Today I Learned

[jack action]

So you could accelerate, and maybe decelerate, but you couldn't turn. Hmm.

Yes, yes, exactly: an American car.

 

[Rive]

I know a lot about American cars of the sixties but this was news to me:

There was a predecessor for that, actually


And it's still in regular use

 

[Tom.G]

(Actually I guess you could use the common dirtbike trick of steering with the back end and throttle in deep mud and sand... I never tried it on ice)

Uhmm... DON'T, there is too much positive feedback.
(or maybe it is just an exponential function, anyhow, uncontrollable)

 

[Hornbein]

Uhmm... DON'T, there is too much positive feedback.
(or maybe it is just an exponential function, anyhow, uncontrollable)

I have heard ice steering can be done with a motorcycle if sidecar equipped.

 

[Hornbein]

TIL that Chuck Connors of The Rifleman fame was the first NBA player to shatter a backboard, that in 1946.

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/old-school/the-first-player-ever-to-shatter-a-backboard

I also learned that the glass backboard was introduced in 1911.

 

[phinds]

The David Hampton in question is NOT the con artist, but a lumber man
https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/oregon-trees-sure-to-force-a-smile

 

[Hornbein]

TIL that the effects of neutrinos from one second after the big bang have been detected with high confidence.

 

[pinball1970]

TIL that the effects of neutrinos from one second after the big bang have been detected with high confidence.

Me too! https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-019-0435-6

 

[fresh_42]

Once again an example that shows - take that with a grain of salt - this unpleasant, and huge gap between popular science (completely useless) and the scientific paper (completely ununderstandable).

One takes a couple of pints not to go nuts about that non-information, and the other takes a study of physics. When will someone start to summarize such a paper for educated people?

 

[gmax137]

When will someone start to summarize such a paper for educated people?

I used to read Science News, a slim biweekly magazine. I thought it was pretty good, but I let it lapse and have not read it in years. Maybe I will look into that.

The main problem (IMO) with summarizing papers for educated people (particularly physics papers) is that most educated people cannot read the mathematics. It is just hieroglyphs to them, likely to provoke "oh how I hated math in school." Even if the pinnacle of their studies was factoring quadratic equations.

 

[Tom.G]

I've settled on Science magazine, by American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS).

I took Nature for a while, but it leaned too heavily on the life sciences for me. Science covers a wider variety of fields, (weekly, about $3.17 per issue with yearly subscription).

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Hornbein]

TIL that "The Wiz" referred to the laws of thermodynamics.

 

[Hornbein]

Me too! https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-019-0435-6

They want $39 to "rent" that article. Does anyone actually do that?

 

[pinball1970]

They want $39 to "rent" that article. Does anyone actually do that?

My MO is read the abstract and see if I understand any of it. Then check here

 

[BillTre]

$39 is pretty outrageous to me, especially if it was produced from government funded research.

I would look into other ways to get the article.
Sometimes I can get articles from either Research Gate or Academia.
Sometimes I can get them from the author's website (usually a university website).
Sometimes that can be found on a preprint site.
Sometimes I can find articles or preprints through a google search.

 

[Hornbein]

Einstein came up with some rules for his marriage. I remember laughing in disbelief reading them, even 100 years ago this must have been pretty outrageous.

"A. You will make sure:

1. that my clothes and laundry are kept in good order;
2. that I will receive my three meals regularly in my room;
3. that my bedroom and study are kept neat, and especially that my desk is left for my use only.

B. You will renounce all personal relations with me insofar as they are not completely necessary for social reasons. Specifically, You will forego:

1. my sitting at home with you;
2. my going out or travelling with you.

C. You will obey the following points in your relations with me:

1. you will not expect any intimacy from me, nor will you reproach me in any way;
2. you will stop talking to me if I request it;
3. you will leave my bedroom or study immediately without protest if I request it.
D. You will undertake not to belittle me in front of our children, either through words or behavior."

TIL I learned that this was written to his first wife. Either she met these conditions or he would divorce. In this video you may see this letter in his own handwriting.

 

[Hornbein]

The marriage didn't last long after this. She split with the kids. No woman could tolerate that.

 

[KingGambit]

Today I learned that,
The integral of X ^X
is the planck area of the cartesian diagram.

 

[Swamp Thing]

TIL that "orphaned" oil wells are a thing. A very bad thing.

 

[Hornbein]

TIL that the Olympus camera company harbored a decades-long conspiracy to hide a billion dollars worth of speculation losses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCfL-EqkTnY. The execs were convicted but served no time.

 

[Swamp Thing]

TIL that the Olympus camera company harbored a decades-long conspiracy to hide a billion dollars worth of speculation losses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCfL-EqkTnY. The execs were convicted but served no time.

Fun fact: The company was first named Takachiho Seisakusho. Takachiho is a mountain that Japanese gods live on, according to Japanese mythology. They introduced the brand Olympus (after the mythical Greek mountain & home to the Greek gods) in 1921. During the war years they went back to the name Takachiho, returning to roost on Olympus in 1949.
[-- Wikipedia]

 

[Hornbein]

TIL that David Letterman has a big gap between his front teeth. He must use a prosthesis to cover it up.

(Lauren Hutton, same. But I already knew that.)

 

[hmmm27]

That gap's always been there, that I remember.

 

[collinsmark]

TIL that David Letterman has a big gap between his front teeth. He must use a prosthesis to cover it up.

That's his signature thing. I don't think he covers it up. Although he has had a full beard for the last several years, so I guess there's that.

 

[Hornbein]

That's his signature thing. I don't think he covers it up. Although he has had a full beard for the last several years, so I guess there's that.

Aha. All the photos I got from Google showed no gap.

 

[collinsmark]

Aha. All the photos I got from Google showed no gap.

Hmm. You're right. I don't see the gap in recent pictures. Maybe he had some dental work done? Dentures?

Well, it used to be his signature thing, anyway.

 

[Rive]

TIL that Bacopa (just to be clear: Chaenostoma cordatum) is actually a perennial plant.

It's sold here as a one-season pot-plant only, so we too just got rid of the old ones at the end of Autumn, as everybody else.

That is, till one of them just kept on blooming: it was just too nice to be thrown away, and we had a slot under the lamp anyway (we keep some plants inside, with growth-lights during winter), so why not?

.. . and then it kept on blooming all winter. It was a bit suspicious, so I've checked if it's a mutant (should I expect it start to hunt flies/neighbours? ) or we've just missed something?

... and so we need to expand the lamp area for next winter

 

[DaveC426913]

I think all plants are perennial, and it is only climate that kills nonnatives each season.

 

[BillTre]

I think all plants are perennial, and it is only climate that kills nonnatives each season.

Some plants just bloom fruit and die.
Certain peas are like this. Maybe some tomato strains also.

 

[Swamp Thing]

Today i learned that forces acting on the bones produce piezoelectric effects, which then play some important physiological roles.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8615512/

It has been demonstrated that bone and blood vases are piezoelectric, namely, electric signals are locally produced upon mechanical stimulation of these tissues. The specific effects of electric charge generation on different cells are not fully understood, but a substantial amount of evidence has suggested their functional and physiological roles.