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[fresh_42]

I just heard another funny word that made its way into English: Mischmasch. O.k., the Welsh who used it might have written it as mishmash or mishmush, if we transliterate the pronunciation. However, it made me curious how on Earth such a word could have found its way into English. I checked the usual suspects, Yiddish or Latin.

But no, it was actually 'der Mischmasch'. It is an onomatopoeia of 'mischen' which is the German word for 'to mix'. It describes a collection of things that do not belong together.

 

[pinball1970]

I just heard another funny word that made its way into English: Mischmasch. O.k., the Welsh who used it might have written it as mishmash or mishmush, if we transliterate the pronunciation. However, it made me curious how on Earth such a word could have found its way into English. I checked the usual suspects, Yiddish or Latin.

But no, it was actually 'der Mischmasch'. It is an onomatopoeia of 'mischen' which is the German word for 'to mix'. It describes a collection of things that do not belong together.

Been using it for years. Spelling is 'mishmash' Hodgepodge is the closest word I can think of that is similar.

 

[fresh_42]

Been using not for years. Spelling is 'mishmash' Hodgepodge is the closest word I can think of that is similar.

I heard it on a tv show. Arte (a French-German channel) has documentaries: Germany from above, France from above, then "The nicest landscapes of the world" with Wales, Lake District, Causeway Coast.

I like those shows. They remind me that there are many, really many beautiful places on Earth in safe places where I haven't been yet! No need to get anywhere near a dictatorship or crude, religious legislation. And a trip to France, Britain or somewhere in Germany is so much more relaxing than having to think whether you're allowed to have a beer in public or speak to a native person.

 

[pinball1970]

I heard it on a tv show. Arte (a French-German channel) has documentaries: Germany from above, France from above, then "The nicest landscapes of the world" with Wales, Lake District, Causeway Coast.

I like those shows. They remind me that there are many, really many beautiful places on Earth in safe places where I haven't been yet! No need to get anywhere near a dictatorship or crude, religious legislation. And a trip to France, Britain or somewhere in Germany is so much more relaxing than having to think whether you're allowed to have a beer in public or speak to a native person.

We are lucky in the UK, few hours north and you are in the lakes, you can see why Wordsworth had to write about it.
Yorkshire dales to the east (I am in Manchester) south you have Kent, the garden of England and Brecon beacons in Wales.
The SAS train up that way and you can see why, beautiful and unforgiving at the same time.
Even though my ancestors are Irish I have only been there once non work related.
Scotland is like a different country, I think I understood more people in France Germany Czech Republic and many other places in Europe than I did in Hamilton near Glasgow. You can attempt to learn Polish or Hungarian using tapes and books.
You can't learn Glaswegian.
When Hadrian captured some Scottish bandits who were constantly making raids on Roman outposts he interrogated them and demanded they lead them to their campsite.
After a few minutes exchanges he let them go turned to his officers and said.
'we're building a wall.'

 

[fresh_42]

I am in Manchester

Red or Blue?

 

[Hamiltonian]

I can't be the only one who thinks this is eerie?

 

[Borg]

I'm sure that it's just ten years away - like a fully functional fusion power plant.

 

[pinball1970]

Red or Blue?

Red. The unhappy part of Manchester. Failing is important, it teaches one humility, honesty and an ability to deal with shock, at first, then with deep anger and resentment.

 

[fresh_42]

Red. The unhappy part of Manchester. Failing is important, it teaches one humility, honesty and an ability to deal with shock, at first, then with deep anger and resentment.

You're complaining at a high level! I like Forest and QPR

 

[pinball1970]

You're complaining at a high level! I like Forest and QPR

I think all English fans have some sort of affection for Nottingham forest. Brian Clough achievements in the 70s were unbelievable.
As a Man U fan, welcome home Notts Forrest.

 

[Klystron]

It was probably a meat substitute product. But I found it funny, since chickens are vegan anyway.

Chickens (gallus gallus) in the wild or free range eat omnivorous diets including worms, many insects, small reptiles and egg fragments along with various plant based carbohydrates. From Wiki poultry article,

Chickens are gregarious, omnivorous, ground-dwelling birds that in their natural surroundings search among the leaf litter for seeds, invertebrates, and other small animals.

I have observed free range cocks and hens in Thailand and Southwest US hunting and pecking worms, insects and small reptiles. Hens with young chicks make a big production of finding food by vocalizing and pecking to train chicks to recognize potential meals.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/cms/life-out-here/the-coop/chick-care/how-to-feed-chickensincludes mealworms and fishmeal plus other protein sources in Summer food pellets. While captive birds can be fed a vegan diet, free range chickens and turkeys seem to enjoy munching down whatever they catch.

If you’ve got food in your kitchen, chances are a good part of that would make an excellent treat for your flock! Healthy chicken treats include:

• Mealworm
• Table scraps (strawberries, lettuce, carrots, pumpkins, etc.)
• Sunflower seeds
• Turnip greens

 

[BillTre]

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/cms/life-out-here/the-coop/chick-care/how-to-feed-chickensincludes mealworms and fishmeal plus other protein sources in Summer food pellets. While captive birds can be fed a vegan diet, free range chickens and turkeys seem to enjoy munching down whatever they catch.

I had a friend who keep chickens in his backyard.
He would release them to eat bugs and other stuff in his garden to keep down pests.

 

[WWGD]

I was asked how well Mathematics describes life . I said sometimes perfecly:
Today, i/8.

 

[Borg]

I was asked how well Mathematics describes life . I said sometimes perfecly:
Today, i/8.

But not perfectly.

 

[Bystander]

Today, i/8.

Spoonful of bicarb fix you right up.

 

[Astronuc]

The unhappy part of Manchester. Failing is important, it teaches one humility, honesty and an ability to deal with shock, at first, then with deep anger and resentment.

I suspect that there are many teams in Championship who would like to be where ManU is this season.

 

[Astronuc]

From Jan 2020
Mathematicians Have Solved Traffic Jams, and They’re Begging Cities to Listen
Mathematicians are unimpressed by engineers’ solutions.

https://www.fastcompany.com/9045573...ffic-jams-and-theyre-begging-cities-to-listen

Most traffic jams are unnecessary, and this deeply irks mathematicians who specialize in traffic flow. They reserve particular vitriol for local transport engineers. “They do not have competencies in the field of system-related increases in traffic performance,” https://english.spbu.ru/news/3340-mathematicians-from-st-petersburg-university-find-out-how-to-get-rid-of-traffic-jams-in-large-cities Alexander Krylatov, a mathematics professor at St. Petersburg University. “If engineers manage to achieve local improvements, after a while the flows rearrange and the same traffic jams appear in other places.” Burn!

Krylatov would like to solve urban traffic jams forever, so much so that he has coauthored a book of new math approaches to traffic and ways to implement them.

 

[Borg]

One of the things that governments in the DC area have loved doing recently is expanding highways with toll lanes to 'alleviate' traffic congestion. These are usually privately funded, multi-billion dollar projects that are paid for by investment companies in other countries. Most of them have flexible tolls that change as congestion increases. There have been stories here of tolls that have been over $40 to travel 5 miles. I wonder what the conversation would be like if a local government implemented those solutions and started cutting into their profits?

I also have some scepticism about removing parking from the city. No street parking means no deliveries for some businesses and no handicap access.

 

[gmax137]

the DC area

When I got my driver's license, I could borrow the family car and drive from Fairfax City to the Smithsonian in DC in 15 minutes. There was always a spot to park (free) on the street that ran around the Mall.

I-66 ran west from the beltway out to around Centerville. The Dulles access road was just that, a road to the airport, no other off-ramps.

I hear the area has changed

 

[Astronuc]

Japananese octogenarian (83) becomes oldest person to sail solo across Pacific​

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/...mes-oldest-person-to-sail-solo-across-pacific

TOKYO (AP) — An 83-year-old Japanese adventurer returned home Saturday after successfully completing his solo, nonstop voyage across the Pacific, becoming the oldest person to reach the milestone.

Kenichi Horie arrived in the Kii Strait off Japan’s western coast, completing his trans-Pacific voyage in 69 days after leaving a yacht harbor in San Francisco in March.

It was the latest achievement for the octogenarian adventurer, who in 1962 became the first person in the world to successfully complete a solo nonstop voyage across the Pacific from Japan to San Francisco.

Horie has also achieved a number of other long distance solo voyages, including sailing around the world in 1974. His latest expedition was the first since his 2008 solo non-stop voyage on a wave-powered boat from Hawaii to the Kii Strait.

 

[WWGD]

Wonder if they're will be a day when I get a chance to use the 50+ sauces from Chinese take out in my fridge.

 

[Astronuc]

The Work-From-Home Trader Who Shook Global Markets​

A new book reveals fresh details about the man authorities blamed for the Flash Crash that erased $1 trillion of value in a matter of minutes.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...more-details-on-trader-blamed-for-flash-crash

On March 9, 2020, U.S. stocks had their biggest one-day point drop ever as the economic fallout from the novel Coronavirus sank in. Within a week that record had been broken twice, only for the S&P 500 to register its greatest weekly gain in decades in April, after the Federal Reserve intervened by slashing interest rates and buying bonds.

This rattle of volatility arrives 10 years after another famously tumultuous episode in the markets—the so-called Flash Crash of May 6, 2010, when, without warning, the S&P 500 plummeted 5% in four minutes, temporarily erasing $1 trillion. The incident sparked a government investigation and led to questions about whether the rise of high-frequency trading was having a destabilizing impact on the markets. In the end, the U.S. Department of Justice focused on a different culprit: a 36-year-old day trader named Navinder Singh Sarao who operated out of his bedroom in his parents’ suburban semidetached house on the outskirts of London.

With no ties to the world of high finance, Sarao accumulated $70 million buying and selling futures as if he were playing a computer game. The bulk of his winnings came during periods of extreme volatility. He also manipulated the markets, according to the U.S. government, creating a computer program that placed then canceled huge volumes of orders to deceive other participants about supply and demand—a brand-new offense known as “spoofing.” Authorities were careful to assert that Sarao’s antics had only contributed to the crash, essentially by creating false signals others reacted to, but that nuance was lost in the ensuing press coverage.

In 2016, Sarao struck a plea deal with U.S. authorities, agreeing to tell the authorities everything he knew in exchange for a more lenient sentence. The information he provided on the dark arts of electronic trading proved so useful that the government incorporated it into its detection software, helping to lead to spoofing convictions for more than a dozen traders from banks, hedge funds, and high-frequency trading firms. In recognition of his cooperation and a diagnosis of Asperger’s, Sarao was spared jail in January, sentenced instead to a year under house arrest—a month before the entire world went into lockdown. . . . .

 

[WWGD]

it seems some Turks are offended at the fact that their country's name is the same as that of a bird. the current premier, Ordogan asked that the name be pronounced, differently...as 'Chikin'.

 

[fresh_42]

"Tolerance will reach such a level that intelligent people will be forbidden to think, so as not to offend idiots."
(Fyodor Dostoevsky)

 

[WWGD]

I was talking with someone presenting a questionable goal: a method to distinguish
noise from signal. You can't avoid randomness, so noise will always exist ( Noise in model=
Observed - Expected ).

 

[BillTre]

First heard about a galactic year today.
Its about 220-230 million years, approximately how long it takes the Earth to go around the galaxy.
I guess this would vary for different stars in different locations.

 

[strangerep]

First heard about a galactic year today.
Its about 220-230 million years, approximately how long it takes the Earth to go around the galaxy.
I guess this would vary for different stars in different locations.

Be glad we're not the equivalent of Mercury: just missing the supermassive black hole center by... "that much"...

 

[collinsmark]

I was talking with someone presenting a questionable goal: a method to distinguish
noise from signal. You can't avoid randomness, so noise will always exist ( Noise in model=
Observed - Expected ).

There are several, entire fields of study that involve distinguishing (or at least strive to distinguish) noise from signal (e.g., Information Theory, Forward Error Correction and Error Detection techniques, Properties of random signals and systems, etc). One could spend a good part of a lifetime studying such things.

The simplistic formula,

Noise in model = Observed - Expected,

can be true, but it's only true if you already know a priori what the complete signal is in the first place (i.e., the "Expected" is the complete signal). And if you already know that, then there's no point in sending the signal in the first place: the receiving party already knows what the signal is already. So there's no point.
[Edit: although, I should point out that this property is extremely useful for those debugging their Monte Carlo simulation code. So for those coding and evaluating error detection and correction techiques using Monte Carlo simulations, this property is actually paramount.]

In [real-world] practice, the receiving party doesn't fully know what the signal is (i.e., doesn't fully know what is "Expected") and has to piece it together from Noise + Signal, not to mention any nonlinear distortion effects present.

 

[WWGD]

There are several, entire fields of study that involve distinguishing (or at least strive to distinguish) noise from signal (e.g., Information Theory, Forward Error Correction and Error Detection techniques, Properties of random signals and systems, etc). One could spend a good part of a lifetime studying such things.

The simplistic formula,

Noise in model = Observed - Expected,

can be true, but it's only true if you already know a priori what the complete signal is in the first place (i.e., the "Expected" is the complete signal). And if you already know that, then there's no point in sending the signal in the first place: the receiving party already knows what the signal is already. So there's no point.
[Edit: although, I should point out that this property is extremely useful for those debugging their Monte Carlo simulation code. So for those coding and evaluating error detection and correction techiques using Monte Carlo simulations, this property is actually paramount.]

In [real-world] practice, the receiving party doesn't fully know what the signal is (i.e., doesn't fully know what is "Expected") and has to piece it together from Noise + Signal, not to mention any nonlinear distortion effects present.

Interesting. I misnamed 'expected'. I meant predicted ( by a model, as in , e.g., regression). If the model relating X, Y is, e.g., y=2x. Then the noise(actually residual) of the point (1, 2.1) is 2.1-2*1=0.1. I always forget whether its observed minus predicted , or predicted minus observed.

 

[Astronuc]

Now Putin likens himself to Peter the Great. He's more like Napoleon with delusions of grandeur.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/declaring-himself-a-modern-peter-the-great-putin-offers-a-new-threat-to-estonia/

Putin's regime is cracking down on critics of his war on Ukraine.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities kept up their crackdown against citizens who speak out about the fighting in Ukraine, extending a critic’s detention on Wednesday, confirming charges against two others and prompting Moscow’s chief rabbi to flee the country.

Russia adopted a law criminalizing spreading allegedly false information about its military shortly after its troops rolled into Ukraine in late February. The offense is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Human rights advocates have counted dozens of cases. Russians must use the term “military operation” when speaking of the fighting in Ukraine.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-cracks-down-on-critics-of-military-actions-in-ukraine/

Putin seems in denial to the fact that many Russians and most of the rest of the world don't want to live in his police state.

 

[WWGD]

Seems, according to The Economist, Russia has denied IP rights to products coming from " Enemy States ".

 

[fresh_42]

Now Putin likens himself to Peter the Great.

He had the chance. Peter the Great opened Russia to Europe, and science and progress were on his agenda. All of that could have been Putin's merits, too. However, he has chosen to be like Stalin.

 

[Astronuc]

Putin undermined his own rationale for invading Ukraine, admitting that the war is to expand Russian territory
https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-says-ukraine-war-seize-land-russia-undermines-rationale-2022-6

Russian President Vladimir Putin said publicly for the first time Thursday that his invasion of Ukraine is about expanding Russian territory, as Western leaders have long maintained.

Speaking to students Thursday after visiting an exhibition about Peter the Great, Russia's first emperor credited with making the country a major power in the early 18th century, Putin compared himself to the ruler and said they were both destined to expand Russia.

As well as seizing territory in a 21-year war with Sweden in the late 17th century, Peter also captured the territory of Azov from Crimean Tatars, who were aligned with Turkey, in 1696, and seized territory on the Caspian Sea from Persia in 1723.

Veiled warning to neighboring states?

In a tweet Friday, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Putin's comments prove his "contrived pretexts of people's genocide" in Ukraine were false and demanded "immediate de-imperialization" of Russia.

From The Hill - Putin compares self to Peter the Great, says he is taking back Russian lands
https://thehill.com/news/3518666-pu...e-great-says-he-is-taking-back-russian-lands/

 

[Bystander]

Anyone have trouble distinguishing Eugene Roche, https://www.google.com/search?q=eug...12j0i512l3.20284j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 from M. Emmet Walsh https://www.google.com/search?gs_ss...i57j0i30l6.11264j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[Borg]

Gmail cut off pop access to my Outlook while I was on vacation. I *only* had to spend 3 hours changing over to IMAP and getting the settings back to something close to what they were previously.