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

[fresh_42]

I don't think I'll be sticking around long enough to get vaporized in that manner.

What a great relief. I thought I had to nail a sign at my head reading: medium rare.

 

[ergospherical]

40 degrees on monday here in the uk. thankfully in the lab we will be working with liquid helium. for making gelato, probably.

 

[WWGD]

More famous is the Mandelbrot set (here: apple men).

Thank you, I'm aware of both the Cantor Set and The Mandelbrot Set. But, are all Fractals recursive, or can they be obtained by recursion?

 

[fresh_42]

Thank you, I'm aware of both the Cantor Set and The Mandelbrot Set. But, are all Fractals recursive, or can they be obtained by recursion?

Fractals are defined by self-similarity, not by recursions, but isn't this already a recursion?
https://arxiv.org/abs/1010.4474

 

[WWGD]

Fractals are defined by self-similarity, not by recursions, but isn't this already a recursion?
https://arxiv.org/abs/1010.4474

I'm kind of confused on whether the defining property is self-similarity or having non-Integer Hausdorff Dimension. Pretty sure all Fractals have non-Integer Hausdorff dimensions, but self-similarity may not imply fractal. A standard circle or square would be such ( counter) example.

 

[WWGD]

40 degrees on monday here in the uk. thankfully in the lab we will be working with liquid helium. for making gelato, probably.

I guess UK has made a full transition to Metric. Otherwise something seriously wrong there, at least in Cambford.

 

[WWGD]

More issues with parsing . Fourier $\neq 48$. Except maybe for the French.

 

[fresh_42]

I guess UK has made a full transition to Metric. Otherwise something seriously wrong there, at least in Cambford.

I assume 40°C in the lab, 40°K for the helium. Both SI units.

 

[Jarvis323]

Thank you, I'm aware of both the Cantor Set and The Mandelbrot Set. But, are all Fractals recursive, or can they be obtained by recursion?

Anything which can be computed using recursion can be computed without recursion and visa versa. So the question boils down to asking wether all fractals are computable.

I don't know if the definition of a fractal is clear enough to answer. If we are talking about an instance of a fractal then yes, in a trivial way, you can multiply an uncomputable real number with each coordinate value.

Besides a trivial example like that, and if we factor out all of those kinds of non-essential factors like noise, I'm not sure. How about a fractal which switches between two rules periodically as it recurses, but uses an uncomputable sequence to determine if it will switch or not at the start of each period? Then it is morphing unredictably between different fractals. Is that a fractal?

 

[WWGD]

Anything which can be computed using recursion can be computed without recursion and visa versa. So the question boils down to asking wether all fractals are computable.

I don't know if the definition of a fractal is clear enough to answer. If we are talking about an instance of a fractal then yes, in a trivial way, you can multiply an uncomputable real number with each coordinate value.

Besides a trivial example like that, and if we factor out all of those kinds of non-essential factors like noise, I'm not sure. How about a fractal which switches between two rules periodically as it recurses, but uses an uncomputable sequence to determine if it will switch or not at the start of each period? Then it is morphing unredictably between different fractals. Is that a fractal?

Formally, a fractal is a Topological space with Fractional Hausdorff dimension. It is a space that cannot quite be qualified as being n-dimensional, for n a Natural number.

 

[WWGD]

Anything which can be computed using recursion can be computed without recursion and visa versa. So the question boils down to asking wether all fractals are computable.

I don't know if the definition of a fractal is clear enough to answer. If we are talking about an instance of a fractal then yes, in a trivial way, you can multiply an uncomputable real number with each coordinate value.

Besides a trivial example like that, and if we factor out all of those kinds of non-essential factors like noise, I'm not sure. How about a fractal which switches between two rules periodically as it recurses, but uses an uncomputable sequence to determine if it will switch or not at the start of each period? Then it is morphing unredictably between different fractals. Is that a fractal?

But I am curious as to your claim that any recursive computation can also be accomplished without recursion. I'm aware of specific cases when this is true , but not of any result to this effect.

 

[Orodruin]

visa versa

Linguistic pet peeve:
The phrase is “vice versa” from Latin with the meaning “the other way around”.

 

[LCSphysicist]

I can't understand advertisement of products these days anymore...
It is all about people dancing, singing, the advertisement ends and i have no idea what product they were trying to sell/talking about.

 

[WWGD]

Large print:
" Our Lawyers Average 15 years of Tax Experience"
Tiny print :
" And 5 years in Prison".

 

[fresh_42]

Large print:
" Our Lawyers Average 15 years of Tax Experience"
Tiny print :
" And 5 years in Prison".

A good ad would be the other way around.

 

[WWGD]

When they cut down the Ceviche fish, they end up with sons of Ceviche.

 

[strangerep]

I can't understand advertisement of products these days anymore...
It is all about people dancing, singing, the advertisement ends and i have no idea what product they were trying to sell/talking about.

Laxatives? Tampons? Hernia Truss?

 

[dlgoff]

Laxatives? Tampons? Hernia Truss?

Lawyers and the U.S. Marine Core Base Camp Lejeune lawsuit about polluted water:
https://www.camplejeunejusticeactcl...MIl-Kmta2B-QIV445bCh0Dbgc4EAAYASAAEgLOpfD_BwE

 

[WWGD]

Laxatives? Tampons? Hernia Truss?

Maybe all in one? And an AM/FM radio and Swiss Army knife too.

 

[WWGD]

A bizarre exchange:
Person 1" I went to the school of Hard Knocks"
Person 2 " Well, you flunked out of it"

Talk about stretching an analogy too far.

 

[WWGD]

Shazam's out put:"How you remind me". I finally heard /recognized a song from infamous Nickelback.

 

[WWGD]

Magic? How does Windows update when I'm not even online?

 

[Oldman too]

Magic? How does Windows update when I'm not even online?

Probably a remote procedure call prior to going offline, this is only a theory but Magic is a long shot.

 

[Rive]

Magic? How does Windows update when I'm not even online?

Dark magic: by some automatic settings it'll download the files beforehand and do the restarts outside 'active hours' on its own initiative, without asking anything.

Quite an annoyance when you have a ton of stuff left on on your desktop

 

[Ibix]

Magic? How does Windows update when I'm not even online?

Big Brother is not only watching you, he's patching your machine for you.

 

[kyphysics]

It's weird how visual appeal can affect our enjoyment of something.

If you took your favorite food and put it on a plate to eat, it'd probably look wonderfully appetizing.

Yet, if you put it in your mouth to eat and start chewing (it tastes good at this point) and THEN take it back out and put it on the plate (the chewed up food with saliva and all), you probably would not want to eat that.

YET, IT'S THE SAME FOOD ITEM!

 

[Oldman too]

YET, IT'S THE SAME FOOD ITEM!

It's all in the presentation.

 

[LCSphysicist]

I am going to work with Horatiu! So happy.

 

[fresh_42]

This is the house Nicholas Cage once owned (2006-2009) in Germany:

 

[fresh_42]

It's day 106 and I still want to smoke.

 

[WWGD]

It's day 106 and I still want to smoke.

It's day 5 for me , of spending 20 consecutive minutes sitting down doing nothing.
What was the motivational phrase:
" Today's the first day of the end of your life"?

 

[WWGD]

This is the house Nicholas Cage once owned (2006-2009) in Germany:

View attachment 304691

He sells his 5 castles, 4 Burmese Pythons, the 7 World's Tallest Dwarfs, his 18th century Iron Maidens, his DeLorean, and he may be ready to pay his debts.

 

[WWGD]

I forgot the password I had set up 20 minutes prior, yet I was able to remember that the Earth weights $5.977 \times 10^{24} kg$.

 

[Oldman too]

It's day 106 and I still want to smoke.

Hang in there, it's worth it. I stopped over ten years ago, still, sometimes... nope no way. It's nice to be able to breathe when you need to.

 

[Tom.G]

Quitting took me three attempts before it stuck. Now, >40yrs later, I still occassionally think about lighting up! Argghh!

 

[Orodruin]

I hear the easiest way to stop smoking is to never start.

 

[pinball1970]

I can't understand advertisement of products these days anymore...
It is all about people dancing, singing, the advertisement ends and i have no idea what product they were trying to sell/talking about.

The worst are the perfume adverts.

 

[Bystander]

I hear the easiest way to stop smoking is to never start.

It's day 106 and I still want to smoke.

" Today's the first day of the end of your life"?

Hang in there, it's worth it. I stopped over ten years ago, still, sometimes... nope no way. It's nice to be able to breathe when you need to.

Quitting took me three attempts before it stuck. Now, >40yrs later, I still occassionally think about lighting up! Argghh!

Smoke, or STROKE; it's a HARD lesson.

 

[Astronuc]

It's day 106 and I still want to smoke.

Just keep aiming for the next prime number in days.

 

[fresh_42]

Just keep aiming for the next prime number in days.

I have written a little App that tells me the day. It also tells me what I would throw away if I made an exception.

 

[Astronuc]

On a completely different subject - an interview with an anthropologist-in-residence for the NY Department of Sanitation. She does talk about how some scientists back in the day used to analyze royal poop.

https://personplacething.org/408-robin-nagle/

I was interested about her father, who when an adolescent was searching for the Answer. So, he studied Physics, which was part of my motivation, and that didn't work for him. Then he studied Philosophy, and that didn't quite work either. He eventually studied Theology, and in particular Anglican theology, which worked for him. I stayed with Physics and eventually Nuclear Engineering and Materials Science.

 

[Astronuc]

I have written a little App that tells me the day. It also tells me what I would throw away if I made an exception.

I watched my wife go through the withdrawal process. She used nicotine gum to curb the urge. She had been smoking since she was 16 (a high school thing some kids adopted). She had smoked for about 15 years, when she decided to quit. She didn't want to be smoking and having kids.

She had cut way back on smoking (from 20 per day) to 5 or 10 depending. Certainly around finals, her smoking increased. However, she eventually quit, probably at this point about 36 years ago.

She also worked briefly as a drug/alcohol (substance abuse) and mental health counselor, and she didn't feel right about encouraging others to quit substance abuse while she was addicted to nicotine.

 

[fresh_42]

She also worked briefly as a drug/alcohol (substance abuse) and mental health counselor, and she didn't feel right about encouraging others to quit substance abuse while she was addicted to nicotine.

The biochemical addiction is only a couple of days, a few weeks at most. But the mental temptation ...

I have <insert religious comment of your choice> no problem with alcohol although I regularly drink beer. The thought that a single cigarette would be similar is unfortunately wrong. Too bad.

 

[Oldman too]

Smoke, or STROKE; it's a HARD lesson.

That sums things up perfectly, everyone focuses on the respiratory issues, not that it isn't of critically important, It's just that the vascular aspect doesn't get the attention it deserves. From personal experience, there's more connection than just rhyming between smoke and stroke.

 

[strangerep]

[...] some scientists back in the day used to analyze royal poop.

Hmm,... so if it doesn't stink then the person must be of true ancient royal lineage? Or were they analyzing for traces of precious metals? Or, to examine whether the poop is slightly barbequed, proving that the sun does indeed shine brightly out of their... <ahem> ?

 

[Oldman too]

One need not be a coprophile to be interested in coprolites, the study of poop is an important branch of archaeology. https://www.archaeology.org/index.php/search-page?q=coprolites&search=Go
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825220302427

 

[WWGD]

One need not be a coprophile to be interested in coprolites, the study of poop is an important branch of archaeology. https://www.archaeology.org/index.php/search-page?q=coprolites&search=Go
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825220302427

Ive been doing my labs for a while now.

 

[Oldman too]

Ive been doing my labs for a while now.

I sure hope everything comes out alright.

 

[WWGD]

Mandatory Summer song:

 

[pinball1970]

Mandatory Summer song:

I don't exactly like this song. It is part of my childhood so I have affection for it.
It has has been used in commercials and that is one way to sully an old song. I think it has diminished it over the years when I hear it now.
Agree though, quirky summer song.