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

[Sophia]

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zungenbrecher (Beispiele = Examples; audios included)

And don't think "She sells sea shells ..." is easier. Or my favorite word: clothes. Who the heck had the idea to place a "th" and an "s" directly together?

Th sound is my favourite!
If I concentrate on each word and speak very slowly, I can pronounce it correctly. But usually, in my average speaking attempt, I just pronounce it as "t" or "d" .
However, th is a piece of cake compared to Czech ř ! I only managed to get it right several times and when my Czech friends told me it was great and I tried to repeat it, I was never successful the second time :-)

 

[fresh_42]

Th sound is my favourite!
If I concentrate on each word and speak very slowly, I can pronounce it correctly. But usually, in my average speaking attempt, I just pronounce it as "t" or "d" .
However, th is a piece of cake compared to Czech ř ! I only managed to get it right several times and when my Czech friends told me it was great and I tried to repeat it, I was never successful the second time :-)

Isn't it something like "iersh" with very little pronunciation on the "er"? Would be easier to describe in a language that doesn't abuse its letters to a random output. Have you tried Hungarian "something + y", like négy, nagy or hely?

 

[Pepper Mint]

... Or my favorite word: clothes. Who the heck had the idea to place a "th" and an "s" directly together?

I pronounce it /clo:z/ because /clo:thz/ is difficult.

 

[Sophia]

Isn't it something like "iersh" with very little pronunciation on the "er"? Would be easier to describe in a language that doesn't abuse its letters to a random output. Have you tried Hungarian "something + y", like négy, nagy or hely?

yes, that's the sound I mean :) something between r and sh
Hungarian "gy" is the same as ď in my language, so it's natural for me :)

 

[Psinter]

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zungenbrecher (Beispiele = Examples; audios included)

And don't think "She sells sea shells ..." is easier. Or my favorite word: clothes. Who the heck had the idea to place a "th" and an "s" directly together?

I just listened to it because I cannot read anything in that page .

To me, German pronunciation* was the only easy aspect of the language. German grammar, on the other, was a big challenge for me.

*(Even though I didn't recall the meaning of Schlüsselaustausch when I read your post, I could pronounce it. I did recall enough to know it has something to do with keys though. German spellers are more inclined to make compound words than are English spellers, and that aspect could sometimes throw me when asked to spell things.)

You know German? That's cool . I can count with the fingers of one hand the words I know in German .

 

[fresh_42]

I just listened to it because I cannot read anything in that page .

You wanted to feed Google Translate. So you could copy and paste any line from there. That's been my idea.

You know German? That's cool . I can count with the fingers of one hand the words I know in German .

Well, you probably know Eigenvektor. Not much of a difference. Or Ansatz. And many words which are basically the same: Substitution, Addition, Multiplikation, ... plus many latin words or very old Indo-European words which are only written slightly different.
(And by the way: Instead of trying "Schlüsselaustausch" you may well say key exchange, it's a 1:1 translation. Much more fun are the words that cannot be translated without changing their meaning or at least their connotation.)

A propos key exchange: Have a look what I've recently found on Wiki:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffie-Hellman-Schlüsselaustausch#/media/File:Alice-bob-eve.jpg

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Unless it is just a random thought .

Yes, it was. Our conversation was getting less random so I had to take drastic measures. I could never study medicine as the prospect of being a doctor is horrific.
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I used to find it funny when non-native English speakers found certain sounds difficult to make, but then I started foreign language classes and met a bunch of bilingual people at my school so now the joke's on me that I can't pronounce other language's words/sounds.

I've gotten to the point where I can understand a complete conversation in Spanish, but French was a failure, German (although a beautiful sounding language) is too hard, and Arabic is impossible. Hopefully Dutch will treat me better.
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Random thought: The Indian population in Silicon Valley is massive. I thought that Indians going into computer science was a stereotype but I guess it's not.

 

[Psinter]

You wanted to feed Google Translate. So you could copy and paste any line from there. That's been my idea.

I was a little slow to catch up, but I did it a few moments later, after hearing the ogg file.

Well, you probably know Eigenvektor. Not much of a difference. Or Ansatz. And many words which are basically the same: Substitution, Addition, Multiplikation, ... plus many latin words or very old Indo-European words which are only written slightly different.
(And by the way: Instead of trying "Schlüsselaustausch" you may well say key exchange, it's a 1:1 translation. Much more fun are the words that cannot be translated without changing their meaning or at least their connotation.)

In German I had heard non of those words. Now I have. Thanks. The words I knew were "nein" and "mein". That was about it. Something I don't quite understand is why if it is German it says "de.wikipedia..." I thought it should say "ge.wikipedia..." Let me investigate why... google google google... Oh, I see. Look:

Some codes are chosen based on the native names of the countries. For example, Germany is assigned the alpha-2 code DE, based on its native name "Deutschland".

They are using ISO 639-1 instead of 639-2/B which is "ger".

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffie-Hellman-Schlüsselaustausch#/media/File:Alice-bob-eve.jpg

Hihi. Eve is dropping it.

Yes, it was. Our conversation was getting less random so I had to take drastic measures. I could never study medicine as the prospect of being a doctor is horrific.
------------------------------------------------------
I used to find it funny when non-native English speakers found certain sounds difficult to make, but then I started foreign language classes and met a bunch of bilingual people at my school so now the joke's on me that I can't pronounce other language's words/sounds.

I've gotten to the point where I can understand a complete conversation in Spanish, but French was a failure, German (although a beautiful sounding language) is too hard, and Arabic is impossible. Hopefully Dutch will treat me better.
------------------------------------------------------
Random thought: The Indian population in Silicon Valley is massive. I thought that Indians going into computer science was a stereotype but I guess it's not.

Now you are Profusely Random .

 

[collinsmark]

Something I don't quite understand is why if it is German it says "de.wikipedia..." I thought it should say "ge.wikipedia..." Let me investigate why... google google google... Oh, I see. Look:

Yeah, in the German tongue the German language is "Deutsch" and the country is "Deutschland." For that bit of confusion I place the blame on the English language though (probably dates back to the Romans). I mean, imagine the conversation:

Dave: Hello! I'm called Dave. How do you do?
Earl: Hello, Gerald. My name is Earl. Pleased to meet you.
Dave: Pleased to meet you too, Earl. [Pause.] But I think you misunderstood. My name's Dave.
Earl: Yeah, whatever you say, Gerald.
Dave: [Another pause.] That's Dave.
Earl: Gerald.
Dave: [Scratches head.] Are you doing this on purpose?​

 

[fresh_42]

The word "deutsch" derives from Teutonic (who lived in Jutland, Denmark) which was one of the many germanic tribes.
"Teutonic ... probably via Celtic from Proto-Germanic *theudanoz, from PIE (Proto-Indo-European) *teuta-, the common word for "people, tribe" (source also of Lithuanian tauto, Oscan touto, Old Irish tuath, Gothic þiuda, Old English þeod "people, race, nation" - http://www.etymonline.com/

Germanic is Roman. ("... from Latin Germanus (adjective and noun, plural Germani), first attested in writings of Julius Caesar, who used Germani to designate a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul, of unknown origin and considered to be neither Latin nor Germanic." - http://www.etymonline.com/)

 

[zoobyshoe]

Can you use copper tubing in a condenser for making distilled water? Will the hot water vapor react with the copper to create some nasty compound? I'm thinking of distilling sea water to make fresh drinking water. Would the sea salts react with the copper if they came in contact?

 

[fresh_42]

Construction sites here say: yes. The electrolyte property of saltwater makes copper vulnerable and supports corrosion. They recommend hot-dip fully zinc-galvanized steel.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Construction sites here say: yes. The electrolyte property of saltwater makes copper vulnerable and supports corrosion. They recommend hot-dip fully zinc-galvanized steel.

Galvanized steel is a truly miserable material in any application, if you ask me.

I think my choices are stainless steel or stainless steel, for the condenser. The problem is, it's kind of on the expensive side.

 

[fresh_42]

Galvanized steel is a truly miserable material in any application, if you ask me.

I think my choices are stainless steel or stainless steel, for the condenser. The problem is, it's kind of on the expensive side.

Where do you plan to get the energy from? I've seen in a documentary that the Israelis use capillary effects and filters instead in an industrial sized plant.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Where do you plan to get the energy from? I've seen in a documentary that the Israelis use capillary effects and filters instead in an industrial sized plant.

This would be a personal emergency still, to be employed in the event of an earthquake. It would be powered by whatever was around that would burn; most likely wood.

 

[zoobyshoe]

So, there's this show called, "Dark Woods Justice," which follows real game wardens in the Pacific Northwest. They had a couple episodes about tree poachers. I'd never heard of tree poaching, but apparently it can be very lucrative. They have a particular maple tree that grows wild up there with very beautiful wood that is prized for certain guitars. This is the tree most poachers are after because one tree can net them $10,000 on average. They sneak way into the wilderness on public land, cut the trees down, and haul the wood out in pieces, and sell it on the black market. I thought the show was very interesting and, if I went into poaching, I think tree poaching would be the easiest kind: they're extremely easy to sneak up on and subdue.

 

[Sophia]

So, there's this show called, "Dark Woods Justice," which follows real game wardens in the Pacific Northwest. They had a couple episodes about tree poachers. I'd never heard of tree poaching, but apparently it can be very lucrative. They have a particular maple tree that grows wild up there with very beautiful wood that is prized for certain guitars. This is the tree most poachers are after because one tree can net them $10,000 on average. They sneak way into the wilderness on public land, cut the trees down, and haul the wood out in pieces, and sell it on the black market. I thought the show was very interesting and, if I went into poaching, I think tree poaching would be the easiest kind: they're extremely easy to sneak up on and subdue.

How awful! It makes me so sad when someone cuts trees!

—-------------

@Psinter today I think of you because you said it's so hot in your area all the time. We have 33C (91.4F) today and it is considered so serious that it was in the main News and there's a meteorological warning for some areas. They already recommend safety precautions in the news.
Now you must laugh at us the same way we laugh at areas who consider 10cm of snow a calamity :-)

 

[Pepper Mint]

Ohm is back! I see Ohm in online member list. I hope it's not someone else who is sharing Ohm's account on PF.

 

[Psinter]

This would be a personal emergency still, to be employed in the event of an earthquake. It would be powered by whatever was around that would burn; most likely wood.

I was going to tell you to use solar panels for the source of energy and a heating element to boil the water, but from my knowledge of current electronic elements in the market, the amount of wattage you will need to raise temperature over 100°C to cover an area big enough for even a small container of water (6 inches diameter) would make it too expensive. You would need at minimum 100W in solar panels. And that's expensive for the purpose. With that money you simply buy an ordinary survival fire distiller.

With the solar panel it would cost just a little less than a survival fire distiller. Just a little and depending on your choice of sellers, parts, and available tools, it may end up costing more than buying the distiller.

So yeah, I guess fire is less expensive and more effective.

How awful! It makes me so sad when someone cuts trees!

—-------------

@Psinter today I think of you because you said it's so hot in your area all the time. We have 33C (91.4F) today and it is considered so serious that it was in the main News and there's a meteorological warning for some areas. They already recommend safety precautions in the news.
Now you must laugh at us the same way we laugh at areas who consider 10cm of snow a calamity :-)

Ah don't worry. I recognize that the said temperature is hot. If the people of the area are not used to it, it is dangerous for them so I don't laugh at them. It may be normal for me, but for them, maybe they are not feeling well.

Wait, you get to see snow at your place sometimes? Yay, snow! I still haven't seen snow ever. The most I saw, and it was a super rarity, was that once at night, some rain fell mixed with small ice chunks. And that was only once. It was very rare. I went outside and stretched my hand to feel it and when one fell in my hand I was like: "Look! Dad! I caught one! I caught one! IT'S ICE! From the sky! Stretch your hand so you can catch one too before it stops!" I was so happy and playful.

Going back to topic, maybe you will find guys like this because of the temperature: (They would be like: "How's it going Sophie, it's hot outside today") (◠‿◠)

Spoiler

 

[Sophia]

IWait, you get to see snow at your place sometimes? Yay, snow! I still haven't seen snow ever. The most I saw, and it was a super rarity, was that once at night, some rain fell mixed with small ice chunks. And that was only once. It was very rare. I went outside and stretched my hand to feel it and when one fell in my hand I was like: "Look! Dad! I caught one! I caught one! IT'S ICE! From the sky! Stretch your hand so you can catch one too before it stops!" I was so happy and playful.

Going back to topic, maybe you will find guys like this because of the temperature: (They would be like: "How's it going Sophie, it's hot outside today") (◠‿◠)

Spoiler

Hahaha your remark about starting a conversation made me laugh! ) It's true that I saw a couple of shirtless guys today. But they probably don't go to gym often. Or less than the guy in the picture :)
I like your description of catching a piece of ice! It must have been quite an experience.
We do get snow but much less often compared to my childhood. We would go sleighing all the winter. Often, our small river froze and we walked and slid on ice. Some winters, even small artificial waterfalls froze and we climbed on them as if they were hills :) I wouldn't dare to do so today, but I was young then, must have been younger than 10- 11 and didn't see the danger of it.
Maybe I'll send you some snow in one of those portable fridges in the winter :) It'll be my Christmas present for you :)

 

[Ibix]

It is ridiculously hot here. I was preparing dinner and my six year old son came into the kitchen wearing just shorts, with a crown and red cape from his king costume. Without thinking, I bellowed "This! Is! Spartaaaaaa!"

He thought it was hilarious.

It is possible I will live to regret this.

 

[fresh_42]

It is ridiculously hot here. I was preparing dinner and my six year old son came into the kitchen wearing just shorts, with a crown and red cape from his king costume. Without thinking, I bellowed "This! Is! Spartaaaaaa!"

He thought it was hilarious.

It is possible I will live to regret this.

You better hope he won't establish spartan legislation and other aspects of the spartan society!

 

[Psinter]

Hahaha your remark about starting a conversation made me laugh! ) It's true that I saw a couple of shirtless guys today. But they probably don't go to gym often. Or less than the guy in the picture :)
I like your description of catching a piece of ice! It must have been quite an experience.
We do get snow but much less often compared to my childhood. We would go sleighing all the winter. Often, our small river froze and we walked and slid on ice. Some winters, even small artificial waterfalls froze and we climbed on them as if they were hills :) I wouldn't dare to do so today, but I was young then, must have been younger than 10- 11 and didn't see the danger of it.
Maybe I'll send you some snow in one of those portable fridges in the winter :) It'll be my Christmas present for you :)

The river freezing actually sounds very cool. That must have been enjoyable. And the waterfalls too! It sounds like a lot of fun.

It is ridiculously hot here. I was preparing dinner and my six year old son came into the kitchen wearing just shorts, with a crown and red cape from his king costume. Without thinking, I bellowed "This! Is! Spartaaaaaa!"

He thought it was hilarious.

It is possible I will live to regret this.

Hahaha! That sounds funny.

 

[fresh_42]

We do get snow but much less often compared to my childhood. We would go sleighing all the winter. Often, our small river froze and we walked and slid on ice. Some winters, even small artificial waterfalls froze and we climbed on them as if they were hills :)

I am longing for such a scenario. 300° (here and now) are definitely 40° too many.

 

[Sophia]

I am longing for such a scenario. 300° (here and now) are definitely 40° too many.

You're so right! When it's cold, you only have to put on more clothes and you are fine. But when it's hot and you are (almost) naked, there's not much you can do. You can have an ice-cream or cold drink, but that won't last for long I wish we had air-condition both at home and at work!

 

[Pepper Mint]

You're so right! When it's cold, you only have to put on more clothes and you are fine. But when it's hot and you are (almost) naked, there's not much you can do. You can have an ice-cream or cold drink, but that won't last for long I wish we had air-condition both at home and at work!

You are right. I also like winter. I remember I once slipped on an icy ground due to previous night's snow fall while waiting at the traffic lights to cross the street. No one cared how perfect my slip was when I was almost lying on the ground though. To most of them it seemed probably common or it was their common sense not to laugh when witnessing people's miseries. hehe
I like having an ice cream while strolling downtown with my friends in hot summer nights.

 

[Borg]

Every once in a while I am reminded that I still haven't seen every form of stupidity. I was leaving a grocery store when a man drove his car to the front of the store, opened his trunk and removed a small animal trap with a squirrel in it. Then, within 10 feet of the doors with lots of people coming and going, he actually released it right there. The squirrel was so terrified that it didn't know where it was going and could have easily run directly into the store where the results would have been completely chaotic. I'll never understand what some people are thinking.

 

[Sophia]

Every once in a while I am reminded that I still haven't seen every form of stupidity. I was leaving a grocery store when a man drove his car to the front of the store, opened his trunk and removed a small animal trap with a squirrel in it. Then, within 10 feet of the doors with lots of people coming and going, he actually released it right there. The squirrel was so terrified that it didn't know where it was going and could have easily run directly into the store where the results would have been completely chaotic. I'll never understand what some people are thinking.

Haha maybe he wants to revenge to the store for something they've done to him. But in that case, rats or mice would have been a better choice :-)

 

[Borg]

Haha maybe he wants to revenge to the store for something they've done to him. But in that case, rats or mice would have been a better choice :-)

I'll make sure not to get on your bad side.

It's a brand new complex and the store has only been open for less then two months. I can't imagine what the store could have done in the short time that it has been open.

 

[Ibix]

Maybe they sold him a faulty squirrel?

It does sound like there's a back story there somewhere. Why would the front of a shop seem like a sensible place to release a squirrel, regardless?