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

[zoobyshoe]

I like to overpay utilities and let the balance float down. Saves a lot on late fees.

My case is a matter of the utility not actually reading the meters every month and billing by estimate 11 months of the year.

This guy...?

That looks like him.

 

[WWGD]

On a positive note: I just got around to opening the gas and electric bill that came this afternoon, and to my surprise, this time they owe me money instead of the other way around.

...And this comes off as real enthusiasm :). Wonder if they would let you given estimated payments.

 

[WWGD]

New, charming by outlook: deleting posts without warnings, without my request.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Starbuck's successful disaster: the Unicorn Frappuccino...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rthday-cake-and-shame/?utm_term=.09764bdea9e0

Baristas at both Starbucks near me reported being drowned in orders for this drink despite trying to warn people (on the down-low) that it tasted terrible. It was a "limited time only" special drink that was only going to be available for about ten days. The Starbuck's south of me, however, went through their whole ten day supply of mix on the first day. They still are getting calls all day long asking if they have it.

Have to wonder what the time lag is between artificial popularity due to advertising and real world, word-of-mouth correction.

 

[WWGD]

I am torn towards Starbucks baristas. On the one hand, they have often been nice enough to let me use the bathroom shortly before closing, even if it means having to clean it up again. On the other extreme, sometimes they blast the music to a degree that I can barely hear myself think , let alone talk with someone else.

 

[WWGD]

Weird event this morning. I am walking in the sidewalk, this guy waves hi at me, I wave back despite not recognizing him. He then asks: " You're Larry K, right"? I say, "no". He then asks me : " You know who you look like"? I say " Larry K" ? and then he just walks away.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Weird event this morning. I am walking in the sidewalk, this guy waves hi at me, I wave back despite not recognizing him. He then asks: " You're Larry K, right"? I say, "no". He then asks me : " You know who you look like"? I say " Larry K" ? and then he just walks away.

Maybe this guy: https://www.prx.org/series/34183-indigenous-in-music-with-larry-k?

or this:
https://open.spotify.com/album/33UhNTJC4qR7CGX4bhGhbv

At the same time it's weird he walked away without explaining, things could have gotten worse if he had pursued it. Former PF mentor, Math is Hard once got chased through a department store by a guy insisting she was actress Rebecca De Mornay.

 

[zoobyshoe]

The end of an era: Final Season of River Monsters starts tonight. There just aren't enough dangerous fish out there.

 

[WWGD]

Maybe this guy: https://www.prx.org/series/34183-indigenous-in-music-with-larry-k?

or this:
https://open.spotify.com/album/33UhNTJC4qR7CGX4bhGhbv

At the same time it's weird he walked away without explaining, things could have gotten worse if he had pursued it. Former PF mentor, Math is Hard once got chased through a department store by a guy insisting she was actress Rebecca De Mornay.

It must have been a cursory look then. But, yes, it was kind of awkward, yet funny.

 

[Borg]

I got a letter today from the Census Bureau telling me that I had to fill out an American Community Survey. That's got to be the most invasive bunch of questions that I've ever had to answer.

 

[quickquestion]

Is there a serious case of underemployment? For some reason delis seem to be cutting sandwiches made with square bread halfway through one side of the bread, instead of cutting the sandwich diagonally, which is the way I remember it. I asked this person why the halfway cut instead of the diagonal one and he replied: it is wrong; a diagonal cut provides more exposed surface than the half cut, by Pythagoras' theorem. Wow, a person cutting sandwiches knows how to apply Pythagoras and he can't find a better, higher-paying job?

His statements were elementary.
Try being a 150 IQ but getting a job where everyone is a 200 IQ and experts at astrophysics.
Being a programmer may impress your friends but companies hire the best of the best in America. Being good, or smart is not enough these days. They hand pick the experts of the experts.
Science has made so many discoveries that the easy discoveries have already been taken.
Now all that is left is finding the answers to the extremes and absurdly difficult problems.
A child could have figured out the volume displacement theory and got a nobel prize, had it not been discovered centuries ago.
Anybody can build a car.
But it takes a team of experts to make an 2017 Buggatti Veyron.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I got a letter today from the Census Bureau telling me that I had to fill out an American Community Survey. That's got to be the most invasive bunch of questions that I've ever had to answer.

Now you know why, if it wasn't already clear, the writer of Silence of the Lambs had Hannibal Lecter eat a census taker.

 

[WWGD]

His statements were elementary.
Try being a 150 IQ but getting a job where everyone is a 200 IQ and experts at astrophysics.
Being a programmer may impress your friends but companies hire the best of the best in America. Being good, or smart is not enough these days. They hand pick the experts of the experts.
Science has made so many discoveries that the easy discoveries have already been taken.
Now all that is left is finding the answers to the extremes and absurdly difficult problems.
A child could have figured out the volume displacement theory and got a nobel prize, had it not been discovered centuries ago.
Anybody can build a car.
But it takes a team of experts to make an 2017 Buggatti Veyron.

I don't know how many people you will find with an IQ of 200 , given that there are only 27/10000 (around 810,000 in the U.S, with a pop. of some 330 million) with an IQ of 145 ( 3 $\sigma$ ) or higher. But, yes, all, or definitely most of the low-hanging fruit has been already picked. And part of the problem is the catch-22 of not being hired because of not having experience and not having experience because no one will hire you.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I anti-biotics.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Weird event this morning. I am walking in the sidewalk, this guy waves hi at me, I wave back despite not recognizing him. He then asks: " You're Larry K, right"? I say, "no". He then asks me : " You know who you look like"? I say " Larry K" ? and then he just walks away.

Michael Ellis?

 

[dkotschessaa]

I anti-biotics.

If you take pro-biotics and anti-biotics do you become null-biotic?

 

[Ibix]

People confuse me. There were a bunch of us waiting for the train carriage doors to open. Quick count suggests 60+ seats in the carriage (76, on more detailed inspection), maybe 20 people waiting to board and ten minutes before scheduled departure. When the doors opened, people were leaping to be first on the train, and shoving into the tiniest gaps between other passengers.

People need better estimation skills.

 

[quickquestion]

I don't know how many people you will find with an IQ of 200 , given that there are only 27/10000 (around 810,000 in the U.S, with a pop. of some 330 million) with an IQ of 145 ( 3 $\sigma$ ) or higher. But, yes, all, or definitely most of the low-hanging fruit has been already picked. And part of the problem is the catch-22 of not being hired because of not having experience and not having experience because no one will hire you.

But these new-agers, keep telling us, the future is just getting better and better. I'm still waiting.

 

[WWGD]

But these new-agers, keep telling us, the future is just getting better and better. I'm still waiting.

The small print is that it is getting better... for them.

 

[zoobyshoe]

If you take pro-biotics and anti-biotics do you become null-biotic?

I don't know. Just don't let me forget I have to renew my library card today.

 

[WWGD]

I don't know. Just don't let me forget I have to renew my library card today.

...which requires passing a quiz on (pro-, anti- ) biotics ?

 

[Ibix]

I don't know. Just don't let me forget I have to renew my library card today.

Hey, Zooby, don't forget to renew your library card.

 

[zoobyshoe]

...which requires passing a quiz on (pro-, anti- ) biotics ?

No, it's completely unrelated to biotics. The more I think about it, it seems to boil down to convincing them you are not homeless, or, at least, that you live where you claim you live. Which is odd, because they never send anything through the old mail anymore. It's all email.

 

[WWGD]

No, it's completely unrelated to biotics. The more I think about it, it seems to boil down to convincing them you are not homeless, or, at least, that you live where you claim you live. Which is odd, because they never send anything through the old mail anymore. It's all email.

Strange, I would have thought librarians are leaning more towards lefty or social-worker types that would have no objections on one's status.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Hey, Zooby, don't forget to renew your library card.

THANK YOU! It is done.

Strange, I would have thought librarians are leaning more towards lefty or social-worker types that would have no objections on one's status.

I quizzed, interrogated, and third-degreed the librarian who waited on me and eventually got him to admit he didn't know why they still did this. So, I think it is just a vestige of bureaucracy past.

The one and only purpose I could think of it might serve would be to allow them to deactivate accounts of people who have moved or died.

 

[Ibix]

THANK YOU! It is done.

You're welcome.

I quizzed, interrogated, and third-degreed the librarian who waited on me and eventually got him to admit he didn't know why they still did this.

At least in the UK public libraries are funded by the Local Authority (lowest tier of local government). So it may be a case of confirming that you live in the area that funds the library? Although bureaucratic inertia would certainly be a plausible explanation. It's why we've got a coccyx.

 

[WWGD]

You're welcome.
...It's why we've got a coccyx.

You made me look it up.

 

[zoobyshoe]

You're welcome.
At least in the UK public libraries are funded by the Local Authority (lowest tier of local government). So it may be a case of confirming that you live in the area that funds the library? Although bureaucratic inertia would certainly be a plausible explanation. It's why we've got a coccyx.

Here in San Diego the library system is citywide. If you have a card from any branch you can go to any other branch and borrow books. If I initially registered at the Pacific Beach branch, I'm also automatically registered at the City Heights branch and the Clairemont branch and the Main Library downtown. I can just walk in, use my card, and no one blinks.

As part of your initial registration they would naturally want you to prove you are a San Diego resident, as opposed to a resident of Los Angeles or Salt Lake City, Utah, but once that is established, there's no real reason to keep checking it over and over. It would be highly unlikely some San Diego resident would move away to Texas but then continue to come back to borrow books.

 

[WWGD]

Here in San Diego the library system is citywide. If you have a card from any branch you can go to any other branch and borrow books. If I initially registered at the Pacific Beach branch, I'm also automatically registered at the City Heights branch and the Clairemont branch and the Main Library downtown. I can just walk in, use my card, and no one blinks.

As part of your initial registration they would naturally want you to prove you are a San Diego resident, as opposed to a resident of Los Angeles or Salt Lake City, Utah, but once that is established, there's no real reason to keep checking it over and over. It would be highly unlikely some San Diego resident would move away to Texas but then continue to come back to borrow books.

Unless they have a coccyx...?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Unless they have a coccyx...?

You know who you look like?

 

[WWGD]

You know who you look like?

Not sure, but I've told more like a coccfive, some say a coccfive 1/2 :) .

 

[zoobyshoe]

Not sure, but I've told more like a coccfive, some say a coccfive 1/2 :) .

It's spelled "coccfyv."

 

[Ibix]

Here in San Diego the library system is citywide. If you have a card from any branch you can go to any other branch and borrow books. If I initially registered at the Pacific Beach branch, I'm also automatically registered at the City Heights branch and the Clairemont branch and the Main Library downtown. I can just walk in, use my card, and no one blinks.

As part of your initial registration they would naturally want you to prove you are a San Diego resident, as opposed to a resident of Los Angeles or Salt Lake City, Utah, but once that is established, there's no real reason to keep checking it over and over. It would be highly unlikely some San Diego resident would move away to Texas but then continue to come back to borrow books.

Same system here - most Local Authorities cover more than just a city, but most libraries are in cities and you can use your card in any library belonging to the LA. The difference, I suspect, is that Texas is about a thousand miles from San Diego, but the UK is less than nine hundred miles long. I live close to the centre of my LA and can visit a library belonging to another one in twenty minutes by public transport, so there's a bit more sense to periodic residence checks.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Same system here - most Local Authorities cover more than just a city, but most libraries are in cities and you can use your card in any library belonging to the LA. The difference, I suspect, is that Texas is about a thousand miles from San Diego, but the UK is less than nine hundred miles long. I live close to the centre of my LA and can visit a library belonging to another one in twenty minutes by public transport, so there's a bit more sense to periodic residence checks.

Actually, upon checking, I discovered that cities immediately to our east are not considered part of San Diego, despite often being referred to as "suburbs." In other words, I have been erroneously assuming their libraries were just branches of our system. A person could, in fact, move to say, La Mesa, Ca., which is outside our library system, and still live close enough to drive back to use the library here.

Although the library system extends farther North than I ever go, it is bounded to the West by the ocean and to the South by Mexico. It does not, however, extend as far East as I had assumed:

https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/defa...brary/pdf/2012/librariesbycouncildistrict.pdf

There is also this strange situation where the city immediately south of San Diego, National City, seems to be excluded from our system, but the city south of that, San Ysidro, is included. No comprendo.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I've been watching late night re-runs of the show Psych. A commercial for the show makes the claim that there is a pineapple in some form in almost every episode. That was news to me. Before finding out about the pineapple, I probably saw 30 episodes without ever noticing it. But, having heard it, I am now seeing the pineapple every time I watch it.

http://psychpineapple.com/

The problem, though, is that now I am noticing the pineapple everywhere, in real life. Like this morning, a delivery truck goes by with a variety of fruit painted on the side, and my eyes went straight to the pineapple.

Once you become primed and sensitized to a certain specific thing, you suddenly realize there are representations of that thing all over the place.