In case you were wondering how I got this way...

[pozorvlak]

The tail-end of a conversation with my Dad last night:

[A discussion of scary-sounding nonlinear dynamical techniques my Dad has been studying, with Poincaré's name attached for extra scariness]
Me: Sounds interesting. Have you come across the idea of considering the Poisson bracket as a symplectic form on the cotangent bundle of phase space?*
Dad

Comments

[shuripentu]

May I recommend Finnish and the flute. :)

[pozorvlak]

I was thinking Mandarin and the guitar, but I'll take that under advisement. I'm likely to have a Finnish speaker to practice on, which would help a lot.

[michiexile]

The butler, in the attic, speaking German and playing the clarinet!

Oh, sorry - I thought we started playing Cluedo...

[pozorvlak]

:-)

[michiexile]

As for "realer" suggestions: The Theremin.

[pozorvlak]

Good idea!