What is the newest installment of 'Random Thoughts' on Physics Forums?

[WWGD]

Reading carefully: Human(Hunan) Chicken sounded intriguing but I was not _ that_ hungry.

 

[skyshrimp]

I go to work in the morning at 4:15am and one of the stars always catches my eye. It's brighter than the rest and seems to flash greens and reds. Maybe it's a planet? Idk... All the other stars don't flash, yet this one consistently flashes every morning.

I can only see way less than 100 stars due to light pollution in London, UK.

Another mystery is a faint, dense cluster of about six stars in a rectangular formation.

Maybe I could snap a pic on my iPhone so you can see one morning.

I'd really like to camp out in a country where I can view Aurora Borealis and thousands of stars. I'd like to see the faint image of the Milky Way with the naked eye.

 

[BillTre]

Changing colors, flashing on and off: could it be a light on a distant tower of some kind?
Do you see it every morning?
How high above the horizon?
Over months of time, does it change its position with respect to your local surrounding?
An anchored earthly object would not, a celestial object would.
Stable relationships with its celestial surroundings?

I'd really like to camp out in a country where I can view Aurora Borealis and thousands of stars. I'd like to see the faint image of the Milky Way with the naked eye.

Done it, its great!
There are probably different areas in the UK where viewing might be good. Places in Scotland?

 

[fresh_42]

I go to work in the morning at 4:15am and one of the stars always catches my eye. It's brighter than the rest and seems to flash greens and reds.

I know the star. I have similar ones here. They belong to the LHR class!

 

[collinsmark]

I go to work in the morning at 4:15am and one of the stars always catches my eye. It's brighter than the rest and seems to flash greens and reds. Maybe it's a planet? Idk... All the other stars don't flash, yet this one consistently flashes every morning.

I can only see way less than 100 stars due to light pollution in London, UK.

Another mystery is a faint, dense cluster of about six stars in a rectangular formation.

Maybe I could snap a pic on my iPhone so you can see one morning.

I'd really like to camp out in a country where I can view Aurora Borealis and thousands of stars. I'd like to see the faint image of the Milky Way with the naked eye.

What direction? And how far above the horizon (specifying distance above horizon in units of "fists held out directly in front of you at arm's length," will suffice just fine)?

I might be able to figure this out for you, also please specify exact time of day when specifying the direction and distance above horizon.

If the star cluster is to your West, very early in the morning this time of year, it could be the Pleiades. As for the twinkling star, I'll need more information.

(I'm assuming your location is somewhere around London, UK.)

 

[fresh_42]

(I'm assuming your location is somewhere around London, UK.)

... which is why I guessed LHR star(t)s.

 

[Keith_McClary]

I go to work in the morning at 4:15am and one of the stars always catches my eye. It's brighter than the rest and seems to flash greens and reds. Maybe it's a planet? Idk... All the other stars don't flash, yet this one consistently flashes every morning.

I have seen this with bright stars near the horizon. Some explanations:

even on a seemingly clear night there can be a layer of turbulent air above you that will diffract the light from the sources and produce unsteady images. This is usually worse closer to the horizon as well

https://astronomy.stackexchange.com...ect-could-i-have-seen-at-late-june-on-the-sky

https://astronomy.stackexchange.com...stern-morning-sky-not-near-any-constellations

 

[Eclair_de_XII]

"A geometric distribution can be used to describe a gambler at a slot machine with a poor understanding of probability. It describes a gambler who obstinately believes that the chances of winning become slightly greater each time they pour money into the machine."

Then I wrote this thought down and figured that this analogy wouldn't work unless the gambler had infinite money. And if this were the case, nobody need worry about their gambling addiction. At this point, the novelty is lost because the addiction is kind of the crux of the analogy.

 

[WWGD]

"A geometric distribution can be used to describe a gambler at a slot machine with a poor understanding of probability. It describes a gambler who obstinately believes that the chances of winning become slightly greater each time they pour money into the machine."

Then I wrote this thought down and figured that this analogy wouldn't work unless the gambler had infinite money. And if this were the case, nobody need worry about their gambling addiction. At this point, the novelty is lost because the addiction is kind of the crux of the analogy.

Edit: Isnt this what the gambler's fallacy is about?

 

[nuuskur]

So I scraped together what courage I had lying around and asked her out. We're going out next week. Oh dread and worry..

 

[WWGD]

So I scraped together what courage I had lying around and asked her out. We're going out next week. Oh dread and worry..

Keep us posted.

 

[Eclair_de_XII]

Isnt this what the gambler's fallacy is about?

I forgot that it had a name. In any case, the point is, I think the geometric distribution can be used to describe someone with the gambler's fallacy. But again, that absurd condition must be met, which makes the description a bit pointless since it describes something that cannot happen.

 

[WWGD]

Still prepping my insights post on the difference between Cosmology and Cosmetology. I will never mixed them up again!

 

[fresh_42]

Still prepping my insights post on the difference between Cosmology and Cosmetology. I will never mixed them up again!

You weren't first!

A local newspaper wrote about Meitner's introductory lecture, and the reporter thought he had to correct its title to: 'Problems with Cosmetic Physics.'

 

[strangerep]

So I scraped together what courage I had lying around and asked her out. [...]

Ah, you're a better man now than I,... er,... was,... long ago.

Oh dread and worry..

Don't fret too much. She'll probably be quite nervous too.

 

[fresh_42]

I plan to watch CAR (5-3) vs. GB (7-2) tonight (my local) and want Rodgers to win. So if anyone wants to make some money, betting on the Panthers (at your preferred bookie, not here) might be a good idea. At least if it is as usual, e.g. last week.

 

[WWGD]

Just read a recent thread in the nuclear engineering subforum about someone having trouble making some computations for certain machines work out and that errors kept reocurring even after repairs. I don't know about you, I'm heading to the shelter.

 

[WWGD]

I would pay the person to stop reviewing my products: "Pudding was grate and decilious"

 

[Keith_McClary]

Cosmology and Cosmetology

https://www.offthemark.com/cartoon/careers-jobs/teachers/2005-03-22

and

 

[WWGD]

https://www.offthemark.com/cartoon/careers-jobs/teachers/2005-03-22

and

Every cosmetologist should know about this video!

 

[WWGD]

https://www.offthemark.com/cartoon/careers-jobs/teachers/2005-03-22

and

Do you have anything for Statics vs Statistics? That's my other issue.

 

[WWGD]

I just have to give this link posted by @Bandersnatch in another forum : www.wisdomofchopra.com . I laugh every time.

 

[fresh_42]

I just have to give this link posted by @Bandersnatch in another forum : www.wisdomofchopra.com . I laugh every time.

Tweet your wisdom! As if we hadn't already enough people who think they must tweet their wisdom! Is there already something like polluting the internet?

"Knowing what you know and knowing what you are doing is knowledge." (Confucius) way cheaper

 

[WWGD]

Tweet your wisdom! As if we hadn't already enough people who think they must tweet their wisdom! Is there already something like polluting the internet?

"Knowing what you know and knowing what you are doing is knowledge." (Confucius) way cheaper

Confucius is not as funny as Chopra.

 

[strangerep]

Is there already something like polluting the internet?

Not "polluted" anymore, the Internet provided an ideal home for thousands of mutant sewer worms.

 

[WWGD]

Wonder why temperate countries like Thailand, Vietnam have these power soups . It seems they would knock you out if you had them on a hot or even mildly cold day.

 

[gmax137]

Wonder why temperate countries like Thailand, Vietnam have these power soups . It seems they would knock you out if you had them on a hot or even mildly cold day.

Probably because that's where the hot chili peppers grow well. Hard to get good peppers in a cold climate with short summers - they take too long to mature.

 

[WWGD]

Remembering Zoobyshoe, it is $1^{o}F$ in the North Pole. But it's a dry cold.

 

[WWGD]

Probably because that's where the hot chili peppers grow well. Hard to get good peppers in a cold climate with short summers - they take too long to mature.

Good point.But its not just hot spice-wise but also temperature-wise, and overall rich.

 

[Ibix]

If you haven't developed refrigeration technology and you live in a hot country, spicy food covers up any slightly odd taste the food may have acquired...

 

[WWGD]

Thanks, I was just about to have some...;). So until I am done , Gmax's explanation wins.

 

[WWGD]

Will try to remember yet another example to use the dash - for compound words: fungus free kit. Apparently some people pay for theirs...

 

[WWGD]

A telling phrase when you first meet someone "That's what they want you to think". Will do my best to avoid them.

 

[Ibix]

A telling phrase when you first meet someone "That's what they want you to think". Will do my best to avoid them.

I heard an epic conversation in this line the other week, between a ranty bloke and his innocent victim at the next table. It was in French, which I stopped studying when I was 13 but I remember bits. And ranty bloke sounded to have an accent like Officer Crabtree, which makes life easier for an English listener. Any conversation containing "evolution", "supernatural", "world war 3" (not a typo, the poor guy on the receiving end of the rant checked twice) and "I am a victim" has to be bad, even if you can't pick out much more than that.

 

[WWGD]

I heard an epic conversation in this line the other week, between a ranty bloke and his innocent victim at the next table. It was in French, which I stopped studying when I was 13 but I remember bits. And ranty bloke sounded to have an accent like Officer Crabtree, which makes life easier for an English listener. Any conversation containing "evolution", "supernatural", "world war 3" (not a typo, the poor guy on the receiving end of the rant checked twice) and "I am a victim" has to be bad, even if you can't pick out much more than that.

Edit: Yet somehow many of those seem to excel at compartmentalizing. They hold full-time jobs, have families despite their unquestioned, hardly-supportable belief system. "World is only 5k y.o" but I am enjoying, using, all sorts of gadgets designed through mainstream science.

 

[Ibix]

Yet somehow many of those seem to excel at compartmentalizing.

Indeed. I'm sure I hold a few contradictory beliefs, but I have changed beliefs when challenged on it. Probably not as often as I should, but I have done it.

Actually, I think the guy was just a xenophobic nutcase. He'd been demanding to know the nationality of everyone who stopped near him (not me though - if I had three lions and a cross of St George on my shirt I couldn't look more English than I do naturally) and getting shut down by everyone except the French guy. Any fluency at all in a foreign language was rather surprising to me.

 

[WWGD]

Indeed. I'm sure I hold a few contradictory beliefs, but I have changed beliefs when challenged on it. Probably not as often as I should, but I have done it.

Actually, I think the guy was just a xenophobic nutcase. He'd been demanding to know the nationality of everyone who stopped near him (not me though - if I had three lions and a cross of St George on my shirt I couldn't look more English than I do naturally) and getting shut down by everyone except the French guy. Any fluency at all in a foreign language was rather surprising to me.

I plead guilty to not being perfectly consistent myself. Most likely true for the majority.

 

[jbriggs444]

I plead guilty to not being perfectly consistent myself. Most likely true for the majority.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. [Emerson]

 

[WWGD]

How would " That's what they want you to think" compare with: " My Life Coach said that..."?

 

[WWGD]

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. [Emerson]

Are you related to Mark44?

 

[WWGD]

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. [Emerson]

True, consistency for its sake is not always desirable.

 

[fresh_42]

How would " That's what they want you to think" compare with: " My Life Coach said that..."?

The former sounds like a nutcase and works only in the US, since there seems to be an overall assumption, that "they" - usually the government or its institutions like NASA - hide something, and the latter sounds like a very insecure male (?) person and I'm not sure where it works. LA?

 

[WWGD]

The former sounds like a nutcase and works only in the US, since there seems to be an overall assumption, that "they" - usually the government or its institutions like NASA - hide something, and the latter sounds like a very insecure male (?) person and I'm not sure where it works. LA?

My life coach says...it works anywhere ;_. You just need to believe it! (Exclamation point necessary!).

 

[fresh_42]

But which people do have life coaches, and where?

 

[jbriggs444]

Are you related to Mark44?

You've heard of forefathers? He seems to be my fourbrother.

 

[Borg]

You've heard of forefathers? He seems to be my fourbrother.

Once removed?

 

[fresh_42]

Just found an interesting email in my inbox. I have been told that my parcel will arrive next week, including tracking number and so on. And, yes, I don't expect one. And, no, it wasn't spam or related tricks. It was only a newsletter from a serious company.

As I checked the mail I found the following situation: Imagine my name was Paul Smithe. Then the email was indeed a message addressed for Paula Smith. I wonder if I should try to tell her ...

 

[nuuskur]

zat ist unbelievable!

 

[WWGD]

The song chorus is ( after I checked) 'I want you to be brave' but I was hearing 'I want to see your buffet'. Time to find something to eat , I guess.

 

[WWGD]

Kind of strange. I switched to Splenda from sugar a while back. But regular -sugar pie is tasting too sweet when it is supposed to be the opposite since 1 Splenda has the sweetening power of some 10 sugars.