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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.

  • #8,371
My random thought of the day is a random question:

Have you ever been fearful of leaving a negative business review (Yelp!, Google Reviews, etc.) out of concern the person/business may retaliate against you?
 
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  • #8,372
kyphysics said:
My random thought of the day is a random question:

Have you ever been fearful of leaving a negative business review (Yelp!, Google Reviews, etc.) out of concern the person/business may retaliate against you?
Are you dissing my business again??! Why do you think they track you down? Do you even have a fixed IP?
 
  • #8,373
collinsmark said:
"Satiated" is most commonly used as an adjective.

Furthermore, it is most commonly used as an adjective in the "subject nominative" in the predicate of the sentence. For example, after eating enough such that I'm no longer hungry, I might say, "I am satiated." Here, "satiated" functions as an adjective modifying "I."

Although it could, albeit less commonly, still be used as an adjective with a more direct modification, such as "The satiated collinsmark left the table after eating only two hot dogs."

It's even less common that it would be used as a verb, although you still could: "Let's make sure to satiate all our dinner guests by stuffing mashed potatoes down their throats before they have a chance to leave." That would be unusual, but grammatically acceptable.
You addressed 'Satiated', but you left the 'doch' out ;).
 
  • #8,374
It's pretty crazy to think that you could die literally any day. I guess most people assume they'll live for a decent amount of time before old-age or illness set in, but you could just as well get hit by a drunk-driver one day, or choke on an apple, or whatever. I guess people have deep-seated psychological predisposition to somehow doubting their own deaths... "oh, a freak accident? surely it'll never happen to me..."
 
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  • #8,375
ergospherical said:
It's pretty crazy to think that you could die literally any day. I guess most people assume they'll live for a decent amount of time before old-age or illness set in, but you could just as well get hit by a drunk-driver one day, or choke on an apple, or whatever. I guess people have deep-seated psychological predisposition to somehow doubting their own deaths... "oh, a freak accident? surely it'll never happen to me..."
I doubt I will ever ...argh...argh...
 
  • #8,376
WWGD said:
I doubt I will ever ...argh...argh...
Never mind, just a minor cough ;).
 
  • #8,377
It‘s not even December yet and I haven’t been able to find a coffee shop that hasn’t been playing Christmas music this morning… 🎄
 
  • #8,378
ergospherical said:
It‘s not even December yet and I haven’t been able to find a coffee shop that hasn’t been playing Christmas music this morning… 🎄
I know what you mean. And you can't do anything about it. And they always play ...

... and never ...

However, what you can do is change your assessment. Instead of being annoyed, I decided to feel remembered of the last time mankind was caught in an act of morality, caused by Christmas songs.
 
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  • #8,379
Random Pet Peeve of the Day
I hate when people (especially, relatives) come to your residence unannounced or "under-announced" (i.e., "Hey, I am in the neighborhood and dropping by in 10 minutes!"). ...

Ughhhhhhhhhhh, hell no! I need PREP TIME! I can't stand when people do this to me! Happens around holidays/birthdays a lot too. Not a party pooper, but HATE this experience. Sometimes I don't want to see that person and maybe there's a reason I haven't contacted them recently. ...Out of nowhere, they call to say they're "on the way." ...
 
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  • #8,380
The problems of popularity.
 
  • #8,381
BillTre said:
The problems of popularity.
It's strange, I'm not really that popular. Or maybe, I'm strange and not that popular. EDIT: I'm not that bad; I give people a pass, just like they do to me. Just when someone does it too often.
 
  • #8,382
WWGD said:
It's strange, I'm not really that popular. Or maybe, I'm strange and not that popular. EDIT: I'm not that bad; I give people a pass, just like they do to me. Just when someone does it too often.
I refer to egregious violators; I know we all do that to some extent, and don't want to be tiptoing around others. Just this lady recently at Sbux , who would see me using headphones while tapping at my PC and would start : Psst!, Psst!, across a few tables, doing that like 5x /hour, doing it each time I was there. Don't worry, I'm not that much of a hothead.
 
  • #8,383
A random bit of advice, frequently quoted in our family:
- If you can't find something, look again in the first place, only harder.
It's amazingly effective; presumably it works because you don't look very carefully when you're first trying to find something, and you only start getting more thorough when you're getting worried about not finding it.

[Edit: I see I previously posted this tip in the thread "Lost and Found" in 2014:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/lost-and-found.780338/post-4904750]
 
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  • #8,384
Jonathan Scott said:
look again in the first place, only harder.
Yes, it's amazing how junk can hide in the junk drawer.

Also, I misremember colours. I once looked all over for a red book. Turned out it was blue.
 
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  • #8,385
Keith_McClary said:
I once looked all over for a red book. Turned out it was blue.
Search image construction failure.
 
  • #8,386
Jonathan Scott said:
A random bit of advice, frequently quoted in our family:
- If you can't find something, look again in the first place, only harder.
It's amazingly effective; presumably it works because you don't look very carefully when you're first trying to find something, and you only start getting more thorough when you're getting worried about not finding it.

[Edit: I see I previously posted this tip in the thread "Lost and Found" in 2014:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/lost-and-found.780338/post-4904750]
Then why do I always find things in the last place I look?
 
  • #8,387
valenumr said:
Then why do I always find things in the last place I look?
Because it is automatically the last place if you found them.
 
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  • #8,388
Today I poured some leftover chicken tikka masala sauce over a couple of mince pies and served it with toast. I think I'm getting pretty good at this "life skills" thing. :oldbiggrin:
 
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  • #8,389
ergospherical said:
Today I poured some leftover chicken tikka masala sauce over a couple of mince pies and served it with toast. I think I'm getting pretty good at this "life skills" thing. :oldbiggrin:
I'm getting better at my "Microwaving" skills (Specially for skills that are microwavable) ;).
 
  • #8,390
fresh_42 said:
Because it is automatically the last place if you found them.
I prefer to keep looking anyway, just in case.
 
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  • #8,391
valenumr said:
I prefer to keep looking anyway, just in case.
I remember a similar exchange recently between 3 people A,B, C:

A ( to B) : Hey, they're setaling your car
B: I don't have a car
C: Then you better hurry and go there.
 
  • #8,392
They advertise a shower lotion with 97% biologically degradable. What the heck are the remaining 3% made of? Sand?
 
  • #8,393
fresh_42 said:
They advertise a shower lotion with 97% biologically degradable. What the heck are the remaining 3% made of? Sand?
It reminds me of : " We don't experiment on animals". What else is there? I guess they experiment on people.
 
  • #8,394
WWGD said:
It reminds me of : " We don't experiment on animals". What else is there? I guess they experiment on people.
Yes. I think similar if they say "With brand new formula!" or "Now better than ever!" What have they sold until then? Crap?
 
  • #8,395
fresh_42 said:
They advertise a shower lotion with 97% biologically degradable. What the heck are the remaining 3% made of? Sand?
Probably petroleum.
 
  • #8,396
WWGD said:
It reminds me of : " We don't experiment on animals". What else is there? I guess they experiment on people.
Experiments can be also done in vitro (meaning in glass, like cells in a petri plate).
It depends what you are testing for. For some purposes animals (or people) can be replaced, for some they can't.
 
  • #8,397
fresh_42 said:
They advertise a shower lotion with 97% biologically degradable. What the heck are the remaining 3% made of? Sand?
I saw one that was labeled "gluten free".
 
  • #8,398
valenumr said:
I saw one that was labeled "gluten free".
And I saw an apple juice labeled vegan. Besides the fact that I expect apples to be vegan, I also wondered how they guarantee that no worm will sneak in the process.
 
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  • #8,399
fresh_42 said:
They advertise a shower lotion with 97% biologically degradable. What the heck are the remaining 3% made of? Sand?
Sometimes I wonder how kitchen salt would becategorized. Is it degradable or not?
 
  • #8,400
I'm curious about yogurt spoiling. Isn't it essentially spoiled milk to start with?
 

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