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

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Discussion Overview

The thread discusses various random thoughts and observations, touching on topics such as media programming, personal anecdotes, language use, and mathematical curiosities. The scope includes informal commentary, humor, and reflections on everyday experiences.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express frustration with the quality of documentaries on channels like the History Channel and National Geographic, suggesting a decline in factual programming.
  • There is a humorous anecdote about discovering a polythene bag obstructing a kitchen extractor fan, leading to a discussion about the clarity of installation manuals.
  • Participants share thoughts on the nature of prime numbers, particularly regarding the status of the number 2 and its implications for mathematical proofs.
  • There are reflections on language use and the reactions to grammatical errors made by native speakers, with some participants sharing their personal responses to such situations.
  • One participant humorously suggests that if 2 were not considered prime, it would complicate the understanding of prime factors in even numbers.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

The discussion contains multiple competing views, particularly regarding the status of the number 2 as a prime and the quality of media programming. No consensus is reached on these topics.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying degrees of skepticism and humor, with some comments reflecting personal experiences and subjective opinions rather than objective analysis.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in informal discussions about media, language, and mathematics may find this thread engaging.

  • #8,041
There are possible worlds where possible worlds don't exist.
 
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  • #8,042
WWGD said:
There are possible worlds where possible worlds don't exist.
OK. Let's see the proof.
 
  • #8,043
Tom.G said:
OK. Let's see the proof.
You live in the world where such proof is impossible, unfortunately.
 
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  • #8,044
There's this guy Ira Glass in NPR ( Public Radio). I can imagine hearing :

Ira Glass
I also ra glass.

Just like with the s at the end of the name or beginning of the last name:

Have you seen Jason Statham?
No, I didn't know Jason even had a statham
( Jason's tatham).
Edit: I was just reading on how parsing strings of words seems natural for natives but difficult for others.
 
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  • #8,045
On a more practical matter, my Android phone is not recognizing/reacting to QR codes.

@Wrichik Basu : I did a search did not find much helpful. Can you suggest something?
 
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  • #8,046
WWGD said:
There are possible worlds where possible worlds don't exist.
So in that world, this is not a possible world. Therefore we do not exist.

No...wait...
 
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  • #8,047
Ivan Seeking said:
So in that world, this is not a possible world. Therefore we do not exist.

No...wait...
Attn Kurt Godel.
 
  • #8,048
Over the course of the TV series House, they shot over 4000 miles of film.
 
  • #8,049
Ivan Seeking said:
Over the course of the TV series House, they shot over 4000 miles of film.
Is that a measured number or based off the number of hours televised?
 
  • #8,050
caz said:
Is that a measured number or based off the number of hours televised?
I don't know. But they specified 4076 miles.
 
  • #8,051
They did 177 episodes at about 40 minutes per. With 4076 miles of film, they ran at about 35 miles of film per hour.
 
  • #8,052
We are looking at a $3.5 trillion spending bill. Some people are objecting. They can see spending a trillion or two but at 3.5 trillion we are talking about real money!
 
  • #8,053
I may have missed the point of the show ' House' but it seemed pretty contrived to me often.
 
  • #8,054
WWGD said:
I may have missed the point of the show ' House' but it seemed pretty contrived to me often.
Yeah, you missed the point.
 
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  • #8,055
Ivan Seeking said:
Yeah, you missed the point.
Which is/was?
 
  • #8,056
WWGD said:
Which is/was?
Well if you don't know by now...
 
  • #8,057
Ivan Seeking said:
Well if you don't know by now...
Any good refs?
 
  • #8,058
WWGD said:
Any good refs?
LOL! What do you mean by contrived? It was a TV show. Of course it was contrived!

Contrived: deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously.
 
  • #8,059
Ivan Seeking said:
LOL! What do you mean by contrived? It was a TV show. Of course it was contrived!

Contrived: deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously.
Well, if read of many who had it in high esteem and believed in it at a " meta level", but never went into detail. I understand there is plenty of fluff on tv ( though I don't own one nowadays any more) but , still, shows that last as long usually have something substantial to them. Fluff only takes shows so far for so long.
 
  • #8,060
WWGD said:
I may have missed the point of the show ' House' but it seemed pretty contrived to me often.
I always thought that House was a medical version of Sherlock Holmes.
 
  • #8,061
Ivan Seeking said:
We are looking at a $3.5 trillion spending bill. Some people are objecting. They can see spending a trillion or two but at 3.5 trillion we are talking about real money!
While there are also political issues, the fundamental question is at which point do the unintended consequences of increased spending outway the direct benefits.
 
  • #8,062
WWGD said:
Well, if read of many who had it in high esteem and believed in it at a " meta level", but never went into detail. I understand there is plenty of fluff on tv ( though I don't own one nowadays any more) but , still, shows that last as long usually have something substantial to them. Fluff only takes shows so far for so long.
You can't make a show based on appendicitis.
 
  • #8,063
fresh_42 said:
You can't make a show based on appendicitis.
Actually, I know someone whose appendix went bad and a cyst formed around it. The person did not feel bad until ~1 year later when it cracked and started leaking. It took a couple of months to figure out what was happening at which point the person was rushed into emergency surgery. While they found gangrene, the person was basically back to normal within a couple of weeks.
Sounds like a House story.
 
  • #8,064
caz said:
While there are also political issues, the fundamental question is at which point do the unintended consequences of increased spending outway the direct benefits.
The real solution is to just hand out large sums of money to people my age. :)

So you only want to compare direct benefits to unintended consequences? How about unintended benefits? Clearly you assume that all unintended consequences are negative.
 
  • #8,065
Besides the fact that many medical problems found today that would not have been with previous technology, would not create ( serious) problems if they were just ignored.
 
  • #8,066
fresh_42 said:
You can't make a show based on appendicitis.
As usual , it seems we're being orthogonal to each other. This is not intended as a medical documentary. This is a vehicle to convey a message, not the message itself.
 
  • #8,067
Ivan Seeking said:
The real solution is to just hand out large sums of money to people my age. :)

So you only want to compare direct benefits to unintended consequences? How about unintended benefits? Clearly you assume that all unintended consequences are negative.
No, and I do not appreciate word parsers. There are known fiscal negatives to high taxes and high government spending. I believe that most people also recognize that there can be negative societal consequences as people become more and more dependent on the government. There can be positive unintended consequences, but I ask you to name one government spending program that should be increased without bound.
 
  • #8,068
caz said:
No, and I do not appreciate word parsers. There are known fiscal negatives to high taxes and high government spending. I believe that most people also recognize that there can be negative societal consequences as people become more and more dependent on the government. There can be positive unintended consequences, but I ask you to name one government spending program that should be increased without bound.
Not without bound , but government does certain things right. And private sector has its share of nepotism and other flaws. It may sound trite, but there is a valid middle of the road here.
 
  • #8,069
WWGD said:
As usual , it seems we're being orthogonal to each other. This is not intended as a medical documentary. This is a vehicle to convey a message, not the message itself.
The medical issues are the show's major means to create tension and arguments.
 
  • #8,070
WWGD said:
Not without bound , but government does certain things right. And private sector has its share of nepotism and other flaws. It may sound trite, but there is a valid middle of the road here.

Which was part of my original point

caz said:
While there are also political issues, the fundamental question is at which point do the unintended consequences of increased spending outway the direct benefits.
 
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