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

[Vanadium 50]

There was this brand that I hadn't heard of before, River City.

You got trouble in River City! Trouble with a capital T!

 

[fresh_42]

You got trouble in River City! Trouble with a capital T!

I think it is a wide spread phenomenon that people get in trouble on the river.

 

[collinsmark]

I think it is a wide spread phenomenon that people get in trouble on the river.

Spoiler

 

[epenguin]

I have some gripes with humans.
...

(3) Can we all stop asking each other how we are doing every time we communicate with one another, or make a transaction? Does anyone ever say "bad"? Does the person at a cash register want to be asked back how they are doing 500 times in one day? And, nicely say, "good", even when they're having a terrible day? Can't we just say "hi"?

Can anyone tell me how long Americans have been replying 'good'? Doesn't seem for all that long. Anyway some people, I don't know how many, in Britain have taken to saying it. But for others, maybe older generation it grates, we hate it. It's not really an answer to the question, the answer should be e.g."Very well, thank you."

"Can't we just say "hi"?". 'Hi' is not an answer either. It's just a contraction of "How are you?". Isn't it? Or so I have always thought. In that case it's polite enough, just reflecting the enquiry back.

 

[fresh_42]

I hate "How do you do?" and "How are you?", regardless what the answer will be. Why do you ask, if you do not want to hear the answer? It is hypocrisy in perfection! And this at the beginning of a dialogue. What a gorgeous basis for a communication!

 

[epenguin]

I hate "How do you do?" and "How are you?", regardless what the answer will be. Why do you ask, if you do not want to hear the answer? It is hypocrisy in perfection! And this at the beginning of a dialogue. What a gorgeous basis for a communication!

Maybe that's a limited view of communication? Have you put it into practice to any large exten?

 

[fresh_42]

Maybe that's a limited view of communication? Have you put it into practice to any large exten?

Define large! I always had to struggle not to give an answer. A nightmare to me. It is an invitation to lie. Reminds me of what a British colleague once said to me after she correct my email:
Me: "But this isn't true."
Her: "So what? I'm English, we lie."

 

[nuuskur]

I'm doing great, how's your day been?

I don't think too much about the reasoning behind each word, it's just a greeting.

 

[epenguin]

It's a convention. Serves a purpose. Essential purpose, all human societies have them surely. And helpfully tells you you ought to care a bit about the answer and it is better if you do mutually, since you are both in the same limited space.

from Latin communicationem (nominative communicatio) "a making common, imparting, communicating; a figure of speech," noun of action from past-participle stem of communicare "to share, divide out; communicate, impart, inform; join, unite, participate in," literally "to make common," related to communis "common, public, general"

 

[Rive]

I hate "How do you do?" and "How are you?", regardless what the answer will be. Why do you ask, if you do not want to hear the answer?

If you are bothered, then there is a cure for this: just do answer.
After a few times they will only say 'hello'.

 

[Keith_McClary]

If you are bothered, then there is a cure for this: just do answer.
After a few times they will only say 'hello'.

"How's the wife and kids?"

 

[dlgoff]

Dang. Two of my daughters caught the COVID-19 virus. They're recovering okay though.

 

[epenguin]

Dang. Two of my daughters caught the COVID-19 virus. They're recovering okay though.

I am glad they are recovering. Though I don't know you.

My son also recovered from a Covid-19 infection. And grandson has had the infection scarcely showing it, according tests. (They are now being somewhat followed by a research survey.)

So we have some small thing in common - and communicate.

Not entirely irrational, even if not actually reasoned, is my point re previous discussion.

 

[dlgoff]

My son also recovered from a Covid-19 infection. And grandson has had the infection scarcely showing it, according tests. (They are now being somewhat followed by a research survey.)

Hope the research may find out why and will help in the treatment of others with the infection.

 

[nsaspook]

 

[Klystron]

I wish to write a random thought. I am determined to write a random thought. If writing random thoughts is determined, is it still random?

(Read one too many "Is random real?" threads. ;-)

 

[BillTre]

The can be a random aspect to a preplanned event.

 

[Borg]

Instagram sounds like a dating site for impatient seniors.

 

[fresh_42]

Experimental physics ... (Louis Dick $\dagger$ @CERN)

 

[Jarvis323]

Perseverance touchdown is live streaming right now in case anyone didn't know.

 

[Lisa!]

What is the use of the last option of PF editor on the left?

 

[DrGreg]

What is the use of the last option of PF editor on the left?View attachment 278927

 

[fresh_42]

Anybody else watching Stephen on tv right now?

 

[nuuskur]

So, there's this thing called "zero knowledge proof", which essentially seeks to prove some statement about a secret to be true..without giving up that secret..

But if the secret was a methodology for providing zero knowledge proofs, is it possible to do this in a "positive knowledge" manner? Allegedly any provably true statement has a zero knowledge proof, as well ... my head hurts..

 

[KingGambit]

I recently watch Genius on NatGeo,
It's season 1: Einstein. I think I spot a few mistakes there.
1. When this astronomer, Freudlund, if I spell correctly, says
"The orbit of Mercury is not like the orbit of seven other planets"
Now, Pluto is not a planet since 2006 if I'm not mistaken. Since Neil Degrasse Tyson demotes it. But in 1910s, it's STILL a planet wasn't it?
2. Late in the movie, there's a Truman speech after America dropped the atomic bomb.
"... the force from which the Sun draws its power has been loosed"
I think Sun uses fusion power, while Little Boy and Fat Man used fission, right?
Too bad NatGeo made a few mistakes there. I love that channel.

 

[epenguin]

"But in 1910s, it's STILL a planet wasn't it?" (Pluto).

Not sure you can say that, it hadn't been discovered.

 

[fresh_42]

The new world amuses me. IRS thinks I am an US-American abroad, the British government informs me as their citizen what had changed since Brexit, and I am flooded with Swedish spam since I once searched for a contact to the police of Malmö.

 

[nuuskur]

Conclusion: you are up for grabs. Mathematicians are a hot commodity, too, you know..

 

[fresh_42]

Hollywood! If they fake a foreign journey, they raise a couple of flags at the scene and that's it. This hurts on so many levels! Firstly, nobody else in the world is so obsessed with flags. You usually do not see any abroad. Secondly, the flags cannot change climate, plants, people's look on the street, or architecture. Please do not raise foreign flags, it is embarrassing. LA will never look like Romania, regardless how many flags are raised in a scene.

 

[WWGD]

Experimental physics ... (Louis Dick $\dagger$ @CERN)View attachment 278282

Only guy that can make my apartment look neat by comparison.

 

[WWGD]

I never changed my user settings but somehow I am not receiving notifications for RT, other threads I follow , like I used to get.

 

[WWGD]

I didn't want to embarrass this guy undergrad friend of mine who was talking to other undergrads telling them " No, by just plain mathematics, half the results* are below average". Seriously, guy, I know of a person that has 6 fingers in one hand. That means that some 99.997...% of the population has less than Edit:5.00473 or whatever fingers.

*In any distribution.

 

[Klystron]

I never changed my user settings but somehow I am not receiving notifications for RT, other threads I follow , like I used to get.

I noticed the same issue a while ago. Watched threads stopped sending notifications of new posts. Unwatching then reinstating watch sometimes helps. Perhaps we should send feedback to @Greg Bernhardt.

A related question concerns an easy way to edit and remove old 'watches'. Visiting each forum and deleting watches seems too much like (IT) work. Not a complaint as much as 'Hey, I am retired!".

 

[WWGD]

So, there's this thing called "zero knowledge proof", which essentially seeks to prove some statement about a secret to be true..without giving up that secret..

But if the secret was a methodology for providing zero knowledge proofs, is it possible to do this in a "positive knowledge" manner? Allegedly any provably true statement has a zero knowledge proof, as well ... my head hurts..

"Zero knowledge proofs". Riemann Hypothesis?

 

[Keith_McClary]

There are 6000 naked eye visible stars, and the Moon covers 1/2000 of the celestial sphere, so the Moon only covers ~3 stars.