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

[dlgoff]

... batch jobs being run on large main-frame computers, often over-night runs.

Bringing back memories of many sleepless nights waiting for an output.

 

[skyshrimp]

Do the chickens have large talons?

 

[Ibix]

Do the chickens have large talons?

Looks like they do. I mean, did you see the holes they made in @dlgoff's piece of paper? And they bit off one corner too!

 

[Ibix]

Bringing back memories of many sleepless nights waiting for an output.

That reminds me of a story they told at the National Computing Museum. They have a very early relay-based computer there. Apparently the guys who used it wanted to leave it running over Christmas once, but wanted to be able to check it hadn't crashed. But no one wanted to sit in a freezing Nissen hut and miss Christmas dinner if the program hadn't died.

Because the computer was relay based it was noisy, and you could recognise the different noises it made doing different operations. So they rigged an auto-pickup for the lab phone, and dialled it periodically to listen in on how the program was progressing.

I love that story.

 

[dlgoff]

I love that story.

Awesome. Now I've got that story to pass on.

 

[Psinter]

Um... Is calling a random person you just met: "baby", normal for English speakers?

It's been happening too frequently. It hasn't bothered me at all. But, how odd. I am beginning to think it is actually pretty normal. Like saying 'bro'.

 

[Bystander]

"baby", normal for English speakers?

"..., mate;" Australian: "..., luv;" British: "..., pal, babe, baby, darling, doll (irrespective of age, gender);" American? Yes.

 

[fresh_42]

For all of us who have mainframe memories:
http://bofh.bjash.com/

 

[Ibix]

Um... Is calling a random person you just met: "baby", normal for English speakers?

It's been happening too frequently. It hasn't bothered me at all. But, how odd. I am beginning to think it is actually pretty normal. Like saying 'bro'.

As a man I'd be a bit surprised by it from anyone I wasn't dating, although I hear women using it between themselves occasionally. This kind of informal stuff is extremely regional, though. There are parts of Britain where "luv" is a catch-all term for anyone whose name you don't know, and parts where it sounds horribly infantilising.

 

[WWGD]

Um... Is calling a random person you just met: "baby", normal for English speakers?

It's been happening too frequently. It hasn't bothered me at all. But, how odd. I am beginning to think it is actually pretty normal. Like saying 'bro'.

No, baby.

 

[Bystander]

extremely regional,

Colorado Front Range, present day, age 70+, male; get it all the time. Got (past tense) over it. Can't explain it, but got over it.

 

[Psinter]

No, baby.

Whatever you say, luv.

 

[fresh_42]

Just took a quiz which said at the end I should better live in Prague. Damn, how could it know? It's indeed a good advice.

 

[Psinter]

When you visit your parents, they have a lot of forks, spoons, knives, and plates. When your parents visit you, you have 1 fork, 1 spoon, 1 knife, and 1 plate. Their refrigerator is full of fruits, vegetables, and all kinds of food. Yours have only white rice and chicken.

At least is impossible for your kitchen to look messed up. 14 cabinets of which you only use 2, and 6 drawers from which you also use only 2. No mess. And the refrigerator... easy to clean.

 

[Bandersnatch]

And the refrigerator... easy to clean.

I don't know, the dust layer is getting kinda thick. It's more of a stratum now, actually. I might need a shovel and an archaeologist to monitor the excavations.

 

[fresh_42]

Modern kids make fun of their parents who have troubles to deal with modern technologies.
But they have to google how to boil an egg ...

 

[Ibix]

I have never boiled an egg. I'd have to google for timings.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Forgot to be on PF again for awhile.

Hi there!

 

[Ibix]

Hi Dave! Little one keeping you busy?

 

[dkotschessaa]

Hi Dave! Little one keeping you busy?

YES. But boy is he fun. I am enjoying the whole toddler thing. NGT is right that they are little scientists, and I have the experimental 'results' to prove it. (i.e. house is trashed)-Dave K

 

[skyshrimp]

Look at this timelapse. Do you see the rainforest? :)

 

[Bystander]

And the refrigerator... easy to clean.

Let's see..., "Tuna surprise," and "lettuce sea," left it so long in the bag, it turned into brown water. Ai-yi yi.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Woohoo! I'm teaching a math class. First one since getting my master's. Only one class. Pay is horrible, but I will enjoy it, and pay off maybe a debt.

 

[robbierobb]

So I have no mathematics skills what so ever, so I need a partner. I do the thinking, you do the maths, and I get the Nobel Prize. Deal? ;D

Edit: No seriously, are there ever working relationships where someone who is purely a thinker collaborates with mathematicians and makes significant contributions to science? Can a working relationship like that ever work?

I'll share the Nobel Prize I promise. :)

 

[robbierobb]

Um... Is calling a random person you just met: "baby", normal for English speakers?

It's been happening too frequently. It hasn't bothered me at all. But, how odd. I am beginning to think it is actually pretty normal. Like saying 'bro'.

Is this a man or a woman? Not baby from my experience, but perhaps babe? "You alright babe?" That's a common, respectful and open way to talk to a female friend, or for females to talk to each other, a slightly more modern and causal name than darling. For someone to say "hey baby!" who literally doesn't know you just seems really creepy, like the term "baby" is a lot more sexually focused than the term "babe", which is kind like calling your friend beautiful as opposed to sexy. I imagine a lot of male people of European descent to be more likely to use the word "baby" when addressing someone, simply due to the fact of broken English and they might have picked it up off TV.

 

[Fewmet]

YES. But boy is he fun. I am enjoying the whole toddler thing. -Dave K

I remember the great turning point that came with mine learning to say, "I think I'm going to throw up".

We did a lot less cleaning up from that point on.

 

[Psinter]

Have you ever wondered what that switch does?

In a house I lived there was one of that switch stuff. I was always tempted to push it, but I never did. The temptation was real with that one.

To this day I still wonder what it would have done .

*inconspicuously walks around switch and wonders... what does it do, my precious*
Me: We don't know what it does. Better leave it alone.
Subconscious: But it is like a button. Buttons are meant to be pressed, my precious.
Me: Not listening!
Subconscious: Press it! *hand reaches*
Me: No! *hand recedes*



It was the only house I lived in that had that stuff.

 

[fresh_42]

Strange. It's the second night I see this tiny red dot playing chase with the moon, although the latter has hidden himself behind Earth for a while tonight, so they were both red for an hour or so. They are also both the only ones we placed cars on. Strange, on this tiny dot.

 

[fresh_42]

I just wrote "triangle trigonometry" and recognized, that this is literally a double. This leads to the question: How do we call circle calculations or those in a parallelepiped? Radiometry might be misleading.

 

[skyshrimp]

It's strange how we go to such great lengths to find life on other planets by looking for bodies of water, yet destroy our own ocean ecosystems by ruthlessly bottom trawling and dumping plastic waste into it.