To some extent, though I still often hear people using the 12 hour system.

Just yesterday I’ve heard someone complain about their night shift which starts at 6.

Especially because in German you can’t say “half 17” for 16:30, only “half 5”. You save two whole syllables with this way over “sixteen thirty”!

Yes, the joke is that being raped makes you a woman. Not very funny imo.

I meant basic memorization, not any advanced stuff. If you have to re-derive everything basic from scratch again and again, you will be less effective at advanced stuff.

This is not to say the basic stuff should just be memorized. Rather, it should first be understood and only then be memorized.

And definitions must be memorized, otherwise you’re screwed. For instance, try proving something is a group if you forgot the definition of a group. Yes, the definitions have reason for being the way they are (which you will likely learn) but definitions just cannot be derived from your mind during an exam.

In OP’s example with memorizing multiplication tables instead of doing them on-the-fly: This is a core skill required for so much later on. You don’t want to waste time and energy thinking about how e.g. 7•8 = 7•2•4 = 14•4 = 14•2•2 = 28•2 = 56 because that’s a quick way to lose focus. Especially if you – like me btw – have to invert a 7x7 matrix with two variables x,y put in a bunch of positions (and linear combinations of them) in an exam.

Edit: substitute unescaped *s with •

Strongly disagree that memorization isn’t important. It’s THE foundation to be able to do effectively do more advanced stuff.

Take the equation (5678 • 9876). Use long multiplication and you only rely on doing a bunch of single digit multiplications and additions. It’s so much faster to be able to instantly know each step instead of having to recalculate these “atomic” steps again and again in your head.

You generally don’t need to be able to solve multiplications involving double digits in your head. It’s nice-to-have but otherwise useless, as long as you’re able to calculate the ballpark of the result.

For example, (38•63) is roughly 2400 and I can then calculate it on paper instead of in my head.

Head calculations are just so much more error-prone than written calculations. Don’t do them if you can avoid them. There’s a reason why math students (at a university) are infamous for being unable to make the simplest calculations in their head. It takes effort that could be spent somewhere else.

Nope, the treaty with Ukraine (purposefully) never specified consequences for anyone violating it. It only said (I’m paraphrasing here because I don’t want to look it up) that the signatories will respect Ukraine’s borders.

The US respects this treaty still and doesn’t recognize Russia’s claims to Ukrainian land. The lack of specified consequences for anyone violating it makes the treaty nearly worthless.

Signing “I will respect your border” is very much different from “I will defend your borders”.

The UK had a defence treaty with Poland though. Had this treaty not existed, the UK would’ve probably done nothing.

The UK didn’t start the conflict, it was Germany who forced them to act or lose all trust in upholding international treaties.

I think master came from master record. It makes some sense, as all other branches would be derived from the master branch.

Hasn’t he admitted to changing his opinion after learning about the effects on children? I’m not in the loop about this.

But yeah, you definitely shouldn’t treat his words as gospel. A lot of questionable-at-best stuff in there.

I sometimes like to read his political posts:

https://www.stallman.org/archives/2025-jul-oct.html

And honestly? I mostly agree with them? Like this:

ABC ordered to pay Antoinette Lattouf another $150,000 for unlawful termination over Gaza Instagram post.

But a company faced with enormous threats wielded by fascist officials who demand that certain views be suppressed will treat such penalties as the normal cost of sucking up.

The [Israeli] army says that HAMAS is using apartment buildings for “surveillance”, and has bombed some of those buildings to destroy them. Based on this logic, the army might bomb every tall building in Gaza City with the large bombs that the US is providing

He has some questionable beliefs as well, though for unusual reasons. He accepts non-binary people but refuses to use they/them pronouns because he doesn’t like the ambiguity of singular/plural pronouns. So he has invented the neopronouns per/pers to refer to singular non-binary persons. I genuinely think no other person on this planet could hold this opinion.

When I met Ralph, he actually gave me enough fentanyl to overdose every day for a century.

(I haven’t met Ralph [A false precondition says nothing about the truth of the postcondition])

Fun fact: Many countries use both systems actually.

For speaking, it’s quicker to say something like: “The party starts at 8” instead of “The party starts at 20 o’clock”.

For writing though, you would never use the 12 hour system.