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

[Astronuc]

The new media enable the instantaneous dissemination of thoughts, most of which should never have been thought, let alone given written expression. The velocity imparted by new media somehow is an incentive for intemperate discourse. Books, however, have long gestations and, usually, careful editors. One of the most demanding and satisfying facets of this columnist’s craft is taking the many hours required to distill to its essence a worthy book that took another author many years to write; to offer just one example, to be able to acquaint a large readership with the lapidary sentences and mind-opening nuggets of information in Rick Atkinson’s military histories — a specialty now almost extinct in the academy.

George F. Will, a brilliant journalist
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/14/george-will-pursuit-of-happiness/

 

[Astronuc]

Why the Ottomans Never Colonized America?​

Some interesting commentary on history of the 1400-1700 period.

 

[fresh_42]

We have a lot of science fiction movies like Independence Day in which Earth is threatened by an alien invasion. However, we have only about a billion years left on our own planet before we have to look for emigration. I guess we will be those aliens invading other civilizations!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

We have a lot of science fiction movies like Independence Day in which Earth is threatened by an alien invasion. However, we have only about a billion years left on our own planet before we have to look for emigration. I guess we will be those aliens invading other civilizations!

We will just fix the sun or make a new one.



Of course we've known the secret to landing on the sun for decades - go at night.

 

[WWGD]

Elon is on track . Just give him 10-15 more years.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I was recalling today that I once worked with a direct descendant of Charles Babbage - the inventor of the first mechanical computer.

He (my customer) was a programmer.

 

[fresh_42]

I was recalling today that I once worked with a direct descendant of Charles Babbage - the inventor of the first mechanical computer.

He (my customer) was a programmer.

And I attended a guest lecture by Zuse! We should create a club.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

And I attended a guest lecture by Zuse! We should create a club.

We are a club!

 

[WWGD]

We are a club!

And I recently had a Turkey club!

 

[Jarvis323]

I can't stop thinking about this quite old woman (maybe 85 years or greater) who was new as a cashier at CVS durring the peak of wave 2 of the pandemic. It's a bit disheartening to think about.

 

[ergospherical]

why the heck am I allowed to go to a nightclub, the london underground at rush hour, etc., whilst the university won’t even allow in-person lectures?

 

[fresh_42]

why the heck am I allowed to go to a nightclub, the london underground at rush hour, etc., whilst the university won’t even allow in-person lectures?

Think about the following question: Who is running the nightclub, who the Tube, and who the university?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

And I recently had a Turkey club!

Had? Did the turkeys all quit?

 

[ergospherical]

Big Ben is (prussian) blue again

 

[WWGD]

Big Ben is (prussian) blue again

View attachment 289441

I thought Prussian was from Pmoscow.

 

[WWGD]

So now it becomes harder to settle claims and discussions. Now impartiality of fact checkers is brought into question. Wasn't there a list of trustworthy sources here in PF?

 

[Bystander]

Necro-posters swarming earlier this year? Must be a hard winter coming.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I was fifth grade, the red-headed twin girls were in the 8th grade and looking for trouble. And this was our song. I kid you not! Me and two Catholic girls gone wrong!


Why is it that girls and women looking for trouble always came to me?? I'm not complaining mind you, just curious.

 

[fresh_42]

Why is it that girls and women looking for trouble always came to me??

This is definitely a local attractor. I know, since there must be another one near me.

But it seems to work in either direction:

Well, Whitney was the only one in the collection who could actually sing.

Without a doubt she was the prettiest.

Why do pretty women tend to fish absolute idiots from the pool?

 

[WWGD]

I was fifth grade, the red-headed twin girls were in the 8th grade and looking for trouble. And this was our song. I kid you not! Me and two Catholic girls gone wrong!


Why is it that girls and women looking for trouble always came to me?? I'm not complaining mind you, just curious.

Because you ( and myself) are strange attractors.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Even Physics got me a date once. I was 19 years old and living in a cheap apartment with a friend. While sitting by the closed pool reading a physics book, a beautiful young Mexican woman who could barely speak any English, came up to me and indicated that she wanted to know what I'm reading. I said hello and showed her the page I was reading, which of course was filled with equations. She looked at me wide-eyed and said in broken English, "Ooooooh, you must be smart!" We dated for the next several months even though we could barely talk to each other. But we always managed to find something to do. LOL

Only as I found her climbing out my window one morning did I learn that she lived in our apartment complex with her boyfriend - the dangerous-looking biker dude.

Ironically, her name was Lourdes.

 

[WWGD]

Even Physics got me a date once. I was 19 years old and living in a cheap apartment with a friend. While sitting by the closed pool reading a physics book, a beautiful young Mexican woman who could barely speak any English, came up to me and indicated that she wanted to know what I'm reading. I said hello and showed her the page I was reading, which of course was filled with equations. She looked at me wide-eyed and said in broken English, "Ooooooh, you must be smart!" We dated for the next several months even though we could barely talk to each other. But we always managed to find something to do. LOL

Only as I found her climbing out my window one morning did I learn that she lived in our apartment complex with her boyfriend - the dangerous-looking biker dude.

I just like to say my name is Sydney. " And what's your last name?". Me:" Australia". Sydney Australia.

 

[WWGD]

Even Physics got me a date once. I was 19 years old and living in a cheap apartment with a friend. While sitting by the closed pool reading a physics book, a beautiful young Mexican woman who could barely speak any English, came up to me and indicated that she wanted to know what I'm reading. I said hello and showed her the page I was reading, which of course was filled with equations. She looked at me wide-eyed and said in broken English, "Ooooooh, you must be smart!" We dated for the next several months even though we could barely talk to each other. But we always managed to find something to do. LOL

Only as I found her climbing out my window one morning did I learn that she lived in our apartment complex with her boyfriend - the dangerous-looking biker dude.

Ironically, her name was Lourdes.

Climbing out your window? Spider Woman?

 

[WWGD]

How I impressed this French woman. She asks me " Do you like Le Pen?". I reply " Yes, but I prefer Le Pencil".

 

[Astronuc]

Her work long overlooked, physicist Joan Curran developed technology to conceal aircraft from radar during World War II

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/inno...in-warand-still-baffles-weathermen-180970900/

 

[Ivan Seeking]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/inno...in-warand-still-baffles-weathermen-180970900/

The actress Hedy Lamar conceived of the idea of

Frequency-hopping spread spectrum[edit]​

Copy of U.S. patent for "Secret Communication System"
During World War II, Lamarr learned that radio-controlled torpedoes, an emerging technology in naval war, could easily be jammed and set off course.[52] She thought of creating a frequency-hopping signal that could not be tracked or jammed. She conceived an idea and contacted her friend, composer and pianist George Antheil, to help her implement it.[4] Together they developed a device for doing that, when he succeeded by synchronizing a miniaturized player-piano mechanism with radio signals.[40] They drafted designs for the frequency-hopping system, which they patented.[53][54] Antheil recalled:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr#Frequency-hopping_spread_spectrum

But I most admire Hedy for not only being the first woman to do a nude scene in a movie, but also her love of older men. :)

She once explained that she was tricked into doing the nude scene in the movie. She was told it would be a very distant shot and no one would be able to see anything but a shape, which was partly true. But she didn't know about the new technology referred to as telephoto lenses...

 

[gmax137]

... That's "Hedly" :)

 

[WWGD]

A nice way of showing not all quadratics have a Real solution. Let n>1. Let p be a prime. Then n(n+1)=p cannot have a solution for n>1, else n divides p, a contradiction .

Then n(n+1)=p, so that $n^2-n-p=0 \rightarrow x^2-x-p=0$ cannot have a Real solution. I mean, any integer not a product of consecutive numbers would work too, but the prime makes it cleaner.

Not an amazing argument, but seemed nice.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

... That's "Hedly" :)

Whaaaaaaaaat?

 

[Mayhem]

For those unaware, there is a meme that people who pretend to be smart (/r/iamverysmart) almost always state "quantum mechanics" as an interest.

NO ONE WHO ACTUALLY STUDIES QUANTUM MECHANICS FEELS SMART STUDYING QUANTUM MECHANICS.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

For those unaware, there is a meme that people who pretend to be smart (/r/iamverysmart) almost always state "quantum mechanics" as an interest.

NO ONE WHO ACTUALLY STUDIES QUANTUM MECHANICS FEELS SMART STUDYING QUANTUM MECHANICS.

And if you think you understand QM, you don't understand QM. - Feynman

 

[Mayhem]

And if you think you understand QM, you don't understand QM. - Feynman

If your solutions seems elegant and intuitive, you definitely made a mistake.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

If your solutions seems elegant and intuitive, you definitely made a mistake.

I remember my first senior QM course so very well. I would read the chapter and sit through the lecture and it all made perfect sense. Then when I got to the homework problems, I thought I must have studied the wrong chapter.

 

[WWGD]

So, what is it with the double negatives here. I don't understand it (never studied it beyond the most basic). Does that imply I actually understand it? Looks like an Abbot and Costello routine:
Abbot: I am in First Base and I don't understand QM.
Costello: No, I thinks I understands QM and I is in Second.
Ebonics Translate: You mean I be in Second and I be not understand QM?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

So, what is it with the double negatives here. I don't understand it (never studied it beyond the most basic). Does that imply I actually understand it? Looks like an Abbot and Costello routine:
Abbot: I am in First Base and I don't understand QM.
Costello: No, I thinks I understands QM and I is in Second.
Ebonics Translate: You mean I be in Second and I be not understand QM?

Generally, you can no longer conceptualize the subject. It becomes purely mathematical.

That's why philosophers have been arguing about the implications for almost a century now.

 

[Borg]

If your solutions seems elegant and intuitive, you definitely made a mistake.

And if they make sense when you've been drinking, they probably don't make sense.

 

[WWGD]

When you take an exam in it, if you get more than one right, that's an F --because you seemingly understood something.

 

[Bystander]

Citrin tastes like soap...or so the story goes (does to me anyway); this has been "cited" as an explanation of the "aversion" to citrin spiced cuisine among an unknown sized group of people/gourmets/gourmands. Just did a little browsing, and could find no mention of this factoid/folklore/old wive's tale/"everybody knows that" ancient common knowledge.

Was in pursuit of an explanation for the gasoline/kerosene/coal oil flavor of artificial "sweeteners."

 

[Keith_McClary]

And if you think you understand QM, you don't understand QM. - Feynman

 

[Ivan Seeking]

 

[fresh_42]

Woht?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

 

[nsaspook]

Even Physics got me a date once. I was 19 years old and living in a cheap apartment with a friend. While sitting by the closed pool reading a physics book, a beautiful young Mexican woman who could barely speak any English, came up to me and indicated that she wanted to know what I'm reading. I said hello and showed her the page I was reading, which of course was filled with equations. She looked at me wide-eyed and said in broken English, "Ooooooh, you must be smart!" We dated for the next several months even though we could barely talk to each other. But we always managed to find something to do. LOL

Only as I found her climbing out my window one morning did I learn that she lived in our apartment complex with her boyfriend - the dangerous-looking biker dude.

Ironically, her name was Lourdes.

Yes:

 

[WWGD]

Ok, Glue on Nails. Not Gluon Nails. Now it makes sense.

 

[BillTre]

Some nails have a coating of plastic that melts from the heat generated when they are hammered in.
Its like hot glue gun glue.

 

[WWGD]

Some nails have a coating of plastic that melts from the heat generated when they are hammered in.
Its like hot glue gun glue.

Hammering and Scolding-hot glue? Yikes.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Reminiscent of spin welding, which is used for metals as well as plastics.

Spin welding is used on the thousands of alignment pins used for many parts for commercial aircraft assemblies.

 

[WWGD]

Ok, Cost function, not Cos(t). That helps.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ok, Glue on Nails. Not Gluon Nails. Now it makes sense.

I was concerned when I first heard about Nuclear Visine. Radioactive eye drops didn't seem like a good idea. So you can imagine my relief when I saw an ad for New Clear Visine.

 

[Keith_McClary]

I was concerned when I first heard about Nuclear Visine. Radioactive eye drops didn't seem like a good idea. So you can imagine my relief when I saw an ad for New Clear Visine.

It seems that some people are afraid of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging.