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

[nuuskur]

Spoiler

Red skies in the evening with a few rain drops, ...
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I was about to suggest stars are much closer to wherever it is you're from :D

 

[fresh_42]

I was about to suggest stars are much closer to wherever it is you're from :D

My guess is Betelgeuse. Maybe we should call him Mr. President.

 

[dlgoff]

My guess is Betelgeuse. Maybe we should call him Mr. President.

Dang. What were the chances of that?

part of the image compliments of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Orion_3008_huge.jpg

 

[WWGD]

Interesting rule of thumb I heard recently: In civil service exams*, the longest answer is usually the correct one.

*Multiple choice exams.

 

[WWGD]

Seeing the anti-terrorist task force policeman drinking fruity-green Starbucks drinks doesn't make me feel particularly safer.

 

[fresh_42]

Seeing the anti-terrorist task force policeman drinking fruity-green Starbucks drinks doesn't make me feel particularly safer.

Just read today that Boris Becker (51, and unfortunately co-moderator at the Open) failed to by a beer. Strange country this is.

 

[fresh_42]

Just tuned in the evening news. Little Climate Gretel is arriving in NYC and they cover it like the moon landing. Ridiculous.

 

[WWGD]

Thunberg? Maybe she can buy Boris a beer.

 

[WWGD]

Dangers of over-zealousness: I had a friend help me repair my PC. We had to remove many programs, as he said it was necessary. Later on I went to reinstall the removed programs...only to eventually find out he had reinstalled many himself when I was gone. Now I have duplicate files for most programs which I think ( hope, since I can't find an explanation) explain a lot of the cryptic error messages.

 

[fresh_42]

I zapped through the channels without sound and as I saw someone in a talk show I instantaneously and disgusted switched away. Now an hour later I met him again, this time with sound. Result: I can identify politicians even if I can't hear them and don't know them, because they are from another country within a tenth of a second. Plus I was right that it wasn't worth listening.

 

[Ibix]

Result: I can identify politicians even if I can't hear them and don't know them, because they are from another country within a tenth of a second.

It's the way their noses keep growing that's a dead giveaway.

 

[Bystander]

in a talk show

dead giveaway.

Habitat, perhaps?

 

[Klystron]

Habitat sans humanity?

 

[Torbert]

Very wide ranging news sources from all viewpoints. Reading conflicting captions without clicking the whole report, I find I can determine for myself which are reality. Often this is opposite of my mother in law's reaction.
Early learning is important to all sides.

 

[fresh_42]

Has anybody recognized that the guitars went from breast to hips between the 60's and nowadays?

 

[nuuskur]

I imagine acoustic guitars are worn quite high, still (when playing while standing, that is). Don't quote me on that, though.

 

[Borg]

Dorian's going to Disney World!

 

[nuuskur]

These tropical storms are no fun :/ I remember trying to escape a typhoon or some tropical twister thing called Yasi in Australia when it was about to hit Queensland. I had some few hours to get as far south as I could.

 

[fresh_42]

I imagine acoustic guitars are worn quite high, still (when playing while standing, that is). Don't quote me on that, though.

2 out of 3 are electric:

 

[strangerep]

[...] Yasi in Australia [...]

In the southern hemisphere they're called "cyclones" (they rotate the opposite way to the hurricanes of the northern hemisphere).

Yeah,"Yasi" was seriously bad. "Debbie" (a few years later) was also pretty bad, and further south -- the Whitsunday Island area was badly smashed. Some resorts are only now (3 yrs later) accepting guests again.

 

[Klystron]

I imagine acoustic guitars are worn quite high, still (when playing while standing, that is). Don't quote me on that, though.

Oops, too late; I quoted you .

2 out of 3 are electric:

While the math seems correct, comparing the height of the Hermits to that Gibson guitar, makes position uncertain.

 

[Frimus]

Just tuned in the evening news. Little Climate Gretel is arriving in NYC and they cover it like the moon landing. Ridiculous.

Modern times are characterized by a shortening of the path from good intent to total madness.

 

[nuuskur]

In the southern hemisphere they're called "cyclones" (they rotate the opposite way to the hurricanes of the northern hemisphere).

Yeah,"Yasi" was seriously bad. "Debbie" (a few years later) was also pretty bad, and further south -- the Whitsunday Island area was badly smashed. Some resorts are only now (3 yrs later) accepting guests again.

I massively underestimated the power of such a storm (Yasi was my maiden voyage, so to speak). Hell, the effects of it were felt even across the continent in WA (the kind of effects I was used to, so nothing special). I thought to myself, ok there's going to be some wind and rain. There was.. a lot more than I thought.

The messed up part about Yasi is that only like a month or two before, QLD was hit with massive rainfall. I have no idea how the aussies persevere through all that: storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, red kangaroos, flies.

 

[strangerep]

I have no idea how the aussies persevere through all that: storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, red kangaroos, flies.

No, we don't have volcanoes, and very few earthquakes.

Long droughts are a slow death, then ridiculous floods in the same areas show us how stupid we are in failing to invest in better dams and water management.

Bushfires can be truly terrifying, however. Flames leaping 100's of ft into the sky, moving faster than you can run. Sometimes even pyro-tornadoes (a moving, whirling, tower of flame). Some years ago, the bushland south of Sydney suffered this devastation. There was news footage of 3 of these tall fire tornadoes wafting across the land. It's an image I'll never forget.

Red kanagroos? I kinda like them, even though the males can be big and dangerous if you don't treat them with respect. Where I live, the kangaroos are of the "eastern grey/brown" variety -- somewhat smaller and usually placid unless cornered or threatened. There is often a small mob of them grazing within metres of my back door. Sometimes as many as 16, not counting joeys in pouches. They're really cute, but quite timid.

Flies? Not everywhere. Most of the population lives near the coasts, where flies are more of a moderate pest rather than plague. In QLD, where I now live, many homes have "Florida" screening on their verandahs or balconies, which makes a huge difference.

All in all, I'm quite happy to live in a coastal area of QLD.

 

[fresh_42]

We have only a group of red-necked wallabies. At least we had them for 4 winters. From 5 on they count as introduced. Don't know whether they made it.

 

[WWGD]

Someone asked for the definition of 'scarcity'.

A city where everyone has a scar?

 

[Ibix]

Someone asked for the definition of 'scarcity'.

They didn't have it because it's hard to come by.

 

[HankDorsett]

Continuing on from the very first response to this thread. What are your thoughts on the show that validates children's believes that they see and talk to ghosts?

I haven't watched it yet, mainly due to shows like this make me want to throw something at my TV. To me this seems criminal, between the parents raising their children to believe in such nonsense as well as these shows profiting a psychological issue in children makes me kind of angry.

 

[Klystron]

My late wife was an angry person; tiny in stature but towering in rage. Perhaps her diet affected her mood. She only ate vegan, only on Wednesdays. She only ate orange foods on Wednesdays: oranges, carrots, persimmons, pork rinds. As a Theravada Buddhist she expected reincarnation in spirit form. I keep a spirit house for her on the front porch in case she visits. Actually, a bird house but very nice. The spirit (bird) house also has a tiny front porch. Do you think the tiny spirit house on my front porch has a tinier spirit house on its front porch?

Her albino Siamese cat "Blackie" was also very angry, when she was awake. Blackie also ate vegan, or possibly vegetarian. Blackie only ate animals who only ate seeds and such. Actually, Blackie would eat anything that fit in her mouth. Like most albino Siamese cats Blackie was deaf. Albino rats could sneak up behind her and scare the vegetarian remains right out of her.

[Edit: You caught me: pork rinds are not vegan. Sorry. Blackie was deaf, though.]

 

[WWGD]

My late wife was an angry person; tiny in stature but towering in rage. Perhaps her diet affected her mood. She only ate vegan, only on Wednesdays. She only ate orange foods on Wednesdays: oranges, carrots, persimmons, pork rinds. As a Theravada Buddhist she expected reincarnation in spirit form. I keep a spirit house for her on the front porch in case she visits. Actually a bird house but very nice. The spirit (bird) house also has a tiny front porch. Do you think the tiny spirit house on my front porch has a tiny spirit house on its front porch?

Her albino Siamese cat "Blackie" was also very angry, when she was awake. Blackie also ate vegan, or possibly vegetarian. Blackie only ate animals who only ate seeds and such. Actually, Blackie would eat anything that fit in her mouth. Like most albino Siamese cats Blackie was deaf. Albino rats could sneak up behind her and scare the vegetarian remains right out of her.

World feels like a better place to me after a bacon cheeseburger, or any reasonably-good meat. I just don't feel full-enough after most vegan-vegetarian meals.

 

[nuuskur]

I had a 12 inch subway with italian bmt, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and mayo. God it was delicious!

 

[WWGD]

I had a 12 inch subway with italian bmt, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and mayo. God it was delicious!

They now have a brisket sub, I will try it one of these days.

 

[WWGD]

I do seem to get a lot of vegans tell me about it, even when not related to the topic of conversation.

 

[Klystron]

World feels like a better place to me after a bacon cheeseburger, or any reasonably-good meat. I just don't feel full-enough after most vegan-vegetarian meals.

Seriously, my late wife was Cordon Bleu -- a blue ribbon chef having owned several successful restaurants. True to the Master Chef stereotype her bad temper eventually destroyed employee relationships. Roast meats were her Kryptonite. She rarely ate the meat. Like her countrymen she loved the coagulated juices and fats beneath the roast.

I warned her about excess cholesterol but Thais do not always distinguish between "R" and "L" spoken sounds. She probably thought I was talking about building another colocation site and would nod her head; reply, "Yes, Honey."; and fall asleep with Blackie in her lap licking grease off her fingers.

She called everyone "Honey" and everyone called her Honey, as I was the only American who could pronounce her name correctly. Ironically, the English translation of her name is "Iris".

 

[WWGD]

I do seem to get a lot of vegans tell me about it, even when not related to the topic of conversation.

Sir: What time is it? YES, I AM VEGAN! Er..., it's 2:15.