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

[beamie564]

Isn't it possible to just "de-quarantine" certain pages?

I don't know. I'm not very good when it comes to computer-related things.

 

[DennisN]

A mini series I really, really enjoyed:
The Night Manager (IMDB)
The night manager of a Cairo hotel is recruited to infiltrate an arms dealer's inner circle.
Trailer:

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

A mini series I really, really enjoyed:
The Night Manager (IMDB)
The night manager of a Cairo hotel is recruited to infiltrate an arms dealer's inner circle.
Trailer:

I never heard of that one, but I'm not even going to look at that trailer. I've become hooked to the 2016 version of Voltron...that's enough craze for one year

 

[WWGD]

This dude keeps misspelling ( or so I hope) , repeatedly asking me to massage (message, I hope) him when I am ready.

 

[fresh_42]

This dude keeps misspelling ( or so I hope) , repeatedly asking me to massage (message, I hope) him when I am ready.

Be careful! I would quote Pulp Fiction now but my Tarantino quotes are usually censored here.

 

[WWGD]

Be careful! I would quote Pulp Fiction now but my Tarantino quotes are usually censored here.

Ok, just enjoy your Royale with cheese for now ;).

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

This dude keeps misspelling ( or so I hope) , repeatedly asking me to massage (message, I hope) him when I am ready.

Would you mind if I use that for a comic strip punchline?

 

[WWGD]

Would you mind if I use that for a comic strip punchline?

No problem, just please send me a link to it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

This dude keeps misspelling ( or so I hope) , repeatedly asking me to massage (message, I hope) him when I am ready.

Maybe he is a fan of Marshal McLuhan.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think the Batman was almost certainly a large owl.

 

[fresh_42]

I think the Batman was almost certainly a large owl.

That's an interesting equation:
hitter = batter = batman = large owl = Eurasian eagle-owl

But why in the world do you call them Padres = fathers? I could understand Pennae = feathers. Is this again a misspelling thing?

 

[WWGD]

I think the Batman was almost certainly a large owl.

The weird thing is that the person in question is in a position usually held by people with degrees in areas such as History,
English, Communications, etc. that require a lot of reading and writing so that it is strange that s/he misspelled a relatively
common word.

 

[zoobyshoe]

The weird thing is that the person in question is in a position usually held by people with degrees in areas such as History,
English, Communications, etc. that require a lot of reading and writing so that it is strange that s/he misspelled a relatively
common word.

Which position? Batman or large owl?

 

[Sophia]

The weird thing is that the person in question is in a position usually held by people with degrees in areas such as History,
English, Communications, etc. that require a lot of reading and writing so that it is strange that s/he misspelled a relatively
common word.

Maybe they wrote on mobile and it changed the word. It happens all the time to me.

 

[WWGD]

Maybe they wrote on mobile and it changed the word. It happens all the time to me.

Could be, could also be auto-correct; it was a text message after all.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Could be he is a fan of Marshal McLuhan, who, incidentally, was almost certainly a large owl.

 

[zoobyshoe]

 

[JorisL]

On the topic of birds

 

[The Illusive Man]

 

[Sophia]

First time when I gained something by being an annoying customer!
There was a technical problem with my order from Amazon and I wrote to customer service a few times with no reply on time. I got annoyed and said I was not satisfied with their services.
In reply, they said I don't have to pay the shipping cost (8€)!

I'm writing this because this sort of customer service is still not so widespread here (though it's getting much better recently) and mainly, I've never been so rude to the seller before!

 

[zoobyshoe]

First time when I gained something by being an annoying customer!
There was a technical problem with my order from Amazon and I wrote to customer service a few times with no reply on time. I got annoyed and said I was not satisfied with their services.
In reply, they said I don't have to pay the shipping cost (8€)!

I'm writing this because this sort of customer service is still not so widespread here (though it's getting much better recently) and mainly, I've never been so rude to the seller before!

We have a saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the oil." The meaning is that, only those who complain will get their problems addressed; it's assumed those who don't complain are satisfied.

In the case of ebay and Amazon, they take your money first, then you are at their mercy as to timely customer service. I don't think it's rude to say you're not satisfied when you aren't, under those circumstances.

 

[Sophia]

We have a saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the oil." The meaning is that, only those who complain will get their problems addressed; it's assumed those who don't complain are satisfied.

In the case of ebay and Amazon, they take your money first, then you are at their mercy as to timely customer service. I don't think it's rude to say you're not satisfied when you aren't, under those circumstances.

Added the saying to my vocab list :-)
In this case, the problem was that they didn't take my money, even when there was no error message and I was told that "your order was lost in the system" :-)
I know I'm crazy but I ordered the new kindle Oasis. The reason is I like reading but I'm mainly sentenced to reading eBooks because the only book shop in my town has bankrupted a long time ago and the average book age in the library is about 20-30 years. There are some new books, but mainly crime novels which I can read if I'm bored, but it's not something I enjoy much.

 

[Ibix]

Apropos of a post I made in the Lame Jokes thread, here's a famous site in the UK:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)

Remember that we drive on the left. Readers in countries who drive on the wrong (right) side of the road may find this more comprehensible viewed in a mirror. Or not.

 

[fresh_42]

Apropos of a post I made in the Lame Jokes thread, here's a famous site in the UK:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)

Remember that we drive on the left. Readers in countries who drive on the wrong (right) side of the road may find this more comprehensible viewed in a mirror. Or not.

I always assumed the roundabouts are a British fetish, but a roundabout of roundabouts? Who designed it? Terry Jones?

 

[zoobyshoe]

In this case, the problem was that they didn't take my money, even when there was no error message and I was told that "your order was lost in the system" :-)

That's one I haven't run into before.

I know I'm crazy but I ordered the new kindle Oasis. The reason is I like reading but I'm mainly sentenced to reading eBooks because the only book shop in my town has bankrupted a long time ago and the average book age in the library is about 20-30 years. There are some new books, but mainly crime novels which I can read if I'm bored, but it's not something I enjoy much.

I guess bookstores are not a very lucrative kind of business. Quite a few have closed down here as well. The San Diego Public Library system is doing very well, but, to tell you the truth, I don't know how it operates, where the funding comes from.

 

[jim hardy]

the average book age in the library is about 20-30 years.

What genre do you like to read ?

Some of my most memorable reads were very dated library books
Nonfiction Adventure:
Lowell Thomas's fascinating accounts of World War 1 German sailors, 'Raiders of the Deep" about early U-boats
and "The Sea Devil" a sailing merchant raider that sank 100,000 tons of Allied shipping

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Seeadler_(1888) ) ;

Lindbergh's "Spirit of St Louis";
Joshua Slocum's "Sailing alone around the world", actually not from library but loaned by another PF member...
Farley Mowatt's "Never Cry Wolf"
Fiction(barely)
"Spoon River Anthology", precursor to modern psycho-drama .
Terror: Frank Herbert's "White Plague" (I was sure i remembered that one by Michael Crichton though)

I know one shouldn't judge them by their covers but i find myself reaching for old cloth bound books just to see what they're about.

 

[Sophia]

What genre do you like to read ?

Some of my most memorable reads were very dated library books
Nonfiction Adventure:
Lowell Thomas's fascinating accounts of World War 1 German sailors, 'Raiders of the Deep" about early U-boats
and "The Sea Devil" a sailing merchant raider that sank 100,000 tons of Allied shipping

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Seeadler_(1888) ) ;

Lindbergh's "Spirit of St Louis";
Joshua Slocum's "Sailing alone around the world", actually not from library but loaned by another PF member...
Farley Mowatt's "Never Cry Wolf"
Fiction(barely)
"Spoon River Anthology", precursor to modern psycho-drama .
Terror: Frank Herbert's "White Plague"

I know one shouldn't judge them by their covers but i find myself reaching for old cloth bound books just to see what they're about.

I'll look into blurbs of those books. I might like them. They remind me of All Quiet on the Western Front and Old Man and the Sea, which I enjoyed despite the fact that they were compulsory reading :D
Nowadays, I enjoy reading fantasy and non-fiction (currently reading: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316051632/?tag=pfamazon01-20 and https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KUQIU7O/?tag=pfamazon01-20)
Besides that, I read biographies (e.g. Ramanujan and Marie Curie) and books about mental health. Also detective novels and YA a couple times a year, though they are not my favourite genres, but sometimes I just need to relax with something easy.
I also read about various religions from time to time, although not as often as I used to.
You're right, I am thinking about reading older classical books, mainly high school obligatory literature that I haven't read when I was supposed to.

 

[zoobyshoe]

@Sophia:

Here's a link to the SanDiego Public Library site:

https://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/about-the-library/advocacy

As you can see, it is part of the city government and is funded by city government money just like the city police, etc. So, it is not Federal or State, but local government behind it. More importantly, it also actively solicits donations from private individuals. There is a whole dedicated team, the San Diego Public Library Foundation, that works at that full time. A couple years ago the library constructed a new main library in downtown San Diego, which was very expensive. They boasted that this was all done by donations, without using city money. An indication that their fundraising efforts are quite successful and are really what keeps the system so healthy.

I suppose your library system there is limping along on some very minimal government money and your country hasn't discovered the possibility of fortifying it with fundraising.

 

[jim hardy]

They remind me of All Quiet on the Western Front and Old Man and the Sea, which I enjoyed despite the fact that they were compulsory reading :D

I recently (re)read Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" which of course inspired movie "Apocalypse Now". Amazing how different it seems now than it did in my youth. Then it was an adventure, now it's a character study .

 

[Sophia]

@Sophia:

Here's a link to the SanDiego Public Library site:

https://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/about-the-library/advocacy

As you can see, it is part of the city government and is funded by city government money just like the city police, etc. So, it is not Federal or State, but local government behind it. More importantly, it also actively solicits donations from private individuals. There is a whole dedicated team, the San Diego Public Library Foundation, that works at that full time. A couple years ago the library constructed a new main library in downtown San Diego, which was very expensive. They boasted that this was all done by donations, without using city money. An indication that their fundraising efforts are quite successful and are really what keeps the system so healthy.

I suppose your library system there is limping along on some very minimal government money and your country hasn't discovered the possibility of fortifying it with fundraising.

That's definitely true. Fundraising here is still "in diapers", as we say. it's still not a part of the culture, mainly because the economical situation in this area is poor and most people can't afford to donate. If they do, they choose health projects or helping young children.

I once brought a large bag of my books to the library. They were new and in a very good condition and the librarian was very happy about that! She told me that people do bring their old books, but they are mainly books after deceased relatives, which are often the same that already are present in the library or are outdated (e.g. there's a large collection of science books and textbooks from 1950-1990 and classical literature). They do buy a few new books each year, but it's mainly YA and detective novels, which as I said, are not my preferred genres. I think that the majority of money goes to the children's section because they feel that education should be their priority so not much money is left for the adults.