fact *you* don't.
Hmph. Smartypants.
(PS: I'll be expecting this tea program up and running for, say, Christmastime.)
Oh yeah--duh. C/F degrees.
To adapt a phrase from cruel.com, I guess I get the asshat on that one.
However, just because I want to be right about *something*: one would not say "Earl Grey is drank hot with milk" but rather "Earl Grey is drunk hot with milk." (Though that does make it sound like a derisive comment on the earl himself.)
Just a second...
I sort of agree on the temparature bit but perhaps Picard was tired of the ship's computer spewing out slightly decomposed British noblemen which is why he used the "Tea" qualifier.
Perhaps Picard is a control freak and uses inefficient computer commands. He is a high-level manager after all...
Good lord, I can't imagine a flame war revolving around tea AND programming semantics happening anywhere else but on my site.
So far.
[snort]
Geez, and I was all excited because I drew a little Venn diagram of this today. [missed-the-bucket sound]
Now you programming types know how I feel about ST's representation of what a linguist is (i.e., Hoshi). "Boneheads! Just learning a bunch of languages isn't linguistics!" Plus she's not NEARLY sexy enough to be a linguist.
I would guess that each Enterprise crewperson has his/her/its own defaults set up in the food replicator. A quick voice analysis would automatically call up a particular individual's preferences. Jean-Luc could just say "tea" and the replicator would produce his favorite tea served at his favored temperature with his prescribed condiments. Of course, if you had a cold, you'd be screwed. Um, maybe a retinal scan. But then Picard in his "Locutus of Borg" incarnation would be problematic. ("snort", push taped glasses up bridge of nose).
Then couldn't it equally well be programmed to respond to *anything* said with his voice?
"MEH!"
[receives hot cuppa Earl Grey WITH milk in thank you very much]
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