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

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    Random Thoughts
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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criticizing the History Channel's focus on sensational topics like time travel conspiracies instead of real historical content.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.
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  • #3,802
 
  • #3,803
That moment when you drive on your car and tell everyone talking too loud to shut up so you can see better.

:doh:
 
  • #3,804
Wonder if the Indy or Daytona 500 would be fun with self-driving cars?
 
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  • #3,805
This morning, as I sat waiting at a traffic light by myself, I looked up at the slowly moving clouds in the early morning light and thought to myself "heat exchangers".
 
  • #3,806
Borg said:
This morning, as I sat waiting at a traffic light by myself, I looked up at the slowly moving clouds in the early morning light and thought to myself "heat exchangers".
Yep. There's a nice word in my language to describe that. It cannot be translated in a way which covers all its connotations, so I'll describe it: "illness caused by profession".

cp. https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/you-know-youre-a-nerd-if.895558/#post-5633537
 
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  • #3,807
I kind of scoffed and laughed it off when a group of psychics did a ceremony to clear the city of evil spirits.
But then the landlord association decided to change their annual meeting outside of the city?
 
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  • #3,808
Still trying to understand eigenvalues/eigenvectors in Face recognition process. Instead of "Phase Space" we have an actual " Face Space" , and a notion of distance between faces ( to decide whether two faces belong to the same person). So why do some believe Mathematicians are weird?
 
  • #3,809
WWGD said:
Still trying to understand eigenvalues/eigenvectors in Face recognition process. Instead of "Phase Space" we have an actual " Face Space" , and a notion of distance between faces ( to decide whether two faces belong to the same person). So why do some believe Mathematicians are weird?
Distance is trivial. As you have match - doesn't match at the end of any process, the discrete metric is given. However, I assume the actual metric is a better example than this. But this is only my eigenopinion and maybe I should better grab my eigennose. I first typed eigennoise. Freud?
 
  • #3,810
fresh_42 said:
Distance is trivial. As you have match - doesn't match at the end of any process, the discrete metric is given. However, I assume the actual metric is a better example than this. But this is only my eigenopinion and maybe I should better grab my eigennose. I first typed eigennoise. Freud?
Well, Ok, yes, my bad, I was referring to the loss function used to decide whether two faces are equal or not. EDIT So we compute whether the faces are "close enough" to represent the same person.
 
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  • #3,811
WWGD said:
Still trying to understand eigenvalues/eigenvectors in Face recognition process. Instead of "Phase Space" we have an actual " Face Space" , and a notion of distance between faces ( to decide whether two faces belong to the same person). So why do some believe Mathematicians are weird?

This seems like a topic for the Eigenlounge

hmmm...
 
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  • #3,812
StoneTemplePython said:
This seems like a topic for the Eigenlounge

hmmm...
Eigen D#$% right!
 
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  • #3,814
I really miss Miss Miss(issippi). Sorry, couldn't help myself.
 
  • #3,815
WWGD said:
Still trying to understand eigenvalues/eigenvectors in Face recognition process. Instead of "Phase Space" we have an actual " Face Space" , and a notion of distance between faces ( to decide whether two faces belong to the same person). So why do some believe Mathematicians are weird?

what a difference a word makes...

in this vein -- if I tell non-mathematically inclined people "I really like decompositions" that could sound really strange, particularly if they watch a lot of CSI, right?

I suppose German speakers will think I'm saying that I like "die Komposition(s)"... so there's that.
 
  • #3,816
How do they give mice tumors in labs?

Over 100 million are killed in lab experiments in the US alone each year. I doubt they waste money on anesthetics either.
 
  • #3,817
StoneTemplePython said:
what a difference a word makes...

in this vein -- if I tell non-mathematically inclined people "I really like decompositions" that could sound really strange, particularly if they watch a lot of CSI, right?

I suppose German speakers will think I'm saying that I like "die Komposition(s)"... so there's that.
Yes, I remember a German ad with a baby telling her mom <Sarcasm/Joke> " Die mamma, die" . Which of course is ready for use outside of Germany without any translation.
 
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  • #3,818
skyshrimp said:
How do they give mice tumors in labs?

Over 100 million are killed in lab experiments in the US alone each year. I doubt they waste money on anesthetics either.
Yes, it's kind of disgusting. Can't one use computerized simulations? Besides, has anyone tested to what extent one can extrapolate from mice to people? Maybe that is what the book " Of mice and men" was about?
 
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  • #3,819
WWGD said:
Can't one use computerized simulations?
You can't test for unknown responses in animals with a computerized simulation that would require knowing the unknown responses before the simulation was made.

skyshrimp said:
How do they give mice tumors in labs?
Mice can be given tumors in many different ways.
There are some lines of mice that are genetically predisposed to developing tumors.
I have done it with an injection of hybridoma cells (kind of a liquid tumor) into the abdominal body cavity, to make the mice make a lot of monoclonal antibody.
I think in many cases, injecting a few cancerous cells of a solid tumor would produce a tumor, given enough time for it to grow.
Injections don't usually require anesthesia.
 
  • #3,820
BillTre said:
You can't test for unknown responses in animals with a computerized simulation that would require knowing the unknown responses before the simulation was made..
Yes, I had assumed a history of responses had been analyzed to be able to mimic "standard" mouse responses.
 
  • #3,821
WWGD said:
Yes, I remember a German ad with a baby telling her mom <Sarcasm/Joke> " Die mamma, die" . Which of course is ready for use outside of Germany without any translation.

No joke:

I was riding on the muni bus in San Francisco late-ish one night just a few years ago. A passenger standing in front was facing everyone and wearing an all black t-shirt with white letters on it that said "die Techies, die". My first thought was oh, isn't that quaint an American guy with a t-shirt saying "die Techniscie " whatever. Then I did a double take and realized it had absolutely nothing to do with German.
 
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  • #3,822
StoneTemplePython said:
No joke:

I was riding on the muni bus in San Francisco late-ish one night just a few years ago. A passenger standing in front was facing everyone and wearing an all black t-shirt with white letters on it that said "die Techies, die". My first thought was oh, isn't that quaint an American guy with a t-shirt saying "die Techniscie " whatever. Then I did a double take and realized it had absolutely nothing to do with German.
Why was he in SF of all places then?
 
  • #3,823
WWGD said:
Yes, I had assumed a history of responses had been analyzed to be able to mimic "standard" mouse responses.
I know very little about this, way less than you, I would just thought that mice are very simple organisms to model biochemically. But I know little about this and I don't want to overstep by spouting nonsense.
 
  • #3,824
I don't remember ever seeing a woman smoking a pipe nor tobacco.
 
  • #3,825
StoneTemplePython said:
No joke:

I was riding on the muni bus in San Francisco late-ish one night just a few years ago. A passenger standing in front was facing everyone and wearing an all black t-shirt with white letters on it that said "die Techies, die". My first thought was oh, isn't that quaint an American guy with a t-shirt saying "die Techniscie " whatever. Then I did a double take and realized it had absolutely nothing to do with German.
Reminds me of a story my English teacher at school once reported. He was on a bus in London and his neighbor started a conversation by: "It's a nice die to die, isn't it?" And no, it wasn't a Klingon.
 
  • #3,826
WWGD said:
I don't remember ever seeing a woman smoking a pipe nor tobacco.
Do self-rolled cigarettes count?
 
  • #3,827
Nine years ago, I installed wood floors in the living room and on two flights of stairs. I swore that I would never do that again.

Never say never...

This weekend, I started getting ready to install wood floors in all of the bedrooms. The boxes are over 50 lbs each and I carried 36 of them up two flights of stairs yesterday. :oldruck:

GettingStarted.JPG
 

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  • #3,828
fresh_42 said:
Reminds me of a story my English teacher at school once reported. He was on a bus in London and his neighbor started a conversation by: "It's a nice die to die, isn't it?" And no, it wasn't a Klingon.
Or when I (purposefully) asked for the singular for 'dice' and pretended not to hear the reply, just to embarrass my friend into shouting 'die,!die!, die!'
 
  • #3,829
WWGD said:
Or when I (purposefully) asked for the singular for 'dice' and pretended not to hear the reply, just to embarrass my friend into shouting 'die,!die!, die!'

I think this is part of a Curb episode, where someone sees/ overhears Larry saying this, and he gets in hot water with his dad's nursing home?
 
  • #3,830
StoneTemplePython said:
I think this is part of a Curb episode, where someone sees/ overhears Larry saying this, and he gets in hot water with his dad's nursing home?
Ah, just like faces are starting to repeat --more lookalikes are being found throughout the world -- it seems like the same is happening for jokes, in that the same joke is being created independently in different times, places.
 
  • #3,831
fresh_42 said:
Reminds me of a story my English teacher at school once reported. He was on a bus in London and his neighbor started a conversation by: "It's a nice die to die, isn't it?" And no, it wasn't a Klingon.

I had to work through this phonetically -- the klingon comment through me for a loop. (Bad callback:) I wonder if the neighbor was from Sydney?

- - - - -
WWGD said:
Why was he in SF of all places then?
I've seen a lot of outrageous stuff in that town. It ain't New York.
 
  • #3,832
StoneTemplePython said:
I wonder if the neighbor was from Sydney?
Australian and London sounds very similar, if you don't know them. My nephews can distinguish them, I can't. Scottish is phonetically even more strange. They often pronounce vowels as in languages, which pronounce what they write, i.e. most others. "a" and "o" are so to say "correct".
 
  • #3,833
fresh_42 said:
Australian and London sounds very similar, if you don't know them. My nephews can distinguish them, I can't. Scottish is phonetically even more strange. They often pronounce vowels as in languages, which pronounce what they write, i.e. most others. "a" and "o" are so to say "correct".
But I love it when they say watarrrrr!
 
  • #3,834
WWGD said:
I don't remember ever seeing a woman smoking a pipe nor tobacco.
I was following a pick-up truck in a southern state several years ago. There were two kids riding in the back; probably brother and sister around 10 or 11 years old. I was shocked when the little boy pulled a plug of tobacco out of his back pocked and bit off a big chunk. Then I was really shocked when the little girl pulled out her's and bit of a big chunk too. :oldsurprised:
 
  • #3,835
Have us, Millennials, inherited a no win situation?
 
  • #3,836
I cringe when I see someone texting or looking at the phone while crossing the street against a red light. Yet again
someone almost getting killed. I imagine the inner thoughts: "hmmm...read the text 30 seconds ahead , or be run over
by a car...hmmm... let me think".
 
  • #3,837
WWGD said:
hmmm... let me think
I'm sure that part doesn't apply. :oldeyes:
 
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  • #3,838
Borg said:
I'm sure that part doesn't apply. :oldeyes:
True, and I think there is an additional/parallel issue of self-centeredness/selfishness: " I am too busy checking my texts, let others pay attention instead , and I won't be bothered".
 
  • #3,839
WWGD said:
True, and I think there is an additional/parallel issue of self-centeredness/selfishness: " I am too busy checking my texts, let others pay attention instead , and I won't be bothered".
Especially fun are the ones who cross the center line and drive head-on at oncoming traffic with that attitude.
 
  • #3,840
Borg said:
Especially fun are the ones who cross the center line and drive head-on at oncoming traffic with that attitude.
Except when I am trying to cross the street at the same time :(.
 
  • #3,841
Why do people use reserved words so carelessly? Likelihood used in its everyday sense when talking about probability, ditto for Force when talking about Physics, function in Mathematics, etc. Are you using your words in an informal or in a technical sense? Please choose one, specify which one and then stick to it.
 
  • #3,842
fresh_42 said:
Do self-rolled cigarettes count?
Not sure, I have never seen a cigarette counting, but I will ask them next time.
 
  • #3,843
WWGD said:
Why do people use reserved words so carelessly? Likelihood used in its everyday sense when talking about probability, ditto for Force when talking about Physics, function in Mathematics, etc. Are you using your words in an informal or in a technical sense? Please choose one, specify which one and then stick to it.

The misuse of 'odds' is probably worse in everyday conversation. People who bet know the difference but an awful lot don't.

Function can be tricky given overloading between math and programming. Reminds me -- a friend recently interviewed a candidate who was 'an experienced programmer'. He asked the candidate: What is a function? Blank Stare. (Maybe that is an informal take on a function?)

That Oswald guy could probably give people pointers on this matter
 
  • #3,844
StoneTemplePython said:
Function can be tricky given overloading between math and programming. Reminds me -- a friend recently interviewed a candidate who was 'an experienced programmer'. He asked the candidate: What is a function? Blank Stare. (Maybe that is an informal take on a function?)
Kind of scary the high percentage of programming interviews that leave interviewees stumped, like a deer staring at headlights. 4+ years of writing programs down the drain.
 
  • #3,845
Non formal languages as used by people are highly context sensitive. Not really a new information.
 
  • #3,846
WWGD said:
Kind of scary the high percentage of programming interviews that leave interviewees stumped, like a deer staring at headlights. 4+ years of writing programs down the drain.

I think it should help to remember that excellent comeback from Guybrush Threepwood -- "I'm Shaking. I'm Shaking."

(provided you know about the monkey island)
 
  • #3,847
fresh_42 said:
Non formal languages as used by people are highly context sensitive. Not really a new information.
No, the problem is when they go back and forth between Formal and Non-Formal ones without caring to indicate which one they are using.
 
  • #3,848
I like these seemingly meaningful phrases that don't really mean anything : " That's like opening a checking account in the West Bank!". They are tricky because if you overdo it , it is clear you are speaking nonsense, and if you under do it they clearly have no meaning, so you have to straddle that narrow gray area.
 
  • #3,849
WWGD said:
No, the problem is when they go back and forth between Formal and Non-Formal ones without caring to indicate which one they are using.
You mean like me saying "I try to drive smoothly"? What I mean is ##C^\infty## but I doubt I'd be understood. At least nobody ever mentioned that it's impossible.
WWGD said:
They are tricky because if you overdo it
You can't overdo DADA. I love Dadaism.
https://www.lyrikline.org/de/gedichte/ottos-mops-1232
(Mops = pug, but be careful with the plural: xxx. This is really highly context sensitive. As long as there aren't several pugs around, you better don't use it.)
 
  • #3,850
fresh_42 said:
You mean like me saying "I try to drive smoothly"? What I mean is ##C^\infty## but I doubt I'd be understood. At least nobody ever mentioned that it's impossible.

You can't overdo DADA. I love Dadaism.
https://www.lyrikline.org/de/gedichte/ottos-mops-1232
(Mops = pug, but be careful with the plural: xxx. This is really highly context sensitive. As long as there aren't several pugs around, you better don't use it.)
Yo mama so fat, when she goes to a nude beach -- they ask her for a receipt!
 

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