Today I Learned

[pinball1970]

Foot prints found in Utah. Thought to be human and 12,000 years old.

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/07/ice-age-human-footprints-discovered-utah-desert

 

[DaveC426913]

Foot prints found in Utah. Thought to be human and 12,000 years old.

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/07/ice-age-human-footprints-discovered-utah-desert

Come on. The oldest human in the world is barely 120.

 

[pinball1970]

Come on. The oldest human in the world is barely 120.

 

[jbriggs444]

I really struggle to imagine a contract term saying "you paid for services A and B, and if you only use A we can punish you" being enforceable. Doesn't mean they don't write such a term, of course, and challenging one might be more risky than it's worth.

I think they may have to request fuel volumes before they know people haven't turned up. So they end up carrying more fuel than they need, which is more delay during refueling and more weight in flight (and therefore fuel use) than they need. If no-showing is particularly rampant they may have more flights than they need, and/or more staff on duty.

It all stems from their bizarre pricing structure, of course, but large scale no-shows probably do cost them money.

I believe that it is a mechanism to "segment the market". It is part and parcel of other mechanisms aimed at the same goal (advance purchase, standby fares, weekend and holiday rates, round trip around a weekend). In general, you want to give price breaks to the passengers who are price sensitive or are shopping around and not give price breaks to passengers who are not price sensitive or have no choice.

The classic case is an airline that has a hub in B. They have no or few competitors in B.

The airline can charge high rates for a flight from A to B. They are the only carrier that can service the route. But when taking passengers from A to C, another carrier with a hub in B' (B prime) can compete. The airline must reduce its fare or lose business.

In this case "segmenting the market" means locking A to B passengers into the A to B fare while allowing A to C passengers to use the lower A to C fare.

 

[Hornbein]

I believe that it is a mechanism to "segment the market". It is part and parcel of other mechanisms aimed at the same goal (advance purchase, standby fares, weekend and holiday rates, round trip around a weekend). In general, you want to give price breaks to the passengers who are price sensitive or are shopping around and not give price breaks to passengers who are not price sensitive or have no choice.

The classic case is an airline that has a hub in B. They have no or few competitors in B.

The airline can charge high rates for a flight from A to B. They are the only carrier that can service the route. But when taking passengers from A to C, another carrier with a hub in B' (B prime) can compete. The airline must reduce its fare or lose business.

In this case "segmenting the market" means locking A to B passengers into the A to B fare while allowing A to C passengers to use the lower A to C fare.

I flew from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to Seattle to Salt Lake City. ABCD. There are plenty of airlines flying from Hong Kong to Seattle [BC] but these are more expensive than Guangzhou to Salt Lake City. [AD}. I think the higher price is because demand is higher and because Hong Kong and Seattle residents have more money than Guangzhou and Salt Lake City travelers.

Airline pricing is done by big computer programs that take all sorts of things into account. They maximize Hong Kong-Seattle income then fill the remaining seats with lower cost connecting flight travelers.

 

[sbrothy]

"Of the 20 rats examined, eighteen of them showed a preference for Beethoven, and only two showed a preference for Miles Davis. "

The rats preferred silence to Beethoven's Fur Elise. The scientists considered making music that the rats liked but have yet to explore this avenue. They noted that music has an effect on the human brain similar to popular forms of drug abuse. They were able to get the rats to prefer Beethoven over silence by injecting them with a cocaine solution in association with Beethoven's Fur Elise.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3144275/

Hipster rats : Outnumbered!

View attachment 321728

Sometimes you hear these horror stories about drugs that if you put a rat in a cage with no access to PE and females they'll get addicted to morphine (wow, really?!). That's why I like this study.

Rat Park (wiki)

It doesn't say anything about musical preferences though.

 

[Hornbein]

Wire was first made five thousand years ago.

In some cases, strips cut from metal sheet were made into wire by pulling them through perforations in stone beads. This causes the strips to fold round on themselves to form thin tubes. This strip drawing technique was in use in Egypt by the 2nd Dynasty (c. 2890 – c. 2686 BCE[2]). The oldest record of wire being made for musical instruments is from Augsburg in 1351. -- Wikipedia

I thought it would be very hard to do, but apparently not.

 

[Ibix]

Airline pricing is done by big computer programs that take all sorts of things into account. They maximize Hong Kong-Seattle income then fill the remaining seats with lower cost connecting flight travelers.

...and it's probably easier to issue legal threats to people than change the algorithm to close the loopholes.

 

[gmax137]

TIL that Physics Forums is on Facebook. Here's a screen shot

 

[BillTre]

TIL that Steve Miller has turned 80.
He has made a bunch of good tunes.
Here is one of many:

 

[gmax137]

TIL that Steve Miller has turned 80.
He has made a bunch of good tunes.
Here is one of many:

80, wow! Time moves swiftly in this place.

I liked their earlier trippy blues tunes, like this:

 

[berkeman]

This is interesting, and a nice advance in technology, IMO. Tonight I was watching an episode of COPS where they used a new portable instrument called "TruNarc" to test a small plastic baggie of suspected narcotics. The TruNarc uses a laser to illuminate the sample (even through the clear baggie, no need to extract a sample), and analyzes the reflected light to determine if the substance is a match for illegal narcotics.

Pretty nice step forward, IMO. I'll need to read more about it to understand the technology used and its limitations.

From TV tonight:

And from a web search:

https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/TRUNARC

 

[Hornbein]

Red Bull was invented in Thailand. In the early days it was banned in Germany.



In Indonesia energy drinks that contain caffeine and nicotine are sold to children mixed with candy. I tried that. I got a case of paranoia until the drug wore off.

 

[DaveC426913]

This is interesting, and a nice advance in technology, IMO. Tonight I was watching an episode of COPS where they used a new portable instrument called "TruNarc" to test a small plastic baggie of suspected narcotics. The TruNarc uses a laser to illuminate the sample (even through the clear baggie, no need to extract a sample), and analyzes the reflected light to determine if the substance is a match for illegal narcotics.

What? Hard-nosed cops won't rip the bag open, dunk their pinkie in an unknown powdery substance and taste it anymore??

What a world, what a world.

 

[BWV]

 

[Borg]

I'll drink to that!

 

[Rive]

What? Hard-nosed cops won't rip the bag open, dunk their pinkie in an unknown powdery substance and taste it anymore??

Fentanyl

There was some viral videos about secondary fentanyl poisoning cases among cops, but so far those are widely considered fakes
But that won't change the fact that since fentanyl hit the streets tasting unknown suspicious stuff is even less of a good idea than ever before...

 

[pinball1970]

View attachment 333137

I had to read it twice! I read solar system and thought galaxy!

 

[pinball1970]

Fentanyl
View attachment 333138
There was some viral videos about secondary fentanyl poisoning cases among cops, but so far those are widely considered fakes
But that won't change the fact that since fentanyl hit the streets tasting unknown suspicious stuff is even less of a good idea than ever before...

I always thought that was very dodgy.
No way to tell what this white powder is, could be cocaine so lets taste some...what could possibly go wrong?

 

[DaveC426913]

I always thought that was very dodgy.
No way to tell what this white powder is, could be cocaine so lets taste some...what could possible go wrong?

I only know of it from films and TV shows, and i suspect that goes for all of us.

I did read somewhere a real cop saying it is a ridiculous cliche that no sane cop would ever do.

 

[Rive]

I did read somewhere a real cop saying it is a ridiculous cliche that no sane cop would ever do.

It's interesting that I could not find anything about the origin of this. Usually there is something to find, collected by really dedicated movie/TV enthusisasts.
But for this one the closest I could dig up is a statement that some drugs may cause a numbing feel.

 

[berkeman]

It's interesting that I could not find anything about the origin of this.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FingertipDrugAnalysis

 

[fresh_42]

It's interesting that I could not find anything about the origin of this. Usually there is something to find, collected by really dedicated movie/TV enthusisasts.
But for this one the closest I could dig up is a statement that some drugs may cause a numbing feel.

I guess it is simply due to the fact that the information "drugs" has to be placed without delay and a boring drug test. I mean: running to the trunk of the car, fetching a drug test, swabbing a probe, waiting for the colors to change, and all for the simple information "drug" that the viewer expects anyway? Doesn't make sense. Smelling it or looking at it is less convincing than tasting something most people don't how it tastes anyway makes some dramaturgic sense.

 

[Rive]

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FingertipDrugAnalysis

Yes, usually that's a good source, but this time it just could not deliver the expected 'oh, so that's it' feeling...
Maybe it's just me hoping to find something more ... spicy

makes some dramaturgic sense.

Well, that makes sense

 

[gmax137]

What? Hard-nosed cops won't rip the bag open, dunk their pinkie in an unknown powdery substance and taste it anymore??

What a world, what a world.

Hard nosed cops don't rip the bag open, they slit it with the switchblade knife that suddenly appears in their hand, out of nowhere.

 

[DaveC426913]

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FingertipDrugAnalysis

Theng kew for divining where I read it.

It certainly tracks with my recent habits as posted on Fecebook.

 

[BWV]

A new Millennium Prize was announced

 

[Astronuc]

TIL a little about Oliver Heaviside.

 

[Hornbein]

The Berlin Philharmonic was founded in Berlin in 1882 by 54 musicians under the name Frühere Bilsesche Kapelle (literally, "Former Bilse's Band"); the group broke away from their previous conductor Benjamin Bilse after he announced his intention of taking the band on a fourth-class train to Warsaw for a concert.

 

[Hornbein]

A new Millennium Prize was announced

View attachment 333355

I can beat that. Indonesian dictionaries. The title may include a number. Since there is no rule that the number has to have anything to do with the contents there is rampant inflation. Last I checked it was 400 billion.

 

[Swamp Thing]

TIL that Hugo Broch, a WW2 German fighter ace, fulfilled a lifetime ambition by flying a Spitfire -- at the age of 95.

 

[pinball1970]

TIL That Leonard Rossiter was in "2001 a space Odyssey."

 

[Astronuc]

How an alleged scammer sold fake airplane parts to United, Delta, and more — and fooled a whole industry
https://news.yahoo.com/alleged-scammer-sold-fake-airplane-194406088.html

Counterfeit products are a huge problem, and a potential safety hazard when involving safety-related or safety-critical parts in systems like aircraft and their engines, nuclear reactors, vehicles, pipelines, . . . .

 

[pinball1970]

LEZ in Scotland scuppered our gig plans, (Sabbath and Ozzy)our reconditioned van to carry the gear does not meet the requirements.
Fair enough, saving the planet is more important than tribute bands, just disappointed we found this out late (poor planning, our bad)lost money on the gig, hotel, a nice walk round the city and the fans, dozens of them.

The local news got hold of it. For the record I was not fuming, in a rage or outraged.

https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/outraged-musicians-slam-glasgow-lez-27894804#comments-wrapper

 

[gmax137]

I think the author picked "fuming" as a pun on the low emissions zone idea.