Today I Learned

[pinball1970]

The best way to learn something is to teach it. But I learned that a long time ago. While teaching.

If you can't explain it to someone else then you don't understand it. Feynman?
Edit, No it was Einstein and it was, 'If you can't explain it simply...'

 

[Stavros Kiri]

TIL that Switzerland has a real good law: What once is forest, has to stay forest!

In Oregon, its more like:
what was once forest, if now it is made not forest,
replant it to make it forest again (for a while).

I've also seen the logic 'burn forests to expand cities!' ... Too bad, I tell you that.

 

[Klystron]

Today I learned more about salt water pools and water quality.

Our Fair City, famous in song and story for scams and corruption that would cause a Vampire to blush, has issued new health regulations on allowable levels of cyanuric acid (CYA) in swimming pools forcing pool owners to change the water ~once a week. In the desert.

CYA is added as a component of the "approved" chlorine tablets added to ensure water quality, delaying UV effects on free chlorine in swimming pools. The only information on the new regulations I can find so far is written by swimming pool maintenance companies who profit greatly from the new regulations. The City health regulations remain impenetrable.

I am trying to educate local home owners on the benefits of salt water pools with a simple ionizer to dissociate the sodium and chlorine from table salt disolved in the water. The chlorine and salt are almost unnoticeable while the sodium "softens" the water and feels silky smooth.

 

[Tom.G]

That cyanuric acid limit seems to apply to public pools (including HOA maintained ones), not private pools. See:

http://www.southernnevadahealthdist.../Regualtions/20180705-Aquatic-Regulations.pdf
This site states that automated Chlorine feeder systems are available, for up to $9000.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/homes...district-implements-pool-regulations-1819109/
There is an informative two page fact sheet from the city of Sacramento, CA at:
http://www.emd.saccounty.net/EH/Documents/CYANURIC ACID FACT SHEET - 2015.pdf
Also note The World Health Organization has established an upper limit of 100ppm in swimming pools; at least according to pgs17-18, comment 5.7.3.2.1.2.1 of:
https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/pd...nfection-and-water-quality-code-and-annex.pdf
Sounds like your Fair City is trying to put teeth into enforcement.

Edit: references found with:
https://www.google.com/search?&q=las+vegas+health+code,+swimming+pool,+cyanuric+acidCheers,
Tom

 

[Klystron]

Thanks for the wider perspective, Tom.

Our Fair City, where all sins are forgiven even as they occur, where time stands still while you have money to spend, an open cesspool of sun drenched ... wait, I forgot what I was going to ask.

I am baffled why the HOA pool maintenance contractor uses so much CYA? I used to add chlorine and "pH down" to my private pool, testing for correct levels then a spritz of CYA to help preserve the chlorine. Then I switched to salt water and an ionizer that kept the chlorine levels spot on. Less costly than the $9k USD insertion system with many other benefits. I found some videos to show the HOA board about salt water pools.

 

[Tom.G]

I am baffled why the HOA pool maintenance contractor uses so much CYA?

Because he can earn more profit that way? It's easier than testing for the acid?

I know only what I read in the references I supplied, but apparently the acid accumulates in the water and even clings to the pool walls upon emptying. Don't know if it stays active re the Chlorine but might be worth investigating.

BTW my references were found with:
https://www.google.com/search?&q=las+vegas+health+code,+swimming+pool,+cyanuric+acid
Cheers,
Tom

p.s. the 'CYA' abbreviation works in context but was initially interpreted as 'Cover Your A**'!

 

[A M]

It is based on trophy points, the increasing levels are in increasing mass and size (until it goes into the speculative region).

Yes, the increasing PF levels are in increasing both mass and size.
But there are some exceptions; e.g. Quarks are -at least 4 times- more massive than Electrons. In this case, only their size is notable. (Electrons are larger than Quarks; so 0≤Quark<10<Electron)

I noticed that I am a pf molecule the other day and I thought it was very sweet

I've just found a relation between trophy levels: (numbers are trophy points)

0≤Quark<10<Electron<30<Atom<50<Molecule<100<Cell<150<Organism<200<Mountain
200<Mountain<300<Ocean<400<Asteroid<500<Moon<600<Planet<700<Star<800<Galaxy
800<Galaxy<900<SuperCluster<1000<Universe<1100<Multiverse<1200<Singularity<1300

(The only member that has reached singularity is fresh_42, so the next level is Unknown at present.)
By my relation, you can find out the correct order of these levels and calculate how many trophies you need to reach next achievements.
Hope that it will be helpful for members not so familiar with PF.
A M

 

[mfb]

Mountain and galaxy are there twice.

Both quarks and electrons are expected to be point-like, but the wave function of quarks is typically confined to a smaller space than electrons.

 

[A M]

Mountain and galaxy are there twice.

I think that would make it easier to analyze. (To avoid little confusion due to multiple lines.)

but the wave function of quarks is typically confined to a smaller space than electrons.

And that's why: 0≤Quark<10<Electron

 

[epenguin]

I am trying to educate local home owners on the benefits of salt water pools with a simple ionizer to dissociate the sodium and chlorine from table salt disolved in the water. The chlorine and salt are almost unnoticeable while the sodium "softens" the water and feels silky smooth.

Sounds relaxing, your worries dissolve, Then so do you?

 

[epenguin]

Today I learned that nearly all the bananas in the world are practically a clone, that reproduces asexually, so cannot easily adapt nor do breeders have a great resources to combat a new menace of a fungal infection which after having devastated in Asia and Africa is turning up also in Columbia.

I didn't wish to know that.

 

[phinds]

Today I learned that nearly all the bananas in the world are practically a clone, that reproduces asexually, so cannot easily adapt nor do breeders have a great resources to combat a new menace of a fungal infection which after having devastated in Asia and Africa is turning up also in Columbia.

I didn't wish to know that.

I read an article some time back that said all the bananas we eat today are an inferior species that was all that could be recovered and re-populated from a massive banana blight in the (I think it was) early part of the 1900's and that if another such blight occurs it will likely again totally wipe out the current banana species.

Where I've said "species" it's possible I should have said "hybrid". Not sure.

 

[fresh_42]

Here's a list of a few of our breeds compared to wild ones - and corn is missing, which also looks tremendously different now and then:
https://www.littlethings.com/agriculture-changed-fruits-vegetables/2

 

[Klystron]

Today I learned that nearly all the bananas in the world are practically a clone, that reproduces asexually, so cannot easily adapt nor do breeders have a great resources to combat a new menace of a fungal infection which after having devastated in Asia and Africa is turning up also in Columbia.

I didn't wish to know that.

As a child in the 1960's I remember eating bananas or plantains from a private garden planted circa 1868 in Santa Barbara CA. Do not remember colors but they were shorter wider flatter than Dole store-bought, bittersweet with small soft seeds. The plants were tall enough to shade upper floors; like bamboo with yummy fruit.

They were gone a few years later when I lived at the college. "Attracted rats." said Brother Caretaker.

[Edit: Brother Simon, a man of few words, actually said "Ratten" in German. The other kids thought he said "rotten" as in spoiled fruit. We spent that afternoon clearing overgrown prickly pear cactus. I learned a new word glochid.]

 

[pinball1970]

As a child in the 1960's I remember eating bananas or plantains from a private garden planted circa 1868 in Santa Barbara CA. Do not remember colors but they were shorter wider flatter than Dole store-bought, bitter and had small soft seeds. The plants were tall enough to shade upper floors; like bamboo with yummy fruit.

They were gone a few years later when I lived at the college. "Attracted rats." said Brother Caretaker.

I hope these wild types are all in botany labs around the world. We never know when we may need to reintroduce them.

 

[Lewis Goudy]

Today I learned that the bond formed by red oak and Titebond III is over twice as strong as that formed by any other domestic (US) wood and any other glue tested: a traditional yellow glue (PVA), a Type I waterproof PVA [Titebond III], a liquid hide glue, a hot hide glue, a slow-set epoxy, and a polyurethane. (Case Western Reserve 2007).

 

[diogenesNY]

Maybe not today... but a few days ago I learned:

A library that I frequent has an (online) institutional subscription to the journal _Nature_.

Not only does this solve a paywall problem, but I now have an all new time-sync.

diogenesNY

 

[Drakkith]

Not only does this solve a paywall problem, but I now have an all new time-sync.

Did you mean a 'time-sink', or are you syncing your reference frames?

 

[diogenesNY]

My dear Mr. Lexicop... while I was almost inclined to plead fully and totally guilty to the former... I think I will just claim the latter on the basis of: "well, if _Nature_ isn't a sufficiently authoritative source, well, then to the devil with all of it!" and why the hell not? :)

diogenesNY

 

[Drakkith]

TIL that pink Himalayan salt, when escaping from an open container that your girlfriend's daughter just tossed into the air while dancing in the kitchen, looks oddly similar to what happens when two galaxies interact with each other. A beautiful arc of pink color, like the arc of gas, dust, and stars following the interaction.

 

[Stavros Kiri]

TIL that pink Himalayan salt, when escaping from an open container that your girlfriend's daughter just tossed into the air while dancing in the kitchen, looks oddly similar to what happens when two galaxies interact with each other. A beautiful arc of pink color, like the arc of gas, dust, and stars following the interaction.

Drakkith! ..., I thought you knew? ...

 

[Drakkith]

Drakkith! ..., I thought you knew? ...

Nope!

 

[Stavros Kiri]

Nope!

Well, now you know!

 

[Klystron]

TIL... or realized that what seems like an advantage in one physics application can be a disadvantage to another. Specifically, I like the narrow bandwidth inherent in klystron designs centered around a particular wavelength, given the tendency of individual tubes to vary.

What I learned or realized: many physics labs require large bandwidth RF sources. Makes sense. Now I understand some of the frustration experienced by tube manufacturers such as Varian Associates. Radar and communication types demand tight bandwidths with minimal frequency drift while laboratories want a single (expensive) device to produce as much spectrum as possible to power a large variety of experiments.

 

[BillTre]

TIl that here is an on-line database of different periodic tables.

 

[Ibix]

TIl that here is an on-line database of different periodic tables.

Loving the Periodic Table of Rejected Elements. Includes elements such as Asinine, Imodium, Celinedion and Belgium.

 

[Stavros Kiri]

Loving the Periodic Table of Rejected Elements. Includes elements such as Asinine, Imodium, Celinedion and Belgium.

Mom! Mom! I want my own element too! ...

 

[Klystron]

Today I learned connections between double Mersenne and Catalan numbers. Given my memory seems sluggish today, I had to backtrack wikipedia to remember how to form a Mersenne prime, a function I learned when I was 8 years old. Ain't age grand?

Still, once the combinatorics began to flow, the rough corners sloughed off and the wheels began to spin. Another problem I notice aside from remembering formulae is that very large integers lose individuality. Like black cats crawling in a coal mine compared to sunlit birds flitting about an aviary.

 

[mfb]

You could share what you learned! The Catalan–Mersenne number conjecture, I guess.

 

[Klystron]

You could share what you learned! The Catalan–Mersenne number conjecture, I guess.

Where studying the MC conjecture took me today. To begin near the end:

In the set of positive integers > 5 there are no odd perfect numbers at least lower than 2⁶⁴ and probably for the entire set. Unproven but logical conjecture?

The search for new prime numbers using very large powers of 2 leads to and is very closely coupled to finding the next Mersenne prime. IOW it is computationally more efficient to calculate large powers of 2 and subtract 1 and then test the result for primality; i.e., show no factors other than 1 and the number, than it is to employ sieve algorithms with or without prior factorization.

Or in simpler terms: look for new primes among large Mersenne numbers (1 less than large power of 2) 2ⁿ-1.

I am predisposed to look for twin primes but have not connected double-Mersenne numbers to that quest (if there is any known relation).

I was distracted/diverted from studying the MC conjecture by the set of perfect numbers. Unless I am being fooled by the (humorous) Strong Law of Small Numbers, perfect number 28 is particularly useful in certain iterative applications. Most likely any connection to Lunar cycles is arbitrary and pre-scientific but its relation to biology, specifically perception, might be profound.

Need to think about what I read today and will relate better information tomorrow. Thanks.