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criticizing the History Channel's focus on sensational topics like time travel conspiracies instead of real historical content.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.
  • #10,321
Borg said:
My wife and I have our names on Perseverance. It's pretty interesting to think about how there will be a record of us on Mars for probably a very long time.
Sub(extra?)terranean Martians in 100 years: the descendants of our invaders must be punished for the sins of their ancestors.
 
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  • #10,322
Mayhem said:
Sub(extra?)terranean Martians in 100 years: the descendants of our invaders must be punished for the sins of their ancestors.
They can punish me instead - as long as they bring me back to life first. :oldwink:
 
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  • #10,323
Ivan Seeking said:
I had forgotten about this! Our names [my ex and I] went on a CD sent to Mars on one of the Rovers.

View attachment 321841
Sorry that was supposed to be "wow" not "funny" the emojis look similar when it is early!
 
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  • #10,324
pinball1970 said:
Sorry that was supposed to be "wow" not "funny" the emojis look similar when it is early!
Just change it. PF allows you to change your mind.
 
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  • #10,325
jack action said:
Just change it. PF allows you to change your mind.
Yes, Just in case Ivan read it before I changed it.
 
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  • #10,326
Borg said:
My wife and I have our names on Perseverance. It's pretty interesting to think about how there will be a record of us on Mars for probably a very long time.
Maybe one day they will be retrieved.
 
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  • #10,327
What do you do when you're hungry but not too much so? Have a half a Halvah.
 
  • #10,328
Upcoming job interviews within my company... I'm really good at what I do but interviewing isn't one of those things. :oldruck:
 
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  • #10,329
Borg said:
Upcoming job interviews within my company... I'm really good at what I do but interviewing isn't one of those things. :oldruck:

I just did something I've never done before and wasn't sure how I did. But the boss just called to pat me on the back, so I guess I did okay.
 
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  • #10,330
I have started my undergraduate project in QM and I have concluded that electrons do not want to be studied.
 
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  • #10,331
Mayhem said:
I have started my undergraduate project in QM and I have concluded that electrons do not want to be studied.
They are generally very negative.
 
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  • #10,332
Ivan Seeking said:
They are generally very negative.
That's really the only thing you can say for certain about electrons.
 
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  • #10,333
Mayhem said:
That's really the only thing you can say for certain about electrons.
Electrons all look the same to me.
 
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  • #10,334
Mayhem said:
That's really the only thing you can say for certain about electrons.
Though not sure where electrons come into play in Quality Management.
 
  • #10,335
WWGD said:
Though not sure where electrons come into play in Quality Management.
Some of them come overweight and in disguise but are actually just lousy show-offs.
 
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  • #10,336
fresh_42 said:
Some of them come overweight and in disguise but are actually just lousy show-offs.
The rebels come with negative mass...
 
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  • #10,337
Excellent weather. We have officially started the gardening season. Mid-February, why not?
Nothing really serious, just moving some dirt around and cutting back the bushes.

Muscle pain (that's expected).

Sunburn. Now, that's totally unexpected 🥵
 
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  • #10,338
Valentine's Day in AZ?

Stupidity corrected halftime score: KC 10 - PE 7
 
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  • #10,339
Heck of a Super Bowl game KC 35 Philadelphia 35. 4:14 left in the game.
 
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  • #10,340
Oh man! It's too soon for this; especially with Travolta doing it. My heart still breaks every time I think about Olivia Newton John.

 
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  • #10,341
KC Chiefs win the Super Bowl. Folks are shooting off fireworks around here.
 
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  • #10,342
"Chat GPT" and "Bard" are two very unappealing names for a natural language A.I. chatbot.

Why not Einstein...Newton...etc?
 
  • #10,343
kyphysics said:
Why not Einstein...Newton...etc?
Would feel a bit like blasphemy. I would rather go with unappealing.

Also, all those complaining students... You can imagine:wink:
 
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  • #10,344
kyphysics said:
Why not Einstein...Newton...etc?
Because it would feel stupid to ask Einstein to write a hip-hop song in the style of Shakespeare.

It's an AI language model and has nothing to do with science.
 
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  • #10,345
kyphysics said:
"Chat GPT" and "Bard" are two very unappealing names for a natural language A.I. chatbot.

Why not Einstein...Newton...etc?
Reserve the good names for later. Once we get something like ChatGPT hooked up with Wolfram-Alpha + a super computer, we can think about using the good names. Imagine being able to draw a molecule and simply prompting "will this [do what we predict it will]?" and getting an answer in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee.

For the record - the entire purpose of using ML/AI would be to circumvent the issue of brute computation anyhow. IIRC a pharma company created an app where the goal is to fold proteins correctly, since apparently human intelligence is better at it than computers. Crazy huh.
 
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  • #10,346
You could always ask the AIs for some better names. :oldwink:
 
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  • #10,348
Train derailment in Ohio, near border with Pennsylvania, resulted in numerous tankcars leaking vinyl chloride, which caught fire, which cause production of HCl and phosgene gas. Video shows sparks and flames well before Ohio train derailment - 20 miles before actually.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/video-shows-sparks-flames-well-112900271.html
The video, obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was taken by a security camera at an equipment plant in Salem, Ohio. What appears to be sparks and flames can be seen in the video under one of the train cars as it passes the plant. The National Transportation Safety Board referenced the video at a news conference last week.

Looking at the video, it looks like the lead truck under a covered hopper car has failed; it could be a bearing failure leading to collapse of the truck, a wheel failure, or an axle failure. Railroad have wayside or trackside detectors to monitor trains for bad equipment. Clearly, it failed in this case. NTSB is investigating.

From the wreckage, some covered hoppers were carrying plastic materials.




Update/edit: Following the train derailment and control release and burn of vinyl chloride, animals in the area started dying.
Days after a catastrophic train derailment prompted officials to conduct a "controlled release" of the toxic chemicals onboard, animals are dying at alarming rates in East Palestine, Ohio.

A woman in North Lima, roughly 11 miles away from the village of East Palestine, where the crash occurred, checked on her chicken coop on February 7 only to find her five hens and rooster laying lifeless, with no sign of a predator entering their enclosure.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/streams-fish-coop-chickens-skulk-041933924.html
Worried that the materials could explode, sending deadly shrapnel flying up to a mile through the air, officials conducted a "controlled release" of the chemicals and burnt them, sending a toxic cloud of black smoke into the air.

"This will allow the material to come out of the tank car," Scott Deutsch, a Norfolk Southern Railroad official, said on Monday, prior to the fire, according to WKYC. "It will go into a pit and trench that we have dug and set up for this operation. Inside that trench will be flares lining that trench that then will light off the material."

Breshears' chickens weren't the only fatalities locals are attributing to the burn. Taylor Holzer, an East Palestine resident who rescues foxes, told Newsweek all four of his animals are experiencing signs of chemical exposure. One rescue fox had such severe symptoms it died before it could receive treatment.

While the animal deaths initially alarmed residents, human health problems are also beginning to appear, even among residents who initially evacuated the area.

Chelsea Simpson, who lives near the site of the derailment, told The New Republic she has had a sore throat since the burn, and her 8-month-old baby has suffered respiratory issues that are being treated with a steroid. Simpson said her eyes were bloodshot and burning after visiting her home for just 10 minutes a few days ago, and she has yet to return.
Edit/update2: "About 50 cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed Feb. 3 in the Ohio village of East Palestine. No one was injured in the derailment that investigators said was caused by a broken axle."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/lawsuit-seeks-medical-testing-toxic-215150758.html

Edit/update3: 'Bomb train' derailed. We are suffering pain of the hit. Call Biden, Gov. Dewine| Opinion
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bomb-train-derailed-suffering-pain-153009550.html

Edit/update4: https://www.yahoo.com/news/rural-ohio-facing-comparisons-chernobyl-005056522.html
Following the February 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, users on social media began sharing photos of an ominous black cloud hanging over the town — and fears that the disaster would become the new Chernobyl.

A fire engulfed a Norfolk Southern train after 50 of its 150 cars derailed. The train carried 10 cars full of hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, a colorless gas used in the creation of the plastic PVC, which was released as a result of the derailment. In sunlight, it can be broken down into chemicals like formaldehyde.

Other flammable chemicals, like ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, and isobutylene were also present in the cars and released into the environment, according to a list compiled by the EPA.
It's more like Bhopal.

Edit/update5: Some critics fault NS handling of the toxic spill and fire.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/rail-com...ohio-train-derailment-response-184948934.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/dangerous-ohio-chemical-train-derailment-193220326.html

https://apnews.com/article/videos-d8daa6fc54fb4a8f86dec593ff48a7d2
Edit/update6: NS is being criticized and faulted for the derailment.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/railroads-self-inspect-track-cars-161855861.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-administration-considering-penalties-ohio-162925488.html
 
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  • #10,349
Ivan Seeking said:
The rebels come with negative mass...
Priest had a bad week?
 
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  • #10,350
Wonder what this says about Russia. Look at members of its air force. And notice it's a photo op by Putin, so these are likely not the worse.
And compare to the USAF
20230214_140328.jpg
20230214_140308.jpg
 
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