Today I Learned

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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.
  • #2,201
nitsuj said:
Today I learned that deGrasse can be SAVAGE...so funny and with a painful depth of truth lol
Didn't watch this yet (at work) but I just want to say that I admire NGT so much, not only for his intelligence, but for his charm. I have a really hard time talking to science illiterates. He does it with such grace and wit. -Dave K
 
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  • #2,202
dkotschessaa said:
Didn't watch this yet (at work) but I just want to say that I admire NGT so much, not only for his intelligence, but for his charm. I have a really hard time talking to science illiterates. He does it with such grace and wit. -Dave K
I liked Pluto:

 
  • #2,203
Today I learned that when the directions tell you to remove the lid before microwaving, you better remove the lid!

20170516_172345_HDR.jpg
 
  • #2,204
TIL about the Capgras syndrome: familiar people appear unfamiliar; noted cases involve the patient not recognizing themself in the mirror.
 
  • #2,205
EnumaElish said:
TIL about the Capgras syndrome: familiar people appear unfamiliar; noted cases involve the patient not recognizing themself in the mirror.

That is absolutely terrifying.! :nb)
 
  • #2,206
Drakkith said:
Today I learned that when the directions tell you to remove the lid before microwaving, you better remove the lid!
Never will forget the day i learned never attempt to hard boil an egg in the 'wave...
 
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  • #2,207
jim hardy said:
Never will forget the day i learned never attempt to hard boil an egg in the 'wave...

That's called "texturing the walls of your microwave".
 
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  • #2,208
Today I learned that some fridge freezers have an undocumented "demo mode" where they look as if they are working but fail to cool anything, for use in the showroom. The fridge freezer in the house my student daughter is sharing stopped working, and when the repair man arrived he told them that it had somehow been switched into "demo mode" (which apparently involves pressing two buttons at the same time). At the very least they should document that, or how to get out of it! My daughter had made and stored many frozen meals as well as buying a lot of stuff the day before, but the freezer had totally thawed out for some hours so the food had to be discarded.
 
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  • #2,209
Jonathan Scott said:
Today I learned that some fridge freezers have an undocumented "demo mode" where they look as if they are working but fail to cool anything, for use in the showroom. The fridge freezer in the house my student daughter is sharing stopped working, and when the repair man arrived he told them that it had somehow been switched into "demo mode" (which apparently involves pressing two buttons at the same time). At the very least they should document that, or how to get out of it! My daughter had made and stored many frozen meals as well as buying a lot of stuff the day before, but the freezer had totally thawed out for some hours so the food had to be discarded.

Another one of the world's problems we can blame on the sales and marketing team of that company...
 
  • #2,210
dkotschessaa said:
Another one of the world's problems we can blame on the sales and marketing team of that company...
I disagree.
I lay it on the programmer who didn't make it OBVIOUSLY APPARENT to the consumer by blinking a light or scrolling a message that the cooling equipment is turned OFF and what happened to your daughter is imminent.

That's the trouble with computers. They encourage "Microthink" , a state of mind wherein one is so wrapped up in the code he's oblivious to the world around him and common sense disappears.
 
  • #2,211
jim hardy said:
That's the trouble with computers. They encourage "Microthink" , a state of mind wherein one is so wrapped up in the code he's oblivious to the world around him and common sense disappears.

Oh that's not limited to coding and computers... :rolleyes:
 
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  • #2,212
Today I learned that in C++ if you don't include a header file with your class definition inside it, you need to write the class definition ABOVE the main() function, not below it.
@phinds, I spent an hour searching around the internet and flipping through my book and I didn't find this simple fact anywhere. I finally thought about it and it solved all of my errors... :mad::oldgrumpy::headbang:
 
  • #2,213
Drakkith said:
Today I learned that in C++ if you don't include a header file with your class definition inside it, you need to write the class definition ABOVE the main() function, not below it.
@phinds, I spent an hour searching around the internet and flipping through my book and I didn't find this simple fact anywhere. I finally thought about it and it solved all of my errors... :mad::oldgrumpy::headbang:
That is a great example of the difference between a seriously experienced programmer and a relative newcomer. I know from your posts here that you are quite intelligent, so I don't mean it as any slam on you.

One of the things I used to ask programmers I was hiring, when I expected them to be experienced, was "what's the productivity factor between relatively inexperienced programmers and very experienced programmers and why?" Many of them answered almost exactly as I wanted which was "roughly ten to one because an experienced programmer not only knows a lot, he knows what he doesn't know, what questions to ask, and where to find the answers whereas an inexperienced programmer doesn't know those things." That's a simplistic point of view but surprisingly accurate.
 
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  • #2,214
phinds said:
That is a great example of the difference between a seriously experienced programmer and a relative newcomer. I know from your posts here that you are quite intelligent, so I don't mean it as any slam on you.

Oh I'm a noob programmer by all accounts. :biggrin:
Unlike science and physics, I haven't spent a large portion of the last 6 years reading up on the topic on my own. My first real exposure to programming was my C programming class last fall.
 
  • #2,215
jim hardy said:
I disagree.
I lay it on the programmer who didn't make it OBVIOUSLY APPARENT to the consumer by blinking a light or scrolling a message that the cooling equipment is turned OFF and what happened to your daughter is imminent.

I think the marketing department would never allow such a thing. :D

That's the trouble with computers. They encourage "Microthink" , a state of mind wherein one is so wrapped up in the code he's oblivious to the world around him and common sense disappears.

I've noticed at my company an extreme "literal" thinking with both coders and I.T. people. If you request a phone for a new employee, the new employee will have a phone the next day. It won't actually work or be plugged in. If you ask for a phone line for a new employee, you'll get a phone line with no phone plugged into it. If you ask for a phone and a phone line you'll get a phone plugged into a working phone line, but the phone system requires a log in, so the employee won't actually be able to make calls. I suppose they are just doing what they are asked...
 
  • #2,219
OmCheeto said:
:oldlaugh:

Someone needs to write an "insights" article on that...

:oldlaugh:
Or simply reply with what I once said to an annoying tamagotchi, which kept saying "feed me": Feed it or I will. With a hammer!
 
  • #2,220
Today I learned what a Tamagotchi is.
Or, perhaps, relearned.
I sense that at least 2 of my brain cells remember this device.
 
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  • #2,221
Today I learned about the borough (small municipality) of S.N.P.J., Pennsylvania. Population was 19 in the 2010 census. It's very close to the Ohio border, a few miles north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

(I saw it on a road sign or on my GPS, then found it on Google Maps, which led me to Wikipedia.)

The acronym stands for Slovenska Narodna Podporna Jednota, a fraternal society for Slovenian-Americans. They built a 500-acre recreation area which is apparently popular for wedding receptions and other events.

However, the borough that they were originally in forbade the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sundays. So they somehow managed to secede and form a separate borough with its own alcohol regulations!
 
  • #2,222
Well good for them !
 
  • #2,223
jtbell said:
So they somehow managed to secede and form a separate borough with its own alcohol regulations!
Which reminded me of this for some reason. :oldtongue:

 
  • #2,224
Today I learned:
TWELVE PLUS ONE is an anagram of ELEVEN PLUS TWO. And both are 13.
 
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  • #2,225
mfb said:
Today I learned:
TWELVE PLUS ONE is an anagram of ELEVEN PLUS TWO. And both are 13.
Uh, dude ... you have WAY too much spare time on your hands. :smile:
 
  • #2,226
There are lots of interesting ones.
Listen = Silent
Clint Eastwood = Old West Action
Madam Curie = Radium came
The eyes = They see
And, Stressed is Desserts backwards. Coincidence? I think not. :woot:
 
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  • #2,227
A once-topical UK local one is that Virginia Bottomley is an anagram of I'm an evil Tory bigot.
 
  • #2,228
Ibix said:
A once-topical UK local one is that Virginia Bottomley is an anagram of I'm an evil Tory bigot.
Assuming she WAS an evil Tory bigot, that's hilarious. Was she?
 
  • #2,229
I used to do look up anagrams but haven't in years. Just did Donald Trump for grins and among many other, got "Mad Lord Punt"
 
  • #2,230
phinds said:
Assuming she WAS an evil Tory bigot, that's hilarious. Was she?
She was certainly a Tory, a cabinet minister in John Major's government in the 90s. Your mileage may vary on the rest - Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, certainly found it amusing at the time. I'm probably pushing the boundaries of "no politics" though, so I'd better stop here.
 
  • #2,231
Today I learned what an indeterminate form is, from this thread. I suppose I already knew and understood the concepts involved, but didn't realize somebody had taken the trouble to categorise and label them to make it easier to talk about the behaviour of certain sorts of limits. I expect this will be useful to me in future discussions about limits.
 
  • #2,232
Friday I learned that Portland has at least its share of heroes.
 
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  • #2,233
TIL about the Alice In Wonderland syndrome, which distorts one's body image. Often goes hand in hand with migraine. Lewis Carroll, a migraineur, is believed to have had it.
 
  • #2,234
EnumaElish said:
TIL about the Alice In Wonderland syndrome, which distorts one's body image. Often goes hand in hand with migraine. Lewis Carroll, a migraineur, is believed to have had it.
Is that what anorexics have?
 
  • #2,237
T.I.L, URL's that begin with hxxp are not particularly my favorite. :frown:
 
  • #2,238
Today (yesterday actually) I learned that in Ithaca, NY's city schools, it is the policy in the elementary schools that unless a parent specifically asks that their child be left behind for a grade, all kids will always be promoted to the next grade regardless of their academic achievement. As a result there are 6th graders who basically can't read.

Just as an aside, this is where Cornell University professors send their kids to school (unless the send them to private schools).
 
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  • #2,239
Today I learned that most of the video recordings of World War 2 U.S. carrier landing mishaps exist because the Navy had crewmen assigned to watch nearly every landing and to start recording if it looked like anything was going wrong or about to go wrong.
 
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  • #2,240
Today i learned that plumbing ain't what it used to be.
It has root from Latin "Plumbum", lead(noun soft heavy metal , not verb go before) .
But lead is falling out of favor.

They have taken the lead out of brass plumbing fittings. Used to be typically 2 to 7 % but now it's 0.07 %
http://homepages.uc.edu/~maynarjb/Frontpage%20sites/Pipe%20Scales/Lead%20content%20of%20brass%20plumbing%20components.pdf

My neighbor is a retired foundryman who used to make water meters and brass plumbing fittings. He says taking the lead out of brass ruined its machinability.
My plumbing supply guy says brass pipe threads don't seal well anymore since they took the lead out. Not surprising if you can't machine smooth threads anymore.

Well now ! On with the boring anecdote......

A few days ago my water meter blew out an old plastic fitting and was filling up the lake by time water company guys got there.
They replaced the fitting with a bronze one.
I decided to revamp some questionable workmanship i found underground. Bought an expensive new brass pressure regulator and brass pipe nipples and added isolation valves for house and barn.



WaterMeter4.jpg


Wouldn't you know - though i used plenty of Teflon thread sealing tape i have a minuscule drip at inlet to new regulator..
Arrrgghhh that ditch is a yard deep and in rocky clay that makes the stickiest mud you ever saw.
It still hasn't drained from the broken fitting four days ago..

Mark at my plumbing supply store had casually mentioned i should use Teflon thread sealing paste instead of the tape . .
Wish i'd asked him why. But now i know.

Oh well.
I'll wait until Monday when he's open in case i break something else.

old jim
 
  • #2,241
jim hardy said:
He says taking the lead out of brass ruined its machinability.
It also "ruined" (reduced) its toxicity. If you plan to drink the water, it is a good idea to replace old lead pipes.
 
  • #2,242
mfb said:
If you plan to drink the water, it is a good idea to replace old lead pipes.
Did you see the NOVA show on Flint's water supply?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/poisoned-water.html
You really need that layer of scale on the inside of lead pipes. Until they're replaced keep the water chemistry such that it won't dissolve the scale.
Program Description
Water. Turn on the faucet and it’s always there. Without it we perish. But how safe is our tap water? In this special report narrated by Joe Morton, NOVA investigates what happened in Flint, Michigan, when local officials changed the city’s water source to save money, but overlooked a critical treatment process. As the water pipes corroded, lead leached into the system, exposing the community—including thousands of children—to dangerous levels of poison. NOVA uncovers the science behind this manmade disaster— from the intricacies of water chemistry to the biology of lead poisoning to the misuse of science itself. NOVA follows ordinary citizens and independent scientists who exposed the danger lurking in Flint’s water and confronted those who turned a blind eye. And discover the disturbing truth that reaches far beyond Flint—water systems across the country are similarly vulnerable. How can we protect ourselves from poisoned water?

They're all steel pipes on this rural system. Mine had a healthy limestone lining. . I buried a new PVC line for when my fifty+ year old steel one corrodes away. It's tied into the white one in my picture.

old jim
 
  • #2,243
Interesting to know that about the brass fittings @jim hardy.
I like pipe paste.
 
  • #2,244
jim hardy said:
You really need that layer of scale on the inside of lead pipes. Until they're replaced keep the water chemistry such that it won't dissolve the scale.
That is better than nothing, but not better than lead-free pipes.
Germany for example stopped installing leaded pipes 50-100 years ago, but there are still some old pipes around. The limit is 10µg/l in the water, these old pipes typically lead to water exceeding that limit.
 
  • #2,245
mfb said:
That is better than nothing, but not better than lead-free pipes.
What made the Flint problem acute was their new water supply chemistry dissolved the scale that had lined the old lead pipes .

One can't defend pure lead pipes this day an age .
But one can blast Flint water officials for first refusing to acknowledge then trying to hide their problem. NOVA did a good job IMHO of presenting the facts about lead and scale in pipes, and bureaucracy .

When one changes something that causes another problem does he not own the new trouble too?

Looks like i too will become a fan of Teflon thread paste.
 
  • #2,246
jim hardy said:
What made the Flint problem acute was their new water supply chemistry dissolved the scale that had lined the old lead pipes .

One can't defend pure lead pipes this day an age .
But one can blast Flint water officials for first refusing to acknowledge then trying to hide their problem. NOVA did a good job IMHO of presenting the facts about lead and scale in pipes, and bureaucracy .

When one changes something that causes another problem does he not own the new trouble too?
jedishrfu posted a thread about that on Friday. Beings that I don't watch TV anymore, I really appreciate notices of excellent programs.
I did some further research about it, and discovered that the chemicals they decided not to add would have cost them $200 a day.

“For $200 a day, had the leadership put phosphate in the water as an anti-corrosive, this wouldn’t have happened,” Schuette says. [ref: Time]​

The highest estimate I've seen so far to fix the problem is $1.5 BILLION.

Many residents have called for state money to replace the city’s old pipe infrastructure — which the mayor has said could cost up to $1.5 billion — and a fund to address any developmental impact on children. [ref NY Times]​

hmmm... $200/day * 365.25 days/year = $73,000/year
$1,500,000,000 / ($73,000/year) = 21,000 years.
hmmm...
I'm guessing they probably would have replaced all the old broken pipes by then. I wonder how long lead water pipes last.

Looks like i too will become a fan of Teflon thread paste.
When I bought my house 28 years ago, I didn't know there was a problem with the plumbing.
It took me a month to replace all of the broken fittings and pipes and fixtures.
The house had sat vacant through two winters, and although a note on the water heater said everything had been "winterized", it was obvious that it hadn't. Or, perhaps the meant a "Southern California" winter. :oldeyes:
In any event, even though I had no training as a plumber, it still hasn't leaked..
(knocks on wood)
 
  • #2,247
mfb said:
That is better than nothing, but not better than lead-free pipes.

Hmm looks like there's science to back getting the lead out of our brass.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808929/
so far as i can tell that journal doesn't charge much to publish, about a hundred Swiss Francs
so i hope they're reputable
surely they won't mind this pointer to their interesting paper
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808929/
upload_2017-6-18_14-6-0.png
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808929/figure/ijerph-13-00266-f003/
gettheleadout.jpg


Though it's way less drastic than real lead pipes.

Still,
if i go away for a week or more i'll run enough water to flush the lines .

Okay - today i learned that, too !

old jim
 
  • #2,248
OmCheeto said:
I wonder how long lead water pipes last.

Somebody must've found some left from the Roman days...Another interesting paper on the mechanism...

http://homepages.uc.edu/~maynarjb/Frontpage%20sites/603/GeochemWater/Brass_corrosion.html
 
  • #2,249
Today I learned, well that about sums it up. :smile:
 
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