Today I Learned

[dlgoff]

My youngest daughter use to say words backwards.

When I started posting about this, I thought I was in the Random Thoughts forum. My mistake. :(

 

[gmax137]

Anyone remember the episode on Taxi where Jim Ignatowski is explaining his name, tells the other driver to "spell it backwards"?

 

[fresh_42]

Today I learned that Schrödinger did not hesitate to add his personal comments, assessments, or feelings to or before his work. Very eloquent, this Mr. Schrödinger.

 

[BillTre]

In Ukraine, drone casualties are greater than those from artillery and guns combined.

 

[Orodruin]

In Ukraine, drone casualties are greater than those from artillery and guns combined.
View attachment 358355

This reminded me of the Terminator franchise ... for which the end-game of the war against SkyNet occurred in 2029 ... Ironically, with AI on the rise, it is feeling somewhat unsettling (although SkyNet became self aware in 1997).

 

[BillTre]

A couple of days ago a container ship going 16 knots T-boned an anchored tanker carrying aviation fuel.
I have heard a comment or two that this could be some kind of sabotage thing (it was a US military ship), but more likely is poor seamanship. Having worked on the bridge of a couple of seagoing NOAA ships, I can see how mistakes could be made. The NOAA ships were tightly run, mostly by former military types or merchant marine academy grads. They however made it clear the commercial ships would not operate under such high standards and might put a ship on autopilot with no one on the bridge.

Here is a great video on this from this Sal guy at What's going on with shipping?


He is knowledgeable and explains things well.
He also has access to computer tracks of all the vessels in the area on a digital chart of the area.
Seeing the response of the other vessels after the accident is impressive.

 

[Hornbein]

Admiral Hyram Rickover introduced nuclear propulsion to the US Navy. He said if civilians used nuclear they'd be lazy and there would be accidents.

 

[BillTre]

Sal's update on the collision:

 

[jack action]

TIL

The really weird way we see numbers


​

 

[symbolipoint]

Post #6309, I have not watched all of it yet but he is saying something about subitizing.

(Now watched all of it)

 

[jack action]

TIL about the origin of the game Monopoly:

Monopoly was originally called The Landlord's Game, and was invented by a radical woman. Elizabeth Magie's original game had not one, but two sets of rules to choose from.

One was called "Prosperity", where every player won money anytime another gained a property. And the game was won by everyone playing only when the person with the least doubled their resources. A game of collaboration and social good.

The second set of rules was called "Monopoly", where players succeeded by taking properties and rent from those with less luck rolling the dice. The winner was the person who used their power to eliminate everyone else.

Magie's mission was to teach us how different we feel when playing Prosperity vs Monopoly, hoping that it would one day change national policies.

 

[pinball1970]

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Ronald Wilson Reagan
George Herbert Bush
George Walker Bush
Barrack Husein Obama, etc...

Once someone asked Truman, what is S?
Truman: Secret

He was not a president but he was one heck of an Engineer, with a notable First and middle name.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

 

[jack action]

TIL that the Newton's cradle isn't as simple as we thought:

​

 

[diogenesNY]

"Neil Armstrong" backwards is "Gnorts, Mr Alien".

I think we are all well beyond such trifling excuses as 'coincidence'.

 

[Tom.G]

Informative.
A lumberjack shows & instructs, in detail, how to clear deadwood... and he is explaining the 'why' of his approaches.

 

[jack action]

TIL about action with this amazing explanation. If only every teacher could explain stuff like this, it would be great. Describing every contribution in time to well understand the thought process of mankind - not just a single person - makes this a fascinating story.

​

 

[Orodruin]

If only every teacher could explain stuff like this, it would be great.

I regularly explain this. Albeit without the historical timeline. Next thing you want to learn about is Noether’s theorem. I literally gave that lecture yesterday.

 

[KingGambit]

.uɐǝɯ noʎ ʇɐɥʍ ʍouʞ I

What the....?? How the hell can you do that

 

[fresh_42]

What the....?? How the hell can you do that

Generally? I searched my list:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...h-physics-earth-and-other-curiosities.970262/
and found:
https://text-symbols.com/upside-down/

 

[KingGambit]

Today I learned that Carboniferous actually means, COAL, not Carbon as in carbon element.
It's from Latin, Carbo, meaning coal.
I already knew that there were giant insects in carboniferous, because of high oxygen level. While insects respire oxygen from osmosis through their skin, not lung.
So higher oxygen level allows them to grow bigger. And all this time I thought why Carboniferous?
Why not Oxygenferous.
Ahh, it seems that Carbo means coal and all coals were created during Carboniferous before plants had the ability to synthesize lignan

 

[KingGambit]

Illuminati
ᴉʇɐuᴉɯnʅʅI,
It doesn't work

 

[fresh_42]

Illuminati
ᴉʇɐuᴉɯnʅʅI,
It doesn't work

Works on my end.

 

[Klystron]

TIL (Yesterday, actually) while researching an old TV theme song, that according to Wikipedia the hillbilly family in "The Beverley Hillbillies" sitcom came from the Ozark mountains in Missouri.

I would have sworn that Old Jed and even older Granny hailed from Tennessee, certainly their accents fit Appalachia.

 

[Klystron]

Today I learned that Carboniferous actually means, COAL, not Carbon as in carbon element.
It's from Latin, Carbo, meaning coal.

I learned that carbo was Latin for coal back in grammar school when children still studied Latin. An early Latin teacher, a priest, taught us that over 80% English vocabularly derived from Latin, but he had a vested interest.

A pun: priests are invested in the church and wear vestments during Mass

 

[BillTre]

insects respire oxygen from osmosis through their skin, not lung.

They don't have lungs, but most use trachaea from their spiricle surface openings to efficiently get oxygen into their bodies.

If an animal is small enough, with a low enough oxygen demand, and a gas permeable surface, it doesn't need specialized oxygen transfer mechanisms. Young fish embryos and small metabolically slow salamanders are examples of this.

why Carboniferous?
Why not Oxygenferous.

Generally, geological periods are named for the rocks associated with their time period location. Some are named for location (Jurassic) of the rocks.

 

[KingGambit]

Works on my end.

I mean "Illuminati" like this

Illuminati ambigram

 

[jack action]

TIL the word ambigram. Boy! There really is a word for everything!

 

[jack action]

TIL - adding to the list of what do smart phones partially replace - that they can be used as an ohmmeter to check for open circuits:

​

 

[DaveC426913]

TIL - adding to the list of what do smart phones partially replace - that they can be used as an ohmmeter to check for open circuits:

​

Not for use with car batteries. Or household fuses.
Trust me on this one.

 

[Hornbein]

TIL that the real name of the country of Georgia is Sakartvelo.

I already knew that Bhutan is Druk Yul, Hungary is Magyarstan, and Bangkok is really Krung Thep. Maybe the most amazing is that Thailand is the real name, taking after then-idolized Deutchland.

 

[DaveC426913]

and Bangkok is really Krung Thep.

Is it still an oriental city?
Does the city still not know where the city is kept?

 

[fresh_42]

TIL that the real name of the country of Georgia is Sakartvelo.

I already knew that Bhutan is Druk Yul, Hungary is Magyarstan, and Bangkok is really Krung Thep. Maybe the most amazing is that Thailand is the real name, taking after then-idolized Deutchland.

Hungary is Magyarország not -stan. The suffix -stan occurs in countries in central Asia, not in Europe.

 

[Hornbein]

Is it still an oriental city?
Does the city still not know where the city is kept?

Bangkok exists but it is across the river from Krung Thep.

 

[Klystron]

Bangkok exists but it is across the river from Krung Thep.

Correction: Thon Buri lies across the Chao Phrya River from Khung Thep Maha Nakhon AKA Bangkok.

Khung Thep and Thon Buri were historically sister cities separated by a wide navigable river somewhat like the Hungarian cities of Pest and Buda, now known as Budapest, on the Danube River. One major difference is that Khung Thep, Bangkok municipal district, one of the largest cities in Asia, dwarves Thon Buri in size, population and economics.

Currently Thonburi district is administered as an amphur or district of Khung Thep Maha Nakhon. I lived in Khung Thep from 1972-1974/5. We visited Thon Buri on weekends to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

Thonburi remained an independent town and province, until it was merged with Bangkok in 1971. Thonburi stayed less developed than the other side of the river. Many of the traditional small waterways, khlongs, still exist there...

 

[DaveC426913]

Correction: Thon Buri lies across the Chao Phrya River from Khung Thep Maha Nakhon AKA Bangkok.

OK, but the real burning question remains: is it still
the creme de la creme of the chess world in a
show with everything but Yul Brynner?

 

[mayflowers]

Today I learned that the "super new moon" happening tonight has apparently lots of spiritual meaning.

However I notice nothing different. And I won't be convinced until I do.

 

[Klystron]

Today I learned that the "super new moon" happening tonight has apparently lots of spiritual meaning.

However I notice nothing different. And I won't be convinced until I do.

Spiritual meaning comes from knowledge and the effort to understand our world. Knowing Luna's orbit and eccentricities, how Sol's light reflects off the lunar surface, refracts through Terra's atmosphere to impinge on your brain's visual center allows you to see and understand your own neighborhood.

Spiritual awakening occurs when one can meaningfully relate hard learned knowledge to others so they understand our world.

 

[mayflowers]

Spiritual awakening occurs when one can meaningfully relate hard learned knowledge to others so they understand our world.

How many things in the world are "one size fits all"? Beyond consciousness, what else do we literally all share or know?

 

[mayflowers]

I ask because I'd love to be spiritually "awake" and able to convey abstract concepts, but don't we all experience them slightly differently?

 

[Klystron]

How many things in the world are "one size fits all"? Beyond consciousness, what else do we literally all share or know?

Excellent questions, I admire your skepticism.

 

[Tom.G]

How many things in the world are "one size fits all"?

Anatomical parts used for ...uhmm... creating the next generation?

 

[Klystron]

How many things in the world are "one size fits all"? Beyond consciousness, what else do we literally all share or know?

Anatomical parts used for ...uhmm... creating the next generation?

Possibly. I took the questions as rhetorical rather than literal.

 

[Hornbein]

TIL that the Gaia space telescope was launched with a cartoon character painted on the booster.

How long before sponsor logos?

 

[Jonathan Scott]

TIL that the 15 or so little "volcanos" (two or three inches across with pencil-sized holes in them) that have recently appeared in a dry patch at the edge of my front lawn are the homes of "tawny mining bees" - I spotted one and took some photos, and checked it against a list of UK bees on a wildlife site.

I also found that I could add Chrome to the "Edit with external editor" list in the FastStone image browser (which I've been using for many years) on Windows using a parameter string file:///(filename). That means I can easily open any of my photos in Chrome and then use Google Lens to help identify the subject. In this case Google Lens also says my photos appear to be tawny mining bees, and it showed some very closely matching images.

 

[Orodruin]

TIL that the 15 or so little "volcanos" (two or three inches across with pencil-sized holes in them) that have recently appeared in a dry patch at the edge of my front lawn are the homes of "tawny mining bees" - I spotted one and took some photos, and checked it against a list of UK bees on a wildlife site.

I also found that I could add Chrome to the "Edit with external editor" list in the FastStone image browser (which I've been using for many years) on Windows using a parameter string file:///(filename). That means I can easily open any of my photos in Chrome and then use Google Lens to help identify the subject. In this case Google Lens also says my photos appear to be tawny mining bees, and it showed some very closely matching images.

View attachment 359423

TIL that there are also bee variants that have the same tactics as the cuckoo bird. Wiki surfing from the Swedish page for the tawny mining bee, I arrived at a page describing the behaviour of the broad banded nomad bee (the Swedish name literally translates to "banded cuckoo bee") that apparently parasites the tawny mining bee home. It will invade the home and lay its eggs in one of the cells where the tawny mining bee female has put its own egg. The larva kills the original egg or larva and then lives of the supply of nectar and pollen intended for the tawny mining bee offspring.

 

[fresh_42]

We only have the name cuckoo bee as a general name for two parasites:

The nests are infested by the cuckoo bees Nomada signata and Nomada panzeri.

 

[Orodruin]

We only have the name cuckoo bee as a general name for two parasites:

This one would be Nomada signata. The Swedish name for Nomada panzeri translates to "forest cuckoo bee".

 

[mayflowers]

TIL, nuclear power has been around for 75 years, and only makes up 10% of our energy sector, despite knowing all mass holds an enormous amount of energy.

 

[Hornbein]

Ever since reading George Gamow's popular science book as a teenager, I have thought his diagram of a hypercube/tesseract was an artist's impression.

Today I learned that this image is the result of calculating a perspective projection of a transparent unit hypercube from a distance of 2.5. You are looking from quite near the hypercube so perspective is exaggerated.

As the distance of the viewer from the hypercube increases the inner and outer cube would appear to converge. By measuring the relative sizes of the inner and outer cube one may calculate how far one is from the cube.

If the hypercube were opaque how many of the faces could one see? It depends on whether or not one has rotated in the fourth dimension. If yes, then four. If no, then three.

 

[DaveC426913]

Ever since reading George Gamow's popular science book as a teenager, I have thought his diagram of a hypercube/tesseract was an artist's impression.

Today I learned that this image is the result of calculating a perspective projection of a transparent unit hypercube from a distance of 2.5. You are looking from quite near the hypercube so perspective is exaggerated.

View attachment 359508

As the distance of the viewer from the hypercube increases the inner and outer cube would appear to converge. By measuring the relative sizes of the inner and outer cube one may calculate how far one is from the cube.

If the hypercube were opaque how many of the faces could one see? It depends on whether or not one has rotated in the fourth dimension. If yes, then four. If no, then three.

Citation? I would like to read more about this.