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

[Borg]

As far as salaries go, I wouldn't consider that as making much of a killing.

 

[WWGD]

As far as salaries go, I wouldn't consider that as making much of a killing.

Wonder the many akward cases of executors applying for the job.

 

[BillTre]

I like this journal cover:

Insects and similar animals (like crustaceans) have a simple computer like nervous system.

 

[Astronuc]

Rocket powered go-kart anyone?!


I resemble that appearance.

 

[berkeman]

I resemble that appearance.

Yes you do!

 

[DennisN]

Some memes go viral on the internet, but only a few make it so big that they appear on sweatshirts:

(Source: https://cloudminis.site/products/lotr-mordor-sweatshirt-1 )

 

[nsaspook]

No good deed goes unpunished​

https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-new...-did-detroit-police-accuse-her-of-stealing-it

She tried to return a lost credit card. Why did Detroit police accuse her of stealing it?
Judge calls prosecution 'absurd and ridiculous and wrong,' tosses charges

For four months, Sandra fought to clear her name. In October, the case went to a jury trial where—finally—her nightmare came to an end.

“This is unbelievable to me,” said an exasperated Judge Paul Cusick of Wayne County Third Circuit Court. “No trier of fact—even in the light most favorable to the prosecution—could ever think that Ms. Wilson is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Before the case could go to the jury, Judge Cusick threw it out.

“Absurd and ridiculous and wrong,” he bellowed. “And this was not a thorough investigation.”

 

[WWGD]

Don't know if it is a coincidence. When I started using my step -tracking app on my phone, I'd get ads for weigh loss products, , discount food, cigarettes. Now, after a total of some 80k steps, I got one for ETFs, and one for Mazda. Im moving all up.

 

[Ibix]

When I started using my step -tracking app on my phone, I'd get ads for weigh loss products, , discount food, cigarettes.

I dislike this sort of thing, which is why all my privacy settings are set to "nope".

Vaguely related: https://www.wastedtalent.ca/comic/big-mother-watching (for context, the woman in the comic is the author herself, and she got married a month or two before this one was published).

 

[WWGD]

I dislike this sort of thing, which is why all my privacy settings are set to "nope".

Vaguely related: https://www.wastedtalent.ca/comic/big-mother-watching (for context, the woman in the comic is the author herself, and she got married a month or two before this one was published).

Yes, I've been putting off doing that for a while now. I do remember, though, the story about the father who suddenly started receiving coupons for pregnancy-related products, supposedly for his daughter. And, puff, her daughter ended up pregnant. It was found that the company in question had machine-learnt the daughters purchases and concluded she either was or soon would be pregnant.

 

[Ibix]

Yes, I've been putting off doing that for a while now.

I take it you mean increasing your privacy settings? I find I do actually see fewer ads and the ones I do see are largely irrelevant to me and hence much easier to ignore.

 

[WWGD]

I take it you mean increasing your privacy settings? I find I do actually see fewer ads and the ones I do see are largely irrelevant to me and hence much easier to ignore.

I had taken a roundabout approach, offering false information, to throw them off. I recently was congratulated on my fourth birthday of the year by Google, and my bank. Just curious as to what type of rapport my bank believes I have with them to inject themselves into my private life.

 

[WWGD]

So what's the big deal with leap years ? Arent they just the ones that are divisible by 400?
Just looking at other definitions that seem unnecessarily complicated, that consider division
by 4, by 100, etc. Just test whether it's divisible by 400!

 

[DrGreg]

So what's the big deal with leap years ? Arent they just the ones that are divisible by 400?
Just looking at other definitions that seem unnecessarily complicated, that consider division
by 4, by 100, etc. Just test whether it's divisible by 400!

So the next leap year will be 2400?

 

[WWGD]

So the next leap year will be 2400?

I believe so. I've seen some very long, roundabout definitions that just seem to amount to that. Wonder if I'm missing something.

 

[Bystander]

I believe so. I've seen some very long, roundabout definitions that just seem to amount to that. Wonder if I'm missing something.

You mean NOT leap years?

 

[WWGD]

You mean NOT leap years?

Aren't 2000, 2400, 2800, etc. Leap years?

 

[Borg]

Leap years are every four years except if the year is divisible by 400. The year 2000 was not a leap year.

 

[collinsmark]

Aren't 2000, 2400, 2800, etc. Leap years?

Yes, but so is 2024.

Leap years are every four years except if the year is divisible by 400. The year 2000 was not a leap year.

That's not quite right. The year 2000 was a leap year.

Every year evenly divisible by 4 is a leap year, unless...

Unless it is also evenly divisible by 100, in which case it is not a leap year, unless...

Unless it is also evenly divisible by 400, in which case it is a leap year.

[Edit: this is how the Gregorian calendar works. Other calendars may have different rules.]

 

[Borg]

Ah. My bad. It's been a while and I got thrown off a bit.

 

[collinsmark]

A bit of messed up, leap-year trivia for ya from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/excel/determine-a-leap-year

"Because versions of Microsoft Excel earlier than Excel 97 handle only years from 1900 to 2078, only the year 1900 is subject to the 100/400 exclusion rule of leap years in Microsoft Excel. However, in order to be compatible with other programs, Microsoft Excel treats the year 1900 as a leap year."​

So, because Microsoft wanted to maintain backwards compatibility with older systems that did things wrong, they continue to be wrong. Gahh!

TLDR take-home: Don't inherently trust Microsoft Excel when it comes to leap-years (particularly 1900 or before).

 

[Ibix]

Don't inherently trust Microsoft Excel

Even shorter. <Once bitten twice shy emoji>

 

[Astronuc]

Some people had a bad day.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/train-derails-crashing-truck-carrying-220213463.html

In this day and age of rapid communication, why can't the responsible individuals communicate? The trucking company, or perhaps the escorts, should have conferred with the railroad as to the schedule, or that simply should have check the line to see if it was clear to take a 134 foot beam across the line. It's not clear from the video why the truck was stopped on the crossing, but ordinarily, one does not stop on a crossing - ever. Trains have the right of way - always.

 

[Rive]

In this day and age of rapid communication, why can't the responsible individuals communicate?

I don't know the exact requirements there but transferring irregular/oversized cargo usually requires special permit (with detailed plan about the whole route) and often done with security cars around and checkup points on the way... This one looks quite amateurish - or, rather: done attempted cheap...

It's not clear from the video why the truck was stopped on the crossing

Let me guess: the newbie driver got lost, so stopped to check the map - and totally forgot the actual length of the truck

 

[Astronuc]

More images and video of the collision and aftermath. The truck driver was unharmed, but two crew members, the locomotive engineer (operator) and conductor, were injured. The lead locomotive ended up on its side in a creek. Fortunately, hazardous cargo was not involved, but diesel fuel did leak from at least one locomotive (lead).

https://newschannel9.com/news/local...d9xcYFnHJ61jQf3nLvALwN6Z1ICOqfkLKCSuIoLT_hEq0

Twitter feed

 

[Rive]

Christmas preparations has a certain fractal-like property.
Be it cleaning or shopping: the closer it is, the more and more details popping up endlessly.
We planned to finish up everything by the end of November, but still working on it

 

[WWGD]

Leap years are every four years except if the year is divisible by 400. The year 2000 was not a leap year.

Yes, but so is 2024.
That's not quite right. The year 2000 was a leap year.

Every year evenly divisible by 4 is a leap year, unless...

Unless it is also evenly divisible by 100, in which case it is not a leap year, unless...

Unless it is also evenly divisible by 400, in which case it is a leap year.

[Edit: this is how the Gregorian calendar works. Other calendars may have different rules.]

So 2100 is lap, but 2060 is not?

 

[WWGD]

Trying to see how to get Python to take a positive Integer as input and output the string 1234...n
I know how to use 'a'+ 'b' , to get the string ab when a,b are given , but my efforts to do from this a loop from 1 to n haven't
worked . Thinking of starting with n as an integer, then adding $1*10^{n-1} +2*10^{ n-2} +...n*10^{0}$ and then converting it into a string using 'str'.

 

[Ibix]

Use str(i + 1) to convert the integer to a string and then just append it to your string, no? Or you could make a list of integrrs-as-strings snd use str's join method.

 

[WWGD]

Use str(i + 1) to convert the integer to a string and then just append it to your string, no? Or you could make a list of integrrs-as-strings snd use str's join method.

Thanks, yes, I was thinking of using recursion starting with the trivial string 1 and then appending/concatenating 2, then 3, and so on , up to n.

 

[Ibix]

I wouldn't call that recursion, but yes it should work.

 

[Algr]

So 2100 is lap, but 2060 is not?

The other way around. 2100 will not be a leap year, but 2060 will be.

1600: Leap year
1700: Not leap year
1800: Not leap year
1900: Not leap year
2000: Leap year
2100: Not leap year
2200: Not leap year

A leap second skips a whole second, but a leap year only skips a day. What month should we leap?

 

[WWGD]

The other way around. 2100 will not be a leap year, but 2060 will be.

1600: Leap year
1700: Not leap year
1800: Not leap year
1900: Not leap year
2000: Leap year
2100: Not leap year
2200: Not leap year

A leap second skips a whole second, but a leap year only skips a day. What month should we leap?

Ok, my program to determine leaps will include a link to a page with a list of leaps.
And a comment: If you don't like it, go take a leap!

 

[WWGD]

At the supermarket:
" Have you seen the egg nog?"
No, I watch it all the time, and it never nogged.
" Ok, where's the Jojoba "
( Stoning): " You cannot say the name Jojoba!"

 

[BillTre]

I like this picture (looks kind of like a hammerhead shark):