What is the newest installment of 'Random Thoughts' on Physics Forums?

In summary, the conversation consists of various discussions about documentaries, the acquisition of National Geographic by Fox, a funny manual translation, cutting sandwiches, a question about the proof of the infinitude of primes, and a realization about the similarity between PF and PDG symbols. The conversation also touches on multitasking and the uniqueness of the number two as a prime number.
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  • #2
Let's all applaud the History Channel for more fine documentaries! Tonight - Time Beings: Extreme Time Travel Conspiracies

Why? Why can't we have real documentaries? There is so much of interest in the past that is REAL.
 
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  • #3
Evo said:
Let's all applaud the History Channel for more fine documentaries! Tonight - Time Beings: Extreme Time Travel Conspiracies

Why? Why can't we have real documentaries? There is so much of interest in the past that is REAL.
And National Geographic has been sold to Fox ...
 
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  • #4
fresh_42 said:
And National Geographic has been sold to Fox ...
NOOOOOOOOOOOO, are you kidding??

OMG! Well, that would explain some of the recent programming.

:cry:

I have no faith in this world anymore. The daft have the normal outnumbered by so many, the normal are now the abnormal.
 
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  • #5
Who are you ? How come your friends are all VIPs ?
 
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  • #6
Evo said:
Let's all applaud the History Channel for more fine documentaries! Tonight - Time Beings
According to an old Star Trek book there is only one Time Being, who is a blubbery lazy creature because everyone does things for it all the time...
 
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  • #7
National geographic was already showing stuff like alien stories, and I could feel it was slowly turning into the discovery channel. I don't think there will be much difference if it was sold to fox (No offense natgeo fans)
 
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  • #8
Hang in there, @Evo. :smile: I'm confident that logic (and genuine human curiosity & critical thinking) will win out eventually. Then again, I'm an optimist.
 
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  • #9
So I finally get far enough down my to-do list to investigate why the extractor fan in the hood over our kitchen cooker doesn't work too well. Maybe the inlet filter is clogged? I'll just pop off the inlet cover and... oh. Inside the inlet, blocking most of the duct leading to the actual fan, is a polythene bag containing the installation instructions and guarantee.

Problem solved.
 
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  • #10
Ibix said:
Problem solved.
Congrats! But the interesting question is, however, was it one of the funny manuals translated from somewhere into English that contains one funny language construction after the other?
 
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  • #11
Most of it is in good English. There is one sheet of 1:1 scale "drill here" diagrams labelled in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and what I think is Dutch.
 
Last edited:
  • #12
Ibix said:
Most of it is in good English. There is one sheet of 1:1 scale "drill here" diagrams labelled in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and what I think is Dutch.
Like this?

My tea / café / Kaffee / el tinto / caffé / koffie!

Capture-One-24152-e1347397561704.jpg
 
  • #13
What ? Irresistible,,,
 
  • #14
It seems Lions do not eat their own, i.e., Lions do not swallow their pride.
 
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  • #15
WWGD said:
It seems Lions do not eat their own, i.e., Lions do not swallow their pride.

Wrong topic ;-)
 
  • #16
Evo said:
NOOOOOOOOOOOO, are you kidding??

OMG! Well, that would explain some of the recent programming.

:cry:

I have no faith in this world anymore. The daft have the normal outnumbered by so many, the normal are now the abnormal.

Amen to that Evo.
 
  • #17
Is there a serious case of underemployment? For some reason delis seem to be cutting sandwiches made with square bread halfway through one side of the bread, instead of cutting the sandwich diagonally, which is the way I remember it. I asked this person why the halfway cut instead of the diagonal one and he replied: it is wrong; a diagonal cut provides more exposed surface than the half cut, by Pythagoras' theorem. Wow, a person cutting sandwiches knows how to apply Pythagoras and he can't find a better, higher-paying job?
 
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  • #18
I was thrown off by a question while tutoring, around an hour ago. Sharp kid, while doing the standard proof of the infinitude of primes, the student asked me: if we did not consider 2 to be a prime, how would we change the proof, since the product ##[tex]p_1p_2...p_k +1 [/tex] ## will always be even? I will just tell him that I leave it as an exercise for him. EDIT: I just suggested that we may just add 2 to the product , instead of one, but I am feeling too lazy to make this into a through argument.
 
  • #19
I guess it won't work with adding 2. If 2 were not prime then you would have the divisors of 2 in each summand and you would again need to add 1 in an additional step. (However, I'm lazy, too. Maybe I'm wrong.)
 
  • #20
I just realized that the PF symbol in the internet browser looks just like the PDG symbol.
pdg.png
 
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  • #21
Garlic said:
I just realized that the PF symbol in the internet browser looks just like the PDG symbol.
View attachment 102003
And I just realized that your browser is as cluttered as mine :oldlaugh: But, yeah, those favicons really do look similar.

A sign of multitasking?
 
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  • #22
ProfuselyQuarky said:
And I just realized that your browser is as cluttered as mine :oldlaugh: But, yeah, those favicons really do look similar.

Usually I have up to 20 tabs open when I'm looking for something.. I don't close older tabs when I'm openning another one.

ProfuselyQuarky said:
A sign of multitasking?

I don't think so. I can't even read a book while listenning to music. My brain works doing only one task at a time :frown:
 
  • #23
fresh_42 said:
I guess it won't work with adding 2. If 2 were not prime then you would have the divisors of 2 in each summand and you would again need to add 1 in an additional step. (However, I'm lazy, too. Maybe I'm wrong.)
Well, two is an exception in that it has no proper divisors but it is still not consider a prime because it sort of is a prime by default. So it is prime because it has to, though it has no divisors. Pretty contrived.
 
  • #24
WWGD said:
Well, two is an exception in that it has no proper divisors but it is still not consider a prime because it sort of is a prime by default. So it is prime because it has to, though it has no divisors. Pretty contrived.
You mean in the same way like bananas are the least fruits among all fruits?
 
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  • #25
WWGD said:
Well, two is an exception in that it has no proper divisors but it is still not consider a prime because it sort of is a prime by default. So it is prime because it has to, though it has no divisors. Pretty contrived.
If we're asserting that 2 isn't prime, what are the prime factors of even numbers? Particularly powers of 2? That's the point I'd raise.
 
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  • #26
Things about human brain act like magical forces. The more I read about them, the sleepier I become. Well probably because I don't understand a thing about them.
 
  • #27
your reply...
 
  • #28
Ibix said:
If we're asserting that 2 isn't prime, what are the prime factors of even numbers? Particularly powers of 2? That's the point I'd raise.
Couldn't we erase ##2## from the list of primes if we simply take ##\mathbb{Z}[\sqrt{2}]##? Ok, ##\sqrt{2}## would become the new black, but at least it won't be even. :smile:
 
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  • #29
It's completely normal and understandable when a person makes mistakes while trying to speak in a foreign language.

But what's your reaction when you hear a healthy adult native speaker without any learning disability use incorrect grammar or vocab? Or worse, you see such mistakes in written text.
Does it drive you crazy, do you feel the need to correct them or do you remain silent? Or maybe it doesn't bother you at all?
 
  • #30
Sophia said:
...
But what's your reaction when you hear a healthy adult native speaker without any learning disability use incorrect grammar or vocab? Or worse, you see such mistakes in written text.
Does it drive you crazy, do you feel the need to correct them or do you remain silent? Or maybe it doesn't bother you at all?
I would definitely keep silent myself, because silence speaks louder than words.
I like abstract math and calculus on hyper dimensions. I think I learned a lot from my Canadian professor. She was such a great singer who I believe can definitely kill a murder of crows with only one stone.
 
  • #31
Sophia said:
Does it drive you crazy, do you feel the need to correct them or do you remain silent? Or maybe it doesn't bother you at all?
It is depending on the circumstances: age, kind of debate, content, and so on.
E.g. I had a commentary debate on FB with someone with - to say the least - a rather nationalistic opinion. His statements were full of mistakes. Of course I mocked him on this discrepancy.
 
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  • #32
Looks like problems for pale people:

I must say, I'm not pale, but I'm not super dark either and my face gets red sometimes. So yup, if I'm not pale and I get red sometimes (under temperatures of over 96F after walking 20 minutes under the sun), I can understand the struggle.

And some funny pals messing with each other.
 
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  • #33
Psinter said:
And some funny pals messing with each other.
You like Pigeon Gazette, too?! :nb):biggrin:
 
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  • #34
ProfuselyQuarky said:
You like Pigeon Gazette, too?! :nb):biggrin:
Yup. You have seen them too? Cool. I discovered it today and it's awesome. I've been reading a few of them and I can totally relate :DD.

The artist is definitely awesome.
 
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  • #35
Psinter said:
Yup. You have seen them too? Cool. I discovered it today and it's awesome. I've been reading a few of them and I can totally relate :DD.

The artist is definitely awesome.
I knew about Jane within the same month she started posting comics :smile: It's truly hilarious. Another one to try is Owlturd (http://owlturd.com/).
 
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