tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post8640526809920214181..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: 36 Righteous MenAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-51969510929742653572015-05-31T16:03:49.865-04:002015-05-31T16:03:49.865-04:00Sometime, somehow, we're going to be the first...Sometime, somehow, we're going to be the first responder to a tragedy. Maybe something dramatic on the roadside, but more likely somebody in crisis. In your field you've probably been there many times, but even a sedentary scientist winds up talking to a stranger in trouble once in a while: maybe not even knowing they are in trouble until later. I hope I've been adequate some of the time. jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-24350322327210857552015-05-25T16:39:33.469-04:002015-05-25T16:39:33.469-04:00I ran across them years ago in The Book of Imagina...I ran across them years ago in <i>The Book of Imaginary Beings</i> by Jorge Luis Borges. They're called the Lamed Wufniks or Lamed Vavniks. Lamed (two syllables) and Vav are two letters of the Hebrew alphabet that, taken numerically, mean 30 and 6. So, "the thirty-sixers." There is an Arabic equivalent, the Forty Amdahls.Earl Wajenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03972213104063301125noreply@blogger.com