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

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The discussion revolves around frustrations with current documentary programming, particularly criticizing the History Channel's focus on sensational topics like time travel conspiracies instead of real historical content. Participants express disappointment over National Geographic's sale to Fox, fearing a decline in quality programming. The conversation shifts to lighter topics, including humorous anecdotes about everyday life, such as a malfunctioning kitchen fan discovered to be blocked by installation instructions. There are also discussions about the challenges of understanding various dialects in Belgium, the complexities of language, and personal experiences with weather and housing in California. Members share their thoughts on food, including a peculiar dish of zucchini pancakes served with strawberry yogurt, and delve into mathematical concepts related to sandwich cutting and the properties of numbers. The thread captures a blend of serious commentary and lighthearted banter, reflecting a diverse range of interests and perspectives among participants.
  • #7,441
Branson is expected to go to space tomorrow.

Bezos is expected to follow in eight days.

Elon Musk has been living in space for a very long time already.
 
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  • #7,442
Ivan Seeking said:
Elon Musk has been living in space for a very long time already.
He was actually in the car. The guy you've seen since is a double.
 
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  • #7,443
Keith_McClary said:
He was actually in the car. The guy you've seen since is a double.
That's manufactured by another one of his companies.
 
  • #7,444
My company works closely with Blue Origin. Hoping to get some of that action. Grrrrrr!

A vendor of mine, a master machinist, was working closely with Bezos. In fact Bezos and his wife came out to his place one day. He made most of the parts for Jeff's 10,000-year clock. I told him to be sure to let me know when it works.
 
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  • #7,445
People keep asking me physics questions when they see me in coffee shops doing Math. " Why are there no large scale rectangular features in nature", i.e., why is nature fractal at large scales? Don't know. That's why I do non-physics. I just blurt out somethinf like " prolly has to see with gravity".
 
  • #7,446
It appears that Death Valley hit 130 degrees F on Friday.

"Yes it was hot" responded one climate change denier, "but it's a dry heat".
 
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  • #7,447
Ivan Seeking said:
It appears that Death Valley hit 130 degrees F on Friday.

"Yes it was hot" responded one climate change denier, "but it's a dry heat".
Wonder if that means more bush fires? Never heard of dry cold weather in the same context, i.e., not being so bad.
 
  • #7,448
WWGD said:
Wonder if that means more bush fires? Never heard of dry cold weather in the same context, i.e., not being so bad.
Here it comes: dry cold weather is by far more pleasant than wet cold weather!

I flew from an area with about ##\pm 1°C## where it was rainy, and cold - I call it rheumatism weather - to an area with about ##\sim -10°C ## where it was snowy, and the climate was continental (dry) rather than oceanic (wet). You bet, that I felt the colder climate far less to be cold than the rainy area significantly warmer.
 
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  • #7,449
fresh_42 said:
Here it comes: dry cold weather is by far more pleasant than wet cold weather!

I flew from an area with about ##\pm 1°C## where it was rainy, and cold - I call it rheumatism weather - to an area with about ##\sim -10°C ## where it was snowy, and the climate was continental (dry) rather than oceanic (wet). You bet, that I felt the colder climate far less to be cold than the rainy area significantly warmer.
It just seems the weather is pleasant while the snow lasts. But that's just out of casual observation.
 
  • #7,450
WWGD said:
It just seems the weather is pleasant while the snow lasts. But that's just out of casual observation.
To make it short: 0°C in NYC are far worse than -15°C in Minneapolis.
 
  • #7,451
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  • #7,452
fresh_42 said:
But it's even worse. You don't know how reliable the information is. The ecstasy of having ( just about) all information available and the agony of having to filter out the noise.
 
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  • #7,453
Wonder if young children, born in 2019, 2020 will grow assuming masks are part of a person's face. Maybe too for dogs.
 
  • #7,454
I guess congratulations to our French friends in Bastille day today.
 
  • #7,455
I guess it says something about me when I see someone and they remind me of Raymond Smullyan ( logician/set theorist) instead of a famous person/celebrity.
 
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  • #7,456
Smullyan, wasn't it? What did he do to remind you of him? Ask you what your friend would say if he asked him which door leads to certain death?
 
  • #7,457
Ibix said:
Smullyan, wasn't it? What did he do to remind you of him? Ask you what your friend would say if he asked him which door leads to certain death?
Edit, yes, Smullyan, @$%# auto (in) correct. No, he just physically looked like him, with his long, gray beard. Wanted to ask him if he could not shave it because hr was the barber of the town. The one who only shaved those who did not shave themselves.
 
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  • #7,458
One of my favourite solutions to the two guards problem where one always lies and one always tells the truth comes from the Order of the Stick. Haley shoots one of the guards in the foot and he collapses, shouting "You shot me! I can't believe you did that!" His companion rushes to his aid, saying "No she didn't! And I totally expected that!" Which simplifies the logic problem somewhat.
 
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  • #7,459
Ibix said:
One of my favourite solutions to the two guards problem where one always lies and one always tells the truth comes from the Order of the Stick. Haley shoots one of the guards in the foot and he collapses, shouting "You shot me! I can't believe you did that!" His companion rushes to his aid, saying "No she didn't! And I totally expected that!" Which simplifies the logic problem somewhat.

Why not just shoot both of them, turn around, and go on your merry way?
 
  • #7,460
This morning I woke up feeling highly energized. First I wanted to do my 30 minutes on the elliptical. Then 45 minutes of weight lifting. And finally, 30 minutes of swimming. So I decided to lie down until the feeling went away.
 
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  • #7,461
Should I feel bad about Ivy League graduates who cannot repay their student loans?:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/financ...t-pay-off-11625752773?mod=trending_now_news_2

‘Financially Hobbled for Life’: The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off​

Columbia and other top universities push master’s programs that fail to generate enough income for graduates to keep up with six-figure federal loans​

Recent film program graduates of Columbia University who took out federal student loans had a median debt of $181,000.

Yet two years after earning their master’s degrees, half of the borrowers were making less than $30,000 a year.

The Columbia program offers the most extreme example of how elite universities in recent years have awarded thousands of master’s degrees that don’t provide graduates enough early career earnings to begin paying down their federal student loans, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Education Department data.
Seems like an awful lot of debt to take on for a field that may not traditionally have strong demand of high-paying jobs (or, does it)?
 
  • #7,462
Local newspaper, explanation of efficacy. Paraphrasing: "an efficacy of 95% is the same as saying for every 100 vaccinated people, 5 fall ill on average"

facepalm :(
 
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  • #7,463
nuuskur said:
Local newspaper, explanation of efficacy. Paraphrasing: "an efficacy of 95% is the same as saying for every 100 vaccinated people, 5 fall ill on average"

facepalm :(

am I stupid, or...?
 
  • #7,464
It's more like for every 100 ill people, about 95% of them are not vaccinated. In other words, efficacy is identified with the proportion of vaccinated ill people among all ill people. Here ill = suffering from covid, specifically.
 
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  • #7,465
yeah ok, fair enough
 
  • #7,466
I saw that CNN had a story headline saying that Space tourism won't be affordable for the masses any time soon. Then I remembered a news story yesterday about how many people have been fighting with flight crews on airplanes. Maybe that's a good thing. :wink:
 
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  • #7,467
Borg said:
I saw that CNN had a story headline saying that Space tourism won't be affordable for the masses any time soon. Then I remembered a news story yesterday about how many people have been fighting with flight crews on airplanes. Maybe that's a good thing. :wink:

Which brings to mind an interesting question: Has there ever been a fight in space? It wouldn't be hard to imagine someone losing it after 6 months on the space station!
 
  • #7,468
I think sex would be more likely and more interesting!
Now that people are staying up there for 12 months, you could conceivably have a birth there too.
(However there might be health consequences for the baby!)
 
  • #7,469
BillTre said:
I think sex would be more likely and more interesting!
In order to prevent that from happening they have decided they are only sending married couples from now on.
 
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  • #7,470
I realized sometimes my cravings for sweets were really a need to " cleanse the palate". So I just bought some Lindor bonbons. A single one meets my needs for the whole day, most of the time.
 

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