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.
  • #876
fresh_42 said:
Be careful! I would quote Pulp Fiction now but my Tarantino quotes are usually censored here.
Ok, just enjoy your Royale with cheese for now ;).
 
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  • #877
WWGD said:
This dude keeps misspelling ( or so I hope) , repeatedly asking me to massage (message, I hope) him when I am ready.
Would you mind if I use that for a comic strip punchline?
 
  • #878
ProfuselyQuarky said:
Would you mind if I use that for a comic strip punchline?
No problem, just please send me a link to it.
 
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  • #879
WWGD said:
This dude keeps misspelling ( or so I hope) , repeatedly asking me to massage (message, I hope) him when I am ready.
Maybe he is a fan of Marshal McLuhan.
 
  • #880
I think the Batman was almost certainly a large owl.
 
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  • #881
zoobyshoe said:
I think the Batman was almost certainly a large owl.
That's an interesting equation:
hitter = batter = batman = large owl = Eurasian eagle-owl

But why in the world do you call them Padres = fathers? I could understand Pennae = feathers. Is this again a misspelling thing?
 
  • #882
zoobyshoe said:
I think the Batman was almost certainly a large owl.
The weird thing is that the person in question is in a position usually held by people with degrees in areas such as History,
English, Communications, etc. that require a lot of reading and writing so that it is strange that s/he misspelled a relatively
common word.
 
  • #883
WWGD said:
The weird thing is that the person in question is in a position usually held by people with degrees in areas such as History,
English, Communications, etc. that require a lot of reading and writing so that it is strange that s/he misspelled a relatively
common word.
Which position? Batman or large owl?
 
  • #884
WWGD said:
The weird thing is that the person in question is in a position usually held by people with degrees in areas such as History,
English, Communications, etc. that require a lot of reading and writing so that it is strange that s/he misspelled a relatively
common word.
Maybe they wrote on mobile and it changed the word. It happens all the time to me.
 
  • #885
Sophia said:
Maybe they wrote on mobile and it changed the word. It happens all the time to me.
Could be, could also be auto-correct; it was a text message after all.
 
  • #886
Could be he is a fan of Marshal McLuhan, who, incidentally, was almost certainly a large owl.
 
  • #887
 
  • #888
On the topic of birds

 
  • #889
 
  • #890
First time when I gained something by being an annoying customer!
There was a technical problem with my order from Amazon and I wrote to customer service a few times with no reply on time. I got annoyed and said I was not satisfied with their services.
In reply, they said I don't have to pay the shipping cost (8€)!

I'm writing this because this sort of customer service is still not so widespread here (though it's getting much better recently) and mainly, I've never been so rude to the seller before!
 
  • #891
Sophia said:
First time when I gained something by being an annoying customer!
There was a technical problem with my order from Amazon and I wrote to customer service a few times with no reply on time. I got annoyed and said I was not satisfied with their services.
In reply, they said I don't have to pay the shipping cost (8€)!

I'm writing this because this sort of customer service is still not so widespread here (though it's getting much better recently) and mainly, I've never been so rude to the seller before!
We have a saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the oil." The meaning is that, only those who complain will get their problems addressed; it's assumed those who don't complain are satisfied.

In the case of ebay and Amazon, they take your money first, then you are at their mercy as to timely customer service. I don't think it's rude to say you're not satisfied when you aren't, under those circumstances.
 
  • #892
zoobyshoe said:
We have a saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the oil." The meaning is that, only those who complain will get their problems addressed; it's assumed those who don't complain are satisfied.

In the case of ebay and Amazon, they take your money first, then you are at their mercy as to timely customer service. I don't think it's rude to say you're not satisfied when you aren't, under those circumstances.
Added the saying to my vocab list :-)
In this case, the problem was that they didn't take my money, even when there was no error message and I was told that "your order was lost in the system" :-)
I know I'm crazy but I ordered the new kindle Oasis. The reason is I like reading but I'm mainly sentenced to reading eBooks because the only book shop in my town has bankrupted a long time ago and the average book age in the library is about 20-30 years. There are some new books, but mainly crime novels which I can read if I'm bored, but it's not something I enjoy much.
 
  • #894
Ibix said:
Apropos of a post I made in the Lame Jokes thread, here's a famous site in the UK:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)

Remember that we drive on the left. Readers in countries who drive on the wrong (right) side of the road may find this more comprehensible viewed in a mirror. Or not.
I always assumed the roundabouts are a British fetish, but a roundabout of roundabouts? Who designed it? Terry Jones?
 
  • #895
Sophia said:
In this case, the problem was that they didn't take my money, even when there was no error message and I was told that "your order was lost in the system" :-)
That's one I haven't run into before.
I know I'm crazy but I ordered the new kindle Oasis. The reason is I like reading but I'm mainly sentenced to reading eBooks because the only book shop in my town has bankrupted a long time ago and the average book age in the library is about 20-30 years. There are some new books, but mainly crime novels which I can read if I'm bored, but it's not something I enjoy much.
I guess bookstores are not a very lucrative kind of business. Quite a few have closed down here as well. The San Diego Public Library system is doing very well, but, to tell you the truth, I don't know how it operates, where the funding comes from.
 
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  • #896
Sophia said:
the average book age in the library is about 20-30 years.
What genre do you like to read ?

Some of my most memorable reads were very dated library books
Nonfiction Adventure:
Lowell Thomas's fascinating accounts of World War 1 German sailors, 'Raiders of the Deep" about early U-boats
and "The Sea Devil" a sailing merchant raider that sank 100,000 tons of Allied shipping
300px-Pass_of_Balmaha_later_SMS_Seeadler.png

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Seeadler_(1888) ) ;

Lindbergh's "Spirit of St Louis";
Joshua Slocum's "Sailing alone around the world", actually not from library but loaned by another PF member...
Farley Mowatt's "Never Cry Wolf"
Fiction(barely)
"Spoon River Anthology", precursor to modern psycho-drama .
Terror: Frank Herbert's "White Plague" (I was sure i remembered that one by Michael Crichton though)

I know one shouldn't judge them by their covers but i find myself reaching for old cloth bound books just to see what they're about.
 
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  • #897
jim hardy said:
What genre do you like to read ?

Some of my most memorable reads were very dated library books
Nonfiction Adventure:
Lowell Thomas's fascinating accounts of World War 1 German sailors, 'Raiders of the Deep" about early U-boats
and "The Sea Devil" a sailing merchant raider that sank 100,000 tons of Allied shipping
300px-Pass_of_Balmaha_later_SMS_Seeadler.png

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Seeadler_(1888) ) ;

Lindbergh's "Spirit of St Louis";
Joshua Slocum's "Sailing alone around the world", actually not from library but loaned by another PF member...
Farley Mowatt's "Never Cry Wolf"
Fiction(barely)
"Spoon River Anthology", precursor to modern psycho-drama .
Terror: Frank Herbert's "White Plague"

I know one shouldn't judge them by their covers but i find myself reaching for old cloth bound books just to see what they're about.

I'll look into blurbs of those books. I might like them. They remind me of All Quiet on the Western Front and Old Man and the Sea, which I enjoyed despite the fact that they were compulsory reading :D
Nowadays, I enjoy reading fantasy and non-fiction (currently reading: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316051632/?tag=pfamazon01-20 and https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KUQIU7O/?tag=pfamazon01-20)
Besides that, I read biographies (e.g. Ramanujan and Marie Curie) and books about mental health. Also detective novels and YA a couple times a year, though they are not my favourite genres, but sometimes I just need to relax with something easy.
I also read about various religions from time to time, although not as often as I used to.
You're right, I am thinking about reading older classical books, mainly high school obligatory literature that I haven't read when I was supposed to.
 
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  • #898
@Sophia:

Here's a link to the SanDiego Public Library site:

https://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/about-the-library/advocacy

As you can see, it is part of the city government and is funded by city government money just like the city police, etc. So, it is not Federal or State, but local government behind it. More importantly, it also actively solicits donations from private individuals. There is a whole dedicated team, the San Diego Public Library Foundation, that works at that full time. A couple years ago the library constructed a new main library in downtown San Diego, which was very expensive. They boasted that this was all done by donations, without using city money. An indication that their fundraising efforts are quite successful and are really what keeps the system so healthy.

I suppose your library system there is limping along on some very minimal government money and your country hasn't discovered the possibility of fortifying it with fundraising.
 
  • #899
Sophia said:
They remind me of All Quiet on the Western Front and Old Man and the Sea, which I enjoyed despite the fact that they were compulsory reading :D
I recently (re)read Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" which of course inspired movie "Apocalypse Now". Amazing how different it seems now than it did in my youth. Then it was an adventure, now it's a character study .
 
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  • #900
zoobyshoe said:
@Sophia:

Here's a link to the SanDiego Public Library site:

https://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/about-the-library/advocacy

As you can see, it is part of the city government and is funded by city government money just like the city police, etc. So, it is not Federal or State, but local government behind it. More importantly, it also actively solicits donations from private individuals. There is a whole dedicated team, the San Diego Public Library Foundation, that works at that full time. A couple years ago the library constructed a new main library in downtown San Diego, which was very expensive. They boasted that this was all done by donations, without using city money. An indication that their fundraising efforts are quite successful and are really what keeps the system so healthy.

I suppose your library system there is limping along on some very minimal government money and your country hasn't discovered the possibility of fortifying it with fundraising.

That's definitely true. Fundraising here is still "in diapers", as we say. it's still not a part of the culture, mainly because the economical situation in this area is poor and most people can't afford to donate. If they do, they choose health projects or helping young children.

I once brought a large bag of my books to the library. They were new and in a very good condition and the librarian was very happy about that! She told me that people do bring their old books, but they are mainly books after deceased relatives, which are often the same that already are present in the library or are outdated (e.g. there's a large collection of science books and textbooks from 1950-1990 and classical literature). They do buy a few new books each year, but it's mainly YA and detective novels, which as I said, are not my preferred genres. I think that the majority of money goes to the children's section because they feel that education should be their priority so not much money is left for the adults.
 
  • #901
jim hardy said:
I recently (re)read Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" which of course inspired movie "Apocalypse Now". Amazing how different it seems now than it did in my youth. Then it was an adventure, now it's a character study .
Yes, people's perception of books changes. Some books become better because of it, some worse. Those books who carry meaning on different levels so that everyone at every stage of development can find something there are the best.
But I haven't read such book yet, I think :)
 
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  • #902
Sophia said:
That's definitely true. Fundraising here is still "in diapers", as we say. it's still not a part of the culture, mainly because the economical situation in this area is poor and most people can't afford to donate. If they do, they choose health projects or helping young children.

I once brought a large bag of my books to the library. They were new and in a very good condition and the librarian was very happy about that! She told me that people do bring their old books, but they are mainly books after deceased relatives, which are often the same that already are present in the library or are outdated (e.g. there's a large collection of science books and textbooks from 1950-1990 and classical literature). They do buy a few new books each year, but it's mainly YA and detective novels, which as I said, are not my preferred genres. I think that the majority of money goes to the children's section because they feel that education should be their priority so not much money is left for the adults.
San Diego is a big city which means there are large numbers of wealthy people to tap. (A large number doesn't necessarily mean a large percentage, but all you need is a large number.) I don't think it can possibly be the same in small US towns that have only one library, but there is some sort of inter-library system whereby smaller, outlying libraries can borrow books from the large city ones.

Here, when a new book comes out and it's expected to be popular, the city library system might buy 60 copies. Even so, there is still always a waiting list and it can take a long time to finally read the book. After a couple of years, though, interest has died down and the book stops circulating so much and spends more time on the shelf. Eventually, interest has waned so much it becomes a nuisance to have 5 copies on the shelf, so the library will have sales of the "extra" copies and only retain some core number of them. Many don't sell and the library ends up giving them away to anyone who wants them. I'm talking books that might only be 3 - 5 years old. All kinds.

So, I would say, you should have your library get in touch with my library, but all the "extra" books here are in English, of course.
 
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  • #905
fresh_42 said:
Should I stay in bed tomorrow because of the overflow?
Actually its today because its a leap year.
Also, looks like not many people know about it, so don't expect a good reaction from your boss!
 
  • #906
Nice little tutorial on the SR-71s turbo ramjet power plant.

 
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  • #907
zoobyshoe said:
.

So, I would say, you should have your library get in touch with my library, but all the "extra" books here are in English, of course.

That would be a nice idea. However, there's only a small amount of people who can read books in English here. Those who can, have mostly left the area :-)
Now that you mention it, there is an inter-library borrowing service. I've never used it and it's been a long time since I was at the local library (basically judging there's nothing interesting so there's no need to return) so I've forgotten about it.
 
  • #908
Astronuc said:
Nice little tutorial on the SR-71s turbo ramjet power plant.

J58 looks so cool in the clip but who knows how it works in real life ?! Perhaps horrible, I like it anyway.
 
  • #909
Astronuc said:
Nice little tutorial on the SR-71s turbo ramjet power plant.

SR71 Pilot's report here, dated but still a fun read
http://aviationweek.com/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/archive/www.aviationweek.com/Portals/aweek/media/PDF/SR-71.pdf
 
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