If these seem like different separate topics that’s because this is my riffing on a format I like called topical blend. Basically, keep reading, and I’ll make em connect.
Also this article is a work in progress, so some links haven’t been populated and you’ll see [this] around
I was listening to a podcast about lettuce and they were discussing substituting yoghurt for buttermilk and the differences, and that got the ball rolling.
Being an immigrant[1] I have noticed that there’s often a lot of variation in the types of dairy products around, their naming conventions, and their exact properties.
Finding [quark] or [crema] or [buttermilk] can be hard when those words are being used to mean something else, or the cultural context never found a use for those.
Long story short, you have to make do, and make substitutions. I was briefly pondering along which axes one might look to compare dairy products and came up with 3 main ones (off the dome, probably not the best, definitely not definitive)
Now obviously these cut into each other a ton, but this sets up a little bit of a framework for comparing dairy products.
Now in my head I’m trying to picture a 3 dimensional cube with [Reddi-wip], [Kefir], [Creme Fraiche], and [Cream Cheese] at various points in space on this spectrum.
… This was, predictably, a struggle. (Note: I am not a very good visualizer on the best of days)
This brought back memories (some all too recent) of sitting Calc II and Analysis lectures, struggling to do the same. And in those times, that struggle only preceded the idea of then putting it into practice on systems of higher dimensions we have no hope of even imagining.
And in some way that is no doubt obvious to many, but only then clicked for me I realized: I’ve managed to make analytical decisions comparing vectors of 5+ dimensions before, and I’ve done so easily…
…When I was 6.
…Playing [MarioKart]
When choosing your cart you are presented with this screen of various statistics:
With all the axes broken down into their own 1-dimensional slider bars.
This realization came to me with a slight facepalm in reaction to the thought of the effort expended that at least could potentially have been mitigated by taking this approach in the past.
Anyway, for now I’m off to optimize my dairy comparisons, hope you have a nice day!