Today I Learned

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greg Bernhardt
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary
Today I learned that cleaning a white hat can be done with bleach cleaner, but it’s important to rinse it before wearing it again. I also discovered that "oyster veneering," a woodworking technique from the late 1600s, is experiencing a minor revival despite its labor-intensive nature. Additionally, I learned that the factorial of 23 (23!) equals 25,852,016,738,884,976,640,000, which interestingly has 23 digits, a unique coincidence among factorials. I found out that medical specialists often spend less than 10 minutes with patients, and that watching TV can contribute to weight gain. Other insights included the fact that a kiss can transfer around 80 million microbes, and that bureaucracy can sometimes hinder employment opportunities. The discussion also touched on various trivia, such as the emotional sensitivity of barn owls and the complexities of gravitational lensing around black holes.
  • #6,271
KingGambit said:
Yes it is!
Just ask a civilization...
What base that you use?
They will answer:
10
D'oh!! o0)
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #6,272
KingGambit said:
They will answer:
10!
375F00 🤨
???
 
  • #6,273
KingGambit said:
They will answer:
10
To give an unambiguous answer, I suppose you'd need to say, e.g.
  • 1+1 (binary)
  • 9+1 (decimal)
  • F+1 (hex)
etc
 
  • #6,274
Sheldon number.
In the series The Big Bang theory, Sheldon's favorite number is 73
1740247366691.png

Because (in base 10), this number has certain property.
1. 73 is prime
2. It's reverse: 37 is also prime.
3. 73 is the 21st prime.
4. 37 is the 12th prime.
5. It's digit product 7 * 3 is also 21 (see property 3)

So, does 73 (in base 10) is the only number who have this property?
What about other number in base 10?
What about other number in any other base?

Here, I try to find any prime numbers in any other base who have this property. But, I can only find 73 in base 10.
1740247600120.png

I've searched up until base 2000. Larger than this, it would take more programming effort to conserve memories and speed up process. I just write this software in 1 hour. Perhaps any mathematicians here can prove that only 73 and in base 10 number that has this property. That there's no other possibilty in any other base. Just like 1089 problem above.
This 1089 works in any base number.
 
  • #6,275
  • Wow
Likes collinsmark and BillTre
  • #6,276
TIL that Captain James Cook had no middle name. I was hoping it would be James T. Cook.

Harry Truman's middle name was S, but I already knew that.
 
  • #6,277
I read about someone who had a middle initial (S) but no middle name.
The story was that a spaghetti noodle landed on the form.
 
  • Like
Likes jack action
  • #6,278
Hornbein said:
TIL that Captain James Cook had no middle name. I was hoping it would be James T. Cook.

Harry Truman's middle name was S, but I already knew that.
My dad didn't have a middle name. While his four eldest brothers were given middle names, the next four, including my dad, who was the youngest, weren't.
 
  • #6,279
Hornbein said:
TIL that Captain James Cook had no middle name. I was hoping it would be James T. Cook.

Harry Truman's middle name was S, but I already knew that.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Ronald Wilson Reagan
George Herbert Bush
George Walker Bush
Barrack Husein Obama, etc...

Once someone asked Truman, what is S?
Truman: Secret
 
  • #6,280
TIL that you need to choose your shoes very carefully when preparing for a hand (wrist) surgery.

You can get the whole surgery with some 'Ouch! That stung bit', but then the lidocaine is out and what awaits you is a battle with the shoelaces... :doh:
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Care
Likes diogenesNY, Tom.G, symbolipoint and 3 others
  • #6,281
TIL that sometimes even feeding the cat can feel like an accomplishment.

Also: apart from the thing about the shoes, if it's about your 'main' hand, then get an electric toothbrush as preparation.

It is a quite strange experience with only the 'other' hand.
All is good and things goes as expected so far: these are just the small strange things which slipped through the preparations.
 
  • Like
Likes Ibix and collinsmark
  • #6,282
TIL: "revise" is one of those words whose definition differs across the pond

revise: verb
1. re-examine and make alterations to (written or printed matter):
"the book was published in 1960 and revised in 1968"

2. BRITISH ENGLISH
reread work done previously to improve one's knowledge of a subject, typically to prepare for an examination:
"students frantically revising for exams" · "revise your lecture notes on the topic"
 
  • Informative
  • Wow
  • Like
Likes diogenesNY, jbriggs444, symbolipoint and 4 others
  • #6,283
gmax137 said:
TIL: "revise" is one of those words whose definition differs across the pond

revise: verb
1. re-examine and make alterations to (written or printed matter):
"the book was published in 1960 and revised in 1968"

2. BRITISH ENGLISH
reread work done previously to improve one's knowledge of a subject, typically to prepare for an examination:
"students frantically revising for exams" · "revise your lecture notes on the topic"
I think the British version is closer to its literal meaning: see-again. I would use review in the first case, not knowing why this is also see-again.

We say "revue (fr.) passieren lassen" in the second case (let a review happen) and "revidiert" in the first case. Wherever and how ever you look at it: it remains a re-look.
 
  • #6,284
fresh_42 said:
I would use review in the first case
As a born-USA speaker, I would use "revise" in the first case and "review" in the second case.
 
  • #6,285
gmax137 said:
As a born-USA speaker, I would use "revise" in the first case and "review" in the second case.
Depending how is your background, "revise" means to re-examine and then update something. OFTEN but not restricted to books, especially academic textbooks. Those might be called "Editions"; not absolutely sure. Documents shorter than things like textbooks would be said to have "revisions".
 
  • #6,286
TIL that a sojourner is "a temporary resident."
 
  • #6,289
"Neil Armstrong" backwards is "Gnorts, Mr Alien".
 
  • Haha
  • Like
  • Wow
Likes OmCheeto, BillTre, symbolipoint and 5 others
  • #6,290
I hope "gnorts" means something polite like "hello" in alienese.
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Likes BillTre, symbolipoint, KingGambit and 2 others
  • #6,291
Due to #6289 and #6290,
Quick! Everybody let's spell our names backwards and see what we get!
 
  • #6,292
symbolipoint said:
Due to #6289 and #6290,
Quick! Everybody let's spell our names backwards and see what we get!
Old news. I think I was about nine when I first starting saying my name backwards. :wink:
 
  • #6,293
DaveC426913 said:
Old news. I think I was about nine when I first starting saying my name backwards. :wink:
I was younger than that--first grade. I remember because I particularly disliked my first grade teacher and I would say my name backwards to annoy her. :wink:
 
  • #6,294
symbolipoint said:
Due to #6289 and #6290,
Quick! Everybody let's spell our names backwards and see what we get!
Three guesses what was the name of one of the original makers of Trebor Mints, and the first two don't count.
 
  • #6,295
symbolipoint said:
Everybody let's spell our names backwards and see what we get!
Alucard?
 
  • #6,296
DrGreg said:
Alucard?
You mean Lucard Dalv?
 
  • #6,297
I was also writing backwards in my younger years:

yreeq0y6qsd21.jpg
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Likes pinball1970, Borg, BillTre and 1 other person
  • #6,298
My youngest daughter use to say words backwards.
 
  • #6,299
dlgoff said:
My youngest daughter use to say words backwards.
.uɐǝɯ noʎ ʇɐɥʍ ʍouʞ I
 
  • Haha
Likes KingGambit and dlgoff
  • #6,300
jack action said:
I was also writing backwards in my younger years:

When I first saw the film in a repertory theater, it was during this scene that the kid sitting behind me said, in a loud stage whisper "READ IT BACKWARD!"
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Likes PeterDonis and dlgoff

Similar threads

  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
2K
Replies
26
Views
6K
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
4K
  • · Replies 161 ·
6
Replies
161
Views
14K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K
Replies
35
Views
7K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
339
  • · Replies 27 ·
Replies
27
Views
6K