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criticizing the History Channel's focus on sensational topics like time travel conspiracies instead of real historical content.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.
  • #3,401
fresh_42 said:
good old Wiki?
American. Here I've finally accepted that computers/search engines can do my sorting for me, and I have to do it? It seems like an appropriately constrained inquiry/search, and such an incongruous result. Perhaps it's a function of political correctness.
 
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  • #3,402
Bystander said:
American. Here I've finally accepted that computers/search engines can do my sorting for me, and I have to do it? It seems like an appropriately constrained inquiry/search, and such an incongruous result. Perhaps it's a function of political correctness.
Remember that Google customizes searches using your search history.
 
  • #3,404
fresh_42 said:
astronomers+USA+19th
Still forgetting the "plus" syntax; get a whole different set of results. Use it all the time for "imdb."
 
  • #3,405
WWGD said:
And/or to find the name of their favorite artist: actor/singer, etc. Do a search for any name ; when you enter a first name, Google will most likely suggest the last name of an artist. Similar for searches of any sort. EDIT: Re reinforcing prejudices, you have Google contributing to that: it tracks your search history and gives you results that somehow " best fit" your previous searches. It then keeps you in a small neighborhood of your experience set, of your previous searches.

WWGD said:
Remember that Google customizes searches using your search history.
Always make a point of moving past Google's "lazy/customized/assumed" approach.
 
  • #3,406
Bystander said:
Always make a point of moving past Google's "lazy/customized/assumed" approach.
How so? How do you do it? EDIT: Other than using a different search engine?
 
  • #3,407
WWGD said:
How so? How do you do it?
Keep typing until it's no longer offering the auto-completions.
 
  • #3,408
Bystander said:
Keep typing until it's no longer offering the auto-completions.
I always thought of how far down the answer you are looking for as a measure of how close to the mainstream you are: If what you are looking for is in the first listing, you are _the_ mainstream. If you repeatedly need to scroll down, you are pretty far away from the mainstream.
 
  • #3,409
WWGD said:
I always thought of how far down the answer you are looking for as a measure of how close to the mainstream you are: If what you are looking for is in the first listing, you are _the_ mainstream. If you repeatedly need to scroll down, you are pretty far away from the mainstream.
I regularly use Google as a connection test. Therefore I use words which guarantee me answers. Not the words I'm usually searching for.
My reputation at Google is definitely ruined.
 
  • #3,410
There are obviously as many ways "to google" as there are "googlers."
 
  • #3,411
I am remembering a nice sequence that generates all composites: S_n := 1+2+...+n ( Not easy to see without the closed form).

I remember I tried to determine a while back whether ##10^n+1 ; n>2 ## was always composite. Can't remember if I did or whether it is true. EDIT/UPDATE: True thru around n=45. My programming is too primitive to even do this. This means that in lazy, impatient Math, it _is_ true. EDIT2: It seems to be an open problem.
 
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  • #3,412
Bystander said:
There are obviously as many ways "to google" as there are "googlers."
I most often " Duck-Duckgo" instead of Googling. But I tend to get poor quality results from Google searches.
 
  • #3,413
darnit. I forgot to be no PF again.

hello
 
  • #3,414
fresh_42 said:
I regularly use Google as a connection test. Therefore I use words which guarantee me answers. Not the words I'm usually searching for.
My reputation at Google is definitely ruined.

BTW a word or phrase for which there is no google result is called a Googlenope

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Googlenope

I just got one with "effervescent peach berries"

One for which there is only one result is called a Goolewhack: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googlewhack

I don't know even where to start...
 
  • #3,415
Googlenope du jour -
the YAHOO spammers that are harassing me "honanmolviantebeauties.com"

i'm about to set an email filter to automatically forward them all to CEO of Yahoo's parent company Verizon, one Lowell McAdam
 
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  • #3,416
dkotschessaa said:
darnit. I forgot to be no PF again.

hello
Hello! Life getting in the way of important stuff like PF?
 
  • #3,417
Had a surprisingly bad night (woken several times by acid indigestion) a couple of nights ago. Today my wife picked up a magazine off the the coffee table and a ranitidine tablet fell off it, somehow having been hidden in the illustration on the front. It's good to know the explanation for the bad night; medication works better if you actually take it.
 
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  • #3,418
Jonathan Scott said:
medication works better if you actually take it.
No kidding?:olduhh:
 
  • #3,419
Would be nicely isomorphic if Demetrius' younger brother was called Decentimetrius. I offered to name my brother's son Denefiu , given the daughter ( my niece) was called Denise. Denise and Denefiu. I think I would never forget their names.
 
  • #3,420
They claim the word "paying" in "paying attention" is used because the process of attending uses up resources ( so one must pay with resources). But why, then, is the word "pay" or equivalent not used in all languages?
 
  • #3,421
WWGD said:
They claim the word "paying" in "paying attention" is used because the process of attending uses up resources ( so one must pay with resources). But why, then, is the word "pay" or equivalent not used in all languages?
It's cheaper here. Unfortunately there is no good English word for "handover a present" so I can't translate it. In a sense, it is also an act of paying something, we just skip the buying process before we give it away for free.
 
  • #3,422
fresh_42 said:
It's cheaper here. Unfortunately there is no good English word for "handover a present" so I can't translate it. In a sense, it is also an act of paying something, we just skip the buying process before we give it away for free.
Germans are more attentive/ focused?
 
  • #3,423
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/388584/what-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-pay-attention
upload_2018-3-8_17-40-25.png


old jim
 

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  • #3,424
WWGD said:
Germans are more attentive/ focused?
Before or after ADHS has been invented?
 
  • #3,425
pay (v.)

c. 1200, "to appease, pacify, satisfy," from Old French paier "to pay, pay up" (12c., Modern French payer), from Latin pacare "to please, pacify, satisfy" (in Medieval Latin especially "satisfy a creditor"), literally "make peaceful," from pax (genitive pacis) "peace" (see peace).Paid; paying.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/pay (Douglas Harper)
 
  • #3,426
fresh_42 said:
Before or after ADHS has been invented?
IDK. "Blondes have more Fun" sounds better than " Germans pay more Attention". ( And I guess German Blondes pay more Attention _and_ have more fun".
 
  • #3,427
WWGD said:
IDK. "Blondes have more Fun" sounds better than " Germans pay more Attention". ( And I guess German Blondes pay more Attention _and_ have more fun".
We don't pay for attention, we give it as a present (Aufmerksamkeit schenken). But as said, there is no English word for schenken, only more or less bad substitutions as give or present which mean something completely different in the first place. Schenken is something you do with a birthday present for somebody else.
 
  • #3,428
fresh_42 said:
We don't pay for attention, we give it as a present (Aufmerksamkeit schenken). But as said, there is no English word for schenken, only more or less bad substitutions as give or present which mean something completely different in the first place. Schenken is something you do with a birthday present for somebody else.
But you're not answering my question: " Do German Blondes have more fun ( while giving you attention)"?
 
  • #3,429
Don't shanken too much attention, I am monkeying around.
 
  • #3,430
WWGD said:
But you're not answering my question: " Do German Blondes have more fun ( while giving you attention)"?
While giving me attention? Of course, natürlich, bien sure, naturalmente! However, I'm not a fan of Blondes. Do you know the yellow strip between the lanes on a country road? That's my list of bad experiences with Blondes. So, maybe they have more fun, but I don't hope so.
 
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  • #3,431
fresh_42 said:
While giving me attention? Of course, natürlich, bien sure, naturalmente! However, I'm not a fan of Blondes. Do you know the yellow strip between the lanes on a country road? That's my list of bad experiences with Blondes. So, maybe they have more fun, but I don't hope so.
And now they have the Starbuchs' Blondes too ( Yellow beans). I have not tried them yet.
 
  • #3,432
WWGD said:
And now they have the Starbuchs' Blondes too. I have not tried them yet.
They call a cold beer in a glas a cool Blonde over here. Strange, all of a sudden I have to think about "12 reasons why a beer is better ..."
 
  • #3,433
fresh_42 said:
They call a cold beer in a glas a cool Blonde over here. Strange, all of a sudden I have to think about "12 reasons why a beer is better ..."
I was always curious why people drink iced bear in Winter
 
  • #3,434
Why do I get such a weird buzz when I drink Iced coffee? The buzz from hot espresso is much more straightforward.
 
  • #3,435
WWGD said:
I was always curious why people drink iced bear in Winter
Did you ever try to drink a bear that has warmed up his muscles before? I can't imagine this to be a good idea. And they don't really sleep in winter, it's more a sort of a rest.
 
  • #3,436
fresh_42 said:
Did you ever try to drink a bear that has warmed up his muscles before? I can't imagine this to be a good idea. And they don't really sleep in winter, it's more a sort of a rest.
That's part of the weird buzz: thinking about bears instead of beers. Typical ;).
 
  • #3,437
WWGD said:
That's part of the weird buzz: thinking about bears instead of beers. Typical ;).
Look for the beer necessities
The simple beer necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the beer necessities
Old Mother Nature's recipes
That brings the beer necessities of life
 
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  • #3,439
I have to admit I have my biases. I was surprised to see burly construction workers at the lunch place having no-meat salads and one even a Kale shake.If they start talking about (s)Astrology, and asking each other their sign, I will flip, though.
 
  • #3,440
WWGD said:
Still, it does seem to wear one out. After paying attention, focusing, I feel drained; I imagine/assume most do.
Yeah, ... attending payment is more fun.
 
  • #3,441
fresh_42 said:
Yeah, ... attending payment is more fun.
And incoming payment is even bettererer.
 
  • #3,442
Another triple-syllable repeat, from the papers:

Percoco convicted (co co co ) Maybe Malala lamented ( la la la) . EDIT: See my previous too, for another triple ( er er er).
 
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  • #3,443
I had a bad experience today. I was commuting to work on the bus. It went down the road where the former KGB agent, Nikolai Glushkov was murdered this week. You could see the blue police tents outside and the BBC filming everything. The trouble was, I had a very, very bad stomach and felt bloated. My flatulence was so bad it could strip the paint off a car in minutes.

I was siting on the top deck and opened a window. Luckily, the top deck had very few commuters, but then an army of 11 yr old school girls boarded and filled the top deck, talking loudly. My stomach was making loud bubbling sounds and I was trying desperately not to let another one rip. My stop was a good 6 stops away before I had to alight and I didn't want to drop this bomb. The girls would immediately know it was me and I didn't want the ensuing heat. I had to think fast. I opted to go downstairs and stealthily 'crop dust' the top deck on my way down like Solid Snake. I got up and realized I had a very upset stomach and needed the bathroom ASAP. I quickly sat back down in a panic. I had to catch another bus after this one and was already running late. The only viable option was the local MacDonalds, but I just can't stand public loos. The built up of gas made it even worse. I was a ticking time bomb.

I held it together and made it to work but couldn't start my shift for a good 45 minutes for obvious reasons.

So today I learned NOT to try prune juice for the first time before commuting.
 
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  • #3,444
shrimp and prune juice - not a good combination. :nb)
 
  • #3,445
Borg said:
shrimp and prune juice - not a good combination. :nb)
Similar here. The restaurants " Taco Tuesday" turned into my " Bathroom Wednesday".
 
  • #3,446
I don't know why the only weekday used as a name ( that I am aware off ) is Sunday: "Domingo/Domenico"(Spanish/Italian). I would have thought that Friday would be the most popular day overall ( Save Robinson Crusoe). Still, I have seen cases of people named " January" , even " February", when the most popular month-names are April, June, May -- I assume most prefer Spring over Winter.
 
  • #3,447
WWGD said:
Similar here. The restaurants " Taco Tuesday" turned into my " Bathroom Wednesday".
You should try a "Marquee Friday" followed by a "Bedroom Weekend". Only risk is, this could easily end in a nightmarish spring and summer.
WWGD said:
I don't know why the only weekday used as a name ( that I am aware off ) is Sunday: "Domingo/Domenico"(Spanish/Italian). I would have thought that Friday would be the most popular day overall ( Save Robinson Crusoe). Still, I have seen cases of people named " January" , even " February", when the most popular month-names are April, June, May -- I assume most prefer Spring over Winter.
Does he count: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberhard_Freitag ? Although I like the writing Freytag more. It's somehow more honest.
 
  • #3,448
fresh_42 said:
You should try a "Marquee Friday" followed by a "Bedroom Weekend". Only risk is, this could easily end in a nightmarish spring and summer.

Does he count: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberhard_Freitag ? Although I like the writing Freytag more. It's somehow more honest.
But isn't Freytag the last name? I was referring to the use as a first name.
 
  • #3,449
WWGD said:
But isn't Freytag the last name? I was referring to the use as a first name.
Well, we still have Freya, don't we?
 
  • #3,450
fresh_42 said:
Well, we still have Freya, don't we?
After Thursdiya?
 

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