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criticizing the History Channel's focus on sensational topics like time travel conspiracies instead of real historical content.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.
  • #10,561
berkeman said:
Was it qualified to survive the BLEVE from the gas truck catching fire and burning for a bit (then exploding)?

I Bleve it was.
 
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  • #10,562
WWGD said:
You use an app for a nap?

_nc_ohc=rwSzFPxSGqYAX--kf4F&_nc_ht=scontent-frt3-2.jpg
 
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  • #10,563
I understand Alan McManus quite well, and John Higgins not at all. Can someone explain this to me? I looked it up, their birth places are only 23km apart.
 
  • #10,565
I can't believe it's almost May and here in Kansas the temperature is 48°F.

edit: now it's the evening and it's 44°F.
 
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  • #10,566
Science is exciting. I just learned that the amount of melting permafrost can be determined by the lack of ##{}^{129\,}\mathrm I## in water. The gauge year is 1950. Heck, we polluted everything.
 
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  • #10,568
A glimpse into the near future?

He’s the first conversational holographic being — powered by ChatGPT
https://lookingglassfactory.com//uncle-rabbit

A really cool short demo clip on that page, where the rabbit completes the lyrics of a song.

Who would have thought SkyNet would start gathering info about humans in the form of rabbits instead of robots? 🙂
SkyNet is clever, very clever. We've got to prepare; time to start buying weapons and store them at various strategic locations. :smile:
 
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  • #10,569
Not sure if I like or hate " Lemon Swayze". It changes each time I listen to it.
 
  • #10,570
WWGD said:
I thought a YT video on sounds of the rainforest would help me sleep, relax. Instead, I feel like peeing every 10 minutes.
YT spaceship engine noises. Or, any B&W TV series playlist.
Astronuc said:
Man, 109, who still drives his car every day has simple tips for long life
Mostly, be the old guy driving the car, not the pedestrian crossing in front of it.
 
  • #10,571
fresh_42 said:
1681575373690-png.png


Why can't you go metric like any sane person in the world? Don't be afraid, it doesn't come with bare breasts or in rainbows!
Ha! You need three digits where one will do.

BTW, I can do metric fine, but I've never heard of other cup sizes. Why would they even define a metric cup? Wouldn't that be like saying that 25 cm was a metric foot?
 
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  • #10,572
fresh_42 said:
I understand Alan McManus quite well, and John Higgins not at all. Can someone explain this to me? I looked it up, their birth places are only 23km apart.
Just listened to both.

John Higgins talks a little faster, plus more pronounced Glaswegian accent and also more dialect, so actually saying a different word, an example.

Instead of "I hope he doesn't mind.."

He says " I hope he does ne mind"

"All I need is to pot the black" becomes, "Ol a need is to pot the black."

 
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  • #10,573
WWGD said:
I thought a YT video on sounds of the rainforest would help me sleep, relax. Instead, I feel like peeing every 10 minutes.
I use Bart Ehrman discussions.

He talks on different topics on ancient history.

His voice is soothing but engaging and somehow this makes me drift off.
 
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  • #10,574
berkeman said:
Was it qualified to survive the BLEVE from the gas truck catching fire and burning for a bit (then exploding)? :wink:

Yes.

Ten feet of specially reinforced concrete with 2 inches of armor plate steel inside and out. Standard CANDU containment.

Indeed, the modeling of the gas truck explosion was quite drastically conservative. There was some question as to where the worst point in the process of burn-then-explode was. A later explosion means more fuel has burned so the vault has had more time to heat up but less fuel to explode. But having to model that was tiresome. So they found a short-cut. They modeled a full load burning in place. Then a full load exploding in place. Effectively it's *TWO* gas trucks full of fuel, one to heat and one to explode. Not even a scratch.

My industry is good at finding conservative shortcuts of this type.

And the experiments are a lot of fun to watch. From a good safe distance. Here are a few tests of transport casks. Info from this type of test is used to validate the models of the containment. A CANDU vault is similar to these flasks except the walls are ten feet thick.



 
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  • #10,575
Grelbr42 said:
Here are a few tests of transport casks.
Wow, gotta love the creativity. Rocket-propelled locomotive!! :smile:

1682439926818.png
 
  • #10,576
pinball1970 said:
Just listened to both.

John Higgins talks a little faster, plus more pronounced Glaswegian accent and also more dialect, so actually saying a different word, an example.

Instead of "I hope he doesn't mind.."

He says " I hope he does ne mind"

"All I need is to pot the black" becomes, "Ol a need is to pot the black."


I understood his [Higgin's] post-game interview in the studio rather well. Not perfectly, but better than usual. There have been other times, especially when interviewed in the Arena, that it was far more difficult.

Btw.:
a) Whom do you want to win?
b) Who do you expect to win?

My answer (Ronnie, Si). And I insist to note that I was a Ronnie fan long before it became a trend! I remember the times when he was annoyed and left the game in the middle of a session!
 
  • #10,577
Screenshot 2023-04-24 at 3.36.32 PM.png
 
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  • #10,578
Colorado Is Not a Rectangle—It Has 697 Sides
The Centennial State is technically a hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/is-colorado-a-rectangle
there are only three states whose borders are entirely made up of straight lines: Utah, which would have been a rectangle if Wyoming hadn’t bitten a chunk out of its northeastern corner; Wyoming itself; and Colorado.

Except that they aren’t. for two distinct reasons: because the earth is round, and because those 19th-century surveyors laying out state borders made mistakes.

Congress defined the borders of Colorado as a geospherical rectangle, stretching from 37°N to 41°N latitude, and from 25°W to 32°W longitude. While lines of latitude run in parallel circles that don’t meet, lines of longitude converge at the poles.

This means that Colorado’s longitudinal borders are slightly farther apart in the south. So if you’d look closely enough, the state resembles an isosceles trapezoid rather than a rectangle. Consequently, the state’s northern borderline is about 22 miles (35 kilometers) shorter than its southern one. The same goes, mutatis mutandis, for Wyoming.
There's more.
 
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  • #10,579
fresh_42 said:
I understood his [Higgin's] post-game interview in the studio rather well. Not perfectly, but better than usual. There have been other times, especially when interviewed in the Arena, that it was far more difficult.

Btw.:
a) Whom do you want to win?
b) Who do you expect to win?

My answer (Ronnie, Si). And I insist to note that I was a Ronnie fan long before it became a trend! I remember the times when he was annoyed and left the game in the middle of a session!
Ronnie is a nut job, we do not understand him but when he is happy to play he is unparalleled.
To break the record would be something so I hope he does it.
I do not know enough about the other players form- been a while since I watched closely. Very surprised Judd Trump went out early.
 
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  • #10,580
pinball1970 said:
Ronnie is a nut job, we do not understand him but when he is happy to play he is unparalleled.
To break the record would be something so I hope he does it.
I do not know enough about the other players form- been a while since I watched closely. Very surprised Judd Trump went out early.
I remember the time when you could predict the result of a frame by looking at his face while sitting on his chair.
 
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  • #10,581
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  • #10,582
pinball1970 said:
Yes he can get so angry over nothing, at himself at everything!
Angry was ok, bored was the problem!
 
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  • #10,583
Old school power supplies needed to warm up before use.

Then there was some decades when they were just available right after switching them on.

These days they are booting up.
 
  • #10,584
Went morel (morchella) mushroom hunting today and realized I'm just getting too old to do all that walking
 
  • #10,585
I wonder how is it called when you feel forgetting something you have never known.
 
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  • #10,586
Rive said:
I wonder how is it called when you feel forgetting something you have never known.
Frustration!
 
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  • #10,587
Rive said:
I wonder how is it called when you feel forgetting something you have never known.
I know, from witnessing a family member's dementia, that memory problems can result not only in forgetting things that have happened, but also remembering things that haven't happened.
 
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  • #10,588
I wonder if I have something of an autistic thing going. I went to the store to look for something I thought I had left there a while backIt involved providing my credit card number or remembering the employee I had dealth with. I couldn't remember anything about the employee, but I had no problem remembering the 14 digits of my credit card, one I hadn't used in a while. I have trouble remembering faces, which doesn't quite help me become popular.
 
  • #10,589
Rive said:
I wonder how is it called when you feel forgetting something you have never known.

"Déjà foo"?
 
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  • #10,590
collinsmark said:
"Déjà foo"?
You meant "Déjà fou" or "Déjà folle"?
 
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