Is it time for Random Thoughts - Part 4?

[OmCheeto]

Whoa, you guys down there topped us by a good 10 degrees! Hang on though - we're on the downside. Gwad how I miss the rain!

We missed the predicted target by a whole 10°F. It was only 99°F today. I was ready for the worst though. I turned my AC on this morning about 9 am. 500 watts! Kept the house at a comfortable 75°F. My bedroom is an ice box though.

So...is heat good for sciatica?

I haven't been woken up by it in at least a week. But this morning, at around 6:30 am, she came a knockin'... Subsequently, I've noticed no back pain. Might be the beer though. (hic!)

The humidity in the southeast is ridiculous right now.

It was so humid here today, it spontaneously started raining. I heard at least 8 drops fall, and one hit my leg.

ps. I was just thinking of you. Do you know what an "MG" is? And were you guys still cursing the electricians back aft when they messed up the 400 Hz system?

 

[OmCheeto]

...Gwad how I miss the rain!
...

That reminds me. Yesterday, I was watering a patch of wannabe-lawn which I seeded a couple of days ago, when I noticed something moving underneath some laurel bush roots, which I had removed a few days before, from the location of the aforementioned new patch of future lawn.

Anyways, it was a mole. I have never seen a mole get out of its hole and go surface foraging like that. I think he may have been looking for my feral cat's watering dish.

It is very extraordinarily dry around here.

ps. The mole also did some shallow excavating in the new patch of lawn area. I suppose it's a good thing, as after I read the instructions on the grass seed bag, I discovered that I had done nothing correct. Though I am keeping it well watered, as the cats decided that the new 400 ft² patch of dry dirt makes a really nice new kitty litter box. The new neighbor's dog, named SpongeBob, also likes to poop there. I'm not sure I like SpongeBob. And from his sideways glances, I think the feeling is mutual.

 

[Modest Learner]

Random Thought: Silas Marner by George Eliot is one of the few classics that I really like. I am currently reading it.

 

[dkotschessaa]

My wife keeps buying canned goods she doesn't plan on eating ever.

Her: What are those?
Me: Peas. They were in the pantry.
Her: Eeew!
Me: But you bought them! Remember?
Her: Yeah, for hurricane supplies!
Me: Ok, so what if there was a hurricane?
Her: But there isn't ever a hurricane!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Shark week.

 

[WWGD]

Shark week.

According to the commercial, sharks have a week named after/ dedicated to, the world's most interesting man.

 

[DiracPool]

I was thinking about this line by Wheeler today from his GR book:

The fact that all free-float observers agree on the wristwatch time τ earns it
the label invariant. Invariant means that all observers calculate the same
value, independent of reference frame. In relativity every invariant quantity
is a diamond, to be treasured.

http://www.eftaylor.com/general.html

What an interesting and welcomed break from an otherwise staid, scientific discourse, complete with the off-rigor implements of simile and emotional awe. Specifically, usage of the words, "earn," "Diamond," and "treasured." That means something.

 

[BobG]

In the course of the committee's investigations, it had been discovered,
to everyone's dismay, that the Law of Averages had never been incorporated
into the body of federal jurisprudence, and though the upholders
of States' Rights rebelled violently, the oversight was at once corrected,
both by Constitutional amendment and by a law...

(The Law, Robert M. Coates)

 

[OmCheeto]

In the course of the committee's investigations, it had been discovered,
to everyone's dismay, that the Law of Averages had never been incorporated
into the body of federal jurisprudence, and though the upholders
of States' Rights rebelled violently, the oversight was at once corrected,
both by Constitutional amendment and by a law...

(The Law, Robert M. Coates)

Wow. You must be really old. My magazine collection only goes back to the mid seventies.

 

[zoobyshoe]

In the course of the committee's investigations, it had been discovered,
to everyone's dismay, that the Law of Averages had never been incorporated
into the body of federal jurisprudence, and though the upholders
of States' Rights rebelled violently, the oversight was at once corrected,
both by Constitutional amendment and by a law...

(The Law, Robert M. Coates)

So, what is the Law of Averages? Is the crime being average or not being average?

 

[BobG]

So, what is the Law of Averages? Is the crime being average or not being average?

The crime is not behaving randomly in an orderly pattern. In other words, in order for the Law of Averages to work, everyone's behavior has to be random, but their random behavior has to be in a pattern that's easily predictable.

For example, the Law of Averages say a certain number of people will die this year in automobile accidents. But this dying in car accidents should appear random enough that those dying in car accidents this year have no clue ahead of time, else they'd foil the Law of Averages by not driving at all and then where would we be?

We'd have random chaos - that's where we'd be!

Auto insurance companies wouldn't know how much to charge us if they can't predict how many people will die each year! The department of transportation wouldn't know how much gasoline tax to charge us in order to maintain our roads if they could no longer rely on us to drive a set number of miles each year in fuel guzzling SUVS!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Auto insurance companies wouldn't know how much to charge us if they can't predict how many people will die each year! The department of transportation wouldn't know how much gasoline tax to charge us in order to maintain our roads if they could no longer rely on us to drive a set number of miles each year in fuel guzzling SUVS!

I get it: all about the money.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

Shark week.

Shark Week's gone down the crapper. They've had multiple segments which, after their airings, Discovery has admitted were entirely false: fake scientists, fake victims, fake sharks.

Although it can still be fun if you treat it like the History Channel and are simply interested in seeing what they'll come up with next

 

[micromass]

Shark Week's gone down the crapper. They've had multiple segments which, after their airings, Discovery has admitted were entirely false: fake scientists, fake victims, fake sharks.

Although it can still be fun if you treat it like the History Channel and are simply interested in seeing what they'll come up with next

Didn't they say last year that they discovered a living megalodon?

 

[WWGD]

The crime is not behaving randomly in an orderly pattern. In other words, in order for the Law of Averages to work, everyone's behavior has to be random, but their random behavior has to be in a pattern that's easily predictable.

For example, the Law of Averages say a certain number of people will die this year in automobile accidents. But this dying in car accidents should appear random enough that those dying in car accidents this year have no clue ahead of time, else they'd foil the Law of Averages by not driving at all and then where would we be?

We'd have random chaos - that's where we'd be!

Auto insurance companies wouldn't know how much to charge us if they can't predict how many people will die each year! The department of transportation wouldn't know how much gasoline tax to charge us in order to maintain our roads if they could no longer rely on us to drive a set number of miles each year in fuel guzzling SUVS!

What do you mean here, that the expected value /variance (as an integral) does not converge? Still, then I think you still have some order, as in the Cauchy distribution.

 

[BobG]

Shark Week's gone down the crapper. They've had multiple segments which, after their airings, Discovery has admitted were entirely false: fake scientists, fake victims, fake sharks.

Although it can still be fun if you treat it like the History Channel and are simply interested in seeing what they'll come up with next

I'm finding Shark Week pretty entertaining:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLt5rBfNucc

 

[zoobyshoe]

Shark Week's gone down the crapper. They've had multiple segments which, after their airings, Discovery has admitted were entirely false: fake scientists, fake victims, fake sharks.

I read about them "creatively" editing interviews with scientists such that the scientists seem to be saying things they actually never would have said, but this is the first I've heard of fake sharks and fake victims.

 

[dlgoff]

Too much time on my hands. Web length = 22.3 feet

 

[zoobyshoe]

Too much time on my hands. Web length = 22.3 feet

Fake. Spider Week's just around the corner.

 

[edward]

Fake. Spider Week's just around the corner.

Yep it just seems to creep up on us. <(@^@)> darn I wish my smiley face worked.

 

[zoobyshoe]

<(@^@)> darn I wish my smiley face worked.

Just fake it.

 

[edward]

Just fake it.

:) somehow it just isn't the same

I hope that there is a fake poop week. I may get to be on TV.

Come to think of it there is already plenty of fake poop on TV. Wait a minute, the poop on TV is real.

 

[OmCheeto]

Too much time on my hands. Web length = 22.3 feet

...

Me too. Today, I bought my [STRIKE]first[/STRIKE] third bicycle. [The last one being purchased] [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] 35 years [ago]. The circumference of the front [STRIKE]wheel[/STRIKE] tire is 2.107 meters.

It's a nice bike. Very much like my last one. Both French of course.

Except for the Japanese bits, from what I've just read.

 

[edward]

Me too. Today, I bought my [STRIKE]first[/STRIKE] third bicycle. [The last one being purchased] [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] 35 years [ago]. The circumference of the front [STRIKE]wheel[/STRIKE] tire is 2.107 meters.

It's a nice bike. Very much like my last one. Both French of course.

Except for the Japanese bits, from what I've just read.

Oops I got diameter and circumference confused there for a minute.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny-farthing#mediaviewer/File:Pennyfarthing-1886.jpg

Edit:

Schwinn has a new version of this bicycle at Walmart.

http://cf.collectorsweekly.com/stories/McCBgM0bkZn5CZ5cxHIacg.jpg

 

[dkotschessaa]

Too much time on my hands. Web length = 22.3 feet

I was just listening to a podcast about Galapagos. So the first thing I thought when I saw your post here was "Darwin would have been proud."

-Dave K

 

[B. Elliott]

ps. I was just thinking of you. Do you know what an "MG" is? And were you guys still cursing the electricians back aft when they messed up the 400 Hz system?

Oh, we still have them. When they're working, at least! lol

Believe it or not 400 was pretty reliable.

 

[OmCheeto]

Oh, we still have them. When they're working, at least! lol

Believe it or not 400 was pretty reliable.

Yay! They finally fixed something.

ps. I can't remember whether or not we replaced the Lithium-Bromide beast with an R-114 refrigeration unit on my old boat.

pps. Have we thrown you a welcome back party yet?

 

[Lisa!]

If only I could find a job when I could sleep during the day and be up all night...:zzz:

 

[Mr.maniac]

It's the obligatory evil laugh that all villains have to do.
He just scalped Cruella and wore it*[/size][/color] as a fur-coat, you see.
*(the scalp)[/size][/color]

dalmatians run as fast as you can I will get skinned for you
cause me a maniac

 

[collinsmark]

'Been hammering the vis viva equation all day.

Derived the optimal transition between two possible interplanetary injection/ejection strategies involving circular + hyperbolic orbits (one has an elliptical orbit as an intermediate step). And as a bonus, found the optimal parking orbit for refueling stations. And that orbit is the same for either strategy!

Then verified that the math works using Kerbal Space Program.

I just love it when the math works out. It's one of the greatest joys in life, me thinks.