Random Thoughts Part 4 - Split Thread

[dlgoff]

An unwatched pot always boils over.

So you have your internal chronometer turned off?

 

[WWGD]

There were a nun and another lady today, holding a conversation by the bus stop. The bus went by , missing our stop.
One of the two ladies, not sure which, said "god damn it". I thought it was the nun, which would have been interesting, but I was not
paying attention closely-enough to be sure.

 

[Astronuc]

Ecuador Tricks Tourists Into Thinking They’re in Costa Rica (Seriously)
https://www.yahoo.com/travel/ecuador-tricks-tourists-into-thinking-theyre-in-116525873902.html

 

[Borg]

Random programming thought - when writing programs, I often use code from various sources to accomplish my goals. The usability of that code varies grealy. Sometimes it's like your best friend handed you the keys to the city. Other times it's like I am attempting to build furniture at the site of an IKEA explosion without any instructions.

 

[Ibix]

Yeah. Programming skill and skill (and conscientiousness) at writing documentation do not appear to be well correlated.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

An example of "You only need to think then it will work" is
I always have a goose bump every time I think of a bee nest on the tree where worker bees fly in and out and move around bee cells.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Any entity desiring to join PF should be required to pass a Turing Test.

 

[Ibix]

Any entity desiring to join PF should be required to pass a Turing Test.

Good idea. Is Greg going to administer the tests personally, or are we going to automate it?

 

[WWGD]

I keep getting annoyed at the habit of some supermarket cashiers
of throwing the receipt inside the bag instead of giving it to me in
my hand.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Maybe more customers are waiting in line after you at the cashier. Putting the receipt inside your bag would shorten the time the cashiers have to pass it and other bags to you. Usually I have a supermarket membership card with which I can double check points I have stored everytime I buy something, so even if I lose my receipt for anyone buy, I can still reclaim the overcharged amount if any from the store owner.

 

[WWGD]

Maybe more customers are waiting in line after you at the cashier. Putting the receipt inside your bag would shorten the time the cashiers have to pass it and other bags to you. Usually I have a supermarket membership card with which I can double check points I have stored everytime I buy something, so even if I lose my receipt for anyone buy, I can still reclaim the overcharged amount if any from the store owner.

But how much time would cashiers save by just giving me the receipt in my hands instead? And this is done whether lines are long or inexistent. And what about the receipt becoming unusable because of moisture and liquid from food that may come into contact with the receipt, affecting the ink, muddling the numbers and general data? Just cranking out some numbers: assume a cashier saves 1/100 of a second by putting the receipt in the bag over handing it to you. Assume an average of 100 customers/day/cashier and a work life of 10,000 days (around 40 years). Then the cashier saves . That is then 10,000 seconds saved. Around 3 hours saved in 40 years.

But your idea of checking to see if the totals add up is a good one that I have been too lazy to put into effect.

Of course, this is another 1st, or 2nd world problem.

 

[Ibix]

My son asked me what "mad" means. I told him "deciding to have children". He looked up at me with his big, trusting eyes and said "I think you're just joking", then scurried off and asked grandma instead.

Rumbled...

 

[wolram]

How many of you still have an open fire?, we still have a coal burner, great when there is a power cut and lovely to the eye.

 

[zoobyshoe]

How many of you still have an open fire?, we still have a coal burner, great when there is a power cut and lovely to the eye.

Where I grew up back in New England every house had a fireplace. Here in southern California it's maybe one house in 15 that has a fireplace. A coal burner would be extremely rare. There's just nowhere to buy coal for the average person. Homes are heated with natural gas, oil, or electricity. (I guess there are some people who try heating with wood, but they will have a specialized wood pellet burning system, or at least a wood burner made specifically for heating. A fireplace just doesn't heat a house very well.)

 

[zoobyshoe]

At a coffee shop tonight, on the patio which gives a view of a very busy city street full of clubs and restaurants, and a fox came running down the sidewalk and whipped down a side street. It was surreal. I mean a fox, the animal, not a hot babe. And it said nothing in case you were going to ask, "Whuh the fox say?"

 

[PWiz]

Just gave the ACT. I feel like I survived the Holocaust.

 

[wolram]

Feeling down i need some thing to cheer me up.

 

[collinsmark]

I had thought today was a Monday. It was only after several hours after I awoke that I realized it was Sunday.

[And the worst part is, yesterday I spent the entire day thinking it was Sunday, not realizing it was Saturday. Which isn't too bad of thing; I just gained a whole extra day of life!]

 

[Psinter]

Just gave the ACT. I feel like I survived the Holocaust.

What's that?
_______________________
You know, I've never liked diamonds. IMO diamonds are dull. They are so transparent, monochrome, and generic. Not fun at all. Instead, I like gems who have vivid colors in them. Something that makes them vivid, not that boring-dull transparent and generic cut from diamonds. I would honestly not pay for a diamond. To me it has no aesthetic value. It's ugly, monochrome, monotone, and generic.

Vivid colored stones for the win: because diamonds are too mainstream.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

But how much time would cashiers save by just giving me the receipt in my hands instead?...

I don't know how things were going on at your supermarket at that time.
You as a customer: Just address me and hand me the receipt. I want to check why I have to pay either too little or too much or for enough items I need.
Cashiers : I don't care who you are, everything you need is in your bags. My service for you is complete. Next!
From the service provider's point, they don't want to always address each of their customers for every single receipt. They are lazy. If you had asked them directly where you receipt was, they would have probably smiled and answered you back.

 

[WWGD]

The place was almost empty. Now that you mention it, I am remembering that the supermarket offers extra compensation if one is overcharged, i.e., if the cashiers don't do their job correctly. By throwing the receipt in the bag, they make it less likely you will check than if they hand it to you. Could be. So the supermarket gets it both ways: they appear honest by offering the money back, but they lower the odds of someone getting their money back by throwing the receipt in the bag.

 

[nuuskur]

The queues in the larger grocery stores are gigantic, I have so much time, I can use it productively and calculate it in my head, how much I have to pay. If the machine displays numbers higher than what I'd come up with, then I will raise my voice. It's happened once this year, all other times were fine.

 

[WWGD]

Good idea, Nuuskur, what complicates things a bit for me is that the tax rate here is 8.85% , a bit hard to calculate in my head: (total sum of prices)(1.0885).

 

[WWGD]

Just gave the ACT. I feel like I survived the Holocaust.

I think part of what makes the test hard is the mental stamina issue: most people (including myself) are not used to remaining focused for hours at a time.

 

[PWiz]

I think part of what makes the test hard is the mental stamina issue: most people (including myself) are not used to remaining focused for hours at a time.

Seriously! I mean I was practically dying by the time I was through with the reading section :P

 

[PWiz]

The queues in the larger grocery stores are gigantic, I have so much time, I can use it productively and calculate it in my head, how much I have to pay. If the machine displays numbers higher than what I'd come up with, then I will raise my voice. It's happened once this year, all other times were fine.

You can also try finding numerical approximations to cube roots of prime numbers using binomial expansion mentally if you a lot of time while waiting in those lines - finding a suitable equation and evaluating its expansion in mid-air is always satisfying.

 

[WWGD]

You can also try finding numerical approximations to cube roots of prime numbers using binomial expansion mentally if you a lot of time while waiting in those lines - finding a suitable equation and evaluating its expansion in mid-air is always satisfying.

How do you do it, i.e., what is the general method?

 

[Borg]

Good idea, Nuuskur, what complicates things a bit for me is that the tax rate here is 8.85% , a bit hard to calculate in my head: (total sum of prices)(1.0885).

Just add $1 for every 12.

 

[WWGD]

Just add $1 for every 12.

Thanks, but the problem is that I usually do small shopping, i.e., less than $40 or so. Then the error can be somewhat significant. I tried computing 8% then adding 1/10th of that too. For larger buys , it is a good idea.

 

[nuuskur]

That's what I would do, add fractions together that are individually easy to calculate.

 

[WWGD]

Just add $1 for every 12.

Actually, Borg, I think I can make it work: I can use your method and average it with a computation of 9% .

 

[Borg]

Actually, Borg, I think I can make it work: I can use your method and average it with a computation of 9% .

It just depends on how accurate you're trying to be. 0.0885 * 12 is $1.06.

 

[WWGD]

It just depends on how accurate you're trying to be. 0.0885 * 12 is $1.06.

Ah, O.K, had not noticed that it was that close. Good.

 

[Psinter]

Was depilating my eyebrows this morning and totally managed to screw it up. I used a Sharpie to fix it and my friends are laughing (I'm laughing too).

I was depilating it because I have a job interview tonight. But it doesn't matter because Sharpie Brow makes me look fabulous. *confident*

If the interviewer asks: "Is that a Sharpie?"

I'll reply: "Maybe I was born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline."

 

[WWGD]

I usually just wear a fake mustache for interviews and put it on or take it of every time the interviewer shifts his/her
look away.