Random Thoughts Part 4 - Split Thread

[WWGD]

At lunch specials in many Chinese restaurants, one has the option of switching from white rice to brown rice for an extra $1.00. I always
suspected it is a complete ripoff. My trip to Chipotle's for lunch verified this: Chipotle's offers the choice of brown or white rice with
no price difference. If the actual difference of cooking brown was close to $1.00 more than cooking white , they could not afford to charge the
same for both, given the average meal is around $9.00.

 

[zoobyshoe]

hmmm...
That's a novel way of checking out the internal resistance of a cell.

Not really. Issues of internal resistance aside, the amperage a battery can deliver is related to the surface area of the "plates." Larger batteries deliver more amperage simply because the plates are more or less in proportion to the physical size of the battery. The Duracell battery delivers more than double the amps of it's energizer cousin of the same size, however, because the Duracell more than doubles the surface area of the zinc electrode. In an alkaline battery, the zinc electrode is a little bag of powdered zinc and electrolytic alkaline paste at the center of all the manganese dioxide. The Duracell simply uses more zinc powder.

The project I'm working on is electromagnets. So, what's of interest here is that the same electromagnet will be more than twice as powerful with the Duracell battery than it is with the Energizer. Same voltage, but more amps.

Please don't try that with a lead-acid version.

Why would I try to measure a 200+ amp battery with a meter that tops out at 8 amps?

ps. PM me your home address, and I'll mail you a couple of resistors, to, um, do that less dangerously.

I have plenty of resistors. Regardless, it would be of interest to throw one in the mix and get a more accurate picture of the ratio of the difference.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I was at the swap meet today and noticed an interesting bow. I am a fan of archery, and wanted to examine it, but there was a guy who had his eye on the same bow, who had gotten there before me. He picked it up, drew the string back to test the strength of it, and the lower limb of the bow snapped off with a sickening crackle. I was suddenly very happy he got to it before me.

 

[zoobyshoe]

At lunch specials in many Chinese restaurants, one has the option of switching from white rice to brown rice for an extra $1.00. I always
suspected it is a complete ripoff. My trip to Chipotle's for lunch verified this: Chipotle's offers the choice of brown or white rice with
no price difference. If the actual difference of cooking brown was close to $1.00 more than cooking white , they could not afford to charge the
same for both, given the average meal is around $9.00.

I could be wrong, but I have the impression that the Chinese don't naturally eat brown rice, therefore they'd consider it an imposition to have to buy and cook a separate batch of it for crazy foreigners who want it.

 

[WWGD]

I could be wrong, but I have the impression that the Chinese don't naturally eat brown rice, therefore they'd consider it an imposition to have to buy and cook a separate batch of it for crazy foreigners who want it.

Could be true, but AFAIK, what we call Chinese food in most of the U.S is already significantly different from the food most people eat in China( I wonder if a burger place in China qualifies as a " U.S restaurant"). And I believe the same goes for Mexican, Thai, etc. as prepared in the U.S: all the edge is removed to adapt to the U.S taste. Most people want to think they are eating/doing something exotic without actually wanting to take a leap into the unknown.

 

[WWGD]

I was at the swap meet today and noticed an interesting bow. I am a fan of archery, and wanted to examine it, but there was a guy who had his eye on the same bow, who had gotten there before me. He picked it up, drew the string back to test the strength of it, and the lower limb of the bow snapped off with a sickening crackle. I was suddenly very happy he got to it before me.

I always wondered why so few people get killed/hurt when learning archery. While teacher shows, students are carelessly turning around while they hold their respective bows. Seems like a recipe for disaster, specially with easily distracted children and teens.

 

[WWGD]

A t-shirt sponsoring the state of Maine reads: " I love Me" (Me is the abbreviation for Maine).

Today's a happy day for many of us nerds: World Almanac 2016 is finally out.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Could be true, but AFAIK, what we call Chinese food in most of the U.S is already significantly different from the food most people eat in China( I wonder if a burger place in China qualifies as a " U.S restaurant"). And I believe the same goes for Mexican, Thai, etc. as prepared in the U.S: all the edge is removed to adapt to the U.S taste. Most people want to think they are eating/doing something exotic without actually wanting to take a leap into the unknown.

I don't know about NYC, but here in San Diego most Mexican restaurants are owned and operated by Mexicans for a Mexican clientelle. Chain Mexican restaurants like Taco Bell and Del Taco are obviously not authentic, but I get the impression all the others (there's one about every block here) are more or less what you'd find over the border. They're not what you'd get eating in a Mexican home, they're more like the Mexican version of the American "greasy spoon" restaurant. The menu is limited to things that are fast to prepare, cheap, and filling. It's working-class Mexican food, just like the greasy spoons were working class American food, before McDonalds put them all out of business.

I always wondered why so few people get killed/hurt when learning archery. While teacher shows, students are carelessly turning around while they hold their respective bows. Seems like a recipe for disaster, specially with easily distracted children and teens.

Yeah, you see that in movies about summer camps. If those movies are authentic, I would expect the kids are shooting each other all the time. I think serious archery lessons are one-on-one situations: one teacher coaching one student at a time. Although, back in the day when the bow and arrow were serious weapons of war, they must have had group training.

 

[WWGD]

I don't know about NYC, but here in San Diego most Mexican restaurants are owned and operated by Mexicans for a Mexican clientelle. Chain Mexican restaurants like Taco Bell and Del Taco are obviously not authentic, but I get the impression all the others (there's one about every block here) are more or less what you'd find over the border. They're not what you'd get eating in a Mexican home, they're more like the Mexican version of the American "greasy spoon" restaurant. The menu is limited to things that are fast to prepare, cheap, and filling. It's working-class Mexican food, just like the greasy spoons were working class American food, before McDonalds put them all out of business.

Yeah, you see that in movies about summer camps. If those movies are authentic, I would expect the kids are shooting each other all the time. I think serious archery lessons are one-on-one situations: one teacher coaching one student at a time. Although, back in the day when the bow and arrow were serious weapons of war, they must have had group training.

You're right, there are a few authentic Mexican ones here too, but I doubt there are many places where you eat like one eats in China,etc. even in greasy-spoon equivalents. But maybe I am wrong.

And I actually had a pretty nice experience in one of those authentic Mexican places: I was the only non-Mexican one, yet I did not feel like an outsider. It was a strange but nice experience. And the food was pretty good too.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Oh man! Fargo was sublime tonight! Best episode so far!

 

[WWGD]

It is upsetting to see myself doing basic mistakes. Not a strong predictor of success, to say the least.

 

[S.G. Janssens]

It is upsetting to see myself doing basic mistakes. Not a strong predictor of success, to say the least.

I think a lot of the errors I make ultimately go back to something that is, in hindsight, rather elementary. So either we are both idiots or this might happen to anyone. I prefer to think the latter.

 

[wolram]

The mornings are especially hard to adjust to. I helped myself cope this year by buying a cuddly and warm pullover. When I wear it, I feel like a big, warm, blue, fuzzy bear.

Aww, i will buy you some fuzzy bear slippers to mach

 

[WWGD]

I think a lot of the errors I make ultimately go back to something that is, in hindsight, rather elementary. So either we are both idiots or this might happen to anyone. I prefer to think the latter.

Hope you're right.

 

[DennisN]

 

[nuuskur]

I demand compensation!

 

[wolram]

I demand compensation!

Damn it was the same the second time.

 

[zoobyshoe]

A few years back this girl told me her mother had told her that oil was old dinosaurs. I'd never heard that before, and thought it was pretty hilarious. However, it then struck me that some small percentage of oil might well be old dinosaurs, and I am now wondering what percentage that might be. "Old dinosaurs" in the sense of life that was not plant life.

 

[rootone]

I'm pretty sure that coal is derived entirely from plant life, but not so sure about oil.
I have wondered for a while how it is that in some places there are coal deposits, but elsewhere there is oil instead.

 

[Borg]

A few years back this girl told me her mother had told her that oil was old dinosaurs. I'd never heard that before, and thought it was pretty hilarious. However, it then struck me that some small percentage of oil might well be old dinosaurs, and I am now wondering what percentage that might be. "Old dinosaurs" in the sense of life that was not plant life.

Are you counting dinosaur droppings also?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Are you counting dinosaur droppings also?

Hmmmmm.

 

[WWGD]

Are you counting dinosaur droppings also?

Imagine those of the largest dinos, must have been the size of a house.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Imagine those of the largest dinos, must have been the size of a house.

I'm thinking more like a car.

 

[Borg]

Imagine those of the largest dinos, must have been the size of a house.

For herbivores, it's just going to look like decayed plants.

 

[WWGD]

I'm thinking more like a car.

How about we settle for a motor home?

 

[Borg]

How about we settle for a motor home?

Or a hobbit-sized house?

 

[WWGD]

For herbivores, it's just going to look like decayed plants.

I'll double check at the Health Food Restaurant's bathroom tomorrow ;). EDIT: Sorry, going to far into disgusting mode here. Done with dumps for now.

 

[zoobyshoe]

How about we settle for a motor home?

Scientific facts aren't arrived at by negotiation. Well, they're not supposed to be. Adult apatosaurus poop had some average objective volume.

 

[zoobyshoe]

For herbivores, it's just going to look like decayed plants.

Yeah, that would just be part of the plant life content of oil (minus bacteria). I'm looking for the non-plant life content.

 

[WWGD]

Scientific facts aren't arrived at by negotiation. Well, they're not supposed to be. Adult apatosaurus poop had some average objective volume.

You should be more scientific: how many Courics ? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/12/couric-coined-the-unit-of_n_68211.html