Today I Learned

[Ibix]

What The Heck Is GCSE?

General Certificate of Secondary Education. Exams taken in the UK, typically at age 16.

 

[pinball1970]

What The Heck Is GCSE?

Showing your COO is not UK there fella! It's 16 years old level exams.

In my day we had O level then A level.

O, ordinary was 16. Then A was advanced at 18 for Uni entry.

They still have A level here, but 16 plus then GCSE replaced 'O' level

 

[strangerep]

Showing your COO is not UK there fella!

TIL... that the abbreviation "COO" has many meanings.

 

[mfb]

If it has three not-too-obscure letters that's almost guaranteed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COB
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COE

Wikipedia recently discussed if the other meanings of "RF" are significant enough to not redirect it to radio frequency.

 

[Borg]

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.

And, the fun continues. Today I learned that one of their corporate scripts deleted the executable for Notepad++ that I've been using for years. Not only that but once I restored it, all of my open file tabs were gone. So now, I need to regularly back up that software and my sessions. They must really love paying me to work less.

 

[strangerep]

@Borg : I didn't realize how real-life-like the character "Mordac the Preventer" (Dilbert) can be.

 

[Tom.G]

I then have to spend time undoing their handywork.

Consider installing a virtual machine, especially if it is your hardware!

 

[Borg]

Consider installing a virtual machine, especially if it is your hardware!

I do have one that isn't on their approved software list. I installed it for a project that I worked on where I was the only person who could figure out how to get around the corporate blocks to meet the customer's security requirements.

@strangerep Picture "Mordac the Preventer" and his brother working at two different companies and I had to get their networks talking to each other. What should have been relatively straightforward, was instead a series of insanely difficult hoops just to get our software builds pushed to the other system.

 

[pinball1970]

In Oregon at least, there are architectural design rules for wheelchair access ramps.
They cover the incline, how long an inclined ramp goes without a landing (to rest I guess) and how large the landing areas should be. (I was invovled in several campus building design/redesign projects.)

I went there today just to check. It is steep! Very pretty though now the trees have grown.

 

[kyphysics]

Will Smith got into MIT with near perfect SAT score.

eta: Google seems divided over this fact...did he or didn't he get into MIT?

 

[pinball1970]

Will Smith got into MIT with near perfect SAT score.

eta: Google seems divided over this fact...did he or didn't he get into MIT?

It is not on his wiki page. I think that is the sort of thing they highlight.

EDIT: https://www.blackhistory.mit.edu/archive/will-smith-1986

"My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college."

 

[BillTre]

I was looking something up on wikipedia and may have discovered someone named "Maxwell Hammer".

I think it has something to do with the Wayback Machine's link to the Glossary which had a listing for Maxwell's Demon.

Any Maxwell Demon is a good name or pseudonym for someone.
I have a friend with the last name of Hammer. I've decided that he should have a kid named Maxwell S. Hammer.

 

[DaveC426913]

Bang Bang.

 

[Borg]

I've been watching reruns of the show Eureka on FX recently. TIL, that the person who plays Taggert on the show was also Max Headroom in the 80's. Now I probably be looking for him to hesitate constantly.

 

[DrGreg]

I've decided that he should have a kid named Maxwell S. Hammer.

If he called him Maxwell C. Hammer, no-one could touch him.

 

[jack action]

 

[Ibix]

If he called him Maxwell C. Hammer, no-one could touch him.

Thanks. Now I'm going to have that song going round in my head for the next three days...

 

[fresh_42]

Thanks. Now I'm going to have that song going round in my head for the next three days...

You're not alone.

 

[kyphysics]

It is not on his wiki page. I think that is the sort of thing they highlight.

EDIT: https://www.blackhistory.mit.edu/archive/will-smith-1986

"My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college."

Hmmm...I dunno. I've heard interesting facts about celebs (sometimes revealed from their own mouths on TV interview shows) that weren't on their Wiki pages, but in this specific case, I think you're right.

This quote definitely makes it seem like he didn't apply, even though he had a lot of things going for him that could have let him get in.

 

[Bob Walance]

Today I learned that it was Pythagoras' mother who was the first person ever to use the expression, "Do the math!"

 

[fresh_42]

TIL we have a rock band who call themselves: 8 beer later.

 

[BillTre]

 

[CultQuantum]

Today I learned not to rock the boat, even in the cosmology department. No free-thinking allowed even from folks who believe that the personal computer has been the most liberating and empowering device which humanity has been gifted.

It must be my username...

 

[weirdoguy]

free-thinking

Free thinking out of what? You don't know cosmology. That's a fact. There is nothing wrong with that, but if you do not want to learn, then probably this is not the right place for you. But if you do, just listen to those who know, and thare are a lot of those people here.

 

[weirdoguy]

Cosmology is basically a defunct pseudo science.

Ok, so you definitely are not interested in facts. Good luck with that.

 

[CultQuantum]

Ok, so you definitely are not interested in facts. Good luck with that.

Facts in cosmological creation, you have a point @@

So where then are people allowed to express their opinion about dark matter and if it has always existed or if is being created as the universe expands per the status quo.

 

[Tom.G]

Cosmology is basically a defunct pseudo science.

Perhaps, but then why are you bothering with it at all?

 

[CultQuantum]

Perhaps, but then why are you bothering with it at all?

Simply posited a question, it was offensive, deserving of a thread ban or whatever and I just got here.

Such a hostile community.

 

[PeterDonis]

No free-thinking allowed

Uninformed personal speculation is not "free-thinking". It's just uninformed personal speculation, no matter how much the speculator would like to believe otherwise.

Simply posited a question

No, you posted personal speculation, were told it was personal speculation and the PF rules don't allow that, and kept on with it anyway.

Such a hostile community.

You signed up to the PF rules, including the rule about no personal speculation, when you became a member. Enforcement of the rules that you signed up to is not "hostile". It's part of how these forums work.

 

[PeterDonis]

where then are people allowed to express their opinion about dark matter

Not in the science forums here. The purpose of the science forums here at PF is not to discuss personal opinions. It is to help people understand what mainstream scientific theories actually say. We have found from long experience that making uninformed speculations is not a good way to do that. That's why the PF rules don't allow that.