Random Thoughts Part 4 - Split Thread

[dkotschessaa]

Woohoo. I'm signed up for 6 private lessons of Tai Chi.

Prepare for very gentle butt whoopings!

 

[nuuskur]

Ohh, Tai Chi - you will know what sore arms feel like :)

 

[zoobyshoe]

Someone just linked to this painting on Facebook. I found it to be spooky. It's called, "Euglena."

 

[WWGD]

Woohoo. I'm signed up for 6 private lessons of Tai Chi.

Prepare for very gentle butt whoopings!

I started it karate at one point but drop it after like a week. All I remember is how to do the shouting.

 

[WWGD]

Seems like either today or yesterday is/was the 100th birth anniversary of Frank Sinatra, Chairman of the Bored.

 

[WWGD]

Someone just linked to this painting on Facebook. I found it to be spooky. It's called, "Euglena."

View attachment 93324

My mom received a sculpture of an owl a few years back. She kept it by her bedside and had to throw it out after she would wake up halfway through the night , EDIT just to be staring at the owl's face glowing in the dark, which would freak her out. Quite a weird gift to be giving, I would say.

 

[jim hardy]

TIL

Euglena is a genus of single-celled flagellate protists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euglena

 

[WWGD]

TIL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euglena

"flagellate protists" sounds like a cult, maybe a sexual one. Editr: BTW, it is possible to use standard words to write a Math paper called: "Ball-packing in Fock spaces of Tight Curvature". I may just use the title for the next one I write.

 

[fresh_42]

"flagellate protists" sounds like a cult, maybe a sexual one.

A wide spread one: single cell sex! Not to be confused with sex sells. Btw: when did we switch from simple cell division to sexual reproduction and who is to blame?

 

[WWGD]

A wide spread one: single cell sex! Not to be confused with sex sells. Btw: when did we switch from simple cell division to sexual reproduction and who is to blame?

Don't blame it on me, I just wrote the post!

 

[WWGD]

AHC , "American Heroes Channel" finally showing a documentary on WW1 after showing docs. on WW2 almost 24/7.

 

[rootone]

A wide spread one: single cell sex! Not to be confused with sex sells. Btw: when did we switch from simple cell division to sexual reproduction and who is to blame?

I blame zygotes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygote

 

[zoobyshoe]

Current temperature at the South Pole: -20 F, -29 C.

 

[WWGD]

Current temperature at the South Pole: -20 F, -29 C.

Temperature at the North Pole is -15F, -26 C . EDIT
http://climatekids.nasa.gov/polar-temperatures/
It seems, on average, South Pole is colder than North Pole.
EDIT2: I am too lazy to check why they cite a single number when one asks for temperature, as if temperature was uniform throughout both poles.

 

[WWGD]

I know it is just meant for ratings, but I still get upset when I hear:

1) " The lie detector determined" . Lie detectors are little more than electronic Ouija boards

2) "Alien theorists believe that..." An alien theorist; theorist used in the loosest possible sense of someone having a theory, theory in the loosest sense of putting together ideas at random to see if anything sticks. No research, no data, just a "What if ", without support.

I should have been jaded by now, but somehow I am not.

 

[fresh_42]

Just read: US town rejects solar farm amid worries it would "suck up all the energy from the Sun" - Woodland, NC.
Still asking myself whether we have 1st of April.

 

[rootone]

I... theorist used in the loosest possible sense of someone having a theory ...

Unfortunately the word 'theory', while having a definite meaning in science - as an coherent explanation of something,
it is also commonly used in general conversion to mean just 'an idea', no matter how crazy and unsupportable it may be.
I think that usage is acceptable as spoken English, but it does confuse things that there are theories which are acceptable science, and other which are not science and don't pretend to be.
Such as 'My theory is that team X will win the trophy this year', acceptable English, but not a theory in the scientific meaning.

 

[PWiz]

Unfortunately the word 'theory', while having a definite meaning in science - as an coherent explanation of something,
it is also commonly used in general conversion to mean just 'an idea', no matter how crazy and unsupportable it may be.

Seriously, the word is abused so much these days.

 

[fresh_42]

Unfortunately the word 'theory', while having a definite meaning in science - as an coherent explanation of something,
it is also commonly used in general conversion to mean just 'an idea', no matter how crazy and unsupportable it may be.

Yes! One of the most favorite replies I've read on online discussions about evolution was: "It is only a theory. Not proven." You can fill entertaining evenings upsetting the trolls.

 

[WWGD]

Yes, Evolution " Is just a theory". I think this is formally called a fallacy of equivocation.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Yes, Evolution " Is just a theory". I think this is formally called a fallacy of equivocation.

The fallacy of equivocation occurs when a key term or phrase in an argument is used in an ambiguous way, with one meaning in one portion of the argument and then another meaning in another portion of the argument.

Example: "It is false to claim feathers are lighter than canon balls, because a black bird's feather reflects much less light than a canon ball, and actually appears much darker."

 

[dkotschessaa]

The best way to print from my laptop:
My phone connects fine to my wifi, my laptop does not (although it's fine elsewhere)
My phone serves as an access point to my laptop
My laptop prints better with google cloud print than on the LAN, so I sent the document through my phone, to the cloud
which comes back through the cloud to my LAN which sends it to my printer
Which is 2 feet away from where I am printing.

 

[rootone]

Use a USB cable?, but then you might not have one with the right connector at both ends.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Use a USB cable?, but then you might not have one with the right connector at both ends.

Indeed, the meaning of the word "universal" seems to have been lost on all the people making USB cables.

 

[WWGD]

Indeed, the meaning of the word "universal" seems to have been lost on all the people making USB cables.

How about wireless printing?

 

[WWGD]

Example: "It is false to claim feathers are lighter than canon balls, because a black bird's feather reflects much less light than a canon ball, and actually appears much darker."

Yes, and in this case it is first used colloquially, as in everyday language and then it is used in its more formal way. So I think it does fall into that category of equivocation. Like one I hear or read a while back: "My Achilles heel is not my Achilles heel" , with the first one used figuratively and the second one used literally, as in the body part. Without explanation, it seems like a contradiction: A is not A..

 

[Ibix]

There seems to me to be a general problem with the clash between technical and colloquial language. It just hits science hard because there are substantial lobbies with little interest in reality - so evolution is "just a theory" and "chemicals are bad for you".

I once saw a "man in the street interview" with someone who didn't want to eat GM products because they have genes in.

 

[WWGD]

There seems to me to be a general problem with the clash between technical and colloquial language. It just hits science hard because there are substantial lobbies with little interest in reality - so evolution is "just a theory" and "chemicals are bad for you".

I once saw a "man in the street interview" with someone who didn't want to eat GM products because they have genes in.

And it becomes confusing because sometimes people switch in their usage between technical and colloquial within the same conversation, but they don't make it clear in what sense they are using their words, in the informal sense or in a formal/rigorous sense. It can become really confusing. It is an art to navigate between the two, and few are good at it.

 

[fresh_42]

I once saw a "man in the street interview" with someone who didn't want to eat GM products because they have genes in.

Exactly. Real clean food only comes out of plants!

 

[dkotschessaa]

There seems to me to be a general problem with the clash between technical and colloquial language. It just hits science hard because there are substantial lobbies with little interest in reality - so evolution is "just a theory" and "chemicals are bad for you".

I once saw a "man in the street interview" with someone who didn't want to eat GM products because they have genes in.

Not to mention well intentioned but misguided advice like "don't eat something if you can't pronounce the ingredients!"