Today I Learned

[sbrothy]

National Geographic quoting anonymous Internet comments. That's sad.

Haha yeah. Imagine quoting anonymous internet users to back your arguments on this forum. I suspect you'd attract some moderator flak. :)

 

[sbrothy]

This reminds me of a video on the subject from our neighbors in the Great White North.

Heh. I like that he says "when given a minute dose of LSD" and the accompanying video is of a tiny spider being prodded with a (relatively gigantic) cotton q-tip presumably laced with LSD. As human LSD doses arw measured in micrograms I wonder what is consisered a "minute" spider dosis?

Imagine someone prodding you with a telephone pole sized qtip laced with LSD... DUP-DUP Weeee! :)

 

[jbriggs444]

Heh. I like that he says "when given a minute dose of LSD" and the accompanying video is of a tiny spider being prodded with a (relatively gigantic) cotton q-tip presumably laced with LSD. As human LSD doses arw measured in micrograms I wonder what is consisered a "minute" spider dosis?

Imagine someone prodding you with a telephone pole sized qtip laced with LSD... DUP-DUP Weeee! :)

Apparently, massive LSD overdoses are not super-effective. e.g. https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/health/lsd-overdoses-case-studies-wellness/index.html

Still not planning on hugging any cotton-shrouded telephone poles.

 

[Hornbein]

Apparently, massive LSD overdoses are not super-effective. e.g. https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/health/lsd-overdoses-case-studies-wellness/index.html

Still not planning on hugging any cotton-shrouded telephone poles.

There was the time an elephant died of a massive LSD overdose.
https://www.illinoisscience.org/2016/06/lsd-and-the-elephant/

 

[sbrothy]

Apparently, massive LSD overdoses are not super-effective. e.g. https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/health/lsd-overdoses-case-studies-wellness/index.html

Still not planning on hugging any cotton-shrouded telephone poles.

Interesting. "Their experiences were exceptional". Hooo Boy I'd imagine! Probably nowhere near recreationally funny though.

I've tried "moderate" doses myself on a few occasions. Once resulting in what you'd call a "bad trip". I wouldn't wish that experience multiplied 50x on my worst enemy!

 

[Oldman too]

National Geographic quoting anonymous Internet comments. That's sad.

TIL...
Hi, I got to wondering about the this. Searching "national geographic Czech edition" I came across https://www.national-geographic.cz/ The NG article in question does appear to be done by a legitimate NG Author, his profile link on NG is https://www.national-geographic.cz/autor/hynek-adamek-2597.html (no pun allowed, but czech it out) I have no idea how to translate and track down his sources but It does look like a
worthy piece.
The "interpretation" I gave in post #4526 is based on
https://english.radio.cz/father-genetics-gregor-mendels-dna-being-analysed-scientists-8730429
From my somewhat dubious translation skills, I would assume that the source used by the author was
https://www.em.muni.cz/en/news/15408-masaryk-university-scientists-are-analysing-mendel-s-dna
These are English edition articles so no translation is necessary. I didn't want to even try getting google translate involved in this, then I would have to screw up the context as well as the literal meanings of the words.

 

[pinball1970]

I thought this was interesting and also and indication of things to come from the LHC?

https://physicsworld.com/a/bountiful-exotic-hadrons-at-the-lhc-inspire-new-naming-convention/

They announced the penta/tetraquarks the other week.EDIT: https://cds.cern.ch/record/2814506/files/2206.15233.pdf

62 new Hadrons at the LHC so far?? wow! (page 2 diagram)

I had a of fun reading this.

"The naming convention for qq¯ 0 mesons with non-zero strangeness, charm or beauty quantum numbers is given in Table 2. As for mesons with zero net strangeness or heavy flavour quantum numbers, the symbols are supplemented by a subscript J to indicate the spin, though this is usually omitted for the lightest pseudoscalar and vector mesons of given flavour quantum numbers"

Later on...

"Nonetheless, it is important to retain backwards-compatibility, as much as possible, as doing otherwise will inevitably cause confusion."

Anyone else confused by this paper, give me a shout, I think I got this

 

[sbrothy]

TIL...
Hi, I got to wondering about the this. Searching "national geographic Czech edition" I came across https://www.national-geographic.cz/ The NG article in question does appear to be done by a legitimate NG Author, his profile link on NG is https://www.national-geographic.cz/autor/hynek-adamek-2597.html (no pun allowed, but czech it out) I have no idea how to translate and track down his sources but It does look like a
worthy piece.
The "interpretation" I gave in post #4526 is based on
https://english.radio.cz/father-genetics-gregor-mendels-dna-being-analysed-scientists-8730429
From my somewhat dubious translation skills, I would assume that the source used by the author was
https://www.em.muni.cz/en/news/15408-masaryk-university-scientists-are-analysing-mendel-s-dna
These are English edition articles so no translation is necessary. I didn't want to even try getting google translate involved in this, then I would have to screw up the context as well as the literal meanings of the words.

Hah. Naah. Good choice trying to keep Google translate out of it. The results aren't always pretty. :)

 

[BillTre]

TIL that a chess playing root break a kid's finger in a Moscow chess tournament.
No, the robot wasn't pissed off because it was losing.

 

[Oldman too]

TIL... David Attenborough has a new namesake.
https://www.science.org/content/art...namesake-oldest-known-relative-living-animals

 

[pinball1970]

TIL Mathematicalphysicist gone. He’s been here since the start or near enough?

 

[Borg]

Gah. He was a fellow God-Man devotee!

 

[sbrothy]

TIL Mathematicalphysicist gone. He’s been here since the start or near enough?

Even though I can't say I know ppl here (and I'd be arrogant to call them my "peers"), it's always sad when the real world interrupts my interwebs. :(

 

[sbrothy]

Even though I can't say I know ppl here (and I'd be arrogant to call them my "peers"), it's always sad when the real world interrupts my interwebs. :(

 

[Rive]

TIL that an old wristwatch is still an indispensable tool for office work

 

[Borg]

Trying to keep the cursor moving so that the screen doesn't lock?

 

[pinball1970]

Trying to keep the cursor moving so that the screen doesn't lock?

Yeah what is the purpose? @Rive

 

[Rive]

Exactly that. Keeps on the screen.
When you have one of those monster long and difficult passwords, it's just life saving

 

[Borg]

I have a small Java program that I wrote to handle that. The program is called by a .bat file that is automatically started when I log in. After that, it randomly moves the mouse +- 1 pixel in the x and y directions every 15 minutes. It's just enough to not trigger a screen lock and doesn't affect anything that I'm doing on the screen.

 

[sbrothy]

I have a small Java program that I wrote to handle that. The program is called by a .bat file that is automatically started when I log in. After that, it randomly moves the mouse +- 1 pixel in the x and y directions every 15 minutes. It's just enough to not trigger a screen lock and doesn't affect anything that I'm doing on the screen.

Maybe I'm a little dense but can't you just disable the screensaver? Or at least increase the time before it locks?

 

[Ibix]

Maybe I'm a little dense but can't you just disable the screensaver? Or at least increase the time before it locks?

Let me guess: you don't work for a large corporation?

 

[sbrothy]

Let me guess: you don't work for a large corporation?

I used to but apparently had a little more freedom... so it goes.

 

[Borg]

Corporate sysadmins are pretty heavy-handed on the system settings these days. Even though I have (mostly) full admin rights, the corporate scripts check various items and overwrite things that I've changed whenever I get on their network. I then have to spend time undoing their handywork. I used to run a registry script to change their 20 minute screen timeout to 90 minutes but they eventually found a setting that I couldn't find in the registry. That's when I came up with the mouse mover.

Another fun game that they've introduced is wiping out my new tab page in my Chrome browser. My new tab page looks something like this:

Then, about a month ago, they introduced a bunch of registry settings that removed all of my shortcuts and blanked out the entire page. So now when that happens, I have to go into the registry and delete all of their scripted keys in order to get the page back. For some reason, they don't do this to their Edge browser. Probably because it automatically wipes out all of my settings whenever it's updated. It's a constant war with these people.

On the bright side, most of what I've learned about the Windows Registry has been from battling the corporate sysadmins.

 

[Rive]

20 minute screen timeout

You know, I'm envious. We got something like 3-4 minute

 

[pinball1970]

You know, I'm envious. We got something like 3-4 minute

Same. I have never tried to change the settings though. Once I get in I tend to only stop for coffee!
I may have a look when I am in Monday.

 

[berkeman]

I've always wondered why the pitch of the sound from the inlets of jet engines seems to change with angle. It's not a Doppler effect that I was hearing, since only the angle of the planes were changing and not their speed relative to me.

So I thought about posting the question in the Aero forum today, but being a good PF'er, I went to Google first. The first hit on the list is a great PDF from NASA about exactly this effect! It turns out that both diffraction and refraction affect the sound coming from the engine inlet based on the angle, and they show computational plots of exactly what I have been hearing. TIL!

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20130000433/downloads/20130000433.pdf

 

[Oldman too]

disable the screensaver?

Works for me.

 

[mfb]

My work laptop doesn't even know there is an IT department - got it directly from the manufacturer - but it's academia, we are getting paid for producing results, not for how, when and with which system settings we do that.

 

[Office_Shredder]

For some reason, they don't do this to their Edge browser. Probably because it automatically wipes out all of my settings whenever it's updated.

Probably because they can't conceive of anyone actually using Edge.

 

[mfb]

It's a neglected Edge case.