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

[Sophia]

Thank you everyone for support :-) I feel better now :-)

 

[1oldman2]

(I don't like violent notions, but had to laugh at it )

Kind of like a Freudian slip.

 

[Pepper Mint]

It's "weird" to me that strangers in your culture can tap or pat people's shoulders freely. In mine, those who do so to me at night should be gang i.e "Hey yo show me your wallet".

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Kind of like a Freudian slip.

It's "weird" to me that strangers in your culture can tap or pat people's shoulders freely. In mine, those who do so to me at night should be gang i.e "Hey yo show me your wallet".

It curious how the way some people talk/behave give different people different impressions. Of course, it's cultural and depends on the way a person's been brought up, but even within the same school, the variety of language is extraordinary.

 

[Borg]

After I repeated, he got angry and told me he wasn't going to bite me and that he had a daughter older than me.

You should have asked him if she has told him not to touch her that way also.

Than he left obviously annoyed and angry.

I have found that the people who get the most upset in these situations are usually the most guiltly. Pat yourself on the back for putting him in his place. You earned it.

 

[Sophia]

It's "weird" to me that strangers in your culture can tap or pat people's shoulders freely. In mine, those who do so to me at night should be gang i.e "Hey yo show me your wallet".

There are indeed big differences in personal space in various cultures. And then individual differences.
Paradoxically, I enjoy physical contact with close people who I trust. It's my primary or secondary language of love, if you read a book Five languages of love by Gary Chapman. It's a very interesting work. I don't know how accurate it is, but I generally find that there might be some truth in it. It proved effective in some situations in my life.

Here's more about his theory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Love_Languages

 

[Pepper Mint]

All of us are married!

 

[WWGD]

I fell for it again. This place selling Indian food at 50% for lunch. I have a tasty, albeit smallish-sized meal.
I then look at other dinner's (eating at regular price) plates/servings, all of which are...twice as large as the ones in my plate, AKA,
pay only 50%...and get only 50% of the full portion..

 

[fresh_42]

I fell for it again. This place selling Indian food at 50% for lunch. I have a tasty, albeit smallish-sized meal.
I then look at other dinner's (eating at regular price) plates/servings, all of which are...twice as large as the ones in my plate, AKA,
pay only 50%...and get only 50% of the full portion..

After all I've read (and seen) about obesity in the states, this sounds reasonable to me.

 

[Ibix]

pay only 50%...and get only 50% of the full portion..

Ah - the good old "buy one for the price of two and get one free!" trick.

 

[WWGD]

After all I've read (and seen) about obesity in the states, this sounds reasonable to me.

I have just one large meal a day, trying to save $ , and they are cheating people in the process.

 

[WWGD]

Nope, not at all. The person doing the touching was obviously more comfortable with the hands on approach, but that's only half of the people involved. He shouldn't expect random strangers to appreciate that type of conduct.

May have been a good thing to tell Dubya re the Merkel massage.

 

[1oldman2]

May have been a good thing to tell Dubya re the Merkel massage.

Touche'

 

[shadowshed]

Have you ever felt that we sometimes act in opposite way to the other person we're with?
For my example, I experience things like becoming braver around afraid people and step up to protect them, and get unreasonably childish when I'm around close friend who's more mature. Is there already scientific explanation behind this?

And then, this might be out of context, but I find myself being aware of my eating manner from time to time-- I also noticed that I'm more relaxed and unaware when there's someone next to me who eat more 'elegantly'. This is especially bothering me since I want to eat peacefully, but somehow I became aware of how I eat. Is this normal?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Have you ever felt that we sometimes act in opposite way to the other person we're with?
For my example, I experience things like becoming braver around afraid people and step up to protect them, and get unreasonably childish when I'm around close friend who's more mature. Is there already scientific explanation behind this?

You're right. It happens pretty often. If anyone's ever studied it, it would have been under the aegis of psychology. However, I haven't personally seen anyone offer a term or explanation for it, that I can recall.

 

[collinsmark]

Have you ever felt that we sometimes act in opposite way to the other person we're with?
For my example, I experience things like becoming braver around afraid people and step up to protect them, and get unreasonably childish when I'm around close friend who's more mature. Is there already scientific explanation behind this?

And then, this might be out of context, but I find myself being aware of my eating manner from time to time-- I also noticed that I'm more relaxed and unaware when there's someone next to me who eat more 'elegantly'. This is especially bothering me since I want to eat peacefully, but somehow I became aware of how I eat. Is this normal?

I can't say for sure if this is what you mean, but it might be related to humans' innate social dominance hierarchy -- the attempt of humans, like many other social animals, to form a "pecking order," so to speak.

It's not my area of expertise, so I hesitate to comment on it more than that.

This topic is probably worthy of its own thread. Maybe we can get some sociologists and/or cultural anthropologists to participate (and maybe even some zoologists thrown in for comparisons within the animal kingdom).

 

[fresh_42]

I have a new favorite of German words that made it into foreign languages: Zugzwang. (Just seen at the start of a US movie.)

 

[Astronuc]

Media in the modern age - you don't get what you don't pay for.

 

[shadowshed]

You're right. It happens pretty often. If anyone's ever studied it, it would have been under the aegis of psychology. However, I haven't personally seen anyone offer a term or explanation for it, that I can recall.

Ah, thanks. It helps that other people are actually experiencing it.

I can't say for sure if this is what you mean, but it might be related to humans' innate social dominance hierarchy -- the attempt of humans, like many other social animals, to form a "pecking order," so to speak.

It matches with the Interpersonal Complementary section well.. Thank you very much for telling me that!

============
On other random thoughts, do roaches have ears? I wonder if they can listen to sound. If they can, then in what frequency band?
Because I can't help sometimes yell to scare them off.

 

[zoobyshoe]

How did anyone ever discover that nitroglycerine is a good thing to ingest if you have a bad heart?

 

[fresh_42]

How did anyone ever discover that nitroglycerine is a good thing to ingest if you have a bad heart?

If I remember correctly it has been Nobel himself who recognized that it helps him with his heart problems. But I'm not absolutely sure. What is certain is, that it has been at a time when people swallowed a lot of dubious substances as modern pharmacology was yet to start.

 

[Pepper Mint]

How did anyone ever discover that nitroglycerine is a good thing to ingest if you have a bad heart?

Then what do you mean by a "bad" heart ?
This type of nitrate does have its good effect on widening our blood vessels. So the blood flow in them becomes smoother, uhm yeah. And I think it will probably have a bad effect on those with brain injuries instead though.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

How did anyone ever discover that nitroglycerine is a good thing to ingest if you have a bad heart?

See the "History" section of the Wikipedia entry on nitroglycerin.

 

[zoobyshoe]

See the "History" section of the Wikipedia entry on nitroglycerin.

Thanks.

One link lead to another and I got to the original paper:

http://site.hmc.org.qa/heartviews/vol8no3/PDF/HISTORYOFMEDICINE2.pdf

It strikes me as sheer quackery that succeeded by pure accident. He started experimenting with ingesting it to disprove the powerful unpleasant effects a previous writer had reported. When he found out it had the same unpleasant effects on himself, and anyone else he gave it to, he decided to start prescribing it for conditions he had no clear treatment for.

 

[jim hardy]

One link lead led to another and I got to the original paper:

past tense ? fixed it fer ya...

This type of nitrate does have its good effect on widening our blood vessels. So the blood flow in them becomes smoother, uhm yeah. And I think it will probably have a bad effect on those with brain injuries instead though.

I'll attest nitro sure helps a struggling heart
and it does give a headache..

 

[jim hardy]

Grand-daughter, nine, sure increased her prowess at swimming this last week in our lake.
Went from just a couple yards of dog paddle to fifty feet, still dog paddling with arms but good leg kicking,
she's almost ready to put face under water .
Have two days left to advance her to breast stroke, hyping it as "Frog Paddle"
and she tried out the kayak...
it's good for them to succeed.

 

[Sophia]

Grand-daughter, nine, sure increased her prowess at swimming this last week in our lake.
Went from just a couple yards of dog paddle to fifty feet, still dog paddling with arms but good leg kicking,
she's almost ready to put face under water .
Have two days left to advance her to breast stroke, hyping it as "Frog Paddle"
and she tried out the kayak...
it's good for them to succeed.

I'm sure she enjoys the time spent with her grand dad. And once she'll be thankful to you for teaching her to swim :-) same as it was something very special for me when my grandpa taught me to ride a bike.
There's something unique about the bond between grandchildren and grandparents if the relationships in the family are healthy.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I love my parents, Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/what-is-the-oxford-comma-and-why-do-people-care-so-much-about-it/

 

[Sophia]

I love my parents, Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/what-is-the-oxford-comma-and-why-do-people-care-so-much-about-it/

That's interesting, never heard of Oxford comma before. In fact, I would assume that a comma before "and" is a mistake. I'll be wiser now!

 

[Pepper Mint]

That's interesting, never heard of Oxford comma before. In fact, I would assume that a comma before "and" is a mistake. I'll be wiser now!

I think I like Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty, and also find myself interested in other pop stars.

 

[zoobyshoe]

That's interesting, never heard of Oxford comma before. In fact, I would assume that a comma before "and" is a mistake. I'll be wiser now!

Just to be clear, a comma before "and" is a mistake (or, at least, unnecessary) when you have only two things. It becomes necessary with three or more things (a list) to avoid the sort of confusion that comes from constructions like, "I love my parents, Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty."

 

[fresh_42]

Just to be clear, a comma before "and" is a mistake (or, at least, unnecessary) when you have only two things. It becomes necessary with three or more things (a list) to avoid the sort of confusion that comes from constructions like, "I love my parents, Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty."

My difficulty arises from the fact, that it would be an error in my language. It would only be mandatory, if it was followed by a complete sentence and thus changes the subject.
The distinction between two and more listed objects sounds somehow not logic (to me).

 

[Ibix]

Just to be clear, a comma before "and" is a mistake (or, at least, unnecessary) when you have only two things. It becomes necessary with three or more things (a list) to avoid the sort of confusion that comes from constructions like, "I love my parents, Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty."

I don't think it's so easy. Consider a modification of your list: "I love my mum, Lady Gaga and Humpty Dumpty", which is unambiguous. If I put in an Oxford comma I get: "I love my mum, Lady Gaga, and Humpty Dumpty". That can be read as stating that my mum is Lady Gaga.

Edit: I agree that a comma is unnecessary for a two-element list. Care is necessary when it is possible to read a sub-list as an expansion of the elements preceding it.

I think.

 

[Sophia]

My difficulty arises from the fact, that it would be an error in my language. It would only be mandatory, if it was followed by a complete sentence.
The distinction between two and more listed objects sounds somehow not logic (to me).

Same here. Rule that there should never be a comma before "and" is one of the first grammar rules we learn (unless there's an exception, of course ).
I confess that I haven't studied use of comma in English and that's why I usually use Slovak rules in my writing. There are only some cases when I noticed that it should be used and remembered it after seeing the expressions many times (Eg. "in fact," before "too" and similar).
I should really look into these things. And revise conditionals and phrasals.

 

[fresh_42]

Same here. Rule that there should never be a comma before "and" is one of the first grammar rules we learn (unless there's an exception, of course ).
I confess that I haven't studied use of comma in English and that's why I usually use Slovak rules in my writing. There are only some cases when I noticed that it should be used and remembered it after seeing the expressions many times (Eg. "in fact," before "too" and similar).
I should really look into these things. And revise conditionals and phrasals.

Only thing I know about them is, that there are far less commas in English. In case of doubt, I just don't make one or I make a point.
E.g:

If I put in an Oxford comma I get: ...

would have to be "If I put in an Oxford comma, I (will) get: ..." in German.

The side effect, however, is that I unfortunately kind of randomize the usage of commas in English.
A US-American once told me that our sentences are far too long. That has been a good advice.