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

[ShayanJ]

I just had some thoughts that led me to a revelation about how the world operates and so, reminded me what an amazing place it is to be in. Of course its an amazing time too, because of all the knowledge we now have that makes us see this great beauty around us.
But it also reminded me how much I hate hidden variable theories and the many worlds interpretation(not sure about the latter!), because they completely destroy that beautiful structure.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I just had some thoughts that led me to a revelation about how the world operates...

You should probably share this information with the people we have running for president.

 

[Ibix]

You should probably share this information with the people we have running for president.

I believe @Shayan.J lives outside the beltway. It's a different world inside there...

 

[zoobyshoe]

I believe @Shayan.J lives outside the beltway. It's a different world inside there...

An otherwise snappy quip killed by its assumptions. You win some, you lose some.

 

[fresh_42]

How does it come that algae evolve at the bottom of my pot made of clay, which I only fill up with (chlorinated) drinking water for the birds?

 

[Kevin McHugh]

Religion without philosophy is fanaticism.
Philosophy without religion is empiricism.

Prabhupad

 

[Psinter]

Spoiler: Slow Internet

It's okay, I'm patient.

 

[OCR]

It's okay, I'm patient.

Lol, good find! ... I saw that some where before, but I can't remember where...

Reminds me of when we were still using StarBand ...

And BTW... this is wrong...

...with unlimited usage and online hours.

It was unlimited only between the hours of 12 Midnight and 7 6 AM ...
Comments added by IP 75.182.84.110 and DonPedroLP ... are, more or less, right.

Aah, yes, the Good Ol' Days....

And, if you went over 2 GB, it was back to dial up speed until you were back down to 1.5 GB.
Oh, lol... and, you also got this nice little sign.

 

[Sophia]

How does it come that algae evolve at the bottom of my pot made of clay, which I only fill up with (chlorinated) drinking water for the birds?

They're probably in the air. I have the same problem with my fish tanks.
Some days, it seems that they've been finally defeated, but the next day, they are back and they are stronger!

 

[Pepper Mint]

Fire and fire eating

 

[Astronuc]

William Maillis started accurately identifying numbers at 6 months old and speaking in complete sentences at just 7 months old. He followed with a range of http://hsrd.yahoo.com/RV=1/RE=1476454441/RH=aHNyZC55YWhvby5jb20-/RB=/RU=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5wb3N0LWdhemV0dGUuY29tL25ld3MvZWR1Y2F0aW9uLzIwMTYvMDkvMTYvUGl0dHNidXJnaC1QZW5uLVRyYWZmb3JkLUhpZ2gtU2Nob29sLWdlbml1cy1XaWxsaWFtLU1haWxsaXMtYXR0ZW5kaW5nLWNvbGxlZ2UtYXQtOS15ZWFycy1vbGQvc3Rvcmllcy8yMDE2MDkxNjAwMDMA/RS=%5EADAorJY76yptDsHCNziJla5gsg.5AY- , including doing addition at 21 months; multiplication, reading and writing at 2 years old; algebra, sign language and reading Greek at age 4; geometry at 5 and trigonometry at 7.

William was originally turned down when he tried to enroll in kindergarten at age 4 after failing an entrance readiness test.

https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/9-old-boy-graduates-high-153130463.html

I think I remember a discussion of whether or not gray (or grey) is a colour from 4th grade. Many sources identify gray as a color, and Wikipedia's article mentions it as an achromatic color, or an intermediate color (shade?) between white and black.

 

[Pepper Mint]

This morning I watched local TV news and heard an 11 year old boy was run over by a big container truck while trying to cross the street with his bicycle. That is truly horrible and I was truly shocked.

 

[WWGD]

Apparently Google Maps is not updated often enough. Had to travel like an extra hour to make up for it. As amazing as it is, I need to complain about its minor problems ;).

 

[Pepper Mint]

Apparently Google Maps is not updated often enough. Had to travel like an extra hour to make up for it. As amazing as it is, I need to complain about its minor problems ;).

Indifferent.

I do need a lot more annoying comments as attacks though. OK, please go go.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Even when Google Maps is up to date, the local authorities here sometimes seem to allow major roads to be closed for roadworks without telling anyone. A few days ago we were returning in the evening from London and avoided the M3 motorway because of a scheduled closure by going via the A31 trunk road, but suddenly came to a road closed sign and a diversion via a much longer route on minor roads. Google Maps was still showing the main road as clear. Unfortunately, the diversion signs were misleading (we later realized that one was pointing the wrong way, probably left over from a previous occasion) and we ended up going in a loop, but the second time round we managed to escape.

Only a couple of days ago on the way home we passed two junctions where there were very similar "Diverted traffic" signs pointing BOTH right and left for traffic coming from our direction. That's worse than useless!

 

[Psinter]

It was unlimited only between the hours of 12 Midnight and 7 6 AM ...
Comments added by IP 75.182.84.110 and DonPedroLP ... are, more or less, right.

Aah, yes, the Good Ol' Days....

And, if you went over 2 GB, it was back to dial up speed until you were back down to 1.5 GB.
Oh, lol... and, you also got this nice little sign.

You need to fix it then.

Oh, with 2.5D graphs and everything. Very modern .

Although if we think about it, cell phone companies do the same nowadays. They limit your bandwidth. They write in the contracts: "Unlimited doesn't mean irresponsible." as if trying to make the user look bad for using bandwidth when a single YouTube video drains the whole bandwidth. They can't pay for a proper ecosystem, but still call as much clients inside only to find themselves having to limit things to the users. Like they need to have as much clients as possible even if the building can't handle it.

--Sir, the building can't handle more people.
-Doesn't matter. If they have money, push them in like sardines. There is no competition anyway, the clients aren't going anywhere.

That happens a lot in my country. It is capitalist and democratic alright (or so they say), but it is full of markets controlled by single individuals. There is no competition and the services are horrible and expensive. After all they know that if it isn't with them, you have nothing.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think I remember a discussion of whether or not gray (or grey) is a colour from 4th grade. Many sources identify gray as a color, and Wikipedia's article mentions it as an achromatic color, or an intermediate color (shade?) between white and black.

Color theory suffers from much confusion due to 'ideal' concepts vs actual results. But anyway:

For the mixing of colored light, Isaac Newton's color wheel is often used to describe complementary colors, which are colors which cancel each other's hue to produce an achromatic (white, gray or black) light mixture. Newton offered as a conjecture that colors exactly opposite one another on the hue circle cancel out each other's hue; this concept was demonstrated more thoroughly in the 19th century.[citation needed]

A key assumption in Newton's hue circle was that the "fiery" or maximum saturated hues are located on the outer circumference of the circle, while achromatic white is at the center. Then the saturation of the mixture of two spectral hues was predicted by the straight line between them; the mixture of three colors was predicted by the "center of gravity" or centroid of three triangle points, and so on.

Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors of the RYB color model
According to traditional color theory based on subtractive primary colors and the RYB color model, which is derived from paint mixtures, yellow mixed with violet, orange mixed with blue, or red mixed with green produces an equivalent gray and are the painter's complementary colors. These contrasts form the basis of Chevreul's law of color contrast: colors that appear together will be altered as if mixed with the complementary color of the other color. Thus, a piece of yellow fabric placed on a blue background will appear tinted orange, because orange is the complementary color to blue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_theory
So, you might be justified calling gray a color if it is arrived at by mixing complements.

"Grey is a shade, not a color" is true if you view it as arising from the fact of the vertical axis where black is at the bottom and white at the top.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_theory#/media/File:Munsell-system.svg

I'd say it was unwarranted for them to fault him for not identifying gray as a color. It's controversial.

 

[zoobyshoe]

We're being warned about a potential major earthquake here:

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A swarm of earthquakes that rattled the Salton Sea area earlier this week has increased the probability of a major quake hitting Southern California.

The California Office of Emergency Services (OES) http://www.oesnews.com/governors-director-emergency-services-reminds-californians-prepared-earthquakes/ warning residents and officials in Ventura, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, Kern and Imperial counties that there was a greater possibility of a major earthquake through Oct. 4.

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/misc/2016-09-27.php have been recorded near Bombay Beach beginning Monday ranging from magnitude 1.4 to 4.3, according to U.S. Geological Services (USGS) seismologists...

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016...hern-california-after-salton-sea-quake-swarm/

 

[Borg]

We're being warned about a potential major earthquake here:

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016...hern-california-after-salton-sea-quake-swarm/

Maybe it's a good time to go camping in the middle of a flat, empty field.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Maybe it's a good time to go camping in the middle of a flat, empty field.

If only they could be certain, and pinpoint when.

 

[Borg]

If only they could be certain, and pinpoint when.

Details, details.

 

[Psinter]

There is no documentation. You search high and low. After hours of searching you finally find something, but it is dependent on many other libraries. You still proceed to compile and all the code has been deprecated... with no replacement .

Welcome to Linux... and Android.
_________________________________________________________________________________

I have no idea of why my python installation has a file named:

torture_test.py

Just kidding. I opened it and it looks like a test for email sending.

 

[jim hardy]

There is no documentation. You search high and low. After hours of searching you finally find something, but it is dependent on many other libraries. You still proceed to compile and all the code has been deprecated... with no replacement .

Welcome to Linux... and Android.

i knew i should have bought woodworking tools instead of a computer

 

[Psinter]

i knew i should have bought woodworking tools instead of a computer

I wouldn't judge you if you do.

 

[jim hardy]

I wouldn't judge you if you do.

Check your PBS station for Roy Underhill's "Woodwright Shop"
http://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/home/

there's one happy guy.
a very entertaining half hour. Sunday afternoons here.

 

[dlgoff]

Roy Underhill's "Woodwright Shop"

Love his old hand tools. I have a few myself; inherited from dad.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Check your PBS station for Roy Underhill's "Woodwright Shop"
http://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/home/

Damn, I LOVE all those shows! Before the internet I was completely addicted to the whole gamut of carpentry/do it yourself shows that were on PBS. Norm Abrams was my hero.

 

[jim hardy]

I LOVE all those shows!

Roy is fun he works exclusively with hand tools mostly 19th century style.
Even his lathe is foot operated, he quips "This motor stops automatically if the tool contacts flesh " .

 

[jim hardy]

Speaking of PBS

there's a great Frontlline "The Choice 2016" that was on Tuesday evening.
It's on again Sunday night at 10PM local time here (9 Eastern?)

It compares biographies of Hillary and Trump , going way back to childhood.

I found it unbiased, well presented and insightful. Held my interest for the full two hours

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/schedule/

It's worth a mention in "Breaking Down Potus " thread.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Roy is fun he works exclusively with hand tools.
Even his lathe is foot operated, he quips "This motor stops automatically if the tool contacts flesh " .

I recall seeing him make a dining room chair from scratch completely with hand tools out of cherry. That is: he started with short lengths of cherry logs, no pre-cut lumber whatever. It was a revelation in that I suddenly completely understood how they made such great furniture in the days way back before electric power tools.

That show would have aired in the late 80's and I remember it much more vividly than the majority of things from that long ago. Given the tools, I'm still sure I could do it myself. It struck me as a very important lesson on many levels about how far a person can go with what they've got.

I say "on many levels," quite seriously. In my mind it extends to Galileo and Newton, who did extremely sophisticated things with what amounts to "hand tools."

 

[DiracPool]

I say "on many levels," quite seriously. In my mind it extends to Galileo and Newton, who did extremely sophisticated things with what amounts to "hand tools."

You mean telescopes? I think there's a very different motivation for creating a telescope versus creating a dining-room chair out of cherry logs. The former is mainly a scientific motivation and the latter is more of a furniture-craftsmanship motivation. Two different things, Zoobs.

 

[DiracPool]

Even his lathe is foot operated, he quips "This motor stops automatically if the tool contacts flesh " .

Haha, it took me a few glances, but now I get it. The foot is the motor. I was thinking that having a flesh detecting machine was pretty sophisticated for 19th century technology.

Btw, the punctuation (period) always goes inside the quotation mark.

 

[zoobyshoe]

You mean telescopes?

No, I don't mean telescopes.

 

[dlgoff]

It compares biographies of Hillary and Trump , going way back to childhood.

I found it unbiased, well presented and insightful. Held my interest for the full two hours

Absolutely. Sure changed my opinion of both; positively. Thank you PBS.

 

[Pepper Mint]

Several items on pf are localized or automatically translated into my native language. :) why not all ?

 

[Astronuc]

Athens vs Sparta, then Athens vs Socrates.


Socrates became a new kind of hero, a person of conviction, one who follows the dictates of intellectual conscience. Critical thinking (the need to be critical) and self-questioning (the need to be self-critical) is paramount.

 

[Pepper Mint]

I am wondering if for example i have a lot of money, should I deposit it into a lot of different banks or just one ? Why and why not ?
I am thinking I am not quite misled to fish in a wrong lake because all lakes all over the world are the same - that they are where fish live. And wishing to get more fish with less baits as well as protecting the bait from getting spoiled is normal to me. If there are a lot of fish in a lake, most people will also have to think up a way or ways to not let them run away.

 

[Psinter]

Check your PBS station for Roy Underhill's "Woodwright Shop"
http://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/home/

Looks like they stream it online. I'll give it a watch.

there's one happy guy.
a very entertaining half hour. Sunday afternoons here.

Love his old hand tools. I have a few myself; inherited from dad.

Damn, I LOVE all those shows! Before the internet I was completely addicted to the whole gamut of carpentry/do it yourself shows that were on PBS. Norm Abrams was my hero.

Do you three make wood work? I'm more interested in blacksmithing, but that looks pretty cool too.

 

[dlgoff]

Do you three make wood work?

I don't do wood work projects per say, but those tools really come in handy when something breaks or needing a specialty piece.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Do you three make wood work?

I've done a fair amount of repair work over the years and also low-grade furniture making, just things like shop benches, book cases, and loft beds that are more structurally functional than attractive. It's nice to be able to construct something that fits the space you actually have, rather than have to settle for something that's not a good fit.

 

[jim hardy]

Do you three make wood work?

Not as a hobby, but i do enjoy making things around the house.


These living room shelves hang from cleats so you can remove them for painting the walls, just lift them off.
i got rough cut oak at a local sawmill and planed it
the mantle was scrap pine

pardon the clutter it's what happens when packrats marry ...

Our lumberyard got a big batch of 1X12" clear oak, and Fair Anne wanted open shelves for the kitchen
...at $2.99 a board foot i couldn't resist

Short lady's kitchen - she says it's first time ever she can reach 2nd shelf.
i learned how to rout a bead into the edge, wish i'd done it for the living room

i'm no woodwright . These were easy projects that came out nice.

old jim

 

[Psinter]

I don't do wood work projects per say, but those tools really come in handy when something breaks or needing a specialty piece.

I see.

I've done a fair amount of repair work over the years and also low-grade furniture making, just things like shop benches, book cases, and loft beds that are more structurally functional than attractive. It's nice to be able to construct something that fits the space you actually have, rather than have to settle for something that's not a good fit.

Makes sense.

These living room shelves hang from cleats so you can remove them for painting the walls
i got rough cut oak at a local sawmill and planed it
the mantle was scrap pine

pardon the clutter it's what happens when packrats marry ...

Our lumberyard got a big batch of 1X12" clear oak, and Fair Anne wanted open shelves for the kitchen
...at $2.99 a board foot i couldn't resist

Short lady's kitchen - she says it's first time ever she can reach 2nd shelf.
i learned how to rout a bead into the edge, wish i'd done it for the living room

i'm no woodwright . These were easy projects that came out nice.

old jim

Wow that is so cool! I like it. I also like how in the kitchen the cups are hanging. The hangers are very useful.

I agree, open shelves are better than closed ones when it comes to wood (at least at my place). Even if closed ones look good. It would depend on the area, but at my place, where humidity is eternal and high, closed shelves would bring nothing but fungus regardless of wood treatment. In my opinion it is better opened like there. Also more light and space to navigate.

I like what you did.

 

[jim hardy]

In my opinion it is better opened like there. Also more light and space to navigate.

Thanks Psinter .
Yes, when two packrats live in same house closed cabinets get stuffed with useless "stuff" . This way it's right in plain view so we're inclined to throw away the useless stuff instead of looking at it every day wondering "Why did we buy that?" ...
It's a small kitchen but it works well. We got one of those "kitchen design" books and placed everything near where it gets used. Bottom cabinets have deep drawers that slide out , not cabinet doors.

 

[dlgoff]

pardon the clutter it's what happens when packrats marry ...

You need more meters. Just sayin'

 

[jim hardy]

You need more meters. Just sayin'

Quite so.
A man can't have too many synchroscopes .

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Btw, the punctuation (period) always goes inside the quotation mark.

That's specifically American. In British English, it normally goes outside unless it's part of what you're quoting.

 

[Psinter]

Quite so.
A man can't have too many synchroscopes .

Of course I know what is a synchroscope... No I don't, but don't tell anyone... I'm trying to look intelligent here. (^.^)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• "You do not have administrative privileges to end this process."
• "This incident will be reported."
• "This file/folder does not belong to you."

Me: "Hmmmmmmm. Let's see. Let's go over the basics again. I think you are forgetting who the owner of this computer is, dear operating system. If I tell you to self destruct, you self destruct. Capiche?"

Just kidding, but all in all I do not believe OSes are currently using AI without internet connection, yet they are getting annoying by the nano-second. The new current implementations based on: "Protect the user from itself." look very similar to sci-fi movies.

I am the rightful owner of my computer yet the OSes dare reply to me like that because of the way they were designed. Do you imagine if these companies (Microsoft, Canonical, Google, Apple) create robots with AI and sell them? The robots are probably going to say to the human who bought them:

"You do not have the authority to order me that." or "It's for your own security."

At that moment I think I will return the thinking trashcan. I want my money back.

Just a random thought that appeared when I was trying to delete a file.

 

[Pepper Mint]

All thoughtful random thoughts.

 

[Astronuc]

Theranos was supposed to revolutionize blood tests. Now its CEO is banned from running labs.
http://www.vox.com/2016/4/13/11424130/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-banned

Elizabeth Holmes was going to shake up the medical industry, specifically, the blood testing segment of the industry.

Theranos CEO and founder announced today in an open letter that the company is shuttering its clinical work for good. “After many months spent assessing our strengths and addressing our weaknesses, we have moved to structure our company around the model best aligned with our core values and mission,” Holmes wrote. As part of the restructuring, the disgraced blood testing company will lay off about 340 employees, based in Arizona, California, and Pennsylvania. It will close its labs and all of its remaining Wellness Centers. Moving forward, Theranos will focus on selling its diagnostic device, the miniLab, which it debuted at a scientific conference . . . .

https://arstechnica.com/science/201...n-clinical-labs-officially-pivots-to-devices/ (fixed broken link)

 

[Sophia]

It's funny to listen to or read certain media.
You can read that
female and male citizens protested against x

Female and male doctors should...
Female and male teachers want...

Of course, word with the appropriate suffix indicating female gender is always mentioned first. This is totally ridiculous. Of course, when you say "citizens" I know you mean both women and men!
In fact, the very idea of stressing importance of female actors exaggerates the gender inequality. As if women need constant protection and reassurance they do matter even when it's totally against normal speech and the whole article sounds funny and unnatural.