Random Thoughts Part 4 - Split Thread

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The discussion revolves around a variety of topics, beginning with the reopening of a thread on the Physics Forums. Participants express relief at the continuation of the conversation and share light-hearted banter about past threads. There are inquiries about quoting from previous threads and discussions about job opportunities for friends. The conversation shifts to humorous takes on mathematics, particularly the concept of "Killing vector fields," which one participant humorously critiques as dangerous. Participants also share personal anecdotes, including experiences with power outages and thoughts on teaching at university. The tone remains casual and playful, with discussions about the challenges of winter, the joys of friendship, and even a few jokes about life experiences. The thread captures a blend of humor, personal stories, and light philosophical musings, all while maintaining a sense of community among the forum members.
  • #2,101
Sent myself an email intended for someone else. Good thing I noticed early. Not the first time it happens with Outlook.
 
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  • #2,102
I always have to watch for that if I reply to an email that I sent. Outlook isn't smart enough to figure out that I want to continue the email chain by replying to the other person instead of replying to myself. But, if I use ReplyAll, it figures it out.
 
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  • #2,103
I see see, I use Reply All even when the email is coming from only one sender (without bcc or cc).
 
  • #2,104
Borg said:
I always have to watch for that if I reply to an email that I sent. Outlook isn't smart enough to figure out that I want to continue the email chain by replying to the other person instead of replying to myself. But, if I use ReplyAll, it figures it out.

Wait! A Microsoft program that is not smart-enough? Are you kidding me ??
 
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  • #2,105
I was watching today a documentary on Idi Amin, an African (Ugandan) dictator, who was believed to be a cannibal too. The joke went that once he was in an airplane and the stewardess asked him what he wanted for dinner. Idi Amin said: let me have that fat guy on the third row, with a garden salad.
 
  • #2,106
WWGD said:
... who was believed to be a cannibal...
I'm sure cannibals occasionally pass their friends on the trail, too... :oldwink:
 
  • #2,107
Unfortunately I am not so sure that the hard times are dead and gone.
 
  • #2,108
@Shyan: How was that 163 degree weather? Anywhere near you? I know Iran is a large country.
 
  • #2,109
WWGD said:
@Shyan: How was that 163 degree weather? Anywhere near you? I know Iran is a large country.
That's in Bandar-e Mahshahr(meaning Mahshahr port) city which is south-west of iran, in Khuzestan province. The city is ashore the Persian gulf.
Its almost 920km away from Qazvin, the city I live in. Here is very warm too but the temperature is much less than that of southern cities. Those places are counted as hottest cities in Iran, so much hot that a few decades ago, villagers there had never seen any snow in their lifetime! (But they had some snow in recent years.)
 
  • #2,110
Shyan said:
That's in Bandar-e Mahshahr(meaning Mahshahr port) city which is south-west of iran, in Khuzestan province. The city is ashore the Persian gulf.
Its almost 920km away from Qazvin, the city I live in. Here is very warm too but the temperature is much less than that of southern cities. Those places are counted as hottest cities in Iran, so much hot that a few decades ago, villagers there had never seen any snow in their lifetime! (But they had some snow in recent years.)
I would die if I lived there.
Average high temps:
June 90°F
July 96.1°F
August 94.3°F​

It was 95°F here yesterday. I stayed inside all day, laying on the kaanaapeh, and prayed for winter.

ps. Humans of New York(HONY) is now in Iran. Yay! I, and 16,000,000 other people follow them on Facebook.
They just left Pakistan. I thought their departing comment was interesting:

Humans of New York
18 August at 17:59
A Final Word On Pakistan:
...
The world is never notified about the 99.99% of the time that you are a completely normal, productive, law-abiding citizen. The world only learns about you when things go wrong. Now imagine what the world would think of you.
...

pps. The funniest word I learned when attempting to learn Farsi, was "chair" = "sandalee".
A "sandal" here, is kind of like a shoe, so I imagined that a "chair" in Farsi, was a "butt shoe". :biggrin:

hmmmm... It appears I've been telling these stories of trying to learn Farsi for awhile now:

Sept 13, 2014
...
So I looked around the house, and found my Parsi, "Learn 100 words!" stack of flash cards.
The one on top was the phrase; "Takhteh Khaab", which always sounded too much like; "Taxi Cab", which oddly enough, means "bed".
...
(-2 spelling in the original post)

Someone call me a "bed", I'm drunk again!

?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.europa.com%2F%257Egarry%2Fpf.iraq.2014.09.13.2126.someone.call.me.a.taxi.jpg
 
  • #2,111
OmCheeto said:
I would die if I lived there.
Average high temps:
June 90°F
July 96.1°F
August 94.3°F
It was 95°F here yesterday. I stayed inside all day, laying on the kaanaapeh, and prayed for winter.

Same as me. I really can't imagine how will it be to be in a warmer place. But here the temperature is a bit lower than the numbers you gave.

OmCheeto said:
ps. Humans of New York(HONY) is now in Iran. Yay! I, and 16,000,000 other people follow them on Facebook.
It reminds me of something. Two years ago, me and my family, along with some of our guests went to Alamut Castle. There, my mother showed me a guy and said he seems to be a foreigner. I went to him and we talked. He was from France. He was worried how he was going to go back to city. So we suggested to take him. So after dinner, we returned to city and took him to his hotel. The following day, I picked him up and after wandering a bit to show him interesting places, we went home where my mother was waiting for us with a traditional dish of Qazvin. After launch we took him to bus terminal and managed to take him a bus to Isfahan.

OmCheeto said:
The one on top was the phrase; "Takhteh Khaab", which always sounded too much like; "Taxi Cab", which oddly enough, means "bed".

Actually both "Takhteh Khaab" and "Takht" can be used to mean bed. But "Takht" is more general than bed. It also can mean "flat" as an adjective. If it rarely happens that you want to mention any other kind of "Takht"(like throne which is called "Takhteh Saltanat", (Saltanat:Kingdom), also some traditional restaurants here use beds on which people can sit more comfortably and eat traditional food like Abgoosht), "Takht" and "Takhteh Khaab" can be used interchangeably. The point is, "eh" at the end of the word is used to connect two words and "Khaab" means "sleep", as a noun.
 
  • #2,112
At a coffee house this morning I met a guy who had just, this morning, gotten back from Cuba. He traveled there as part of some kind of performing group. They went via Mexico and the round trip ticket was an astonishing $550 per person (Tijuana>Mexico City>Havana).

His experience was that younger cubans were all about American visitors, but very old ones, ones who remember the days of the Mob Casinos, were spitting on the ground in front of them. Anyway, he found it to be very safe, and the whole island was quite beautiful. And, yeah, he brought back cigars. (Erroneously, he thought you were allowed to bring back 100 cigars. Googling tells me you're actually allowed to bring back $100 worth of cigars.)

It really piqued my interest. I think it would be an amazing place to visit under the historical circumstances. Castro, about 90, is still there, amazingly, taking it easy in the background.
 
  • #2,113
zoobyshoe said:
At a coffee house this morning I met a guy who had just, this morning, gotten back from Cuba. He traveled there as part of some kind of performing group. They went via Mexico and the round trip ticket was an astonishing $550 per person (Tijuana>Mexico City>Havana).

His experience was that younger cubans were all about American visitors, but very old ones, ones who remember the days of the Mob Casinos, were spitting on the ground in front of them. Anyway, he found it to be very safe, and the whole island was quite beautiful. And, yeah, he brought back cigars. (Erroneously, he thought you were allowed to bring back 100 cigars. Googling tells me you're actually allowed to bring back $100 worth of cigars.)

It really piqued my interest. I think it would be an amazing place to visit under the historical circumstances. Castro, about 90, is still there, amazingly, taking it easy in the background.
Did Obama/ Congree finally normalize relations? And how can a customs agent determine how much a collection of cigars is worth?
 
  • #2,114
WWGD said:
Did Obama/ Congree finally normalize relations?
They've expanded the criteria for the people they will allow to go there. This guy went as part of the performance group. You still can't go as a mere tourist, but there are ways for mere tourists to creatively fit themselves into the new criteria.
 
  • #2,115
Shyan said:
Same as me. I really can't imagine how will it be to be in a warmer place. But here the temperature is a bit lower than the numbers you gave.
The numbers I gave were from the wiki-link to your city.
It reminds me of something. Two years ago, me and my family, along with some of our guests went to Alamut Castle. There, my mother showed me a guy and said he seems to be a foreigner. I went to him and we talked. He was from France. He was worried how he was going to go back to city. So we suggested to take him. So after dinner, we returned to city and took him to his hotel. The following day, I picked him up and after wandering a bit to show him interesting places, we went home where my mother was waiting for us with a traditional dish of Qazvin. After launch we took him to bus terminal and managed to take him a bus to Isfahan.
It is probably the most delightful thing, to run into friendly people like you and your family, when traveling.
When I left my small town, and went to Chicago, about 40 years ago, I met a homeless man, when I got off the bus.
I told him my situation, that I knew nothing of this foreign "Chicago", and in the next 3 hours, he told me of the magic of the city
He never asked me for anything, in return, for his services. But I gave him $20, as he was more valuable than anything else in the world.
So, whenever a stranger comes to my city, I treat them the same way.
Actually both "Takhteh Khaab" and "Takht" can be used to mean bed. But "Takht" is more general than bed. It also can mean "flat" as an adjective. If it rarely happens that you want to mention any other kind of "Takht"(like throne which is called "Takhteh Saltanat", (Saltanat:Kingdom), also some traditional restaurants here use beds on which people can sit more comfortably and eat traditional food like Abgoosht), "Takht" and "Takhteh Khaab" can be used interchangeably. The point is, "eh" at the end of the word is used to connect two words and "Khaab" means "sleep", as a noun.

One of the other Iranians here at the forum, a few years ago, sent me a PM, offering to help me learn your language.
I politely declined, as I'm somewhat old, and can't seem to even grasp much of my own language. :redface:

Nimmi du nam!
 
  • #2,116
OmCheeto said:
It is probably the most delightful thing, to run into friendly people like you and your family, when traveling.
These stories remind me of a stop to Faroe Islands while on a transatlantic cruise in 2011. We were fascinated by the fact that many of the homes had grass roofs. While talking with one of the locals, she invited my wife and I to tour her home. The houses were tall with the front doors all facing each other in very small courtyards. Her home was very old and she explained that the lower level was where they used to keep their cows, chickens and horses. It was very interesting to see.
 
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  • #2,117
Borg said:
These stories remind me of a stop to Faroe Islands while on a transatlantic cruise in 2011. We were fascinated by the fact that many of the homes had grass roofs. While talking with one of the locals, she invited my wife and I to tour her home. The houses were tall with the front doors all facing each other in very small courtyards. Her home was very old and she explained that the lower level was where they used to keep their cows, chickens and horses. It was very interesting to see.

Ha! This story reminds me of the aftermath of the OmCheeto-Borek war.
My younger brother and mother went back, 50 years after the Boreks had run mother and my family off of the land.
She said that she was disgusted, that her home, was now used as a combination chicken coop and cow barn.

Looking at the pictures they brought back, the house did in fact look no bigger than a chicken coop.
Perhaps they had littler cows back then.
And my family is quite hobbit-like.
 
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  • #2,118
WWGD said:
And how can a customs agent determine how much a collection of cigars is worth?
Presumably you'd have to show a receipt for the cigars.

I don't think this is strictly enforced. This guy said he bought his cigars from a taxi driver, so I doubt he got a receipt. However, he only brought about 15 back and it's quite plausible that would have cost less than $100 in Cuba.
 
  • #2,119
WWGD said:
Women tend to pack way more stuff than man do. It seems as if they were moving to the place where they are traveling.

:oldeyes:
 
  • #2,121
OmCheeto said:
Someone call me a "bed", I'm drunk again!
You are a bed.
 
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  • #2,122
  • #2,123
Always intrigued by that moment when we go from being awake to being asleep. Only main difference I can tell is that awareness of outer world stops. Of course it is more of a by-stages type thing, but there seems to be a point of no return. Seems like if one could go directly into REM, bypassing previous stags, that one could then cut down on needed sleep.
 
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  • #2,124
WWGD said:
Always intrigued by that moment when we go from being awake to being asleep. Only main difference I can tell is that awareness of outer world stops.
I often get woken back up very shortly after "awareness of outer world stops," and realize that what was just going through my mind was completely non-sensical. You're not dreaming yet, in the sense there are no visuals, but your train of thought is completely unhooked from all everyday logic, but it feels as logical as ever at the time. I'm always amazed at how coherent the most non-sensical things just seemed.

Then, in a few moments, the whole train of thought melts away, and I can't even remember what it was, just that it was beyond absurd.
 
  • #2,125
zoobyshoe said:
I often get woken back up very shortly after "awareness of outer world stops," and realize that what was just going through my mind was completely non-sensical. You're not dreaming yet, in the sense there are no visuals, but your train of thought is completely unhooked from all everyday logic, but it feels as logical as ever at the time. I'm always amazed at how coherent the most non-sensical things just seemed.

Then, in a few moments, the whole train of thought melts away, and I can't even remember what it was, just that it was beyond absurd.

I think it is the subconscious/unconscious mind which, like you said, has a logic of its own, very different from that of the waking mind. I wish I had time to read L. Mlodinow's book on recent scientific research advances on the subconscious mind. One of these days, soon, I hope.
 
  • #2,126
zoobyshoe said:
I often get woken back up very shortly after "awareness of outer world stops," and realize that what was just going through my mind was completely non-sensical. You're not dreaming yet, in the sense there are no visuals, but your train of thought is completely unhooked from all everyday logic, but it feels as logical as ever at the time. I'm always amazed at how coherent the most non-sensical things just seemed.

Then, in a few moments, the whole train of thought melts away, and I can't even remember what it was, just that it was beyond absurd.
I remember once fainting during a lab, I could distinctly remember being in a somersault race before I completely blacked out.
 
  • #2,127
Enigman said:
I remember once fainting during a lab, I could distinctly remember being in a somersault race before I completely blacked out.

Did you win?
 
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  • #2,128
Weird. You know that smell you get on your hands after petting a dog? Well I have that smell on my hands now. I don't have a dog, and it's been a few days since I petted one. I might add, I have had dozens of hand washings, several showers, and one luxurious bath since then, too.

I might add to this random thought, deciding on pet vs. petted was not easy for this native speaker.
 
  • #2,129
lisab said:
Weird. You know that smell you get on your hands after petting a dog? Well I have that smell on my hands now. I don't have a dog, and it's been a few days since I petted one. I might add, I have had dozens of hand washings, several showers, and one luxurious bath since then, too.
This smell is also caused by summersault races in the lab.
 
  • #2,130
lisab said:
Weird. You know that smell you get on your hands after petting a dog? Well I have that smell on my hands now. I don't have a dog, and it's been a few days since I petted one. I might add, I have had dozens of hand washings, several showers, and one luxurious bath since then, too.

I might add to this random thought, deciding on pet vs. petted was not easy for this native speaker.
I heard there is a dog walking around whose paws smell like your hands.
 
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  • #2,131
I still get kind of annoyed when, at Stabucks, someone refers to the pastry "Salted Caramel Square". It is not a square, because it is not
2-dimensional. But somehow misuses of grammar do not bother me much, or at all. I mean, at least call it a cube (tho, being pretentious, it is technically a parallelepiped) to acknowledge it is 3-dimensional. Serenity now!
 
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  • #2,132
lisab said:
I might add to this random thought, deciding on pet vs. petted was not easy for this native speaker.
After going to your link and checking Cent, scent and sent, I may have to add this:

The word scent comes from the Old French sentir, meaning to feel, smell, touch, taste, realize, perceive, make love to.
 
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  • #2,133
lisab said:
Did you win?
Obviously. Even had an entourage of people pampering me silly to celebrate the win when I woke up.
 
  • #2,134
PWiz said:
Actually I'm more into intellectually engaging and morally challenging anime (like Death Note, etc), but I'll give it a try nonetheless.
Its about a brain surgeon who's out to kill a psychopath he saved. You will find plenty of intellectual and moral challenges.
 
  • #2,135
Suddenly I've felt so sad and lonely during this this weekend...
 
  • #2,136
lisab said:
Weird. You know that smell you get on your hands after petting a dog? Well I have that smell on my hands now. I don't have a dog, and it's been a few days since I petted one. I might add, I have had dozens of hand washings, several showers, and one luxurious bath since then, too.

I might add to this random thought, deciding on pet vs. petted was not easy for this native speaker.
So you did not petted any dogs?
Sounds very strange.
I wonder if this might be one of those "one" vs "zero" type things.

ps. This also reminds me a bit of the "Jesus" thread. Reviewing it, I see that it was quite educational, and fun. :smile:
 
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  • #2,137
This is true! There is a house for rent near where I am living but no one has rented it so far and the door is thus locked all the time. The house doesn't have a front yard, so the door and the window are built right at the front gate. At midnight (00:00) I usually walk my dog around my house and this is the third time we've come closer to that house. But when I and my dog stand 4 meters away from its window, I find my dog lifts his head slowly to look at the window that is totally dark inside and all of a sudden he becomes very scared, he rushes and drags me back towards my house. I try to calm him down and look at the window but see nothing although he is still groaning in fear. 3 times he does exactly the same thing.
 
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  • #2,138
I have bought too many clothes over the years and barely thrown out any . And I have ended up with too many clothes to wash all at once , and an uneven distribution of items. This is reflected when I do the laundry: I end up with something like 15 clean pants, 5 clean shirts, 3 clean pairs of socks, etc. I am too lazy to make sure I have a somewhat -even distribution before I do the wash.
 
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  • #2,139
My suggestions for easier laundry in an apartment building with a laundry room:

In each floor, put a chute , leading to the laundry room. The material leading to the laundry room will be specially slick, so that clothes don't get stuck. The chute remains open when the laundry is not being used and is closed otherwise. Ideally, you can lay out the laundry room so that the washer is built on top of the dryer, or, even better if you have a combo of washer-dryer machine. Also, add an ejector for when the clothes are clean and dried. Then you wait until the chute is open, slide your clothes down the chute , the machine washes them , then they drop into the dryer and get ejected when they are ready and you just go pick them up. EDIT: Of course we also need a mechanism so that the machine is activated once the clothes slide in. And maybe payment can happen when one goes to pick up the clothes.
 
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  • #2,140
WWGD, that is truly professional. :biggrin:
 
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  • #2,141
Silicon Waffle said:
WWGD, that is truly professional. :biggrin:
Thanks, ironically, it was my laziness at doing the laundry that led e to do the effort of finding a "solution".
 
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  • #2,143
I bought some sliced turkey breast and, as I was opening the package, was dismayed to see they thought it was necessary to boast it was gluten free.
 
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  • #2,144
zoobyshoe said:
I bought some sliced turkey breast and, as I was opening the package, was dismayed to see they thought it was necessary to boast it was gluten free.

Did the sliced turkey have a rainbow?
 
  • #2,145
lisab said:
Did the sliced turkey have a rainbow?
I don't understand. Are you asking if the turkey was LGBT?
 
  • #2,146
zoobyshoe said:
I don't understand. Are you asking if the turkey was LGBT?

Today's random topic word of the day: Rainbow!



Only necessary to watch the first 30 seconds.
Unless of course, you want to make your own.

One of my Facebook friends posted this video this morning.
I was mesmerized.
 
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  • #2,148
Test the water before jumping in! Hiker burned, dog dies after leaping into Idaho hot springs

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A man hiking through a national forest in Idaho suffered severe burns after his two dogs plunged into a hot spring and he jumped into the scalding water to rescue them, managing to save just one of his pets, U.S. Forest Service officials said on Tuesday.
 
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  • #2,150
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