Today I Learned

[Ivan Seeking]

i've been experimenting with my own blood glucose

cut out sugar almost entirely.

Congratulations! I gave up most carbs five years ago; lost 60 pounds and regained my health and my life. And for the first time in my life I got my blood sugar under control [have an unusual form of metabolic syndrome]. I haven't had a piece of bread, pasta, potatoes, or other high-carb or sugar products in over five years. Normally I try to limit my carb intake to about 100 grams a day. The most amazing thing was all of the side effects - blood pressure returned to normal, cured a lifelong case of heartburn and heavy Rolaid use, and most of my joint pain has disappeared. I put myself on a heavy exercise routine and added a lot of muscle. For a guy my age I'm pretty buff now.

I was about a foot from the grave when I started this diet.

My favorite part is making the young guys at the gym look bad. :D

Oooh, almost forgot, I haven't been sick one day since I started this diet. I used to get sick twice a year like clockwork!

 

[Astronuc]

TIL about the tidal waves at Talbot Bay, Australia - David Attenborough - BBC


I'd never heard the place. I have visited Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy, another place for high tides, and watched as the tidal bore came in.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Today I learned how to make sense of the structure of the opening bars of the slow movement of Sibelius's Symphony No 2.

After a 4/4 measure of timpani roll, there are 38 measures of slow 3/8 time (one beat per measure, the same beat as for the 4/4) with pizzicato double basses or cellos, which mostly sound fairly random and unstructured, then it goes back into 4/4 (really 12/8) for the mournful bassoon tune. I've always wondered whether there was some simple structure within the wandering pizzicato line to help me make sense of it.

Today I spotted that the first 26 of the 38 measures are in groups of 3, like 9/8 with 3 beats, starting on the second of 3, and the last 12 are ambiguous, fitting both the previous grouping of 3 and the following grouping of 4. If the opening 4/4 is treated like four more 3/8 measures, then the grouping by threes starts from the beginning, with the fourth beat of the first bar forming the first beat of the following group of three.

 

[mfb]

Today I learned: In the US, there is an official role called designated survivor.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

TIL several new things related to the 2048 puzzle.

http://2048game.com/​

1. I learned the benefit of a method of doing redos taught to me by my 12 year old grandson a few weeks ago, combined with some additional techniques for exploiting the redo method. I have been experimenting with the method since I leaned it, and have discovered just how far I can take it, using 71 redos, during a session of 2-3 hours over 2 days. (See attached PNG file.)
2. I learned that the score can be (slightly over) estimated by the tiles shown. Each tile with face value N, other than the 2's and those 4s which were created as new tiles, represents an approximate value of log₂(N) × N. The over estimate are the 4s that were created as new tiles and then combined to generate 8s, in addition to such tile still showing in the display.
3. For the tiles shown in the PNG, the (over)estimated score is 423,968. The actual score is 358,628. The difference of 38,340 represents that about 20% of the created new tiles were 4's rather than 2's.

 

[fresh_42]

TIL that a Doner kebab may be halal but not necessarily kosher. Some producers mix yoghurt in it to soften the meat. It doesn't help to avoid milky sauces, it's already in it. Mean, isn't it?

 

[Buzz Bloom]

Each tile with face value N, other than the 2's and those 4s which were created as new tiles, represents an approximate value of log2(N) × N.

I wrote the formula incorrectly. It should be: log2(N) × N / 2.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

I wrote the formula incorrectly. It should be: log2(N) × N / 2.

One senior moment after another. It should be (log₂(N)-1) × N.

 

[Pepper Mint]

One senior moment after another. It should be (log₂(N)-1) × N.

 

[jim hardy]

TIL who is Fritz Hansgirg, father of heavy water production

Fritz Johann Hansgirg (1891–1949) was an Austrian electrochemist and metallurgist who in 1928 invented the carbothermic magnesium reduction process (magnesium, like calcium, can be used to reduce uranium oxide to pure uranium metal for use in nuclear weapons), similar to the Pidgeon process. In 1934, he left Austria for the Empire of Japan where he worked with industrialist Shitagau Noguchi to set up a magnesium plant and further helped the Japanese build a pilot plant[in N Korea i think - jh] to produce heavy water by the Combined Electrolysis Catalytic Exchange (CECE)[1] he invented. Coming to the United States in 1940, he worked with American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser to design a magnesium plant in California, but at the outbreak of World War II, Hansgirg was arrested by the FBI on a Presidential warrant and interned for "the duration of the war." After the war, the Soviet Union captured Hansgirg's plants in northern Korea, using the plants' processes and equipment for their atomic bomb project against the United States, likewise, using them in the Manhattan Project,[clarification needed] the exact details of which still remain classified in both the United States and Russia.

i hope to find this book

 

[Astronuc]

TIL that Hepatitis outstrips AIDS, TB as killer: report
https://www.yahoo.com/news/hepatitis-outstrips-aids-tb-killer-report-224232235.html

and there are five main types, known as A, B, C, D and E.

According to the World Health Organization, types A and E are typically transmitted via contaminated food or water, while B, C and D usually occur from contact with body fluids of an infected person.

An estimated 95 percent of people are unaware of their infection, though treating hepatitis B and C can prevent the development of chronic liver disease.

Ninety-six percent of hepatitis deaths counted in the review were caused by types B and C, said the researchers. Most hepatitis deaths occurred in east and south Asia.

Many health problems are preventable, but then one cannot prevent many folks doing things that expose them to viruses. Then there are governments that fail to provide appropriate sanitation.

 

[jtbell]

Today I learned of a scheme that has assigned an address to every 3m-square chunk of the Earth's surface. No, it's not latitude and longitude numbers. It's three words separated by dots. For example, the front door of probably the most famous address in the United States is at:

length.grab.torch

Plug it into the search box at https://map.what3words.com/ and see where it takes you. Zoom in and you can see the 3m grid.

 

[Borg]

Today I learned of a scheme that has assigned an address to every 3m-square chunk of the Earth's surface. No, it's not latitude and longitude numbers. It's three words separated by dots. For example, the front door of probably the most famous address in the United States is at:

length.grab.torch

Plug it into the search box at https://map.what3words.com/ and see where it takes you. Zoom in and you can see the 3m grid.

Coincidentally, I learned about this Sunday from the Style Invitational.

 

[mfb]

This needs about 38,000 words. You have to be careful - length.grab.torch is in Washington DC, while lengths[/color].grab.torch is in Colorado. Get a letter wrong and you are completely lost.

busy.busy.busy is near London.

collect.questions.profit doesn't exist :(.
profit.profit.profit is in Poland.

 

[fresh_42]

If found the IPU in Brazil's north and the FSM in the Baker Street in London. Funny, I've been there once but can't remember to have met FSM.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

So I'm currently at roses.spot.just but the other side of this room is photos.fully.boot. Weird.

 

[jtbell]

make.america.great doesn't go anywhere. Not even the Trump Tower. The Donald will be furious!

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Not even the Trump Tower.

Trump Tower is occurs.feared.took

And I live at on a street that starts with the word kebabs.

 

[Ibix]

physics.is.fun wasn't found. Nor was i.like.physics.

Philistines.

But physics.forums.good is about halfway between Melbourne and Sydney.

 

[Ibix]

Belong.bench.fool points to the Houses of Parliament. As does rushed.woven.exchanges - oh what tangled webs we weave. And brief.ruins.shaped, although I'm not sure that "brief" is appropriate, and stored.voter.riots. And handle.kicked.milk, for those of us who remember the Milk Snatcher. Also quite.epic.sheets, although that's not quite how I'd spell the last word, and expect.mile.lies and kind.cuts.regime.

This is awesome.

 

[fresh_42]

physics.is.fun wasn't found. Nor was i.like.physics.

Philistines.

But physics.forums.good is about halfway between Melbourne and Sydney.

I.love.math didn't get anywhere, either ...

Philistines.

 

[fresh_42]

I'm gone... rainbow.gold.luck is too close ... I'll be there before dawn ...

 

[rbelli1]

So if you want an easy to remember three words why is the plural a thing? There are lots of other words that would make it even uniquer.

BoB

PS: the spell check knows uniquer. That's not a real word.

 

[Sophia]

Finally an answer to the question I was wondering about for years: Do Americans really wear shoes inside?
I never knew if it was real or only in movies.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Finally an answer to the question I was wondering about for years: Do Americans really wear shoes inside?

Ew , I've hardly seen anybody wear shoes in their house...that's like...Okay, you wear your shoes outside stepping on who knows what and then you bring it into the house? Especially what if you have carpet??

I fear for the cleanliness of the homes that the people that woman knows live in.

**Alright, fine, I have seen it at times, but whenever I do, the family owns dogs, so their house is already pretty dirty.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Here in the UK, I think it's fairly normal to wear shoes in the house, although in my case they are usually lightweight shoes or sandals, not very suitable for outdoors.

(a) When I drive to the office, school or shops, I only walk on tarmac to get to and from the car, so there's little need to change shoes.
(b) We have doormats just inside each external door on which to wipe dirty feet.
(c) For gardening, going for a walk in the woods or going out in potentially bad weather, I put on sturdier and more weatherproof "outdoor" shoes or even boots. When I get home, I take them off at the door and change back into my "normal" lightweight shoes (or sometimes sandals or slippers, or even "slipper-socks", which are thick socks with non-slip ribs on the sole to prevent slipping on tiled floors as in our kitchen or similar).

I have injured my toes several times around the house when not wearing shoes, so I rarely go without.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Finally an answer to the question I was wondering about for years: Do Americans really wear shoes inside?
I never knew if it was real or only in movies.

Nine minutes for "we wear shoes inside"?

I never wear shoes in the house unless I have company. And even then, I always tell people to kick off their shoes and make themselves at home. So unless it is something really formal, I'm in socks or barefoot.

 

[Garlic]

Today I learned that there exists something named fairy ring, which is a naturally occurring ring of mushrooms. Mushrooms sometimes grow in rings!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring

 

[beamie564]

Nine minutes for "we wear shoes inside"?

You saved 9 minutes of my time. Thanks!

 

[collinsmark]

Today I learned that there exists something named fairy ring, which is a naturally occurring ring of mushrooms. Mushrooms sometimes grow in rings!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring

Fascinating. I wonder if the cause of this Fairy Ring fungal characteristic is related to that of ringworm.