Random Thoughts Part 4 - Split Thread

[WWGD]

Maybe more customers are waiting in line after you at the cashier. Putting the receipt inside your bag would shorten the time the cashiers have to pass it and other bags to you. Usually I have a supermarket membership card with which I can double check points I have stored everytime I buy something, so even if I lose my receipt for anyone buy, I can still reclaim the overcharged amount if any from the store owner.

But how much time would cashiers save by just giving me the receipt in my hands instead? And this is done whether lines are long or inexistent. And what about the receipt becoming unusable because of moisture and liquid from food that may come into contact with the receipt, affecting the ink, muddling the numbers and general data? Just cranking out some numbers: assume a cashier saves 1/100 of a second by putting the receipt in the bag over handing it to you. Assume an average of 100 customers/day/cashier and a work life of 10,000 days (around 40 years). Then the cashier saves . That is then 10,000 seconds saved. Around 3 hours saved in 40 years.

But your idea of checking to see if the totals add up is a good one that I have been too lazy to put into effect.

Of course, this is another 1st, or 2nd world problem.

 

[Ibix]

My son asked me what "mad" means. I told him "deciding to have children". He looked up at me with his big, trusting eyes and said "I think you're just joking", then scurried off and asked grandma instead.

Rumbled...

 

[wolram]

How many of you still have an open fire?, we still have a coal burner, great when there is a power cut and lovely to the eye.

 

[zoobyshoe]

How many of you still have an open fire?, we still have a coal burner, great when there is a power cut and lovely to the eye.

Where I grew up back in New England every house had a fireplace. Here in southern California it's maybe one house in 15 that has a fireplace. A coal burner would be extremely rare. There's just nowhere to buy coal for the average person. Homes are heated with natural gas, oil, or electricity. (I guess there are some people who try heating with wood, but they will have a specialized wood pellet burning system, or at least a wood burner made specifically for heating. A fireplace just doesn't heat a house very well.)

 

[zoobyshoe]

At a coffee shop tonight, on the patio which gives a view of a very busy city street full of clubs and restaurants, and a fox came running down the sidewalk and whipped down a side street. It was surreal. I mean a fox, the animal, not a hot babe. And it said nothing in case you were going to ask, "Whuh the fox say?"

 

[PWiz]

Just gave the ACT. I feel like I survived the Holocaust.

 

[wolram]

Feeling down i need some thing to cheer me up.

 

[collinsmark]

I had thought today was a Monday. It was only after several hours after I awoke that I realized it was Sunday.

[And the worst part is, yesterday I spent the entire day thinking it was Sunday, not realizing it was Saturday. Which isn't too bad of thing; I just gained a whole extra day of life!]

 

[Psinter]

Just gave the ACT. I feel like I survived the Holocaust.

What's that?
_______________________
You know, I've never liked diamonds. IMO diamonds are dull. They are so transparent, monochrome, and generic. Not fun at all. Instead, I like gems who have vivid colors in them. Something that makes them vivid, not that boring-dull transparent and generic cut from diamonds. I would honestly not pay for a diamond. To me it has no aesthetic value. It's ugly, monochrome, monotone, and generic.

Vivid colored stones for the win: because diamonds are too mainstream.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

But how much time would cashiers save by just giving me the receipt in my hands instead?...

I don't know how things were going on at your supermarket at that time.
You as a customer: Just address me and hand me the receipt. I want to check why I have to pay either too little or too much or for enough items I need.
Cashiers : I don't care who you are, everything you need is in your bags. My service for you is complete. Next!
From the service provider's point, they don't want to always address each of their customers for every single receipt. They are lazy. If you had asked them directly where you receipt was, they would have probably smiled and answered you back.

 

[WWGD]

The place was almost empty. Now that you mention it, I am remembering that the supermarket offers extra compensation if one is overcharged, i.e., if the cashiers don't do their job correctly. By throwing the receipt in the bag, they make it less likely you will check than if they hand it to you. Could be. So the supermarket gets it both ways: they appear honest by offering the money back, but they lower the odds of someone getting their money back by throwing the receipt in the bag.

 

[nuuskur]

The queues in the larger grocery stores are gigantic, I have so much time, I can use it productively and calculate it in my head, how much I have to pay. If the machine displays numbers higher than what I'd come up with, then I will raise my voice. It's happened once this year, all other times were fine.

 

[WWGD]

Good idea, Nuuskur, what complicates things a bit for me is that the tax rate here is 8.85% , a bit hard to calculate in my head: (total sum of prices)(1.0885).

 

[WWGD]

Just gave the ACT. I feel like I survived the Holocaust.

I think part of what makes the test hard is the mental stamina issue: most people (including myself) are not used to remaining focused for hours at a time.

 

[PWiz]

I think part of what makes the test hard is the mental stamina issue: most people (including myself) are not used to remaining focused for hours at a time.

Seriously! I mean I was practically dying by the time I was through with the reading section :P

 

[PWiz]

The queues in the larger grocery stores are gigantic, I have so much time, I can use it productively and calculate it in my head, how much I have to pay. If the machine displays numbers higher than what I'd come up with, then I will raise my voice. It's happened once this year, all other times were fine.

You can also try finding numerical approximations to cube roots of prime numbers using binomial expansion mentally if you a lot of time while waiting in those lines - finding a suitable equation and evaluating its expansion in mid-air is always satisfying.

 

[WWGD]

You can also try finding numerical approximations to cube roots of prime numbers using binomial expansion mentally if you a lot of time while waiting in those lines - finding a suitable equation and evaluating its expansion in mid-air is always satisfying.

How do you do it, i.e., what is the general method?

 

[Borg]

Good idea, Nuuskur, what complicates things a bit for me is that the tax rate here is 8.85% , a bit hard to calculate in my head: (total sum of prices)(1.0885).

Just add $1 for every 12.

 

[WWGD]

Just add $1 for every 12.

Thanks, but the problem is that I usually do small shopping, i.e., less than $40 or so. Then the error can be somewhat significant. I tried computing 8% then adding 1/10th of that too. For larger buys , it is a good idea.

 

[nuuskur]

That's what I would do, add fractions together that are individually easy to calculate.

 

[WWGD]

Just add $1 for every 12.

Actually, Borg, I think I can make it work: I can use your method and average it with a computation of 9% .

 

[Borg]

Actually, Borg, I think I can make it work: I can use your method and average it with a computation of 9% .

It just depends on how accurate you're trying to be. 0.0885 * 12 is $1.06.

 

[WWGD]

It just depends on how accurate you're trying to be. 0.0885 * 12 is $1.06.

Ah, O.K, had not noticed that it was that close. Good.

 

[Psinter]

Was depilating my eyebrows this morning and totally managed to screw it up. I used a Sharpie to fix it and my friends are laughing (I'm laughing too).

I was depilating it because I have a job interview tonight. But it doesn't matter because Sharpie Brow makes me look fabulous. *confident*

If the interviewer asks: "Is that a Sharpie?"

I'll reply: "Maybe I was born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline."

 

[WWGD]

I usually just wear a fake mustache for interviews and put it on or take it of every time the interviewer shifts his/her
look away.

 

[WWGD]

Was depilating my eyebrows this morning and totally managed to screw it up. I used a Sharpie to fix it and my friends are laughing (I'm laughing too).

I was depilating it because I have a job interview tonight. But it doesn't matter because Sharpie Brow makes me look fabulous. *confident*

If the interviewer asks: "Is that a Sharpie?"

I'll reply: "Maybe I was born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline."

Try the mustache thing and say its Maybelline.

 

[Psinter]

Try the mustache thing and say its Maybelline.

That would be epic.

It's a good thing we live in a civilization with cosmetics. Got some kind pencil at the girls cosmetics area to cover the disaster. The package reads: "Eyeliner". It works quite well if I do say so myself. I recommend it for accidents like this.

I've been wondering, what if ancient civilizations had known cosmetics? You think they would they have used them? Imagine the Ancient Greeks with cosmetics... :

"Ohoho, looking good, Plato! High five!"
-Psinter

 

[collinsmark]

That would be epic.

It's a good thing we live in a civilization with cosmetics. Got some kind pencil at the girls cosmetics area to cover the disaster. The package reads: "Eyeliner". It works quite well if I do say so myself. I recommend it for accidents like this.

I've been wondering, what if ancient civilizations had known cosmetics? You think they would they have used them? Imagine the Ancient Greeks with cosmetics... :

"Ohoho, looking good, Plato! High five!"
-Psinter

I'm pretty sure they did. Cosmetics, from what I am lead to believe, have been around since the dawn of civilization (maybe before even).
http://cosmeticsinfo.org/Ancient-history-cosmetics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmetics_in_Ancient_Rome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_cosmetics_in_ancient_Egypt

 

[Lisa!]

 

[Ibix]

Up all night PFing, @Lisa! ?

 

[WWGD]

Still working on de-looping my life, making it a point to break my routine whenever possible.
I found a Chinese place with an amazingly cheap, pretty tasty, lunch special (and I felt OK
after eating it so they're not cutting down prices by using nasty substitutions). It is kind of fun
to feel disoriented from the change of routine.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Still working on de-looping my life, making it a point to break my routine whenever possible.
I found a Chinese place with an amazingly cheap, pretty tasty, lunch special (and I felt OK
after eating it so they're not cutting down prices by using nasty substitutions). It is kind of fun
to feel disoriented from the change of routine.

Oriental food dis-oriented you?

 

[zoobyshoe]

"Some academics argue that "computer rage" is becoming increasingly common"

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32407688

 

[WWGD]

Oriental food dis-oriented you?

No, I mean, while in delooping mode, or as a result of breaking my routine, I found this particular place I would most likely
not have found had I kept to my routine.

 

[PWiz]

How do you do it, i.e., what is the general method?

There's no thumb rule - that's what makes it fun ;)
First you have to find an expression of this sort: $(A+Bx)^{\frac 1{3}}$. Then, you have to find suitable values for $A$ and $B$ such that a value for x can be substituted for which $|Bx|<1$ so that the expansion of the expression equals or involves the cube root of the prime number you're trying to find. Its pretty easy to use this method for finding the $n^{th}$ root of composite numbers if $n$ is even, but it takes some ingenuity for evaluating cube roots (odd roots actually) of prime numbers. You've used this method before, right?

 

[Lisa!]

Up all night PFing, @Lisa! ?

Nope, I was just too tired to read any post!

 

[WWGD]

There's no thumb rule - that's what makes it fun ;)
First you have to find an expression of this sort: $(A+Bx)^{\frac 1{3}}$. Then, you have to find suitable values for $A$ and $B$ such that a value for x can be substituted for which $|Bx|<1$ so that the expansion of the expression equals or involves the cube root of the prime number you're trying to find. Its pretty easy to use this method for finding the $n^{th}$ root of composite numbers if $n$ is even, but it takes some ingenuity for evaluating cube roots (odd roots actually) of prime numbers. You've used this method before, right?

No, I have never used it, at least not knowingly. What is x ?

 

[Ibix]

Nope, I was just too tired to read any post!

I've just been listening to a talk (actually quite an interesting one), delivered in the world's warmest room, just after lunch. I kept having to shift around to stay awake. The guy next to me actually did doze off.

 

[WWGD]

I've just been listening to a talk (actually quite an interesting one), delivered in the world's warmest room, just after lunch. I kept having to shift around to stay awake. The guy next to me actually did doze off.

But the best is when someone dozes off and starts snoring in full. Everyone ( in the audience) chuckles, but no one
wants to do nor say anything.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

How awkward it actually is when I wanted to say something but right then totally forgot what it was!

 

[Evo]

But the best is when someone dozes off and starts snoring in full. Everyone ( in the audience) chuckles, but no one
wants to do nor say anything.

My English professor, freshman year, would insist on reading to us from our textbook and he had a very soft MONOTONE voice, completely monotone, no inflections, so boring. One day he closed the book and said "since most of you are asleep anyway, class dismissed", we had to wake people up to let them know that they could leave. Unfortunately that was the only time he gave us a break from his monotone readings.

 

[dlgoff]

we had to wake people up to let them no that they could leave.

I had a class where a student wasn't wakened from the previous class. When he finely did, it took him quite a while to realize it wasn't the class he fell asleep in. He looked a little like this: .

 

[Evo]

I had a class where a student wasn't wakened from the previous class. When he finely did, it took him quite a while to realize it wasn't the class he fell asleep in. He looked a little like this: .

Lol, that's funny.

 

[PWiz]

No, I have never used it, at least not knowingly. What is x ?

You substitute a value for it to evaluate your expression. For example, let's try to find an approximation to $17^{\frac 1{4}}$.
If I set A=B=1, then I get the expression $(1+x)^{\frac 1{4}}=1+\frac{x}{4} - \frac{3x^2}{32} ...$ . Now if I substitute x=$\frac {1}{16}$, I can say that $(\frac{17}{16})^\frac{1}{4} = 1+\frac 1 {64} -\frac{3}{8192} ...$, and $17^{\frac{1}{4}}= 2 + \frac 1 {32} -\frac{3}{4096}...≈ 2.0305$ . Of course, these kind of expansions are only valid if $Bx$ is less than 1, and $\frac {1}{16}$ is reasonably small to get a suitable approximation just using the first 3 terms, as the higher powers of x in the terms ahead makes their value so small that for all intents and purposes, they can be neglected. The larger the value of $Bx$, the more work you have to put in figuring out the terms that follow in order to find a good approximation.

 

[certainly]

I just can't stop laughing..........
someone was trying to quote "science" from a site that claimed :- "jet contrails are evil aerosols being sprayed on people for a nefarious eugenics pogrom -- (not "program", that's not a misspelling) -- perpetrated by shadowy global conspirators"

 

[Borg]

I just can't stop laughing..........
someone was trying to quote "science" from a site that claimed :- "jet contrails are evil aerosols being sprayed on people for a nefarious eugenics pogrom -- (not "program", that's not a misspelling) -- perpetrated by shadowy global conspirators"

Tell him that contrail is an anagram for cilantro and see what he does with that.

 

[WWGD]

Neither of you apparently remembers those horrible cilantro pogroms. No wonder there is no cilantros left in eastern Europe.

 

[certainly]

Tell him that contrail is an anagram for cilantro and see what he does with that.

Neither of you apparently remembers those horrible cilantro pogroms. No wonder there is no cilantros left in eastern Europe.

It was actually from here.scroll down and see third reply to second comment. Sorry for taking so long to reply...but I still can't stop laughing...
[EDIT:- I think it's the 4th reply now that I've told him what you 2 recommended. ]

 

[WWGD]

It was actually from here.scroll down and see third reply to second comment. Sorry for taking so long to reply...but I still can't stop laughing...
[EDIT:- I think it's the 4th reply now that I've told him what you 2 recommended. ]

Well, when you see many references to phrases like "the global power elite", "imminent collapse" you know what you are likely to get in the page. Pretty sure you can find a few more ridiculous claims.

 

[certainly]

They do form a nice form of entertainment though...