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

[BillTre]

My sister has a condo in Washington DC she is putting up for sale.
It is by Dupont Circle and near the National Zoo.

Part of her description is:
"... and you can hear the lions at the zoo roar at feeding time!"

 

[fresh_42]

The important thing is the ratio.

That's possible for theorists, but I fail at $\sqrt{2}$ many eggs. The eggs : flour ratio was the main reason I looked it up. Too many eggs and it becomes a German pancake, too much flour and it tastes like a wallpaper.

 

[gmax137]

Too many eggs and it becomes a German pancake, too much flour and it tastes like a wallpaper.

Even Grandma didn't get it right the first time.

 

[fresh_42]

Even Grandma didn't get it right the first time.

Yes, but I'm competing against the industrial mixture which is pretty good - and relatively expensive. And I want a second option.

 

[fresh_42]

CNN titled a story: "The migrants' way to America!"

That's embarrassing ("fremdschämen"). And it makes me angry since it reveals so much about the attitude of US citizens.

 

[Rive]

Grandma should have shown you what it looks like when it is right.

... There are those 'grandma style' old cookbooks in most household: browned edges, many (likely high nutrient ) stains on every page, half pages are notes, the others are also about leaving the binding....

... if you ever tried to actually cook anything from them, you'll notice that those differences about national cooking units are just the most minor inconveniences: during that 50-100 years what these books stretch across not just the preferred units changed every twenty years, but the ingredients themselves and their naming too

... actually, I suspect that many 'new' recipes born through trying to making sense to those old recipes again

 

[Swamp Thing]

When you export a WhatsApp chat to, say a folder on your Google Drive, you get a text file plus a lot of media files.

It would have been an easy job for the developers to create an HTML file instead, with IMG tags that would populate all the images into the right places. That would have been such a superior user experience.

 

[fresh_42]

I'm following the chess world championship - and Crucible, of course - and learned a new English word today: 'Zwischenzug'. Funny.

 

[Astronuc]

Six days ago marked the sixty-year anniversary of the loss of the SSN-593 Thresher.

 

[gmax137]

Six days ago marked the sixty-year anniversary of the loss of the SSN-593 Thresher.

Thanks, @Astronuc that's a good video. The loss of the submarine is one of the first memories I have of seeing news on TV (my parent's small flickering black & white set). I remember the report (Cronkite? Huntley-Brinkley?) saying the sub was "a city block long" and asking my father what that meant.

 

[WWGD]

I was looking up a recipe for pancake dough. Not so much for the ingredients but for the quantities. I was prepared for the horrible, horrible, completely crazy American recipe units. I surely hate them, and it is nuts. But anyway, I was prepared for "cups".

Next step. It shouldn't be too complicated nowadays to find a website for translating cups to metric. Here is what I found:

View attachment 324933

Why can't you go metric like any sane person in the world? Don't be afraid, it doesn't come with bare breasts or in rainbows!

They forgot to include a Whisper of Cinnamon and a pinch of honey. ;)

 

[WWGD]

I thought a YT video on sounds of the rainforest would help me sleep, relax. Instead, I feel like peeing every 10 minutes.

 

[fresh_42]

I thought a YT video on sounds of the rainforest would help me sleep, relax. Instead, I feel like peeing every 10 minutes.

Try techno. Or Kylie's "I can't get you out of my mind" on an endless loop. I prefer techno, the less melody the better, just the beats. It is like counting sheep but letting count someone else. I have an app on my phone that let me choose among a dozen of channels and has a programmable "fall asleep" countdown mode.

 

[Astronuc]

Seven years of walking over 28000 miles.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...tom-turcich-seven-year-search-meaning-of-life

The article states, "38 countries and crossed every continent except Australia," but I'm sure the author meant Antartica; surely Turcich didn't walk across Antartica.

Another article shows that he walked across Australia, but no walks in Antarctica.
https://www.njpen.com/haddon-twp-man-to-depart-on-world-walk/

 

[WWGD]

Try techno. Or Kylie's "I can't get you out of my mind" on an endless loop. I prefer techno, the less melody the better, just the beats. It is like counting sheep but letting count someone else. I have an app on my phone that let me choose among a dozen of channels and has a programmable "fall asleep" countdown mode.

You use an app for a nap?

 

[fresh_42]

You use an app for a nap?

Yep.

More than one:
- Rock radio (multiple channels)
- electronic music (multiple channels)
- audios that read me the news (multiple channels)
- audios that read me Wikipedia articles
- audios that read me astronomical data
- and a classical music channel

 

[WWGD]

Wow, several companies have emailed me, asking me to fill a survey for them. After I've ignored them, I received very aggressive emails almost demanding I take the survey asap. No, I replied. Pay me, and I'll take it, unless you're a non-profit. The nerve, as if I owed them anything.

 

[dlgoff]

Dang. In a tornado watch until 11:00 pm. Glad I have a storm shelter.

 

[berkeman]

Dang. In a tornado watch until 11:00 pm. Glad I have a storm shelter.

Yikes, stay safe! Do you have some sort of Doppler wind alarm device or something that lets you know when to dive into the shelter?

 

[dlgoff]

Yikes, stay safe! Do you have some sort of Doppler wind alarm device or something that lets you know when to dive into the shelter?

I have a weather radio here in the house. The town, a mile or so away, has a tornado siren that can be heard inside my house.

 

[Astronuc]

Man, 109, who still drives his car every day has simple tips for long life​

https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-109-still-drives-car-203838450.html

At 109 years old, Vincent Dransfield still zips around town in his car every day, buying lunch, running errands and shopping for groceries.

He lives independently in his own house in Little Falls, New Jersey, where he has resided since 1945.

The centenarian requires no help navigating between the home’s main floor, his bedroom upstairs and the basement where he does his laundry, his family says.
. . .

 

[Grelbr42]

Dang. In a tornado watch until 11:00 pm. Glad I have a storm shelter.

Just remember, the shelter does you no good unless you are in it at the important time. Maybe it's possible to hook up a WiFi repeater in there so you can be safe and still surf the net.

Heh heh. Recalling working on the safety report of a nuclear reactor. It got to the part about traffic accidents on the nearby driving surfaces, parking lot, delivery area, etc. The entire analysis consisted of: See the section about flying gas trucks due to tornadoes. Since the station was qualified to survive the impact of a flying gas truck it was considered qualified against any credible traffic accidents.

 

[berkeman]

Since the station was qualified to survive the impact of a flying gas truck it was considered qualified against any credible traffic accidents.

Was it qualified to survive the BLEVE from the gas truck catching fire and burning for a bit (then exploding)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_liquid_expanding_vapor_explosion

 

[fresh_42]

Some emigrants to English are just funny.

I learned "Zwischenzug" from following the current chess world championship, and now I have found: "Trockenbeerenauslese". Forget about Kindergarten. There are apparently much funnier words. Even one with an "ö", and no, it's not Motörhead. It's "trögerite", "ö" inclusive.

 

[dlgoff]

I just drove down my drive to the mailbox and there was a Box Turtle crossing the drive. I stopped and moved it off the road so other autos wouldn't run over it. They are considered endangered species around here.

 

[Swamp Thing]

Was it qualified to survive the BLEVE from the gas truck catching fire and burning for a bit (then exploding)?

I Bleve it was.

 

[fresh_42]

You use an app for a nap?

 

[fresh_42]

I understand Alan McManus quite well, and John Higgins not at all. Can someone explain this to me? I looked it up, their birth places are only 23km apart.

 

[Astronuc]

The Origins of 7 Common Units of Measurement​

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/25108/why-are-there-5280-feet-mile-making-sense-measurements

Bad Roman influence

 

[dlgoff]

I can't believe it's almost May and here in Kansas the temperature is 48°F.

edit: now it's the evening and it's 44°F.

 

[fresh_42]

Science is exciting. I just learned that the amount of melting permafrost can be determined by the lack of ${}^{129\,}\mathrm I$ in water. The gauge year is 1950. Heck, we polluted everything.

 

[pinball1970]

National alert UK i phone test today. 3pm GMT.

https://amp.theguardian.com/technol...lert-system-test-has-been-years-in-the-making

 

[DennisN]

A glimpse into the near future?

He’s the first conversational holographic being — powered by ChatGPT
https://lookingglassfactory.com//uncle-rabbit

A really cool short demo clip on that page, where the rabbit completes the lyrics of a song.

Who would have thought SkyNet would start gathering info about humans in the form of rabbits instead of robots?
SkyNet is clever, very clever. We've got to prepare; time to start buying weapons and store them at various strategic locations.

 

[WWGD]

Not sure if I like or hate " Lemon Swayze". It changes each time I listen to it.

 

[hmmm27]

I thought a YT video on sounds of the rainforest would help me sleep, relax. Instead, I feel like peeing every 10 minutes.

YT spaceship engine noises. Or, any B&W TV series playlist.

Man, 109, who still drives his car every day has simple tips for long life

Mostly, be the old guy driving the car, not the pedestrian crossing in front of it.