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

[WWGD]

Guess it's because you missed the E(scher).

STEEAM?
How fluffernutter of me.
Wonder if Escherichia Coli derives from someone named Escher.
Du hast a similar acronym to STEM/STEAM auf Deutschland?

 

[fresh_42]

MINT. Mathematics, Informatics (=CS), Natural Science and Technic.

I think it's not as frequently used as STEM is. We, too, have this abbreviation syndrom, but not so extensively as Americans with their abundance of 3-Letter codes. I wonder, whether that was an IVT OF IBM or PRV OBS.

 

[WWGD]

MINT. Mathematics, Informatics (=CS), Natural Science and Technic.

I think it's not as frequently used as STEM is. We, too, have this abbreviation syndrom, but not so extensively as Americans with their abundance of 3-Letter codes. I wonder, whether that was an IVT OF IBM or PRV OBS.

Report that to the SAA then!
Edit: SAA: Society Against Abbreviations.

 

[WWGD]

MINT. Mathematics, Informatics (=CS), Natural Science and Technic.

I think it's not as frequently used as STEM is. We, too, have this abbreviation syndrom, but not so extensively as Americans with their abundance of 3-Letter codes. I wonder, whether that was an IVT OF IBM or PRV OBS.

The more time goes by, the more information out there, the larger the number of acronyms and these may start ( absurdly) being longer, 4-, maybe 5 letters long. Maybe you can use this: number of acronyms, their length, to measure comolexity of a society/culture; bet there weren't so many even 50 years ago.

 

[fresh_42]

Maybe you can use this: number of acronyms, their length, to measure comolexity of a society/culture; bet there weren't so many even 50 years ago.

Yes, that's definitely a paradoxon. One should think that the total number of 3 letter abbreviations is bounded from above, but it obviously isn't!

 

[nuuskur]

At 12 o clock midnight countless pets fled. This fireworks business is redundant me thinks

 

[fresh_42]

At 12 o clock midnight countless pets fled. This fireworks business is redundant me thinks

It is as redundant as any other faith.

 

[WWGD]

It is as redundant as any other faith.

Faith? Is it a religious thing?

 

[WWGD]

At 12 o clock midnight countless pets fled. This fireworks business is redundant me thinks

A similar mess a while back when River Dance played with all the hard and loud shoe-tapping, there was a massive stampede of rats. Imagine you're a rat, doing whatever it is they do and for a few hours, without notice, you hear a loud, massive tapping noise. I bet they believed the end was near and fled in masse like crazy. A sort of modern version of the Pied Piper.

 

[fresh_42]

Depends on the definition. The loud noise is assumed to scare off all evil demons.

 

[WWGD]

Depends on the definition. The loud noise is assumed to scare off all evil demons.

Is that the motivation for the fireworks? I guess Riverdance would not do it?

 

[WWGD]

Now that I mentioned rats I read a theory that the plague was caused in part because of the killing of black cats , a predator of rats, because black cats were considered evil.

 

[fresh_42]

That doesn't solve the problem as ...

A similar mess a while back when River Dance played with all the hard and loud shoe-tapping, there was a massive stampede of rats.

Not sure whether this is the reason for fireworks, it is for the noise on carnival, so I assume it is similar on new year.

 

[WWGD]

That doesn't solve the problem as ...

Not sure whether this is the reason for fireworks, it is for the noise on carnival, so I assume it is similar on new year.

I don't think it would have an effect on rats since the noise would be too far away for them to be affected. But when rats are underground and nearby, the tapping is heard much more loudly.

 

[WWGD]

Seems there is now a year 2038 problem because of register overflow in some software using January 1 1970 as a default date I think. At least we have time and the experience of the whole Y2k thing now.

 

[fresh_42]

And unix systems are by far less critical than all the mainframes in 2K have been.

 

[WWGD]

And unix systems are by far less critical than all the mainframes in 2K have been.

How do you mean? They're not used for essential applications?

 

[fresh_42]

Do you know any mainframes using UNIX? Banks, air traffic, communication etc? A few computers aren't the problem, the big mainframes are. I don't expect any problems. The big IBM machines from the 70s and 80s were the problem in 2000.

 

[WWGD]

Do you know any mainframes using UNIX? Banks, air traffic, communication etc? A few computers aren't the problem, the big mainframes are. I don't expect any problems. The big IBM machines from the 70s and 80s were the problem in 2000.

Ok, good points. Still, now you have embedded systems where users may not be aware they are using, like cars, etc. which I assume was less the case back then.How do you check for any/all potential embedded problems?

 

[fresh_42]

Yes, this can be the case. But nobody cares if some cars don't work or individual computers crash, or a JAVA application won't work. PP (persönliches Pech; personal bad luck, but PP sounds better than PBL).

I think all big systems have been checked already, and if someone replaced the Y2K bug by the corresponding UNIX bug, then they really deserve to fail. The rest are small client server applications, which only can cause local failures. So what?

 

[WWGD]

You're ignoring the most serious problems: What if I can't order Chinese food in 2038? ;).

 

[fresh_42]

You're ignoring the most serious problems: What if I can't order Chinese food in 2038? ;).

Lol, bad example.

What if I can't order Chinese food in 2038?
\begin{align*}
10. &\text{ You can order pizza instead.}\\[6pt]
9. &\text{ You live in NY, you can order a cab.}\\[6pt]
8. &\text{ You live in NY, you can walk. }\\[6pt]
7. &\text{ You can order at another Chinese restaurant. }\\[6pt]
6. &\text{ You can order Indian food. }\\[6pt]
5. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner uses Windows. }\\[6pt]
4. & \text{ The Chinese restaurant owner uses UNIX but the machine didn't work before anyway. }\\[6pt]
3. &\text{ You are a nerd and order no. 40 every Thursday, so ... }\\[6pt]
2. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner has only a telephone anyway. }\\[6pt]
1. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner will rather use drums and smoke signals than losing a customer. }
\end{align*}

 

[WWGD]

Lol, bad example.

What if I can't order Chinese food in 2038?
\begin{align*}
10. &\text{ You can order pizza instead.}\\[6pt]
9. &\text{ You live in NY, you can order a cab.}\\[6pt]
8. &\text{ You live in NY, you can walk. }\\[6pt]
7. &\text{ You can order at another Chinese restaurant. }\\[6pt]
6. &\text{ You can order Indian food. }\\[6pt]
5. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner uses Windows. }\\[6pt]
4. & \text{ The Chinese restaurant owner uses UNIX but the machine didn't work before anyway. }\\[6pt]
3. &\text{ You are a nerd and order no. 40 every Thursday, so ... }\\[6pt]
2. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner has only a telephone anyway. }\\[6pt]
1. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner will rather use drums and smoke signals than losing a customer. }
\end{align*}

Who knows where I will be living 18 years from now, though. But point taken.

 

[WWGD]

I have someone I work with ( more like I work for) who uses 3-4 different emails when sending me

something. Different abbreviations for name, title, etc. When I search my inbox I need to enter different

combinations to find his emails. My telepathic message to him:

Could you _please_ choose one email address and stick with it?

 

[WWGD]

Seems like "Hey, Waldo wants his hat back" gets either blank stares or unsympathetic answers.

 

[WWGD]

How hard can it be to explain that I am being taxed twice?
I buy something from the hot bar. It is entered into the register, with tax included, total T.
I add something of price t, then I am charged (T+t)*tax instead of T+ t*tax. Fortunately T is
small enough to just let go.

 

[fresh_42]

How hard can it be to explain that I am being taxed twice?
I buy something from the hot bar. It is entered into the register, with tax included, total T.
I add something of price t, then I am charged (T+t)*tax instead of T+ t*tax. Fortunately T is
small enough to just let go.

With out without colored modelling clay?

 

[WWGD]

With out without colored modelling clay?

You have the same problem there ? It would be a good exercise for those who keep asking:

What is Math good for IRL?

 

[fresh_42]

No, we don't have that problem. Our prices per position already include the tax. In the situation you described we would have gotten two bills, or one on leave where all positions would have been associated with a table number or another identification property.

We pay $at+bt$ whereas you pay $(a+b)t$, or in your case $((a)t+b)t$.

 

[WWGD]

No, we don't have that problem. Our prices per position already include the tax. In the situation you described we would have gotten two bills, or one on leave where all positions would have been associated with a table number or another identification property.

If that was the case here, maybe they would have tried to make me pay both bills!