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

[Astronuc]

Man Creates Huge Online Museum for Vintage Calculators
From 2010/2018 - https://www.wired.com/2010/08/vintage-calculators/
Five hundred eighty-three calculators, 128 brands and one man who has painstakingly cataloged them all. Emil Dudek, a technology enthusiast who lives in South Wales, U.K., has spent the last eight years acquiring calculators made in the 1970s, taking them apart, photographing them, analyzing the technology and posting it all to his website along with […]

 

[WWGD]

I guess telling this lady at the coffee shop, that I had never met, that she looks like Isaac newton,
while showing her a pic of him was not that good of an idea. Edit: I realize now it was kind of off, bizarre. I guess asking her to prove that f=ma is off limits now ;) .

 

[Astronuc]

I guess telling this lady at the coffee shop, that I had never met, that she looks like Isaac newton,
while showing her a pic of him was not that good of an idea.

You learn something new everyday.

 

[Astronuc]

This is helfpul?! =>"The term "red dwarf" when used to refer to a star does not have a strict definition."

From - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_dwarf#Definition

One perhaps could say that the definition 'red dwarf' is kind of nebulous.

 

[collinsmark]

The 12 V power brick for my telescope gave out tonight. Now it's just a regular brick.

New one's on the way.

 

[Astronuc]

When looking at stellar classification recently, I noticed that the emphasis is on O, B, A, F, G, K, and M. When I learned it about 50 years ago, there were R, N, S categories as well. Those seem to be not so emphasized. Looking at red and brown dwarfs, the latter considered sub-stellar objects, there are L, T and Y categories. So, I looked into L, T and Y, which in Wikipedia mentions the following:

Class L dwarfs get their designation because they are cooler than M stars and L is the remaining letter alphabetically closest to M. Some of these objects have masses large enough to support hydrogen fusion and are therefore stars, but most are of substellar mass and are therefore brown dwarfs.

Class T dwarfs are cool brown dwarfs with surface temperatures between approximately 550 and 1,300 K (277 and 1,027 °C; 530 and 1,880 °F). Their emission peaks in the infrared. Methane is prominent in their spectra.

Brown dwarfs of spectral class Y are cooler than those of spectral class T and have qualitatively different spectra from them. A total of 17 objects have been placed in class Y as of August 2013. [now 10 years out of date]

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_classification#Cool_red_and_brown_dwarf_classesI while perusing the internet, I found: http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~pac/obafgkmrns.html

Oh Backward Astronomer, Forget Geocentricity;
Kepler's Motions Reveal Nature's Simplicity.

Organs Blaring and Fugues Galore,
Kepler's Music Reads Nature's Score.

I had learned "Oh, Bring A Fully Grown Kangaroo, My Recipe Needs Some!"

 

[BillTre]

Almost an emoji:

 

[WWGD]

Went back to the old coffee shop.
"Isaac" still snippy. Guess shouldn't suggest she change the name 'Fluxions".
She seems a bit gone.
Though I got the point: Inner voice/Outer voice.

 

[pinball1970]

Almost an emoji:

View attachment 324452

It should be! I would be totally happy using that for “Oh wow that is totally cool!”

 

[pinball1970]

I am going to make more use of the insights section of PF, mathematics!

 

[dlgoff]

You can tell summer is coming here in Kansas. It 85°F and it only April.

edit: I emailed my daughter who lives in Colorado and this is what she replied:

That’s insane that it’s that how there right now. It’s snow flurrying here.

 

[fresh_42]

You can tell summer is coming here in Kansas. It 85°F and it only April.

edit: I emailed my daughter who lives in Colorado and this is what she replied:

We don't even have half of it.

 

[dlgoff]

We don't even have half of it.

lucky you

 

[WWGD]

We don't even have half of it.

Half of:
85F
April
Colorado?

 

[fresh_42]

Half of:
85F
April
Colorado?

Temperature: 278.
Time: -1
Latitude: Whistler.

 

[pinball1970]

Temperature: 278.
Time: -1
Latitude: Whistler.

We really do need that scratch head emoji

 

[pinball1970]

I have just realized I have not checked covid Worldometer for months (I was rather OCD about that from 2020 onwards)

We (UK) are about 50-100 deaths per day, so between 18,000-36,000 deaths per year.

We are just out of “flu season” which is between Dec-Feb.

About 25,000 pneumonia deaths per year just to give a comparison.

 

[Grelbr42]

Let's all applaud the History Channel for more fine documentaries! Tonight - Time Beings: Extreme Time Travel Conspiracies

Why? Why can't we have real documentaries? There is so much of interest in the past that is REAL.

It's the audience.

Two sample points:
TikTok is full of people demanding you use made-up pronouns or you are a bigot.
The Chinese equivalent of TikTok, Douyin, has things like calculus lessons.

Or, go to Google and search for the following.
walmartians pics

 

[dlgoff]

I've watched this before but watched it again today on PBS. So good.

 

[WWGD]

TikTok also allegedly has a back door

It's the audience.

Two sample points:
TikTok is full of people demanding you use made-up pronouns or you are a bigot.
The Chinese equivalent of TikTok, Douyin, has things like calculus lessons.

Or, go to Google and search for the following.
walmartians pics

 

[jack action]

 

[DrGreg]

For some reason, this brought to mind a conversation between Laurel and Hardy in Towed in a Hole.

 

[dlgoff]

I was remembering back to a time that I probably saved the life of an old girlfriend by doing the Heimlich Maneuver while eating at a restaurant.

 

[Borg]

Reminds me of when I saved my wife's life in London. We were crossing a street and she looked the wrong way to see if any cars were coming. She started to step into the road when I pulled her back just as a car came quickly from the other direction. Very close call.

 

[collinsmark]

Reminds me of when I saved my wife's life in London. We were crossing a street and she looked the wrong way to see if any cars were coming. She started to step into the road when I pulled her back just as a car came quickly from the other direction. Very close call.

Same idea with a colleague of mine when visiting Tokyo. Close call.

 

[pinball1970]

Reminds me of when I saved my wife's life in London. We were crossing a street and she looked the wrong way to see if any cars were coming. She started to step into the road when I pulled her back just as a car came quickly from the other direction. Very close call.

GF back seat with me and couple in the front, friends. GF did not have the seat belt on, 1991 ish.
Driver lost control, country road and crashed into a barrier.
Big drop the other side, snake pass I think, if you know it. Possibly Werneth.
I grabbed hold of her and pulled her towards me before we hit. She was not wearing a back seat belt. She ended up with a bruise on her upper arm following the shape of my fingers. The belts saved the rest of us but the car was a right off.

 

[pinball1970]

It would be good to know you had potentially saved someone's life. Besides the car incident above and tending to two RTAs that were not serious the closest I came was a house fire.
1995 because my son was a few months old, visiting mum back home.
I heard screaming late at night and went out to investigate in shorts bare feet and no top. I think I was going to bed.
I see a guy in the street and smell the smoke then see the fire.
He was barely coherent, injured but grabbed me and screamed to get his baby.
Grabbed a ladder as downstairs was engulfed and went to the bedroom window.
I called/shouted no answer, I then thought about going in when a dog came to the window, then another. It was not baby, it was babies, his dogs.
Big dogs, the first one nearly knocked me off the ladder climbing out, the second one I had to lift and carry.
The first survived but the second had to be destroyed.
Would have I gone up the ladder if I knew it was two dogs?
No.

 

[fresh_42]

I remember a similar situation on the first walk through town on the first evening upon arrival. I don't remember who of us three friends actually stepped on the street while looking in the wrong direction, but we were lucky, it was a driver who carefully observed his vicinity. He even stopped. He also opened his window. Well, he asked for the direction to a suburb in the north of London we never had heard of.

But we knew his license plate, so we answered: "Sie können ruhig deutsch reden, aber wir haben auch keine Ahnung." [You can speak German if you like, but we have no idea either.] Poor guy. His first contact with locals had been (literally, below 40km) neighbors from home.

 

[Astronuc]

I heard an interview last night about a British punk rocker who decided to settle in W. Berlin before the Wall came down. He began visiting E. Berlin and then smuggling music from the west into E. Berlin, and subsequently performing with groups.

Across the wall: How Mark Reeder brought punk music to East Berlin in the 1980s​

https://www.factmag.com/2016/09/24/punk-priest-stasi-spy-east-berlin-mark-reeder/

 

[WWGD]

Awkward situation. Guy holds doors open for lady walking out. No reply, acknowledgement, initially, from lady. Almost simultaneously, exiting lady says thank you, while guy says " You're Welcome" sarcastically.

 

[Astronuc]

Storm Noa brought strong winds and gigantic swells to Cape Cornwall in southern England.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/powerful-atlantic-storm-whips-colossal-225805213.html

The waves looks like those off the coast at Nazaré, Portugal.

 

[Astronuc]

I loved watching Anthony Bourdain visit interesting places, discussing food and culture, and visiting with friends.

From 11 June 2018 - 'Drink a cold beer and let somebody else figure it out': 22 of Anthony Bourdain’s wisest quotes about travel
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/lists/anthony-bourdains-wisest-quotes-about-travel/

Re: How not to do Paris​

“Nothing unexpected or wonderful is likely to happen if you have an itinerary in Paris filled with the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.”

Well, I did a seminar in Paris many years ago, and it happened to be at the Palais Royal hotel, where I was staying, across the street from the Louvre. I didn't have the Louvre or Eiffel Tower in an itinerary, but they were just there. The Louvre tickets were too pricey, so I didn't visit, and I believe there was a waiting list. I strolled by the Pyramid with a colleague. We walked over to the Pont du Carrousel, and while standing there, a very attractive woman walked up and started chatting with me. I didn't speak French, except for a few phrases, so my colleague who spoke French translated for us. She was interested in the River Seine and was curious which way it flowed to the sea. So, I explained it comes from the east and flows to the west, but it flows in a winding way.

In another time and place, I was sitting with my father outside the main train station in Brussels, when a very attractive woman approached me and asked directions. I apologized that I didn't speak French (again only a few phrases), and I asked her if she spoke English, which she didn't. She smiled and went on her way. I was pondering the fact that she walked directly to me rather than many others who were between us or nearby. My dad and I were waiting for a bus to the airport, so I was not in a position visit with the woman (plus the language barrier).

 

[dlgoff]

Another Kansas storm is just now getting to my area:

 

[fresh_42]

I was looking up a recipe for pancake dough. Not so much for the ingredients but for the quantities. I was prepared for the horrible, horrible, completely crazy American recipe units. I surely hate them, and it is nuts. But anyway, I was prepared for "cups".

Next step. It shouldn't be too complicated nowadays to find a website for translating cups to metric. Here is what I found:

Why can't you go metric like any sane person in the world? Don't be afraid, it doesn't come with bare breasts or in rainbows!

 

[gmax137]

The important thing is the ratio. So, translate the ingredient amounts (given in the recipe) into your preferred units and go from there. This approach will give you trouble when it comes to "eggs." But that is to be expected, since "egg" is not a standardized unit, even in metric land . The amount of liquid always depends on how dry your flour is, today's humidity, and your altitude. Finally, some like thick batter while others like thin. Grandma should have shown you what it looks like when it is right.

 

[BillTre]

My sister has a condo in Washington DC she is putting up for sale.
It is by Dupont Circle and near the National Zoo.

Part of her description is:
"... and you can hear the lions at the zoo roar at feeding time!"

 

[fresh_42]

The important thing is the ratio.

That's possible for theorists, but I fail at $\sqrt{2}$ many eggs. The eggs : flour ratio was the main reason I looked it up. Too many eggs and it becomes a German pancake, too much flour and it tastes like a wallpaper.

 

[gmax137]

Too many eggs and it becomes a German pancake, too much flour and it tastes like a wallpaper.

Even Grandma didn't get it right the first time.

 

[fresh_42]

Even Grandma didn't get it right the first time.

Yes, but I'm competing against the industrial mixture which is pretty good - and relatively expensive. And I want a second option.

 

[fresh_42]

CNN titled a story: "The migrants' way to America!"

That's embarrassing ("fremdschämen"). And it makes me angry since it reveals so much about the attitude of US citizens.

 

[Rive]

Grandma should have shown you what it looks like when it is right.

... There are those 'grandma style' old cookbooks in most household: browned edges, many (likely high nutrient ) stains on every page, half pages are notes, the others are also about leaving the binding....

... if you ever tried to actually cook anything from them, you'll notice that those differences about national cooking units are just the most minor inconveniences: during that 50-100 years what these books stretch across not just the preferred units changed every twenty years, but the ingredients themselves and their naming too

... actually, I suspect that many 'new' recipes born through trying to making sense to those old recipes again

 

[Swamp Thing]

When you export a WhatsApp chat to, say a folder on your Google Drive, you get a text file plus a lot of media files.

It would have been an easy job for the developers to create an HTML file instead, with IMG tags that would populate all the images into the right places. That would have been such a superior user experience.

 

[fresh_42]

I'm following the chess world championship - and Crucible, of course - and learned a new English word today: 'Zwischenzug'. Funny.

 

[Astronuc]

Six days ago marked the sixty-year anniversary of the loss of the SSN-593 Thresher.

 

[gmax137]

Six days ago marked the sixty-year anniversary of the loss of the SSN-593 Thresher.

Thanks, @Astronuc that's a good video. The loss of the submarine is one of the first memories I have of seeing news on TV (my parent's small flickering black & white set). I remember the report (Cronkite? Huntley-Brinkley?) saying the sub was "a city block long" and asking my father what that meant.

 

[WWGD]

I was looking up a recipe for pancake dough. Not so much for the ingredients but for the quantities. I was prepared for the horrible, horrible, completely crazy American recipe units. I surely hate them, and it is nuts. But anyway, I was prepared for "cups".

Next step. It shouldn't be too complicated nowadays to find a website for translating cups to metric. Here is what I found:

View attachment 324933

Why can't you go metric like any sane person in the world? Don't be afraid, it doesn't come with bare breasts or in rainbows!

They forgot to include a Whisper of Cinnamon and a pinch of honey. ;)

 

[WWGD]

I thought a YT video on sounds of the rainforest would help me sleep, relax. Instead, I feel like peeing every 10 minutes.

 

[fresh_42]

I thought a YT video on sounds of the rainforest would help me sleep, relax. Instead, I feel like peeing every 10 minutes.

Try techno. Or Kylie's "I can't get you out of my mind" on an endless loop. I prefer techno, the less melody the better, just the beats. It is like counting sheep but letting count someone else. I have an app on my phone that let me choose among a dozen of channels and has a programmable "fall asleep" countdown mode.

 

[Astronuc]

Seven years of walking over 28000 miles.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...tom-turcich-seven-year-search-meaning-of-life

The article states, "38 countries and crossed every continent except Australia," but I'm sure the author meant Antartica; surely Turcich didn't walk across Antartica.

Another article shows that he walked across Australia, but no walks in Antarctica.
https://www.njpen.com/haddon-twp-man-to-depart-on-world-walk/

 

[WWGD]

Try techno. Or Kylie's "I can't get you out of my mind" on an endless loop. I prefer techno, the less melody the better, just the beats. It is like counting sheep but letting count someone else. I have an app on my phone that let me choose among a dozen of channels and has a programmable "fall asleep" countdown mode.

You use an app for a nap?