Random Thoughts Part 5: Time to Split Again

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Discussion Overview

The thread features a variety of informal discussions, including personal anecdotes, reflections on dreams, cultural comparisons regarding education systems, and thoughts on numerical scales. Participants share their experiences and opinions on topics ranging from literature and dreams to educational standards in the US and UK.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants share personal dreams involving a community member, Borek, and discuss interpretations of these dreams.
  • There is a discussion about the differences between the long and short scales of numerical values, particularly regarding the term "billion" and its usage in different cultures.
  • Participants express differing views on the quality of higher education in the US compared to the UK, with some asserting that American high school courses can be equivalent to university-level courses.
  • One participant mentions their experience with Advanced Placement (AP) courses in the US, arguing against the notion that American education is "dumbed down."
  • Another participant shares their experience with the discomfort of playing guitar after a long break, tying it into a creative project related to fish.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of opinions on educational standards, with no clear consensus on whether American education is comparable to British education. The discussion on numerical scales also reveals differing interpretations and understandings among participants.

Contextual Notes

Some statements regarding educational comparisons may depend on personal experiences and regional differences in curriculum. The discussion on numerical scales highlights potential confusion stemming from varying definitions and terminologies used in different countries.

  • #631
Krylov said:
You have quite permissive gun laws in the USA, don't you? I would say: take advantage.
But we also have one of the highest incarceration rates, and if I take advantage of my gun rights, I will also be taking advantage of a prison stay. And these prisons are nothing like the Swedish ones.
 
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  • #632
WWGD said:
But we also have one of the highest incarceration rates, and if I take advantage of my gun rights, I will also be taking advantage of a prison stay. And these prisons are nothing like the Swedish ones.
You don't have to kill the person, just the sound installation. After all, the sound is trespassing on your property. I could imagine this may be sufficient cause.
 
  • #633
WWGD said:
Trailer trash neighbor is back at blasting music, now on on a Sunday at 8 a.m. Wish I had a bat to beat the hell out of the device that is playing the music.
I used to have a car alarm that would send out a loud screech to a pager over radio frequencies before it went off about 10 seconds later. I would purposely trip the alarm at a stop light whenever someone was blasting their radio and annoying people. The noise that would come out of their radio sounded like they were blowing radio circuits which would lead them to immeadiately turn it down. Maybe you can find something similar. :oldtongue:
 
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  • #634
Krylov said:
You don't have to kill the person, just the sound installation. After all, the sound is trespassing on your property. I could imagine this may be sufficient cause.
I did not intend to kill the person, but I don't want to experiment with the law. I will have to look for a civiliced way. I will have
to find a way to ease my passion...
 
  • #635
Borg said:
I used to have a car alarm that would send out a loud screech to a pager over radio frequencies before it went off about 10 seconds later. I would purposely trip the alarm at a stop light whenever someone was blasting their radio and annoying people. The noise that would come out of their radio sounded like they were blowing radio circuits which would lead them to immeadiately turn it down. Maybe you can find something similar. :oldtongue:

Can that device travel through apartment walls?
 
  • #636
WWGD said:
I did not intend to kill the person, but I don't want to experiment with the law. I will have to look for a civiliced way. I will have
to find a way to ease my passion...
In almost every community, there are laws and ordinances that prohibit excessive, unnecessary and unreasonable levels of noise. Most of the time, these laws are enforced by the police.
http://realestate.findlaw.com/neighbors/what-to-do-about-a-neighbor-s-noise-faqs.html
 
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  • #637
WWGD said:
Can that device travel through apartment walls?
It was using radio frequencies so I assume so.
 
  • #638
WWGD said:
Trailer trash neighbor is back at blasting music, now on on a Sunday at 8 a.m. Wish I had a bat to beat the hell out of the device that is playing the music.
Trailer+energy consumption+physicists' web page = cute little extra installation on the battery poles which are probably reachable from outside :smile:
 
  • #639
Krylov said:
Although I agree to some extent with the point that this cartoon is making, I believe reality is more complex. However, that is probably why it is a cartoon.
Yes, I like such cartoons. or all statements that offer readers chances to self-reflect, think to themselves without any exact pointers to who they are in either real or imaginary life.
 
  • #640
Thanks all, somehow music quieted down.
 
  • #641
fresh_42 said:
Trailer+energy consumption+physicists' web page = cute little extra installation on the battery poles which are probably reachable from outside :smile:
Thanks, but things quieted down, no Burn Notice techniques will be needed.
 
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  • #642
WWGD said:
Thanks, but things quieted down, no Burn Notice techniques will be needed.
What a pity. I have thought about capacitors, forced discharge and so on, but your obvious association to a chemical solution would probably make more fun. However, the Burn Notice device has the big disadvantage that it is supposed to escape the place to avoid that you get involved into the aftermaths. And as far as I could guess you don't live in Miami :cool:
 
  • #643
We're having a gentle rain here this morning, which is pleasant.

However, I walked down to Starbucks and, being outside in the rain and then coming back inside, makes me conscious of how civilization is dependent on having moisture proof structures. This is one of the first things any primitive people figures out. Indeed, a lot of animals also have permanent, moisture proof structures, but interestingly, apes do not. In a sense, everything we are is contingent on keeping our stuff out of the rain.
 
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  • #644
My friend was helping with a project for free, so I was paying for his coffee when we met to work together. Now the project is over and he
still expects me to pay for it. I can't think of a delicate way of telling him that the free coffee is over with.
 
  • #645
fresh_42 said:
What a pity. I have thought about capacitors, forced discharge and so on, but your obvious association to a chemical solution would probably make more fun. However, the Burn Notice device has the big disadvantage that it is supposed to escape the place to avoid that you get involved into the aftermaths. And as far as I could guess you don't live in Miami :cool:
I loved the show, could swear by it, but the part of them avoiding the cops after just about any situation seemed too unrealistic for me to suspend disbelief.
 
  • #646
WWGD said:
I loved the show.
Me, too. Sort of MacGyver, Hawaii-Five-O and Miami Vice all packed into a 45 min James Bond adventure.
 
  • #647
Borrowed for not to contaminate the other Fred:

WWGD said:
I am thinking of starting an " insight" pointing out the difference between science fiction terms and abstract algebra ones. Phaser: Algebra or Sci-Fi?
Algebra is full of strange terms! One of my favorites is 'nilpotent'. But semisimple, socket, spectrum, zero divisor and many more are funny, too.
 
  • #648
fresh_42 said:
Me, too. Sort of MacGyver, Hawaii-Five-O and Miami Vice all packed into a 45 min James Bond adventure.
In here they have marathons of the series from time to time. They are likely to have them there in Germany too: Das brennen merken? Or maybe you get US cable and see it in English?
 
  • #649
WWGD said:
In here they have marathons of the series from time to time. They are likely to have them there in Germany too: Das brennen merken? Or maybe you get US cable and see it in English?
They are probably available on DVD or an internet platform. Some channels tend to show the same shows again after some time. Mostly SciFi as Star Trek, Stargate and its spin-offs or the Bellisario stuff.
"Das Brennen merken?" Mark the burning? or did you mean "Feel the Bern!"?
I'm afraid they won't let me vote and to convince the American part of my family ...
 
  • #650
I walked down to Starbuck's again and the rain here changed into a windy, hurricane sort of thing. On my way back home, I found two trees had been knocked down within a few minutes of my having gone by them:
tree.jpg
 
  • #651
zoobyshoe said:
I walked down to Starbuck's again ...
There's a curse upon your Starbucks! May I sent you some coffee at home?
Funny: The dictionary just said "hex" is an American expression for "curse". The German word for witch is "Hexe".
 
  • #652
Silicon Waffle said:
No matter how you hate or love me, I will also have to work to get your money. Is this supposed to be a pessimistic or optimistic view ? o0)
Split the difference and call it realism :smile:
 
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  • #653
fresh_42 said:
There's a curse upon your Starbucks!
Not really. The Starbuck's was fine. The downed trees were a couple blocks away. One of them fell on a car. I didn't take pics of that cause the owner (I think) was standing there.
May I sent you some coffee at home?
This would defeat the purpose of going to Starbucks, which is mostly to go for a walk.
Funny: The dictionary just said "hex" is an American expression for "curse". The German word for witch is "Hexe".
Note that in English "to curse" can, and more often than not usually does, mean "to use profanely insolent language against."
 
  • #654
Incidentally, I found out the other day they have Starbucks in Russia. That surprised me.
 
  • #655
zoobyshoe said:
The Starbuck's was fine.
I've heard this wonderful quote in a TV show:
"Mathematicians are people who transform coffee into theorems."

zoobyshoe said:
Incidentally, I found out the other day they have Starbucks in Russia. That surprised me.
Why?
 
  • #656
I've been wondering: If you check on a map there is Canada together with the United States. I was wondering how do they separate their land when you are physically there. How do you know you are in Canada or in the United States. They must have some way to know, is what I think.
 
  • #657
Psinter said:
I've been wondering: If you check on a map there is Canada together with the United States. I was wondering how do they separate their land when you are physically there. How do you know you are in Canada or in the United States. They must have some way to know, is what I think.
Each is painted of a different color, as in the map. My area was recently repainted.
 
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  • #658
WWGD said:
Each is painted of a different color, as in the map. My area was recently repainted.
Why? The four color theorem is already solved!
 
  • #659
WWGD said:
Each is painted of a different color, as in the map. My area was recently repainted.
Awesome! That sounds kind of cool. I would like to see it someday.
 
  • #660
fresh_42 said:
Why? The four color theorem is already solved!
No, but repainted of the same color.
 

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