Today I Learned

[jim hardy]

Today I learned that when the directions tell you to remove the lid before microwaving, you better remove the lid!

Never will forget the day i learned never attempt to hard boil an egg in the 'wave...

 

[Drakkith]

Never will forget the day i learned never attempt to hard boil an egg in the 'wave...

That's called "texturing the walls of your microwave".

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Today I learned that some fridge freezers have an undocumented "demo mode" where they look as if they are working but fail to cool anything, for use in the showroom. The fridge freezer in the house my student daughter is sharing stopped working, and when the repair man arrived he told them that it had somehow been switched into "demo mode" (which apparently involves pressing two buttons at the same time). At the very least they should document that, or how to get out of it! My daughter had made and stored many frozen meals as well as buying a lot of stuff the day before, but the freezer had totally thawed out for some hours so the food had to be discarded.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Today I learned that some fridge freezers have an undocumented "demo mode" where they look as if they are working but fail to cool anything, for use in the showroom. The fridge freezer in the house my student daughter is sharing stopped working, and when the repair man arrived he told them that it had somehow been switched into "demo mode" (which apparently involves pressing two buttons at the same time). At the very least they should document that, or how to get out of it! My daughter had made and stored many frozen meals as well as buying a lot of stuff the day before, but the freezer had totally thawed out for some hours so the food had to be discarded.

Another one of the world's problems we can blame on the sales and marketing team of that company...

 

[jim hardy]

Another one of the world's problems we can blame on the sales and marketing team of that company...

I disagree.
I lay it on the programmer who didn't make it OBVIOUSLY APPARENT to the consumer by blinking a light or scrolling a message that the cooling equipment is turned OFF and what happened to your daughter is imminent.

That's the trouble with computers. They encourage "Microthink" , a state of mind wherein one is so wrapped up in the code he's oblivious to the world around him and common sense disappears.

 

[Drakkith]

That's the trouble with computers. They encourage "Microthink" , a state of mind wherein one is so wrapped up in the code he's oblivious to the world around him and common sense disappears.

Oh that's not limited to coding and computers...

 

[Drakkith]

Today I learned that in C++ if you don't include a header file with your class definition inside it, you need to write the class definition ABOVE the main() function, not below it.
@phinds, I spent an hour searching around the internet and flipping through my book and I didn't find this simple fact anywhere. I finally thought about it and it solved all of my errors...

 

[phinds]

Today I learned that in C++ if you don't include a header file with your class definition inside it, you need to write the class definition ABOVE the main() function, not below it.
@phinds, I spent an hour searching around the internet and flipping through my book and I didn't find this simple fact anywhere. I finally thought about it and it solved all of my errors...

That is a great example of the difference between a seriously experienced programmer and a relative newcomer. I know from your posts here that you are quite intelligent, so I don't mean it as any slam on you.

One of the things I used to ask programmers I was hiring, when I expected them to be experienced, was "what's the productivity factor between relatively inexperienced programmers and very experienced programmers and why?" Many of them answered almost exactly as I wanted which was "roughly ten to one because an experienced programmer not only knows a lot, he knows what he doesn't know, what questions to ask, and where to find the answers whereas an inexperienced programmer doesn't know those things." That's a simplistic point of view but surprisingly accurate.

 

[Drakkith]

That is a great example of the difference between a seriously experienced programmer and a relative newcomer. I know from your posts here that you are quite intelligent, so I don't mean it as any slam on you.

Oh I'm a noob programmer by all accounts.
Unlike science and physics, I haven't spent a large portion of the last 6 years reading up on the topic on my own. My first real exposure to programming was my C programming class last fall.

 

[dkotschessaa]

I disagree.
I lay it on the programmer who didn't make it OBVIOUSLY APPARENT to the consumer by blinking a light or scrolling a message that the cooling equipment is turned OFF and what happened to your daughter is imminent.

I think the marketing department would never allow such a thing. :D

That's the trouble with computers. They encourage "Microthink" , a state of mind wherein one is so wrapped up in the code he's oblivious to the world around him and common sense disappears.

I've noticed at my company an extreme "literal" thinking with both coders and I.T. people. If you request a phone for a new employee, the new employee will have a phone the next day. It won't actually work or be plugged in. If you ask for a phone line for a new employee, you'll get a phone line with no phone plugged into it. If you ask for a phone and a phone line you'll get a phone plugged into a working phone line, but the phone system requires a log in, so the employee won't actually be able to make calls. I suppose they are just doing what they are asked...

 

[dkotschessaa]

Today I realized it was time to learn:
https://www.quora.com/What-does-AC-and-CE-stand-for-on-calculators

 

[jim hardy]

Today I realized it was time to learn:
https://www.quora.com/What-does-AC-and-CE-stand-for-on-calculators

I guess he too grew up on a slide rule?

I sure miss HP's RPN .

 

[OmCheeto]

Today I realized it was time to learn:
https://www.quora.com/What-does-AC-and-CE-stand-for-on-calculators

View attachment 203840

Someone needs to write an "insights" article on that...

 

[fresh_42]

Someone needs to write an "insights" article on that...

Or simply reply with what I once said to an annoying tamagotchi, which kept saying "feed me": Feed it or I will. With a hammer!

 

[OmCheeto]

Today I learned what a Tamagotchi is.
Or, perhaps, relearned.
I sense that at least 2 of my brain cells remember this device.

 

[jtbell]

Today I learned about the borough (small municipality) of S.N.P.J., Pennsylvania. Population was 19 in the 2010 census. It's very close to the Ohio border, a few miles north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

(I saw it on a road sign or on my GPS, then found it on Google Maps, which led me to Wikipedia.)

The acronym stands for Slovenska Narodna Podporna Jednota, a fraternal society for Slovenian-Americans. They built a 500-acre recreation area which is apparently popular for wedding receptions and other events.

However, the borough that they were originally in forbade the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sundays. So they somehow managed to secede and form a separate borough with its own alcohol regulations!

 

[phinds]

Well good for them !

 

[Borg]

So they somehow managed to secede and form a separate borough with its own alcohol regulations!

Which reminded me of this for some reason.

 

[mfb]

Today I learned:
TWELVE PLUS ONE is an anagram of ELEVEN PLUS TWO. And both are 13.

 

[phinds]

Today I learned:
TWELVE PLUS ONE is an anagram of ELEVEN PLUS TWO. And both are 13.

Uh, dude ... you have WAY too much spare time on your hands.

 

[Borg]

There are lots of interesting ones.

Listen = Silent
Clint Eastwood = Old West Action
Madam Curie = Radium came
The eyes = They see

And, Stressed is Desserts backwards. Coincidence? I think not.

 

[Ibix]

A once-topical UK local one is that Virginia Bottomley is an anagram of I'm an evil Tory bigot.

 

[phinds]

A once-topical UK local one is that Virginia Bottomley is an anagram of I'm an evil Tory bigot.

Assuming she WAS an evil Tory bigot, that's hilarious. Was she?

 

[phinds]

I used to do look up anagrams but haven't in years. Just did Donald Trump for grins and among many other, got "Mad Lord Punt"

 

[Ibix]

Assuming she WAS an evil Tory bigot, that's hilarious. Was she?

She was certainly a Tory, a cabinet minister in John Major's government in the 90s. Your mileage may vary on the rest - Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, certainly found it amusing at the time. I'm probably pushing the boundaries of "no politics" though, so I'd better stop here.

 

[andrewkirk]

Today I learned what an indeterminate form is, from this thread. I suppose I already knew and understood the concepts involved, but didn't realize somebody had taken the trouble to categorise and label them to make it easier to talk about the behaviour of certain sorts of limits. I expect this will be useful to me in future discussions about limits.

 

[BillTre]

Friday I learned that Portland has at least its share of heroes.

 

[EnumaElish]

TIL about the Alice In Wonderland syndrome, which distorts one's body image. Often goes hand in hand with migraine. Lewis Carroll, a migraineur, is believed to have had it.

 

[Simon Peach]

TIL about the Alice In Wonderland syndrome, which distorts one's body image. Often goes hand in hand with migraine. Lewis Carroll, a migraineur, is believed to have had it.

Is that what anorexics have?

 

[OCR]

Is that what anorexics have?

I don't want to be accused of diagnosing medical conditions, so just have a look...

Alice in Wonderland syndrome ...
Anorexia nervosa ...

 

[OmCheeto]

TIL when and where I came up with my "Economist = Phrenologist" idea.

 

[1oldman2]

T.I.L, URL's that begin with hxxp are not particularly my favorite.

 

[phinds]

Today (yesterday actually) I learned that in Ithaca, NY's city schools, it is the policy in the elementary schools that unless a parent specifically asks that their child be left behind for a grade, all kids will always be promoted to the next grade regardless of their academic achievement. As a result there are 6th graders who basically can't read.

Just as an aside, this is where Cornell University professors send their kids to school (unless the send them to private schools).

 

[Drakkith]

Today I learned that most of the video recordings of World War 2 U.S. carrier landing mishaps exist because the Navy had crewmen assigned to watch nearly every landing and to start recording if it looked like anything was going wrong or about to go wrong.

 

[jim hardy]

Today i learned that plumbing ain't what it used to be.
It has root from Latin "Plumbum", lead(noun soft heavy metal , not verb go before) .
But lead is falling out of favor.

They have taken the lead out of brass plumbing fittings. Used to be typically 2 to 7 % but now it's 0.07 %
http://homepages.uc.edu/~maynarjb/Frontpage%20sites/Pipe%20Scales/Lead%20content%20of%20brass%20plumbing%20components.pdf

My neighbor is a retired foundryman who used to make water meters and brass plumbing fittings. He says taking the lead out of brass ruined its machinability.
My plumbing supply guy says brass pipe threads don't seal well anymore since they took the lead out. Not surprising if you can't machine smooth threads anymore.

Well now ! On with the boring anecdote......

A few days ago my water meter blew out an old plastic fitting and was filling up the lake by time water company guys got there.
They replaced the fitting with a bronze one.
I decided to revamp some questionable workmanship i found underground. Bought an expensive new brass pressure regulator and brass pipe nipples and added isolation valves for house and barn.

Wouldn't you know - though i used plenty of Teflon thread sealing tape i have a minuscule drip at inlet to new regulator..
Arrrgghhh that ditch is a yard deep and in rocky clay that makes the stickiest mud you ever saw.
It still hasn't drained from the broken fitting four days ago..

Mark at my plumbing supply store had casually mentioned i should use Teflon thread sealing paste instead of the tape . .
Wish i'd asked him why. But now i know.

Oh well.
I'll wait until Monday when he's open in case i break something else.

old jim