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

[zoobyshoe]

Josh Gates never finds the buried treasure, but he always finds one of the pirates' belt buckles.

 

[dkotschessaa]

You had me going for a moment - I wasn't sure I was using the term correctly. Let’s just say I probably wouldn't pass the qualifier...

Turns out I didn't. Argh!

There was always the possibility and it is common for people to fail the first time. I was taking practice ones from 9 - 12 almost every Saturday. I had to "rehearse" when I had breakfast and ate and drank and whatnot (blood sugar condition so I had to be sure). 3 days before the test I got sick, and one day before the test the whole thing was moved up to 10:00 am due to a campus event. (Something they have never, ever done before) Won't say that is the reason for my failure but it sure didn't help.

back too the whiteboard for 4 months... in between work and online classes and baby..

 

[Ibix]

Sorry to hear that, Dave. Hope it goes better next time.

 

[Borg]

Ditto that. Best of luck on the next one.

 

[nuuskur]

Turns out I didn't. Argh!

There was always the possibility and it is common for people to fail the first time. I was taking practice ones from 9 - 12 almost every Saturday. I had to "rehearse" when I had breakfast and ate and drank and whatnot (blood sugar condition so I had to be sure). 3 days before the test I got sick, and one day before the test the whole thing was moved up to 10:00 am due to a campus event. (Something they have never, ever done before) Won't say that is the reason for my failure but it sure didn't help.

back too the whiteboard for 4 months... in between work and online classes and baby..

I can only imagine the disappointment :s In light of the content of some of your other work, things are still ok, no?
Best of luck next time.

Have you received any specific criticism on your test or they just said you didn't pass?

 

[dkotschessaa]

I can only imagine the disappointment :s In light of the content of some of your other work, things are still ok, no?

Yes, the financial stress is starting to come off. The next qual is 126 days off. I think that is more than enough time to fix what I need to fix.

Best of luck next time.

Thanks.

Have you received any specific criticism on your test or they just said you didn't pass?

I think feedback is forthcoming but I don't know in what form. I'm not really able to meet with professors since I am working and it will be awhile until I've earned any days off.

-Dave K

 

[WWGD]

I get why people put signs offering rewards for finding their lost dogs. What I don't get is why they include actual pictures of their dog instead of just a general description. Can most people tell apart two different dogs of the same "family", similar size, of the same color? I mean, there two black terriers of similar size. Can you tell them apart just because one has, e.g., a smaller nose, etc?

 

[WWGD]

I had a disturbing thought: I was crossing the street with a group of people close to me, in the direction in which the cars were flowing. A car approached fast( but eventually went in a different direction.) I thought at that point: well, even if the car comes this way, I have a bunch of people right next to me that would serve as a buffer . Yikes.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I get why people put signs offering rewards for finding their lost dogs. What I don't get is why they include actual pictures of their dog instead of just a general description. Can most people tell apart two different dogs of the same "family", similar size, of the same color? I mean, there two black terriers of similar size. Can you tell them apart just because one has, e.g., a smaller nose, etc?

Personally, I am not sure what a terrier looks like, so a picture definitely helps. I don't know the names of too many dog styles. I know pit bulls because I think they have alligator faces. Dalmations have spots. German shepherds have that dangerous wolfy edge. The Irish wolf hound is really big. The golden retriever is blond and friendly. That's about it. Well, the chiuhahua. However you spell it. Sometimes I've seen a certain kind of dog and wondered if it might be a rotweiller. St. Bernard, of course. That's about it. Well, the husky. Cats are easier, there's only three styles: normal, siamese, and smash-faced. Well, there's long haired and short haired and bald, I guess.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I don't trust groupers.

 

[jim hardy]

I know pit bulls because I think they have alligator faces.

With that short snout ? Piranha is more like it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

With that short snout ? Piranha is more like it.

It's the set of their eyes and the way their mouths curve up and back down at the back of the jaw.

 

[dlgoff]

This video ad popped up on Facebook just now and brought back memories of @Ivan Seeking and his Algae to the rescue thread.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Had a pop-sci documentary on while I was studying and I looked up for a moment to see... Michio Kaku figure skating. Well played sir!

 

[nuuskur]

Surface integrals are a work of evil. Flux here, flux there, flux everywhere!

 

[jim hardy]

Surface integrals are a work of evil.

I remember greatly enjoying them on straightforward surfaces like a sphere. Then you hit real world where nothing quite fits those nice textbook examples. Aaarghhh !

A volume integral for a vertical cylindrical tank with elliptical top and bottom once drove me bananas..
Biggest problem was arctan function blew up at some particular value
so i wrote a Taylor series expansion for it
All i had was a TI-99 with interpreted Basic , it was really fun to watch it think as it iterated in on solutions near the cusp.
But i got an "Attaboy" for producing the calibration curve of gallons versus height. We made a special scale for the meter to accommodate the nonlinearity.

old jim

 

[WWGD]

Personally, I am not sure what a terrier looks like, so a picture definitely helps. I don't know the names of too many dog styles. I know pit bulls because I think they have alligator faces. Dalmations have spots. German shepherds have that dangerous wolfy edge. The Irish wolf hound is really big. The golden retriever is blond and friendly. That's about it. Well, the chiuhahua. However you spell it. Sometimes I've seen a certain kind of dog and wondered if it might be a rotweiller. St. Bernard, of course. That's about it. Well, the husky. Cats are easier, there's only three styles: normal, siamese, and smash-faced. Well, there's long haired and short haired and bald, I guess.

Yes, I just suggest

I remember greatly enjoying them on straightforward surfaces like a sphere. Then you hit real world where nothing quite fits those nice textbook examples. Aaarghhh !

A volume integral for a vertical cylindrical tank with elliptical top and bottom once drove me bananas..
Biggest problem was arctan function blew up at some particular value
so i wrote a Taylor series expansion for it
All i had was a TI-99 with interpreted Basic , it was really fun to watch it think as it iterated in on solutions near the cusp.
But i got an "Attaboy" for producing the calibration curve of gallons versus height. We made a special scale for the meter to accommodate the nonlinearity.

old jim

Well done, Sir, real-life Mathematics/Engineering.

 

[Ibix]

But i got an "Attaboy" for producing the calibration curve of gallons versus height. We made a special scale for the meter to accommodate the nonlinearity.

Out of interest, why not dump water in the top gallon by gallon and mark the level?

 

[WWGD]

Out of interest, why not dump water in the top gallon by gallon and mark the level?

Good idea, or, by ( I assume) symmetry, fill it approx halfway and double the total.

 

[fresh_42]

Good idea, or, by ( I assume) symmetry, fill it approx halfway and double the total.

Or simply fill only the right half, so one can put the ruler inside and mark it more accurately.

 

[WWGD]

Or simply fill only the right half, so one can put the ruler inside and mark it more accurately.

How do you fill just the right half without water poring through?

 

[Borg]

How do you fill just the right half without water poring through?

Fill the left half first of course.

 

[Ibix]

Fill the left half first of course.

...being careful not to overfill it. You wouldn't want to double-fill the overlap.

 

[WWGD]

Fill the left half first of course.

Or the center one, leaving the bottom and top quarters empty. It reminds me of designated quiet areas in some libraries that are right next to ones where speaking is allowed ( and a -loud too ;) ) as if sound will follow orders and stop beyond the speaking-allowed areas.

 

[OCR]

...dump water in the top gallon by gallon and mark the level?

...fill it approx halfway and double the total.

Wasn't that what Michio Kaku was doing ??

...figure skating.

 

[WWGD]

Wasn't that what Michio Kaku was doing ??

In a very abstract way, yes ;).

 

[jim hardy]

Out of interest, why not dump water in the top gallon by gallon and mark the level?

It was about a twelve thousand gallon tank. In a radioactive location. And in a nuke plant everything has to be backed by an engineering calculation.
Initially we only used the cylindrical mid-part of the tank, with level instrument taps located at the joints between cylindrical midsection and elliptical top/bottom. So "Empty" indication was really a foot or so above the actual bottom and "Full" similarly about a foot below the actual top.
Engineering decided we needed a little more useable tank capacity so rather than buy a bigger tank they sent in the welders to move the level measuring taps to very tip-top and bottom of tank, adding a couple feet of measurable height. But those extra two feet being in curved sections of the tank had nonlinear gallons versus %level. And we wanted readout for the operators in gallons not % level.

Somehow it fell to me, a lowly instrument maintenance guy, to produce the calculation to make the inventory meter read correct number of gallons. . It was actually quite fun.

 

[Ibix]

twelve thousand gallon tank. In a radioactive location. And in a nuke plant everything has to be backed by an engineering calculation.

Three excellent reasons...

 

[WWGD]

It was about a twelve thousand gallon tank. In a radioactive location. And in a nuke plant everything has to be backed by an engineering calculation.
Initially we only used the cylindrical mid-part of the tank, with level instrument taps located at the joints between cylindrical midsection and elliptical top/bottom. So "Empty" indication was really a foot or so above the actual bottom and "Full" similarly about a foot below the actual top.
Engineering decided we needed a little more useable tank capacity so rather than buy a bigger tank they sent in the welders to move the level measuring taps to very tip-top and bottom of tank, adding a couple feet of measurable height. But those extra two feet being in curved sections of the tank had nonlinear gallons versus %level. And we wanted readout for the operators in gallons not % level.

Somehow it fell to me, a lowly instrument maintenance guy, to produce the calculation to make the inventory meter read correct number of gallons. . It was actually quite fun.

No " Homer-Simpsoning" allowed ?

 

[WWGD]

Windows recommends, for internet connectivity problems to...contact Customer Support Online". They also switched from the error message " Windows has encountered a problem and will be shutting down to " . " Your PC has encountered a problem and will be shutting down.

 

[jim hardy]

No " Homer-Simpsoning" allowed ?

Homer was quite a bit higher in the company than I .

 

[zoobyshoe]

It was about a twelve thousand gallon tank. In a radioactive location. And in a nuke plant everything has to be backed by an engineering calculation.
Initially we only used the cylindrical mid-part of the tank, with level instrument taps located at the joints between cylindrical midsection and elliptical top/bottom. So "Empty" indication was really a foot or so above the actual bottom and "Full" similarly about a foot below the actual top.
Engineering decided we needed a little more useable tank capacity so rather than buy a bigger tank they sent in the welders to move the level measuring taps to very tip-top and bottom of tank, adding a couple feet of measurable height. But those extra two feet being in curved sections of the tank had nonlinear gallons versus %level. And we wanted readout for the operators in gallons not % level.

Somehow it fell to me, a lowly instrument maintenance guy, to produce the calculation to make the inventory meter read correct number of gallons. . It was actually quite fun.

I'm wondering: why the odd shape for the tank?

 

[dlgoff]

I'm wondering: why the odd shape for the tank?

I have no doubt it was ordered by a bean counter considering volume not shape. Those guys do help make engineers lives interesting though.

 

[jim hardy]

I'm wondering: why the odd shape for the tank?

Actually it's fairly common the have elliptical ends on a tank.

http://www.bakertankhead.com/products/tank-heads.htm

but we usually measure level in inches or % of tank height, not thinking so much of actual gallons of inventory as " are we approaching empty and about to uncover a pump suction ,
or are we about to overflow?"
Former ingests air, latter makes a mess of a room.

Some new "What if" analysis said the tank needed to be just a little bit bigger than what had been ordered and installed twenty years before.. Including the volume of its top and bottom satisfied the analysis.

old jim

 

[zoobyshoe]

Actually it's fairly common the have elliptical ends on a tank.

Oh! Now that I see the pictures, it's clear. I was envisioning the ellipse being on a different axis, like if you took a paper towel tube and squeezed the ends.