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

[WWGD]

Yours is a favorite retort from 'repairmen' concerning service cost. Experienced repair people often charge double not only for the original job but for the inevitable returns and secondary fixes, as if a repair made the repairman responsible for the continuing life of the object.

And all of us, out of necessity, inhabit both worlds.

 

[Astronuc]

Was apparent spam,
[QUOTE ="christianaantiga, post: 6524311, member: 693049"]
I have a farm that needs maintaining constantly, and getting some kind of help with that seems necessary now. [/ QUOTE]
but it's worth a lesson in economic analysis.

Sounds like there is some kind of need. How large is the farm (acreage, or sq km)? What kind of loads need to moved and how often? How many hours a week/month/year? What is the cost of your time?

For example, if one's time is $100/hr and one spends 500 hours using a shovel, but using a backhoe would take 100 hrs, then the different 400 hrs * $100/hr = $40 k. It might be worthwhile purchasing a backhoe.

If on the other hand, the time differential was 50 hours, or a value of $5 k, then it may not be worthwhile, unless one can find an inexpensive backhoe. Then there are the fuel and maintenance costs, and depending on the condition of the backhoe, there might be a salvage/resale value to consider.

 

[WWGD]

I feel slightly guilty when drawing a sigh of relief while seeing a fire truck driving away from the direction of my place: " Phew, it is someone else's place that is burning".

 

[WWGD]

What do you say to\about someone you suggest to meet at 2 and they reply: 2 p.m? Cant remember last I met someone at 2 a.m.

 

[Ibix]

What do you say to\about someone you suggest to meet at 2 and they reply: 2 p.m? Cant remember last I met someone at 2 a.m.

Ask if they're late to bed or early to rise.

 

[WWGD]

Ask if they're late to bed or early to rise.

Or: How many grams/kilos are you in for?

 

[WWGD]

Domain spoofing. Saved my friend from buying his pc from a spoofed dominican website. Inadom.com . Finnicky guy wanted to change time display to look like an analog clock.

Wonder if people born after 2000 or so, familiar with digital watches/clocks know what " clockwise" means.

 

[Borg]

I feel slightly guilty when drawing a sigh of relief while seeing a fire truck driving away from the direction of my place: " Phew, it is someone else's place that is burning".

Most of the runs aren't fires. Lots of things like false alarms and car accidents (they carry the jaws of life).

 

[WWGD]

Most of the runs aren't fires. Lots of things like false alarms and car accidents (they carry the jaws of life).

Yes, now I remember hearing of people calling 911 and F. D because they could not find their cat/dog.

 

[Borg]

I once spent the night trying to catch a nap on top of a firetruck waiting for the all clear after a report of gas at a retirement home. The best we could figure was that an incontinent resident was hanging around the ventilation intake.

I was a volunteer for about a year but I'll bet @berkeman has lots of better stories.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Whenever I think of a major fire, I think of the catastrophic fire in and around Paradise Ca., where something around 80 people were burned alive in their cars on the road out, or in their homes.

When I was a senior in HS, I drove that road to work every day, to a restaurant on that road just outside of Paradise. I can still see it clearly in my mind's eye. It is hard to imagine the horror that took place along that stretch.

Trivia: Gary Burghoff who played Radar on MASH, lived in Paradise.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It was the Basque Norte Restaurant, which later relocated to a nearby town, Chico Ca. They have THE best marinade! It was authentic Basque cooking and I've never had anything like it since. You can buy it online now.
http://www.basquenorte.com/

I have no idea if the current product is the same as the original. But I ate there many years later and it was still the same then.

Long beef tongues hanging in the freezer will set you back at first. But it was a hugely popular steak house and working there for the free food alone was worth it. Everything they had was unique and incredibly tasty.

 

[Keith_McClary]

Most of the runs aren't fires. Lots of things like false alarms and car accidents (they carry the jaws of life).

Also to deal with spills, and sometimes to help with medical issues. My neighbor the volunteer fire department chief said they only had a couple of fires per year. There was a municipal program to mark all properties with their address for emergency services. His comment was "If we can't find you, you don't need us."

 

[Ibix]

I called the fire brigade to a fire once. One of my neighbours had decided to dispose of some garden rubbish in a bonfire which he'd built at the end of his garden right underneath a rather large leylandii, which promptly caught fire. Turns out trees are made of wood - who knew?

 

[Hornbein]

If you saw an alien spacecraft land near you, which way would you run, towards it or away from it?

If they have technology that advanced and care about you then running won't do you no good. Might as well satisfy my curiousity. I'd quick get behind a cactus or a rock before the ship cools down. Then I'd take a video with my phone. Most likely I'll be detected -- even Earth technology can do that -- but with luck they won't think I'm a threat. If they abduct and perform experiments on me, well, I always was interested in exotic cultures. Can't pass up an opportunity like that.

I defy you to name a more dramatic "way to go."

 

[Hornbein]

How do you explain to people , re IT work and other wise " It only took you 2 hours to fix, why do you charge so much?". Well, then take it to someone less qualified/experience and wait for 3 days, with questionable results.

Quite often you aren't really paying someone to serve you. You are paying them for all that waiting around for a customer to come by.

 

[Hornbein]

Trivia: Gary Burghoff who played Radar on MASH, lived in Paradise.

Huh. One of the few famed actors I ever saw in real life. He was taking a bike ride on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, CA. His automobile said "Radar" on it somewhere so it was a positive ID.

Yul Brynner was having lunch at the Squaw Valley, CA ski resort. I stared at him and he stared back. Only later did I realize who it was. Then there was Robert McNamara at lunchtime in Vail, CO. I didn't recognize him but the guy next to me did and told RM what a great job he was doing. RM nodded and said "Thanks."

As a tourist in Spain we quite accidentally came across the King of Spain entering a cathedral. It had been kept secret due to the separatist terrorist threat. He shook hands with the crowd, including me and said something to me I couldn't understand. He was the tallest Spaniard I was to see. (The refugees from Sudan are very big and tall.) My Spanish relatives didn't believe it until we showed them the photos. "I've lived in Spain my whole life and never saw King Philippe."

 

[Tom.G]

Quite often you aren't really paying someone to serve you. You are paying them for all that waiting around for a customer to come by.

And in case the wait time approaches the local definition of infinite, depending on where you are, the government will often pay you to stop waiting for those 'customers' or 'employers.'

What a life!

 

[WWGD]

Huh. One of the few famed actors I ever saw in real life. He was taking a bike ride on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, CA. His automobile said "Radar" on it somewhere so it was a positive ID.

Yul Brynner was having lunch at the Squaw Valley, CA ski resort. I stared at him and he stared back. Only later did I realize who it was. Then there was Robert McNamara at lunchtime in Vail, CO. I didn't recognize him but the guy next to me did and told RM what a great job he was doing. RM nodded and said "Thanks."

As a tourist in Spain we quite accidentally came across the King of Spain entering a cathedral. It had been kept secret due to the separatist terrorist threat. He shook hands with the crowd, including me and said something to me I couldn't understand. He was the tallest Spaniard I was to see. (The refugees from Sudan are very big and tall.) My Spanish relatives didn't believe it until we showed them the photos. "I've lived in Spain my whole life and never saw King Philippe."

I've read he's ( Felipe) 6'5". His father was very tall too. Father seems to have gotten caught up in some scandals. Not likely to appear anymore in the pages of " Hola" magazine.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Huh. One of the few famed actors I ever saw in real life. He was taking a bike ride on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, CA. His automobile said "Radar" on it somewhere so it was a positive ID.

He was riding a bike but his automobile said Radar? He lived in Paradise for many years. Dunno...

IIRC, he was known locally as a talented painter.

Yul Brynner was having lunch at the Squaw Valley, CA ski resort. I stared at him and he stared back. Only later did I realize who it was. Then there was Robert McNamara at lunchtime in Vail, CO. I didn't recognize him but the guy next to me did and told RM what a great job he was doing. RM nodded and said "Thanks."

As a tourist in Spain we quite accidentally came across the King of Spain entering a cathedral. It had been kept secret due to the separatist terrorist threat. He shook hands with the crowd, including me and said something to me I couldn't understand. He was the tallest Spaniard I was to see. (The refugees from Sudan are very big and tall.) My Spanish relatives didn't believe it until we showed them the photos. "I've lived in Spain my whole life and never saw King Philippe."

I used to run into stars from time to time. Having grown up in Los Angeles it was fairly common. I almost ran over Danny DeVito on my bicycle, had a neighbor who dated Prince, took a pee with Jimmy Walker... if I thought about it I could probably name another half a dozen encounters.

The saddest one was Karen Carpenter, who was a very popular singer. I loved her music. I happened to be working on a CAT Scanner at the hospital when she was brought in and died a few minutes later.

The coolest one was Michael Landon. I had a chance to sit and talk with him a bit when I was about 13 years old. That was a huge deal then. LOL!

 

[WWGD]

My only encounter with celebrities. I once a while back saw Robert " No Tengo" De Niro , glanced at him a bit but did nothing else since I assuming he wanted privacy.

 

[WWGD]

Wonder what it's like living in some of the tiny countries like Malta. Largest island is 61 sq miles. You walk around 3 miles straight in any direction, you hit the sea. Wonder what region of the plain with fixed area A maximizes average distance of a point to the boundary of the region. A circle?

 

[ergospherical]

I sat next to Mr Gilbert from the inbetweeners at the pub 5 mins ago lol

 

[WWGD]

I sat next to Mr Gilbert from the inbetweeners at the pub 5 mins ago lol

I saw this guy long ago, from the news ,who always opened up with the line " Hello America". I shouted " Hello , Erica".

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I sat next to Mr Gilbert from the inbetweeners at the pub 5 mins ago lol

Who was on the other side of him?

 

[Hornbein]

He was riding a bike but his automobile said Radar? He lived in Paradise for many years. Dunno...

He was standing next to his automobile getting ready to ride off on his bike. He could have been visiting as a tourist.

Karen Carpenter played trap drums quite well in Max Roach style. She said she considered herself more a drummer than a singer. She didn't work at singing, wasn't even that interested, just did it because her brother needed a singer.

 

[Hornbein]

Wonder what it's like living in some of the tiny countries like Malta. Largest island is 61 sq miles. You walk around 3 miles straight in any direction, you hit the sea. Wonder what region of the plain with fixed area A maximizes average distance of a point to the boundary of the region. A circle?

I'd be inclined to think that if the region has fixed area then a circle would minimize the average distance to the boundary. A spaghetti shaped region with that same surface area can have arbitrarily large average distance to the boundary.

I've been to Kauai. Life revolves around the beaches. I'm told there is such a thing as "island fever" where people can't stand it any more.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The summer of my sophomore year of high school, I worked for a then famous horse racing track - Hollywood Park. One of the many interesting jobs I had was to wait for the end of the races at night. Then I had to drive like a maniac to get a video tape copy of the races to the ABC, NBC, and CBS newsrooms, in Los Angeles, in time for the 10 (or 11?) PM news. There was only one tape so I had to wait for the sports reporter at each station to make a copy, then rush to the next newsroom. I had a chance to meet most of our local news anchors and reporters. Years later, the most famous of those was Connie Chung.

The rest of the story of my days at Hollywood Park are not something I should get into in a family forum. But suffice it to say that many years later it all came into focus. I learned that back when I was working there, it was run by the mob. They were trying to recruit me. Eventually I realized something was terribly wrong and got the heck out of there before I got in too deeply. But for a time I thought I had the coolest job in the world - with the coolest perks anyone my age had ever seen.

I can say this much, someone was always handing me $100 bills. And after the races we would go to a very exclusive, insanely expensive restaurant in downtown Hollywood; so exclusive that it wasn't even marked. No sign. No windows. Nothing. If you didn't know it was there you would walk right past it.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Karen Carpenter played trap drums quite well in Max Roach style. She said she considered herself more a drummer than a singer. She didn't work at singing, wasn't even that interested, just did it because her brother needed a singer.

If she had only been a drummer she would be Karen who...? She had one of the most beautiful voices of her time.

They lived pretty close to me to the East. And just to the West we had the guys from the band War.

When I was in HS, a little boy future Snoop Dog lived just across the street. My theory is he was running drug deals with his Tonka trucks.

 

[WWGD]

If she had only been a drummer she would be Karen who...? She had one of the most beautiful voices of her time.

They lived pretty close to me to the East. And just to the West we had the guys from the band War.

When I was in HS, a little boy future Snoop Dog lived just across the street. My theory is he was running drug deals with his Tonka trucks.

Or maybe one of his imitations:

 

[WWGD]

Who was on the other side of him?

Or who was in between him and the inbetweener?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Or maybe one of his imitations:View attachment 287190

Heh, no, I had no idea until I happened to see an interview with him some years ago. He talked about growing up and where he lived.

My HS was right on the Compton border. I was afraid for my life every day.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

When I heard a car coming down the street blasting this song, my heart would start racing. While our neighborhood was a very safe place for my early childhood, suddenly it was turning into gangland. Funny because I like the song now. But back then it put me into fight or flight mode. Not good to encounter a gang. And having that song blasting was a trademark. This music video was made in the area where I grew up back then.

 

[WWGD]

When I heard a car coming down the street blasting this song, my heart would start racing. While our neighborhood was a very safe place for my early childhood, suddenly it was turning into gangland. Funny because I like the song now. But back then it put me into fight or flight mode. Not good to encounter a gang. And having that song blasting was a trademark. This music video was made in the area where I grew up back then.

It says " Video Unavailable".

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It says " Video Unavailable".

Just click where it says, watch on YouTube

 

[WWGD]

But I see you're member #689. Maybe you were a pf er since its beginning in 2001?

 

[Hornbein]

The summer of my sophomore year of high school, I worked for a then famous horse racing track - Hollywood Park. One of the many interesting jobs I had was to wait for the end of the races at night. Then I had to drive like a maniac to get a video tape copy of the races to the ABC, NBC, and CBS newsrooms, in Los Angeles, in time for the 10 PM news. There was only one tape so I had to wait for the sports reporter at each station to make a copy, then rush to the next newsroom. I had a chance to meet most of our local news anchors and reporters. Years later, the most famous of those was Connie Chung.

The rest of the story of my days at Hollywood Park are not something I should get into in family forum. But suffice it to say that many years later it all came into focus. I learned that back when I was working at Hollywood Part, it was run by the mob. They were trying to recruit me. Eventually I realized something was terribly wrong and got the heck out of there. But for a time I thought I had the coolest job in the world - with the coolest perks anyone my age had ever seen.

I read the autobiography of a man who was recruited in this way. (Let me note that I don't necessarily believe everything he said.) He ended up killing over a hundred men, including Jimmy Hoffa. He was too clever to get caught so the police framed him. His plan B was to be a respected old-timer in the clink but that didn't work out. To save his a** he made a deal to confess it all in exchange for protection.

He was proud of having risen to the top of his profession and boasted of his deeds. I learned a lot about male psychology from that.

By the way, I play along with that Low Rider vid every day. I know a great groove when I hear it.

 

[WWGD]

I read the autobiography of a man who was recruited in this way. (Let me note that I don't necessarily believe everything he said.) He ended up killing over a hundred men, including Jimmy Hoffa. He was too clever to get caught so the police framed him. His plan B was to be a respected old-timer in the clink but that didn't work out. To save his a** he made a deal to confess it all in exchange for protection.

He was proud of having risen to the top of his profession and boasted of his deeds. I learned a lot about male psychology from that.

By the way, I play along with that Low Rider vid every day. I know a great groove when I hear it.

They used to play ' Low Rider' in the George Lopez show/sitcom.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

But I see you're member #689. Maybe you were a pf er since its beginning in 2001?

I was aware of PF in 2001 and looked in from time to time. But I didn't join until 2003.

 

[Klystron]

Whenever I think of a major fire, I think of the catastrophic fire in and around Paradise Ca., where something around 80 people were burned alive in their cars on the road out, or in their homes. {snip}

Despite the distance from wildfires, Las Vegas valley awoke today to thick smoky haze. While the air appears gray, sunlight takes on an orange hue. Reflections off the pool bottom appear red.

After several hours exercise despite wearing masks and a cotton bandana outside the pool, lungs and throat burn. Good workout, though.

He was standing next to his automobile getting ready to ride off on his bike. He could have been visiting as a tourist.

When I lived in Scott's Valley, I rode my bicycle everywhere except south into Santa Cruz. Traffic and tourists made it easier to drive into Santa Cruz, park locally and ride a bike, bus or walk.

I know "M.A.S.H." from Altman's great movie which led me to read Richard Hooker's novels. I think the same actor played Radar on the TV show. Someone to nod to, say howdy passing on a trail.

 

[BillTre]

Here is a link to a map of fires, air quality, and smoke plumes.
Click the box on the upper right for controls of what you see.
The smoke plumes can obscure other features.
It works like many maps and can zoom out to show all of North America.

This may illuminate some of your air based experiences.

 

[Klystron]

Here is a link to a map of fires, air quality, and smoke plumes.
Click the box on the upper right for controls of what you see.
The smoke plumes can obscure other features.
It works like many maps and can zoom out to show all of North America.

This may illuminate some of your air based experiences.

My valley posted mostly purple: extremely unhealthy. Living in the southwest corner the air quality read red: unhealthy. Sunlight currently reminds me of the prelude to a total eclipse of the sun. Shadows appear red.

 

[BillTre]

We had a lot of that kind of thing last year, for it seemed like a long time.
Much less, so far, this year. We have been upwind of a lot of the fires, so far.
Here's a map for winds. Not much wind here right now.

Here is the best fire map I've found. It shows the vast areas burnt out but larger fires, along with neighboring evacuation zones. This was important around here, last year, when fires were closer to cities.
Layers has lots of options, including weather, and earthquakes.
It also shows which roads are open, which is handy if you are going near a fire.
I used this a lot for some long eyebank trips.
The eyebank gave us really good particle masks for the smoke ().

 

[fresh_42]

My valley posted mostly purple: extremely unhealthy. Living in the southwest corner the air quality read red: unhealthy. Sunlight currently reminds me of the prelude to a total eclipse of the sun. Shadows appear red.

The same in Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Orange skies all over the place. And in Siberia where also 250+ fires are reported.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I read the autobiography of a man who was recruited in this way. (Let me note that I don't necessarily believe everything he said.) He ended up killing over a hundred men, including Jimmy Hoffa.

I didn't make it that far.

I had never been surrounded by wealth before. I was only 16 years old. At first I was thinking that this was just a perk of working around wealthy people. But then one day my boss's boss offered me an easy $5000 for a special job that would only take a few hours, or something like that. Finally the alarms went off. I pretended to be interested and never went back. And perhaps by a huge stroke of luck, we suddenly moved to Northern California a few months later. My parents saw what was happening all around us and decided to get out.

The early history of the track ownership was quite the list of who's who

The track was opened on June 10, 1938 by the Hollywood Turf Club[3] the racetrack was designed by noted racetrack architect Arthur Froehlich. Its chairman was Jack L. Warner[3] of the Warner Bros. film studio. Prominent shareholders included Jack Warner's brother and fellow Warner Bros. executive Harry, Hollywood studio executives Walt Disney, Samuel Goldwyn, Darryl Zanuck, actors Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Joan Blondell, George Jessel, Ronald Colman and Ralph Bellamy. In addition to being shareholders film directors Raoul Walsh and Mervyn LeRoy were also founding members of the track's Board of Directors with Jack and Harry Warner and Al Jolson.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Park_Racetrack

 

[Ivan Seeking]

On a somewhat related note, I knew my GFs father did some serious hobnobbing but eeeeeeesh. Last night she was telling me that she has met 5 billionaires, including meeting Elon Musk at a party.

 

[WWGD]

Would be ironic if Alex Honnold slipped on his kitchen and had an accident. Amazing stuff he does.

 

[Hornbein]

On a somewhat related note, I knew my GFs father did some serious hobnobbing but eeeeeeesh. Last night she was telling me that she has met 5 billionaires, including meeting Elon Musk at a party.

I had an in-law. He was a dentist in Washington DC and his name was Kennedy. One day he went to a dinner and was seated with the famous Kennedys. They were saying, Jack, he can be President. Teddy doesn't have much on the ball, we'll stick him in the Senate where he can't do much harm.

 

[fresh_42]

Nature documentaries become far more exciting if you pretend to be an alien watching this exotic planet!

 

[WWGD]

Nature documentaries become far more exciting if you pretend to be an alien watching this exotic planet!

You mean you're not one yourself...er..yes, I agree.