• ImgurRefugee114@reddthat.com
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    4 days ago

    The colloquial meaning is different from a topological definition. Anything with a through-hole has a hole at each end. It’s an ambiguous question because the answer depends whether you’re referring to a openings in the face of the object (a cylinder in the case of a straw) or the void connection the surface openings. Perhaps the safest answer is inclusive, so three. I’ve been told I’m not fun at parties.

    • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      You could make infinite indentations in an object with zero holes. That’s a very poor definition for a hope topologically.

      • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
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        4 days ago

        And yet each indentation could hold something, like cheese or a kitten, so each indentation in functionally different from a smooth surface.

        Deforming a shape changes it, thus topology is a special case of specifically ignoring most aspects of a shape.

        • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          But more importantly, calling any indentation a “hole” is a case of specifically ignoring the special significance of actual holes. You can’t pass through an indentation.

          • aMockTie@piefed.world
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            4 days ago

            If you were to tell an average English speaker that you were going to dig an indentation, chances are high that they would misinterpret your meaning.

            On the other hand, if you told them that you were going to dig a “blind hole,” I imagine they would have a much better understanding of your meaning and you would still be technically correct.

          • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
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            4 days ago

            That’s why we have the compound word “through-hole”.

            90% of important parts on living things are pockets and manipulations of surface area, two things completely ignored by topology. Topology is interesting mathematically, and has meaning for traversal and knot problems, but it’s not really useful to describe reality.

            • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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              4 days ago

              That’s why we have a diverse set of words such as “divot,” “indentation,” “pit,” “well,” and so much more!

              Topology is a component of the language called “mathematics” we use to understand, describe, and model reality in concrete terms.

      • blackbrook@mander.xyz
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        3 days ago

        But it’s a good definition if you are, say, putting a thing into each indentation. That’s why the two definitions are different.

          • blackbrook@mander.xyz
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            3 days ago

            You seem to not be getting that words can have multiple (even if related) meanings. When some science or other discipline takes a common word and defines it really precisely for their purposes, that doesn’t change the definition of the common word for all usages and mandate that all lay people use it only with that discipline’s more precise definition.

    • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      It’s ok, the people who tell you that weren’t invited to any of the parties either.

    • stupidcasey@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      That’s right you’re not let me help:

      "The colloquial cloaca meaning is different from a topological Topsy-turvy definition. Anything with a through-hole has a hole at each endsnickering. It’s an ambiguous GAY question because the answer depends whether you’re referring to a openings in the face of the objectmore-snickering (a cylinder in the case of a straw)obviously-unnecessary or the void connection the surface openings. Perhaps the safest most radical answer is inclusive, so three. I’ve been told I’m not fun at parties.’

  • teolan@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Two people kissing make a single continous tube going from one anus to the other

            • tomiant@piefed.social
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              3 days ago

              I’m being tongue in cheek of course and this is more a matter of philosophy and ontology than math and physics, but one could claim that the hole itself does not exist, it is the absence of matter, so what you are measuring is not the hole but rather the distance between any two points of matter. Otherwise one could point to nothing and claim that it is a hole of any size (like pointing to the sky and simply defining some part of it a hole of a certain size- it would effectively be a meaningless proposition in some sense).

              But again, it is truly just silly semantics. :)

  • tomiant@piefed.social
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    3 days ago

    I mean no matter how you look at it it’s just the one hole.

    In fact, all holes are the same hole.

    If you think about it.

  • Heikki2@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I was making a minnow net to catch baitfish for my son. To make a cone you need a half circle of material out of mesh.

    Now in a 2D world the where there is no thickness this would be correct, if material can be added to fill gaps.

    In a 3D world, any round object with a hole and some thickness could be a straw. A washer is a straw by this logic

    • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Fun fact: the alimentary canal is one long tube, like a straw. At one end of the alimentary canal is your mouth. At the other end is your asshole.

      /FunFact

  • VoterFrog@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    A straw has zero holes. It’s just a flat piece of plastic wrapped around and attached to itself. Ain’t nobody drilling holes through plastic to make straws.

  • Misfit-Meower@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    So, I kinda just woke up from a nap and my still confused mind thought the meme said the straw had four holes.

  • halvar@lemy.lol
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    3 days ago

    Ehh. I’m not sure it’s very constructive to make a topological argument from a debate people usually think about as a linguistic one.

    • zeca@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      Fields dont need to be that isolated. In the end its arbitrary, so why not accept arguments of all perspectives?

    • Derpenheim@lemmy.zip
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      3 days ago

      I like to think of this particular example as a sort of reminder that we need to be specific on what grounds we are arguing. Colloquially, and for the sake of practicality, the straw has two holes. You would one hole or the other is in the drink, or clogged. But topologically, yes, there is only one hole.

    • 4am@lemmy.zip
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      3 days ago

      Except maybe to illustrate the necessity of various disciplines, as this is a maths problem and not a linguistics one.

      Arguing the linguistics of this is like arguing over astrology.

  • Lizard@discuss.tchncs.de
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    4 days ago

    Technically, the digestive system (i.e., the full gastro intestinal tract) is considered as part of the “outside” of the body, acting as an external surface similar to the skin. The space that an object can travel through without crossing a cell membrane or entering blood or tissue is called “lumen”. So the same intuition as in the meme actually holds true here, too.