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

In summary, the conversation consists of various discussions about documentaries, the acquisition of National Geographic by Fox, a funny manual translation, cutting sandwiches, a question about the proof of the infinitude of primes, and a realization about the similarity between PF and PDG symbols. The conversation also touches on multitasking and the uniqueness of the number two as a prime number.
  • #4,726
More on a Trans-City-Express.
 
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  • #4,727
fresh_42 said:
More on a Trans-City-Express.
Trans-city? Stadt der Transvestites? Nein Europa Express!
 
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  • #4,728
WWGD said:
Stadt der Transvestites?
Nope. I'm sure there are, but in combination with Arabic not so much. There once had been a Trans-Europe-Express ('57-'87). It was very famous among backpackers.

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  • #4,729
fresh_42 said:
Nope. I'm sure there are, but in combination with Arabic not so much. There once had been a Trans-Europe-Express ('57-'87). It was very famous among backpackers.

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Ah, the first ones doing techno.
 
  • #4,730
Kind of strange to talk with a(n) female phone rep. only to find out by email that it is a man. The more you know... the more confused you end up.
 
  • #4,731
Sucks how people explain technical terms using reserved words as unreserved and viceversa. After 10 minutes reading something about Python, I figured 'dictionary' was used more as glossary than the actual data structure. But I admit it is tricky and I am , have been, guilty of it.
 
  • #4,732
What are the chances the conference finals are manipulated?

The referees have stolen the Saints their win, obvious to actually everybody. Now they've stolen the Patriots a new first in their fourth. Very strange. Good I don't bet. It would drive me mad.
 
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  • #4,733
fresh_42 said:
What are the chances the conference finals are manipulated?

The referees have stolen the Saints their win, obvious to actually everybody. Now they've stolen the Patriots a new first in their fourth. Very strange. Good I don't bet. It would drive me mad.
I just want to operate a Pizza store open during Super Bowl day. Some 30%+ of sales happen then.
 
  • #4,734
You know that thing where you see someone coming and you go right and they go left and you're still going to collide? I've just watched two guys, one staring at his smartphone and one dual wielding smartphones and staring at both of them, doing this. They iterated it four times before the synchronicity broke. Neither looked up even once.
 
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  • #4,735
Ibix said:
You know that thing where you see someone coming and you go right and they go left and you're still going to collide?
It's called an indicisajig.
 
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  • #4,736
Borg said:
It's called an indicisajig.
And when prompted by mobile phone use, the indeviceajig.
 
  • #4,737
Ibix said:
And when prompted by mobile phone use, the indeviceajig.
That's just a plain old zombie apocalypse. :oldtongue:
 
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  • #4,738
I took the day off yesterday but Monday decided that it wouldn't be denied. :oldruck:
 
  • #4,739
Just read about this guy who has a B.S degree in Puppetry. If he advances, goes further into it, he may end up with a Masters...A Master of Puppets.
I have the impression that was not the intended reference for Metallica's song.
 
  • #4,740
Wow, another weird one: I am walking on the sidewalk about to enter a coffee shop. There is this (supposedly) homeless guy sitting on the sidewalk. He says something. I , distractedly, mumble something. He yells some insult and spits, as in disgust. I order something at the coffee shop, and, out of curiosity go back out. Then the guy is receiving a large order from an Italian restaurant, taking it to his car...and driving away?
 
  • #4,741
Of course, I would have preferred if they had alled them Houston Eulers...
 
  • #4,742
WWGD said:
Just read about this guy who has a B.S degree in Puppetry. If he advances, goes further into it, he may end up with a Masters...A Master of Puppets. [...]
At least he'll be able to https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/tours/puppetry-of-the-penis-star-spills-on-the-audience-member-who-left-him-shocked/news-story/3f8f8e9b7791e998ab30a9b96793a3e1, unlike some Masters and PhD degrees.
 
  • #4,743
strangerep said:
At least he'll be able to https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/tours/puppetry-of-the-penis-star-spills-on-the-audience-member-who-left-him-shocked/news-story/3f8f8e9b7791e998ab30a9b96793a3e1, unlike some Masters and PhD degrees.
I think I would prefer unemployment to it. EDIT: But it would be interesting to see their business cards/CVs.
 
  • #4,744
What is it about the waiters at the Thai place. Everytime I show up, this guy asks: " Yes Sir?", and I reply: " One for the lunch special". This for some 40+ times by now. Next time walk in and he asks me, I will reply : " Can Chai come out and play soccer in the park?". Seriously, what else woulda customer drop by a restaurant?
 
  • #4,745
Wow, this guy says ( overheard) he is studying Archeology. What kind of field work does one do? Dumpster diving?
 
  • #4,746
I wonder if one can go backwards from sampling to estimate population parameters when knowing the pop parameters and, e.g., samples keep missing the known pop parameters. I saw some 8-10 women above 6' in the last few days. Does that mean I am experiencing unusual situations?
 
  • #4,747
A two-sample t-test or a Mann-Whitney U/Wilcoxon rank-sum test will let you know how probable it is that the mean of two samples is the same. Or a chi-square goodness-of-fit test if you are just considering tall/not tall. Which one is appropriate depends exactly what you are measuring.

You'd have to do a proper random sampling exercise, though. It's possible that you simply noticed a couple of tall women and your brain is now helpfully flagging tall women, and you suddenly have the impression they're everywhere.
 
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  • #4,748
There is a German song about a gambler. The lyrics is about the 17 at a roulette table. A friend of mine kept betting on 17 and lost one game after the other. Do you believe me, that 17 actually fell, the moment he had left the table? And there was my then girlfriend who observed a long series of RED and wanted to apply the doubling algorithm on BLACK. Needless to say that BLACK fell after she ran out of her budget. So, I guess the answer is NO.

But there are of course general developments: people grow taller and fatter than they used to, caused by better nutrition. I remember a lingerie shop in a mall whose assortment was diametral to what I saw outside the shop running around in the mall. I couldn't figure out whether the shop owner was exceptionally stupid or just tried to have the ordinary women out of his shop. I think I could rule out that he ran out of articles for otherwise I would have been able to observe a demand while I was in there.

This leads me back to a favorite quotation of mine: "And as the probability is not always on the side of the truth, so it happened ..." (Michael Kohlhaas, H. Kleist)
 
  • #4,749
I am sitting on the train opposite someone with an honest-to-God Salvador Dali moustache.
 
  • #4,750
Almost hot into a really stupid fight at the supermarket when I accidentally took someone else's cart
"No, it's not really your stuff until you have paid for it". Failed effort at levity. Can't believe someone would want to make such a deal out of something, frankly, so stupid.
 
  • #4,751
Ibix said:
I am sitting on the train opposite someone with an honest-to-God Salvador Dali moustache.
Did he* have one of those bent-out-of-shape clocks on his wrist or on himself otherwise? Double check and say 'Cheers, Salvador'.Or go into : "Well hello, Dali, yes hello Dali...".
*It would be surreal (ha-ha) if it was a woman with a Dali-like mustache.
 
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  • #4,752
WWGD said:
Did he* have one of those bent-out-of-shape clocks on his wrist or on himself otherwise?
Not that I noticed. Maybe it had dripped onto the floor?

It was a very impressive moustache, however. I mentioned it to a colleague, who wondered how one sleeps while wearing such a thing. I presume it's waxed and the wax is removable and you just look like Fu Manchu overnight?
 
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  • #4,753
I do a weekly crossword-type puzzle (in the Radio Times magazine) and one of the recent answers was BIRTHDAY on my birthday. Weird!
 
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  • #4,754
Ibix said:
... who wondered how one sleeps while wearing such a thing.
41bqfjnOHkL.jpg


There are more sophisticated versions out there, which I remember, but couldn't find a photo of. They press the entire think onto your skin while asleep. It doesn't prevent the carrier from shaping it again in the morning, but it prevents the hair from breaking and keeps the general form.
 

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  • #4,755
And hey use a variant for the lullaby to get themselves to sleep: Well goodnight Dali...
 
  • #4,756
fresh_42 said:
View attachment 238371

There are more sophisticated versions out there, which I remember, but couldn't find a photo of.
I love PF. You even learn stuff from reporting off-hand semi-rhetorical questions someone else asked...
 
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  • #4,757
Ibix said:
I love PF. You even learn stuff from reporting off-hand semi-rhetorical questions someone else asked...
All the time!
Borg said:
It's called an indicisajig.
Ibix said:
A two-sample t-test or a Mann-Whitney U/Wilcoxon rank-sum test will let you know how probable it is that the mean of two samples is the same. Or a chi-square goodness-of-fit test if you are just considering tall/not tall. Which one is appropriate depends exactly what you are measuring.
 
  • #4,758
strangerep said:
At least he'll be able to https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/tours/puppetry-of-the-penis-star-spills-on-the-audience-member-who-left-him-shocked/news-story/3f8f8e9b7791e998ab30a9b96793a3e1, unlike some Masters and PhD degrees.
I remember the comment by Ken Jennings that the difference between a history degree and a pizza is that a pizza can feed a family of three. Ouch!
 
  • #4,759
Lol... good morning ! . :woot:

friedlieb-ferdinand-runges-225th-birthday-4887536710189056-law.gif


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  • #4,760
GAH!
I spent most of the afternoon reminding myself to go to the supermarket.
Only now I can't remember what I needed to buy!??!
 

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