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

[WWGD]

Depends on the definition. The loud noise is assumed to scare off all evil demons.

Is that the motivation for the fireworks? I guess Riverdance would not do it?

 

[WWGD]

Now that I mentioned rats I read a theory that the plague was caused in part because of the killing of black cats , a predator of rats, because black cats were considered evil.

 

[fresh_42]

That doesn't solve the problem as ...

A similar mess a while back when River Dance played with all the hard and loud shoe-tapping, there was a massive stampede of rats.

Not sure whether this is the reason for fireworks, it is for the noise on carnival, so I assume it is similar on new year.

 

[WWGD]

That doesn't solve the problem as ...

Not sure whether this is the reason for fireworks, it is for the noise on carnival, so I assume it is similar on new year.

I don't think it would have an effect on rats since the noise would be too far away for them to be affected. But when rats are underground and nearby, the tapping is heard much more loudly.

 

[WWGD]

Seems there is now a year 2038 problem because of register overflow in some software using January 1 1970 as a default date I think. At least we have time and the experience of the whole Y2k thing now.

 

[fresh_42]

And unix systems are by far less critical than all the mainframes in 2K have been.

 

[WWGD]

And unix systems are by far less critical than all the mainframes in 2K have been.

How do you mean? They're not used for essential applications?

 

[fresh_42]

Do you know any mainframes using UNIX? Banks, air traffic, communication etc? A few computers aren't the problem, the big mainframes are. I don't expect any problems. The big IBM machines from the 70s and 80s were the problem in 2000.

 

[WWGD]

Do you know any mainframes using UNIX? Banks, air traffic, communication etc? A few computers aren't the problem, the big mainframes are. I don't expect any problems. The big IBM machines from the 70s and 80s were the problem in 2000.

Ok, good points. Still, now you have embedded systems where users may not be aware they are using, like cars, etc. which I assume was less the case back then.How do you check for any/all potential embedded problems?

 

[fresh_42]

Yes, this can be the case. But nobody cares if some cars don't work or individual computers crash, or a JAVA application won't work. PP (persönliches Pech; personal bad luck, but PP sounds better than PBL).

I think all big systems have been checked already, and if someone replaced the Y2K bug by the corresponding UNIX bug, then they really deserve to fail. The rest are small client server applications, which only can cause local failures. So what?

 

[WWGD]

You're ignoring the most serious problems: What if I can't order Chinese food in 2038? ;).

 

[fresh_42]

You're ignoring the most serious problems: What if I can't order Chinese food in 2038? ;).

Lol, bad example.

What if I can't order Chinese food in 2038?
\begin{align*}
10. &\text{ You can order pizza instead.}\\[6pt]
9. &\text{ You live in NY, you can order a cab.}\\[6pt]
8. &\text{ You live in NY, you can walk. }\\[6pt]
7. &\text{ You can order at another Chinese restaurant. }\\[6pt]
6. &\text{ You can order Indian food. }\\[6pt]
5. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner uses Windows. }\\[6pt]
4. & \text{ The Chinese restaurant owner uses UNIX but the machine didn't work before anyway. }\\[6pt]
3. &\text{ You are a nerd and order no. 40 every Thursday, so ... }\\[6pt]
2. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner has only a telephone anyway. }\\[6pt]
1. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner will rather use drums and smoke signals than losing a customer. }
\end{align*}

 

[WWGD]

Lol, bad example.

What if I can't order Chinese food in 2038?
\begin{align*}
10. &\text{ You can order pizza instead.}\\[6pt]
9. &\text{ You live in NY, you can order a cab.}\\[6pt]
8. &\text{ You live in NY, you can walk. }\\[6pt]
7. &\text{ You can order at another Chinese restaurant. }\\[6pt]
6. &\text{ You can order Indian food. }\\[6pt]
5. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner uses Windows. }\\[6pt]
4. & \text{ The Chinese restaurant owner uses UNIX but the machine didn't work before anyway. }\\[6pt]
3. &\text{ You are a nerd and order no. 40 every Thursday, so ... }\\[6pt]
2. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner has only a telephone anyway. }\\[6pt]
1. &\text{ The Chinese restaurant owner will rather use drums and smoke signals than losing a customer. }
\end{align*}

Who knows where I will be living 18 years from now, though. But point taken.

 

[WWGD]

I have someone I work with ( more like I work for) who uses 3-4 different emails when sending me

something. Different abbreviations for name, title, etc. When I search my inbox I need to enter different

combinations to find his emails. My telepathic message to him:

Could you _please_ choose one email address and stick with it?

 

[WWGD]

Seems like "Hey, Waldo wants his hat back" gets either blank stares or unsympathetic answers.

 

[WWGD]

How hard can it be to explain that I am being taxed twice?
I buy something from the hot bar. It is entered into the register, with tax included, total T.
I add something of price t, then I am charged (T+t)*tax instead of T+ t*tax. Fortunately T is
small enough to just let go.

 

[fresh_42]

How hard can it be to explain that I am being taxed twice?
I buy something from the hot bar. It is entered into the register, with tax included, total T.
I add something of price t, then I am charged (T+t)*tax instead of T+ t*tax. Fortunately T is
small enough to just let go.

With out without colored modelling clay?

 

[WWGD]

With out without colored modelling clay?

You have the same problem there ? It would be a good exercise for those who keep asking:

What is Math good for IRL?

 

[fresh_42]

No, we don't have that problem. Our prices per position already include the tax. In the situation you described we would have gotten two bills, or one on leave where all positions would have been associated with a table number or another identification property.

We pay $at+bt$ whereas you pay $(a+b)t$, or in your case $((a)t+b)t$.

 

[WWGD]

No, we don't have that problem. Our prices per position already include the tax. In the situation you described we would have gotten two bills, or one on leave where all positions would have been associated with a table number or another identification property.

If that was the case here, maybe they would have tried to make me pay both bills!

 

[WWGD]

You have the same problem there ? It would be a good exercise for those who keep asking:

What is Math good for IRL?

Another good exercise Re Math IRL is to decide if, given an item at x% discount on which one must pay taxes,, if it is the same to first apply the discount and then apply taxes as first computing taxes and then applying discount.

 

[WWGD]

This woman apparently thought I was harrassing her and changed seats because ( I assume) I was staring at her. I was actually looking at the food she was eating, which looked amazingly tasty. EDIT: When I was going over :" Automate the boring stuff with Bacon(Python)".

 

[WWGD]

Good reason not to give your dog a standard human name. I was sitting on a bench, this guy with a dog named after me: " Don't do anything there, I won't clean up after you!" I turn around (I was sitting). " Stop smelling the (censored) of other dogs. What's wrong with you?". "Just stop!" . Whatever happened to "Pebbles" or " Rocky", etc ? I assure you I won't do my needs in the park.

 

[WWGD]

Why don't they have separate quiet/study and talk sections in coffee shops. I do always carry my head phones
but still too loud some times:

Teenage girls on next table :

" He's so cute, I bet he doesn't even know I exist".

Me:
" Hey, I don't know if _I_ exist !"

Awkward silence. But not a viable general solution.

 

[fresh_42]

Why don't they have separate quiet/study and talk sections in coffee shops. I do always carry my head phones
but still too loud some times:

Teenage girls on next table :

" He's so cute, I bet he doesn't even know I exist".

Me:
" Hey, I don't know if _I_ exist !"

Awkward silence. But not a viable general solution.

I once visited a pretty crowded coffee shop. My friend and I took seat at a larger table where already some economy students sat. My friend took a book with him which he unwarily put on the table. Some minutes later we were alone at the table. The book title was: Introduction to Infinitesimal and Integration Theory (or similar).

 

[WWGD]

I once visited a pretty crowded coffee shop. My friend and I took seat at a larger table where already some economy students sat. My friend took a book with him which he unwarily put on the table. Some minutes later we were alone at the table. The book title was: Introduction to Infinitesimal and Integration Theory (or similar).

Don't worry, I believe similar is the case for economists; I remember reading a rule of thumb to the effect that
in order for a party/dinner invite to be successful, less than 10% of guests can be economists. Ouch!

 

[Klystron]

Sitting in a waiting area at the Veterans Hospital reading "The Mathematics Lover's Companion" when the enormous biker sitting to my left notices a diagram of tiling frames.

"Oh, Fibonacci numbers!", exclaims my gargantuan neighbor.

"Yeah, amazing math for the Twelve Century.", I reply. Take a deep breath. "If Fibonacci were alive now he would probably be a computer scientist. I read a book last week that claimed old Leonard wrote some of the first mathematics textbooks then in use for hundreds of years. Blah, blah ... flower petals ... pineapples ... sequences ...".

Giant biker pulls out his phone and starts playing games. Young veteran dude on my right plugs in ear buds and becomes engrossed in watching videos on his phone. Pretty blonde vet sitting across from me crosses her legs and stares up at the 'Veterans Health' video loop on the CCTV. I turn to chapter on set theory.

 

[Ibix]

Today I learned that it's possible to hit every one of my buttons on a particular subject in one conversation, accidentally as far as I could tell, in such a way that each one is complimentary to me and I'd look like an idiot if I started ranting about the wrongness of it all.

 

[WWGD]

I surprised myself at the effort I was willing to do just to get a small pack of salt for my food (to be microwaved). I waited like 40 minutes, talked with like 3 different staff at the place...and then I remembered I had a few packs as part of my "emergency" stash (together with dry socks, etc). There were some pepper packs (picked by Peter Piper ;)) but to me, pepper is only good as a name for exotic dancers.

 

[WWGD]

Aargh! Always forget that the sauce for the takeout is in the bottom. I complain: How is it !@# possible
to eat chicken without any sauce! I slog through it... to find the sauce at the very bottom. Only gone through
this like 5 times, so no reason for me to know (right!)

 

[WWGD]

Wonder why in every picture of a dog I remember seeing, the dog's mouth is open and their tongue is sticking out. Dont remember seeing dogs with their mouths shut.

 

[fresh_42]

If dogs shouldn't eat chicken bones, why do leopard seals chase penguins?

 

[WWGD]

If dogs shouldn't eat chicken bones, why do leopard seals chase penguins?

Was der smokert freshmeister?

 

[fresh_42]

Funny to read an American German surname (ESPN reporter) that you never saw before, and even don't know where to part the syllables.

 

[WWGD]

Funny to read an American German surname (ESPN reporter) that you never saw before, and even don't know where to part the syllables.

Melvin Nugen -Fahrver? Auf Sportkeit TV?