Today I Learned

[Drakkith]

Today I learned, once again, that physics is hard. That knowledge must sometimes be wrangled from its range and beat against ones head until it stays.

 

[Borg]

TIL that the Godfather trophy is awarded after 2500 days and not 7 years (2556 or 2557 days depending on leap years).

 

[mfb]

1036 days to go!

The 4-year trophy is 1200 days, significantly shorter than 4*365+1=1461.

The 5 years of the Einstein award seem to be quite precise (+-1 day depending on leap years).

 

[ShayanJ]

Today I learned I'm a GodFather!

P.S.
I doubt I can call that learning!

 

[OmCheeto]

TIL that agent Smith wasn't just being metaphorical, but we really are viruses.
At least, in part.

How Viruses Infiltrated Our DNA and Supercharged Our Immune System [The Atlantic]
March 3, 2016

Hundreds of millions of years ago, prehistoric viruses inserted their genes into the genomes of our ancestors. They found their way into eggs or sperm, and then into embryos. As they passed down from one generation to the next, they picked up mutations that disabled their ability to infect new cells. Eventually, they became permanent fixtures of our genomes, as much a part of our DNA as our own genes.

Today, these ‘endogenous retroviruses’ or ERVs make up 8 percent of our genome. They are genetic fossils—remnants of our viral ancestors, and records of epidemics past.
...

Wait, what's this

For example, syncytin, a gene that’s essential for creating the placenta, came from a virus; in the words of Carl Zimmer, “If not for a virus, none of us would ever be born.”

Does that mean without that virus, we would have been hatched from eggs?
What the hell is a placenta?
Oh my god, don't google that. Yuck!

hmmmm...
http://www.answers.com/Q/How_do_animals_without_a_placenta_develop

Animals that do not develop in a placenta will develop outside of the uterus rather than in. Kangaroos and Koalas use pouches to develop their young.​

I guess we wouldn't necessarily be hatched, but our mothers would have pouches.

Anyways, that's what I learned today.

 

[rootone]

My GF asked me to trim her hair fringe which is not difficult and I have done it before.
She thought I did about right, but her dad found out and said that guys should not be cutting woman's hair.
What?, not even when if it's requested by the woman?
Never mind, just ventin'

 

[Kevin McHugh]

Today, as I was reading Greiner's QED about Green's functions as propagators, I learned that I'm a dumba$$. I envy those who are brilliant enough to derive this stuff.

 

[jim hardy]

My GF asked me to trim her hair fringe which is not difficult and I have done it before.
She thought I did about right, but her dad found out and said that guys should not be cutting woman's hair.
What?, not even when if it's requested by the woman?

Ever seen "Fiddler on the Roof" ? Dads are sensitive about daughters. It's nature's way...

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Today I learned I have a mandatory exam today and I only learned about it from my friends and classmates and I received no letter or email about.

I also learned that planting seeds on public property is illegal.

 

[Sophia]

Today I learned I have a mandatory exam today and I only learned about it from my friends and classmates and I received no letter or email about.

I also learned that planting seeds on public property is illegal.

That must have been stressful. How did you in the test? I'm sure you had many correct answers even without studying before!

And what's the story behind planting seeds in the public? Are you one of those green extremists who plant trees and flowers in public spaces at night? :-)

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

How did you in the test?

I think did great (except maybe that question on proteins)! Thanks for asking!

And what's the story behind planting seeds in the public? Are you one of those green extremists who plant trees and flowers in public spaces at night? :-)

Hehe . . . that was out of curiosity. I looked into planting because of this thread that I created:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/methods-for-preventing-erosion.864247/
I’m not a “green extremist”, although I can be extreme at times and do love the color green

 

[Astronuc]

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-impossible-just-happened-in-texas-2015-9
http://www.utilitydive.com/news/rec...-ercot-prices-into-negative-territory/405606/

Negative pricing again in the news.

What do Texas and California have in common? 'Negative power' caused by renewables glut
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/20160405-what-do-texas-and-california-have-in-common-negative-power-caused-by-renewables-glut.ece

 

[1oldman2]

Today, I learned that I still have a lot of learning to do.

 

[Borg]

Today, I learned that I still have a lot of learning to do.

I learn that every day.

 

[jim hardy]

Wow ! from Astro's link...

www.utilitydive.com/news/record-wind-generation-pushes-ercot-prices-into-negative-territory/405606/
Wind farms in the state set a new record of almost 11,500 MW on Sunday night, besting a previous record set in February.

This time of year when use is low ... i wonder what fraction of their total load that was?? In the middle of a warm night...

Another thought from that site

http://app.assetdl.com/landingpage/energy-storage-into-virtual-power-plant/?utm_campaign=UDL
Municipal utilities have become the early adopters of turning distributed energy storage into a virtual power plant. Their successful pilot programs are beginning to reshape the way the utility industry operates. It’s only the beginning, as more utility companies start to take notice of the benefits of distributed energy storage.

Download Utility Dive’s playbook and learn how:

• Your company can develop micro-grids and a virtual power plant
• Falling battery prices are giving way to more customer-sited storage opportunities
• Distributed energy storage is helping transform utilities into an environmentally-friendly industry

Decentralize generation ? Customer sited storage ? Makes me realize what a fossil i have become ..
i am... the sum total of my experience ? Which is, a generator weighs at least 400 tons...

In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. Eric Hoffer

 

[OmCheeto]

Wow ! from Astro's link...This time of year when use is low ... i wonder what fraction of their total load that was?? In the middle of a warm night...

Another thought from that siteDecentralize generation ? Customer sited storage ? Makes me realize what a fossil i have become ..
i am... the sum total of my experience ? Which is, a generator weighs at least 400 tons...

TIL that my 50 watt solar panels weigh 5.94 kg (13 lb, = 0.0065 tons)

ps. My cousin is in town, and on Monday we went to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, where I read that the SR-71 airplane had more horsepower than the Queen Mary. I found that somewhat astonishing, as I could see that the airplane only seated two people, and I assumed the Queen Mary was some cruise ship that carried thousands of people.

So I looked it up today, and discovered that there were 4 Queen Marys, and had to figure out which one they were talking about:

HMS Queen Mary, a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy launched in 1912 and sunk at the Battle of Jutland in 1916

703 feet long battlecruiser
75,000 hp​

TS Queen Mary, a Clyde Steamer launched in 1933, now retired and stored in Tilbury Docks, London, UK

252.5 feet long
351 hp
(I've seen jetskis with that rated horsepower!)​

RMS Queen Mary, a Cunard Line ocean liner launched in 1934, now retired as a hotel in Long Beach, California, USA

965-1019.4 feet long
160,000 hp​

RMS Queen Mary 2, a Cunard ocean liner that entered service in 2003

1132 feet long
90,100 + 67,000 = 157,100 hp​

SR-71

2 seater airplane
160,000 hp​

Anyways, I found that all kind of funny.

pps. We all got together at my brothers house last night, and my brother was in the USAF, and said he was at Langley AFB, and found out that SR71 pilot and whatever that other guy did, spent 4 hours getting ready for flight, as they had to don astronaut type suits, and sit in a vacuum chamber, to make sure said suits didn't leak, so they wouldn't die while flying around.

ppps. The Spruce Goose was much smaller than I expected. But beings that it was made out of plywood, I was most impressed that it didn't disintegrate when Howard flew it.

 

[jamalkoiyess]

Today i learned that we killed the planet entirely with pollution and that everything that is pretty is too expensive

 

[jim hardy]

RMS Queen Mary, a Cunard Line ocean liner launched in 1934, now retired as a hotel in Long Beach, California, USA
965-1019.4 feet long
160,000 hp

i had good fortune to tour the other Queen, Elizabeth , at Ft Lauderdale in 1969

One of my most memorable days .

Sadly this beauty wound up as a rusting hulk somewhere in Japan.

SpruceGoose is on my Bucket list.

 

[OmCheeto]

Today i learned that we killed the planet entirely

That doesn't make sense.
If the planet were killed "entirely", then you wouldn't have been able to say that.

with pollution

hmmm...

and that everything that is pretty is too expensive

Not my flowers!
Nor my trees.
I planted neither.

ps. TIL that my Lebanese friend doesn't show up on my Facebook feed. That kind of upset me, as he is one of the most delightful people I know on this planet.

 

[Sophia]

Top 10 Mispronounced Words

 

[Buzz Bloom]

Today i learned that we killed the planet entirely with pollution and that everything that is pretty is too expensive

Hi jaM:

I think that what you learned today was a look into the future a few years or so.

Regards,
Buzz

 

[Astronuc]

Negative pricing again in the news.

What do Texas and California have in common? 'Negative power' caused by renewables glut
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/20160405-what-do-texas-and-california-have-in-common-negative-power-caused-by-renewables-glut.ece

and adding to woes in California

Officials: Porter Ranch gas leak could cause blackouts this summer!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/officials-porter-ranch-gas-leak-200957219.html

Talk about putting too many eggs in one basket.And coming down the road - The world is about to have a good old-fashioned glut on its hands, courtesy of China's problematic economy.

China's crude steel, aluminum, shipbuilding, chemicals, cement, refinery products, flat glass, and paper will all have to be unloaded on the world, whether the world needs them or not. (Mostly not.)

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-just-started-unloading-biggest-191110971.html

 

[Planobilly]

Today I learned a few new acronyms...
BTW IMHO FWIW IRL acronyms R A PITB causing FUD...lol
My predilection is to proselytize, promote, advocate, champion, peddle, preach, endorse, and recommend the use of real words to prevent ambiguity.

CU @ *$ M8

PB

 

[Pepper Mint]

Foliage I think can be pronounced as /foiledz/ particularly when you speak fast, I pronounce it as /foli-eidz/ though. Just like Practically may probably, many times, be sounded like /practikly/ - /e/ sound after /k/ is skipped.
I don't know about Bruschetta, Quinoa and Mauve. The rest I make no mistake to pronounce sounds like silly mistakes made just by carelessness (e.g an extra /e/ sound is added to /mischeveous/, or ask becomes ax) and bad habit loop.

 

[Sophia]

Foliage I think can be pronounced as /foiledz/ particularly when you speak fast, I pronounce it as /foli-eidz/ though. Just like Practically may probably, many times, be sounded like /practikly/ - /e/ sound after /k/ is skipped.
I don't know about Bruschetta, Quinoa and Mauve. The rest I make no mistake to pronounce sounds like silly mistakes made just by carelessness (e.g an extra /e/ sound is added to /mischeveous/, or ask becomes ax) and bad habit loop.

I got all wrong except nuclear, espresso, jalapeno and ask. I never thought that it could be pronounced as ax :)
Never heard word "mauve" before.

 

[mfb]

I always thought "nucular" was just a simpsons joke and references to it.

 

[Bystander]

"nucular"

Michael "Dogulas:" China syndrome.

 

[NascentOxygen]

I always thought "nucular" was just a simpsons joke and references to it.

U.S. presidents who have used this pronunciation include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucular

 

[jim hardy]

U.S. presidents who have used this pronunciation include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush

One of my pet peeves. I followed the word in Webster's... stylistic labels was i think the subsection...
Decades ago the pronunciation noo-kye-ler was upgraded
from substandard, meaning 'not used by educated people and in the same category as irregardless and drownded'
to nonstandard, meaning not correct but used by too many educated people, including two past presidents , to be labelled substandard.'

I think it's not even nonstandard anymore.. How avuncular.

 

[Hornbein]

How long before loose becomes nonstandard spelling for lose?

 

[gjonesy]

Today I learned that lose and loose are being used interchangeably Lose being most commonly a verb but sometimes an adjective and loose most commonly an adjective but some times a verb! I'm so afraid of losing my mind, so turn me loose and set me free!

 

[Sophia]

Today I learned that lose and loose are being used interchangeably Lose being most commonly a verb but sometimes an adjective and loose most commonly an adjective but some times a verb! I'm so afraid of losing my mind, so turn me loose and set me free!

What? Should I ask my English teacher to add a point to my test because she corrected a non-existent mistake?
I wonder if they keep tests for 8+ years...

 

[jim hardy]

rein-in vs reign-in I've done it myself... horsefeathers...

 

[gjonesy]

What? Should I ask my English teacher to add a point to my test because she corrected a non-existent mistake?
I wonder if they keep tests for 8+ years

Most definitely, in fact Id sue her for it!

#hukedownfonickswurkedfermi...

 

[Jonathan Scott]

How long before loose becomes nonstandard spelling for lose?

I think the word "led" as the past form of "to lead" has gone out of fashion too, being replaced by "lead" pronounced as in the metal.

 

[gjonesy]

I think the word "led" as the past form of "to lead" has gone out of fashion too, being replaced by "lead" pronounced as in the metal

Talk about confusing, " The US is now taking the environmental lead against lead contamination. This effort is being lead by the environmental protection agency, one of their biggest weapons is lead detecting canines. In the field these dog are put on a lead and walked across a property and can detect the slightest bit of lead in the soil. And we're not just talking about your run of the mill lead that leads are connected to on the battery in your car, we're talking about heavy metal contaminate in the environment that forced an entire town to evacuate, Picher Oklahoma. That's our lead story, for more on lead contamination in Picher visit": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picher,_Oklahoma

 

[Jonathan Scott]

... effort is being lead ...

Hmmm. Google shows about 6,730 hits on "effort is being lead" compared with about 74,400 for "effort is being led", so the incorrect spelling as a proportion of the total is still only a bit more than 8%. Perhaps there's hope yet...

 

[gjonesy]

I always thought "nucular" was just a simpsons joke and references to it.

Its pronounced Newqueler (new-que-ler)

#hukedownfonickswurkedfermi...

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Today I learned that I share the same birthday as Erno Rubik.

Today I learned that Tumblr is considered social media.

Today I noticed that Chaplin and Hitler have the same type of mustache, but I still prefer the mustache of Poirot better.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Today I learned that one of my Scottish great-great-grandfathers set off to work his way to Australia on a sailing ship but ended up in Calcutta after it hit a rock and sank in the Bay of Bengal in around 1855, after which he refused to go to sea again. I always wondered how that branch of the family ended up in India.

 

[Astronuc]

TIL that "ARP Instruments, Inc. was an American manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. Best known for its line of synthesizers that emerged in the early 1970s, ARP closed its doors in 1981 due to financial difficulties."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARP_Instruments

The main competitor was Moog.

Diana Lewis played an ARP Synthesizer on Elton John's Madman Across the Water.

 

[jim hardy]

Best known for its line of synthesizers

Wow - they were analog !

ARP entered the fledgling synthesizer industry with the introduction of the ARP 2002, which with twice as many switch rows on top, became the 2500 analog modular synthesizer. T

 

[dlgoff]

The main competitor was Moog.

Wow - they were analog !

I was on the front row when Robert Moog explained and demonstrated each of his synthesizer's analog functions at a colloquium for Kansas University EEs soon after he invented it. It was awesome.

 

[ShayanJ]

Today I learned that the Dirac equation in the Schwarzschild spacetime has the following form:

$i\hbar (1-\frac{2M}{r})^{\frac 1 2} \left[ \gamma^0 \frac 1 c \frac{\partial \psi}{\partial t}-\frac{M}{2r^2} \gamma^1 \psi+\gamma^1 \frac{\partial \psi}{\partial r} + \frac{M}{r^2} \gamma^1 \psi \right]+i\hbar \left[\gamma^2 \frac 1 r \frac{\partial \psi}{\partial \theta}+\gamma^3\frac{1}{r\sin\theta} \frac{\partial \psi}{\partial \varphi}+\frac{\cot\theta}{2r} \gamma^2 \psi\right]=mc\psi$

Pretty complicated!

 

[jim hardy]

Pretty complicated!

TIL that some people seem to understand such things !

 

[Kevin McHugh]

I always thought "nucular" was just a simpsons joke and references to it.

Nucular was George Bush's arsenal.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

TIL a new word.

lapidate: 1. to pelt with stones 2. to kill by stoning. Nice metaphor.

Context

You are saying that if we don't find life of Europa, that will make possible for us to compare our environment with Europa's and possibly lapidate our current hypothesis for chemo-genesis.

 

[ComplexVar89]

Today, I learnt:

The key thing to bear in mind about this is that, if there is an underlying symmetry to the system, then any individual state that does not have that symmetry will be one of a set of states that, taken as a whole, does.

 

[rbelli1]

Breadfruit smells like banana bread when you cook it.

BoB

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Today I learned that the toy hot air engine which I used to play with when young and which I eventually inherited from my grandfather was made by George Carette between 1902 and 1911. It looks exactly like this one:

which I found on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Carette-tinplate-toy-Hot-Air-Engine-Germany-/331819728988

I thought of it today and dug it out of my cupboard because my daughter and her boyfriend are currently revising thermodynamics including the Carnot cycle. The hot air engine uses the Stirling Cycle which I believe is a reasonable practical approximation. It chugged away beautifully for ages this afternoon, although it needed occasional oil to help seal the piston. My son was quite interested in it, but my daughter not so much; I think she's more into the theory than the engineering.