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

In summary, the conversation consists of various discussions about documentaries, the acquisition of National Geographic by Fox, a funny manual translation, cutting sandwiches, a question about the proof of the infinitude of primes, and a realization about the similarity between PF and PDG symbols. The conversation also touches on multitasking and the uniqueness of the number two as a prime number.
  • #5,076
Ibix said:
It turns out that duality is a useful mathematical concept; duelity less so.
In a way it is both in this case, isn't it?
 
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  • #5,077
fresh_42 said:
In a way it is both in this case, isn't it?
I don't follow. Are you suggesting that duels are the duals of duals?
 
  • #5,078
...or that duals and duels duelled for Galois' attention?
 
  • #5,079
Ibix said:
I don't follow. Are you suggesting that duels are the duals of duals?
No, that towers of groups corresponding one-to-one to towers of fields is a form of duality.
 
  • #5,080
fresh_42 said:
No, that towers of groups corresponding one-to-one to towers of fields is a form of duality.
I don't know enough about Galois to appreciate that, I'm afraid. Perhaps @nuuskur will run a study group...
 
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  • #5,081
Why can't philosophy be concise? Or is it possible to make it concise, but it's avoided intentionally? Is there too much effort involved in precision? What is there to gain from obscurity apart from stringing a lot of fancy sounding words together and trying to make it look like it's profound or complex?
*Initiate pulling out hair in 3 ..2 ..1 *

What is the group complexity of a human mind, provided it could be modeled as an automaton? Is there a non-trivial lower bound? Does every philosophy major's mind contain an isomorphic copy of a certain subautomaton?
 
  • #5,082
nuuskur said:
Why can't philosophy be concise? Or is it possible to make it concise, but it's avoided intentionally?
This is unfair towards philosophy. E.g. Kant was very interested in precision, which is why he is so hard to read. Wittgenstein investigated the language itself as major transport of information.

We all know about the ambiguity of language which is why we use formulas. Even something as simple as a quantification is immensely difficult in language, so that we use ##\forall \, , \,\exists## if in doubt. Compare the many threads here and the number of posts related to problem description instead of problem solution! These are indicators that verbal language is immanent ambiguous. Hence philosophers have to deal with a tool that is all but perfect. This does not mean they do not try, it means that they carry a handicap they cannot get rid of.
 
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  • #5,083
fresh_42 said:
This is unfair towards philosophy. E.g. Kant was very interested in precision, which is why he is so hard to read. Wittgenstein investigated the language itself as major transport of information.

We all know about the ambiguity of language which is why we use formulas. Even something as simple as a quantification is immensely difficult in language, so that we use ##\forall \, , \,\exists## if in doubt. Compare the many threads here and the number of posts related to problem description instead of problem solution! These are indicators that verbal language is immanent ambiguous. Hence philosophers have to deal with a tool that is all but perfect. This does not mean they do not try, it means that they carry a handicap they cannot get rid of.
I would say 'inherently' ambiguous. It flows better.
 
  • #5,084
Finally got time to finally play through Witcher 3. I'm MIA for a couple of days o0)
 
  • #5,085
nuuskur said:
Why can't philosophy be concise? Or is it possible to make it concise, but it's avoided intentionally? Is there too much effort involved in precision? What is there to gain from obscurity apart from stringing a lot of fancy sounding words together and trying to make it look like it's profound or complex?
*Initiate pulling out hair in 3 ..2 ..1 *

What is the group complexity of a human mind, provided it could be modeled as an automaton? Is there a non-trivial lower bound? Does every philosophy major's mind contain an isomorphic copy of a certain subautomaton?
Once you can make something clear and precises , point the basic concepts, it stops being part of the realm of Philosophy, at least as I understand it. Philosophy deals in a relatively open-ended way about the topics it addresses. Notice , e.g., Psychology was once part of Philosophy. Once main assumptions, results , schemas were made precise, it started becoming something other than Philosophy. Unless you're referring to the study of people named 'Phil' ( the other Philosophy) , that is my take.
 
  • #5,086
More parsing confusions:

"What a Bautism" ? Actually Whataboutism, a relatively new word.

Newscaster: " Until Next time I'm Erika" * : Until Next time America

*And then my shouting, next I saw him in the street, in-between shows: " Hello Erika!"

" Give me Chicken over Ice" : Give me Chicken over Rice. Note I am not saying that I prefer Chicken to Rice ( Nor Ice) nor anything about Condoleeza Rice ( The best brand of rice!). Do you like Condoleeza rice? No, I prefer Uncle Ben's.
 
  • #5,087
Sorry for my mental Diarrhea. mail.com just deleted 98% of my mails for no reason I can gather. I checked the mail settings and for each folder except for Spam, where settings are to delete after 30 days, the settings are to store mail indefinitely.
 
  • #5,088
my number theory has gone down the drain, I can't even prove something elementary like ##[a,(b,c)] = ([a,b],[a,c]) ##
 
  • #5,089
nuuskur said:
my number theory has gone down the drain, I can't even prove something elementary like ##[a,(b,c)] = ([a,b],[a,c]) ##
The elegant way by ideals or by foot via prime decomposition? In any case, I guess it is simply too hot.
 
  • #5,090
fresh_42 said:
via prime decomposition
If I calculated correctly, we'd need to justify
[tex]
\max \{k_j, \min \{l_j,r_j\}\} = \min \{\max\{k_j,l_j\},\max \{k_j,r_j\}\}
[/tex]
where [itex]a = \prod _{j=1}^n p_j^{k_j},\ b = \prod _{j=1}^n p_j^{l_j}, \ c = \prod _{j=1}^n p_j^{r_j}[/itex]. I've no idea how to analyse such a statement other than case by case :/ Looks like some kind of distributivity. Need to dust off my lattice theory

It is hot .. and humid, that's worse.
 
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  • #5,091
I am each year newly amazed and fascinated:

75,000 metal rocker on some farmer fields of a northern 2,000 people village, and it looks as if Scandinavia has more hard rocker than citizens: Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Dutch bands. They even have a beer pipeline!

I miss Lemmy.
 
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  • #5,092
fresh_42 said:
I am each year newly amazed and fascinated:

75,000 metal rocker on some farmer fields of a northern 2,000 people village, and it looks as if Scandinavia has more hard rocker than citizens: Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Dutch bands. They even have a beer pipeline!

I miss Lemmy.
That is a festival I could get on board with.
 
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  • #5,093
pinball1970 said:
That is a festival I could get on board with.
Yes. It is a bit like alien meets bumpkin, but both love it. Harder, faster, louder, but the local firefighters band with trumpets and tubas opens the festival. They broadcast it on tv right now and I think there is also a livestream. I thought "Frisians among themselves" as I saw all those bands from North Sea countries. And yes, Lemmy was there eight times, so the North Sea country UK also contributed.

I think this entire thing is a bit British: understatement, international, rural, beer, beer, beer, and making friends with everybody. No, wonder, England is close and the people around the coastlines are rather similar.
 
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  • #5,094
fresh_42 said:
Yes. It is a bit like alien meets bumpkin, but both love it. Harder, faster, louder, but the local firefighters band with trumpets and tubas opens the festival. They broadcast it on tv right now and I think there is also a livestream. I thought "Frisians among themselves" as I saw all those bands from North Sea countries. And yes, Lemmy was there eight times, so the North Sea country UK also contributed.
Lemmy was a legend, he didn't stop.
It sounds great, the sound out doors tends to be hit and miss but I love that vibe.
Not sure I could handle all day drinking and crashing out in a tent.
Certainly not 2 or 3 days.
 
  • #5,095
pinball1970 said:
Lemmy was a legend, he didn't stop.
He is one of those persons to whom the following quote fits:
"Joe [Cocker] will sing Madonna from stage even with half a liver! "
(A fellow student once said at the mensa table long ago)
Guess, Keith belongs in that club as well.
 
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  • #5,096
pinball1970 said:
Not sure I could handle all day drinking and crashing out in a tent.
Certainly not 2 or 3 days.
Me neither ... meanwhile.
But the atmosphere looks great, especially at night.
 
  • #5,097
fresh_42 said:
Me neither ... meanwhile.
But the atmosphere looks great, especially at night.
I'll check it out for sure
 
  • #5,098
pinball1970 said:
I'll check it out for sure
There's a youtube clip from 2006 (75 min.):
 
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  • #5,099
Some clever insight:

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit,
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad, and
Philosophy is wondering if that means ketchup/catsup is a smoothie.
 
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  • #5,100
nuuskur said:
my number theory has gone down the drain, I can't even prove something elementary like ##[a,(b,c)] = ([a,b],[a,c]) ##
I must be a maths dilettante. I see distribution but leave proofs to others. How trusting.

nuuskur said:
If I calculated correctly, we'd need to justify
[tex]
\max \{k_j, \min \{l_j,r_j\}\} = \min \{\max\{k_j,l_j\},\max \{k_j,r_j\}\}
[/tex]
where [itex]a = \prod _{j=1}^n p_j^{k_j},\ b = \prod _{j=1}^n p_j^{l_j}, \ c = \prod _{j=1}^n p_j^{r_j}[/itex]. I've no idea how to analyse such a statement other than case by case :/ Looks like some kind of distributivity. Need to dust off my lattice theory

It is hot .. and humid, that's worse.

Appears to me to be good old min-max theorem. But dilettantes do tend to over simplify.
To day I shall contemplate how best to dust a lattice. :cool:
 
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  • #5,101
This is why I like math: when you mess up your seasoning of a piece of meat you can't just go back in time and fix it, you'll likely have wasted a good piece of meat. If you mess up your proof somewhere you just erase the dubious part and try again, at most there will be some paper or ink lost.
 
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  • #5,102
Today I received a letter addressed to "The Occupier" at my address. On the back of the envelope were instructions what to do if the addressee no longer lives at this address. A paradox.
 
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  • #5,103
I once got an email from someone needing parts for a time machine. I still don't know if he got what he needed.
 
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  • #5,104
Borg said:
I once got an email from someone needing parts for a time machine. I still don't know if he got what he needed.
I once got a phone call in the middle of the night, so I woke up. The person asked for Sgt. Brown. I still don't know whether I answered in English or German, or what at all.
 
  • #5,105
fresh_42 said:
I once got a phone call in the middle of the night, so I woke up. The person asked for Sgt. Brown. I still don't know whether I answered in English or German, or what at all.
True story. While away from home on an extended assignment (TDY in government-speak), I was woken by a phone call around 0300 local time.

Caller identified himself as Sergeant Someone from Metropolitan Police Department. Sounded authentic. I must come to the station immediately to bail out my son. Sleepy denials on my part. Adamant details from the Sergeant. Correct names and phone number. Correct hair and eye color. Knew karate. No wallet or ID. My son had been arrested at Paul Anka's Jubilation night club after a drunken brawl where he tore the clothes off a hostess, flattened two bouncers and threatened the night manager with bodily harm. Charges would be dropped if I pay damages. Stop denying and come now.

After several tense minutes I convinced the dubious sergeant that despite the suspect in custody giving my son's name and knowing my name and phone number and even being adept at karate, I did not believe their suspect was my son. Aside from being too well mannered to tear the clothes off a nightclub hostess, my son had just turned ten.

Still, I woke up in the morning wondering, "Son...?".
 
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  • #5,107
Weird response, not sure I get it.
Me: Wow, I just noticed I have been fasting for the last day or so.
Others: Great Job, Perfect, Congratulations! ?
I don't know, I am not grossly overweight or anything (BMI around 26) , so no idea why they replied like that.
 
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  • #5,108
WWGD said:
Weird response, not sure I get it.
Me: Wow, I just noticed I have been fasting for the last day or so.
Others: Great Job, Perfect, Congratulations! ?
I don't know, I am not grossly overweight or anything (BMI around 26) , so no idea why they replied like that.

Perhaps they thought you were trying to lose weight or doing some sort of detox?26 is officially overweight in terms of BMI but I do not think the numbers are great indicators of health.The figures do not take muscularity into account, for instance the healthy range is supposedly 19-24 (I am 26.4 = overweight)This means you can be 5 ft 11 and weigh 9 ½ stone which is very skinny.I’ve not been that weight since I was a skinny teenager.
 
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  • #5,109
I'm making 1.5kg of salf beef. Americans call it corned beef.

Had to wait for the potassium nitrate to come from eBay, now I have to wait 10 days for it to cure in the fridge. The final stage is letting it simmer for 4 hours, then it's salt beef, mustard and pickle sandwiches.
 
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  • #5,110
pinball1970 said:
26 is officially overweight in terms of BMI but I do not think the numbers are great indicators of health.

The figures do not take muscularity into account, for instance the healthy range is supposedly 19-24 (I am 26.4 = overweight)
A study published by Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2005 showed that overweight people had a death rate similar to normal weight people as defined by BMI, while underweight and obese people had a higher death rate.
Yes, as you know BMI depends on mass, height, age and gender.
But there are also many parameters upon which BMI depends: e.g. Bone Density, the Amount of Muscles & Fat.
It's clear that the more density your bones, the higher mass your body gets.
So overweight people might have just denser bones.
Muscle vs Fat:
BMI is particularly inaccurate for people who are very fit or athletic, as their high muscle mass can classify them in the overweight category by BMI (muscle is much denser than fat), even though their body fat percentages frequently fall in the 10–15% category, which is below that of a more sedentary person of average build who has a normal BMI number.
So, if you're an athletic (or have a high ratio of muscle to fat) don't worry. You are healthier than what your BMI states.:smile:
(There are some useful information on Wiki)
 
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