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

[OmCheeto]

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

My maths says the moon covers 1/200,000 of the celestial sphere, and will occult an eye visible star only once a month.

 

[Keith_McClary]

My maths says the moon covers 1/200,000 of the celestial sphere, and will occult an eye visible star only once a month.

Right. I looked it up but forgot to convert from percent.

 

[OmCheeto]

Right. I looked it up but forgot to convert from percent.

Now we need a third person to point out where I went wrong with my occultation count. According to Lunar Occultations dot Com, an average of 7 will occur each month this year.

 

[Keith_McClary]

7 will occur each month this year.

... somewhere on Earth, but fewer at a fixed location.

 

[DennisN]

Recently there has been activity at the Fagradalsfjall volcano on Iceland.

It's quite amazing to be able to see it live here on a live feed on youtube:

 

[fresh_42]

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/iceland-earthquakes-18000-in-a-week-significance.1000553/

 

[fresh_42]

I have a running interesting experiment: When I watch a tv show I often ask myself whether an actor from show A is the same as in show B, or where do I know someone from? Of course I don't mean the famous ones. Voices are useless as American tv shows are dubbed over here. Varying outlook, roles or simply time make it also difficult to decide. But there is one property which never changes and which is well suited for an identification: body language! It is surprising how reliable it is.

This means in return that we reveal more information through body language than we do with our outfits. It's also something to keep in mind on a platform which doesn't exchange body language.

 

[BillTre]

But there is one property which never changes and which is well suited for an identification: body language!

That's interesting.
I have heard impressionists in podcasts say that they often assume the posture of people they are trying to imitate. They claim this helps them get the impression right.

 

[nuuskur]

math cranks are making me ..cranky

 

[Klystron]

They say poverty promotes purity. I must be very pure.

 

[WWGD]

Best thing about the Internet: Everyone has a voice.
Worst thing about the Internet: Everyone has a voice.
...

 

[WWGD]

math cranks are making me ..cranky

Just had a discussion with a stranger a week or so. He claimed to be a fan/amateur of math and asked me to challenge him with a question. So I offered: " Does the ' Standard' Fibonnacci ( i.e. F(0)=F(1)=1) contain infinitely-many primes? " . And, harder question: " How about for any values F(0),F(1)?"
He replied " Depends what you mean by prime". I don't know if he misunderstood or had something ( way) deeper in mind, but I decided to switch the topic. Same as when someone offered that " The decimal expansion of (sic) pie contains every single book of Shakespere".

 

[WWGD]

Recently there has been activity at the Fagradalsfjall volcano on Iceland.

It's quite amazing to be able to see it live here on a live feed on youtube:

Reminds me of that photographet/anthropologist who was filming a cannibalistic tribe on the Amazon. Hope not.

 

[WWGD]

I have a running interesting experiment: When I watch a tv show I often ask myself whether an actor from show A is the same as in show B, or where do I know someone from? Of course I don't mean the famous ones. Voices are useless as American tv shows are dubbed over here. Varying outlook, roles or simply time make it also difficult to decide. But there is one property which never changes and which is well suited for an identification: body language! It is surprising how reliable it is.

This means in return that we reveal more information through body language than we do with our outfits. It's also something to keep in mind on a platform which doesn't exchange body language.

To me , the walk tends to give it away. There seems to be a sort of signature to it, but I have trouble pinpointing it. I remember thinking of two people A,B, as being " Walking Twins" of each other.

 

[DennisN]

Recently there has been activity at the Fagradalsfjall volcano on Iceland.

Reminds me of that photographet/anthropologist who was filming a cannibalistic tribe on the Amazon. Hope not.

I just saw a clip with amazing footage from the volcano on Iceland:

Iceland volcano: Drone footage captures stunning up-close view of eruption

 

[Astronuc]

A little known hedge fund that blew up last week has sent shockwaves through the world of investment banking.

Shares in Credit Suisse (CSGN.SW) and Nomura (8604.T) sunk over 10% on Monday after both warned they faced potentially billions in losses linked to hedge fund Archegos Capital.

I read an article last week about Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley dumpling stocks in block trades. It was in the context of some commonly held stocks dropping in value. I thought it might be some new short selling matter. Archegos Capital was mentioned but I didn't understand the significance. Well, it is significant to the banks who lent money to Archegos.

"Things started going wrong for Archegos when shares of companies such as Viacom started to slide mid-last week," said Michael Brown, an analyst at Caxton Business. Archegos faced margin calls on its positions last week but failed to provide extra cash. Ooops.

"Market sources estimate the fund was worth $10-15bn and running 5x leverage, which would set its holdings at approximately US$50-70bn," said Ben Onatibia, a senior strategist at Vanda Research.

Archegos is one of a number of so-called "Tiger Cub" funds — hedge funds set up by former employees of legendary US hedge fund Tiger Global. It was set up by Bill Hwang, a Tiger veteran who was convicted of insider trading by the SEC in 2012.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/arch...a-goldman-sachs-morgan-stanley-092127768.html

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-u-turn-hwang-put-210646671.html

Edit/Update: Billions in Secret Derivatives at Center of Archegos Blowup
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/billions-secretive-derivatives-center-archegos-102415242.html

 

[WWGD]

GAH: Just realized auto(in)correct changed 'Amex' into 'Alex' which made up for a bizarre message. Now time to be careful trying to correct the outcome.

 

[Baby Yoda]

Well, yesterday I decided to refresh my knowledge in mathematics and I am looking forward to it. I can't believe the things I have forgot. But, wish me good luck. :D

 

[WWGD]

I wish I had said it:
I overheard this nearby conversation where one person used the word ' eschew'. Other party did not hear or understand it and asked repeatedly: " What?, What?"and 1st party said : " Eschew !Eschew! " I felt like saying one of two things: 1) Gesundeheit!2) Taking of my shoe and saying here: " A shoe", " A shoe".

 

[Klystron]

I wish I had said it:
I overheard this nearby conversation where one person used the word ' eschew'. Other party did not hear or understand it and asked repeatedly: " What?, What?"and 1st party said : " Eschew !Eschew! " I felt like saying one of two things: 2) Gesundeheit!2) Taking of my shoe and saying here: " A shoe", " A shoe".

Another possibility: Esau's mother admonishes her boy to eat his food correctly, "Es, chew! Es, chew!".

 

[WWGD]

Wonder if there is a " reverse" to the fallacy of appeal to authority whereby someone tries to unvalidate a claim because it originates from a source of ( alleged) poor quality. " I doubt it's true: X is usually wrong , poorly informed, etc".

 

[WWGD]

Funny to see parents walking along with children while holding hands where parent seems to forget child has smaller legs and thus smaller step size ( same goes for smaller dogs) . They will speed up and you see the child/small dog having to take 4-5 steps for each step the parent takes, to make up for the difference.

 

[phinds]

... But there is one property which never changes and which is well suited for an identification: body language! It is surprising how reliable it is.

For some actors much more so than for others. There are some actors who invariably use exactly the same body language no matter what kind of film they're in but others change their body language completely.

One of the worst offenders is an American actor named Michael Madsen. He has this thing he does where he dips his head and furrows his brow. He does it in everything he's in.

Then there are amazing actors like Meryl Streep. If you watch her in The Devil Wears Prada and then in Julie and Julia you'd have a hard time believing they are the same person. Everything about her is different, very much including her body language.

 

[Keith_McClary]

unvalidate a claim because it originates from a source of ( alleged) poor quality

I do this for sources (eg. "think tanks") that are operated or funded by governments, corporations or entrepreneurs (magnates, oligarchs, tycoons, ...). They aren't always wrong, but they usually have an agenda - that's why they do not publish in peer reviewed journals where their "spin" might be detected.

 

[Rive]

...you see the child/small dog having to take 4-5 steps for each step the parent takes, to make up for the difference.

Yet, they are often like a small moon, dancing around the adults all the way.
Some small dogs, like tugboats: if there are more than one then often pulling in different directions

 

[WWGD]

I do this for sources (eg. "think tanks") that are operated or funded by governments, corporations or entrepreneurs (magnates, oligarchs, tycoons, ...). They aren't always wrong, but they usually have an agenda - that's why they do not publish in peer reviewed journals where their "spin" might be detected.

I do the same for sources that are partisan based on a chart that ranks from left to right and by treatment of the material , from non-credible to highly factual. Though of course, I need to assume the chart is not biased. I just have only so much time and don't want to waste it in sources that are not credible. It seems to have worked well thus far; rankings seem accurate.

 

[WWGD]

 

[Borg]

A co-worker introduced me to this site that marks the news companies in a similar way.
https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

 

[Rive]

Some small dogs, like tugboats: if there are more than one then often pulling in different directions

It's always bugging me: people who often spend hours on facebook and such daily just don't let their dog to do their own 'facebook' properly.

'Taking the dog for a walk' is not just about the physical activity...

 

[WWGD]

A co-worker introduced me to this site that marks the news companies in a similar way.
https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

It's a nice site, but to me it brings up a strange issue I've noticed: it is a .com yet it asks for donations. I've seen it a few times recently and it seems puzzling.

 

[Vanadium 50]

banks who lent money to Archegos

I'm not a big fan of Alex Kirshner, or the mix of snark and journalism that he practices, but his article in Slate is pretty funny.

but the bulk of the problem appears to be that some giant banks looked at his [Hwang's] all-world résumé of financial wrongdoing, then looked at his deep pockets, and decided, “Yes, we would like to do business with that guy.”

It features thousands of people, as well as several companies, taking on huge losses not because they did anything wrong, but because a handful of huge banks decided to bet on one shady securities trader with a demonstrable history of being a crook.

 

[Tom.G]

Wonder if there is a " reverse" to the fallacy of appeal to authority whereby someone tries to unvalidate a claim because it originates from a source of ( alleged) poor quality. " I doubt it's true: X is usually wrong , poorly informed, etc".

Sure is.
Just ask a person with <strong political views> about a news report from a source with <opposite political views>.

(hey now, no fist fights allowed!)

 

[WWGD]

Ratio of emails sent to those received is around 5%. I interpret that to show I am kind of low on the food chain.

 

[fresh_42]

I was just looking up something on a French website. I didn't understand all of it, but their advertisement fitted perfectly! It was mainly an overview of Springer's GTM books. Far better than what fb usually presents me.

 

[WWGD]

I was just looking up something on a French website. I didn't understand all of it, but their advertisement fitted perfectly! It was mainly an overview of Springer's GTM books. Far better than what fb usually presents me.

It seems they are always being discounted. by large amounts yearly. Wait for a bit and you can find them much more cheaply.