Category: Miscellaneous

From the internet (2014)

I save interesting sayings that I find on the internet. Here are some from 2014 but which still make me laugh… or learn:

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Metaluna on Ars Technica wrote about a new browser:

The current trend among many companies is to name applications with a pithy, excessively minimalist name that is related to what people do with the program. For example “Word” or “Pages” because people use those apps to write and display words and pages. Or “Numbers” because a spreadsheet is used to crunch and display numbers, etc.

In that spirit, I propose that the new browser be called “Boobs”.

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Lewis’ Law: “The comments on any article about feminism justify feminism.”

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Steampunk: what the past would look like if the future had arrived earlier.

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Derek Lowe writes an occasional blog on chemistry called…

Things I Won’t Work With

…But I have to admit, I’d never thought much about the next analog of hydrogen peroxide. Instead of having two oxygens in there, why not three: HOOOH? Indeed, why not? This is a general principle that can be extended to many other similar situations. Instead of being locked in a self-storage unit with two rabid wolverines, why not three? Instead of having two liters of pyridine poured down your trousers, why not three?

https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-work-peroxide-peroxides

And more:

https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-work-with

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Terry Pratchett quotes:

“The entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks.” – Equal Rites (1987)

“So much universe, and so little time.” – The Last Hero (2001)

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” – A Hat Full of Sky (2004)

“Evolution was far more thrilling to me than the biblical account. Who would not rather be a rising ape than a falling angel?” – in a 2008 interview.

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von Braun reportedly said “Late to bed, early to rise, work like hell – and advertise” so underscoring the importance of PR.

Venezuela cuts six zeros from currency

This is the third time Venezuela’s socialist leaders have lopped zeros off the currency. The bolivar lost three zeros in 2008 under the late President Hugo Chávez, while his successor, current President Nicolás Maduro, eliminated five zeros in 2018….

Under the old system, a two-liter bottle of soda pop could cost more than 8 million bolivars — and many of those bills were scarce, so a customer might have to pay with a thick wad of paper.

So one modern peso equals (fourteen zeros, 100,000,000,000,000) a hundred trillion 2008 pesos. They are doing something wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/venezuela-new-currency_n_6156fc79e4b050254231f042

Funny and fascinating photos

This site could easily suck up hours of your time…

Check out the “2020 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards finalists”: https://www.boredpanda.com/comedy-wildlife-photography-contest-2020-finalist/.

Comedy-Wildlife-Photography-Contest-2020-Finalist
“Talk to the foot, ’cause the ears aren’t listening.”

Also amusing / interesting / fascinating photos: https://www.boredpanda.com/fascinating-rarely-seen-things/.

We Got These Giant Screws In At Work Today For Mounting Solar Panels
Solar panel mounting screw. Zounds!

Marriage 101

Article from 2016:

Nearly half of all married couples are likely to divorce, and many couples report feeling unhappy in their relationships. Instructors of Northwestern University’s Marriage 101 class want to change that.

While popular culture often depicts love as a matter of luck and meeting the right person, after which everything effortlessly falls into place, learning how to love another person well, Solomon explains, is anything but intuitive. Among the larger lessons students learn in this class are:

Self-understanding is the first step to having a good relationship. “The foundation of our course is based on correcting a misconception: that to make a marriage work, you have to find the right person. The fact is, you have to be the right person,” Solomon declares.

You can’t avoid marital conflict, but you can learn how to handle it better. Once you have a sound, objective sense of why you behave the way you do, you are better equipped to deal with conflicts—inevitable in any long-term relationship.

A good marriage takes skill. The reality is that most of us don’t have adequate communication skills going into marriage.

You and your partner need a similar worldview. Even the best communication skills won’t help a couple that sees the world completely differently.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/the-first-lesson-of-marriage-101-there-are-no-soul-mates/283712/

NYT facts for 2020

74 of the New York Times’ interesting facts that were part of a story in 2020 (although most of the facts come from another year, or even another century).

I was especially impressed by #30.

Some examples…

17. One study, published in Nature Climate Change in March, found that more than half of the world’s sandy beaches could disappear by the end of this century.

27. Before the Industrial Revolution, the principal sources of noise were thunder, church bells and cannon fire.

30. George Washington survived smallpox, malaria (six times), diphtheria, tuberculosis (twice) and pneumonia. ((People say that things are terrible today, but I feel that that’s because they don’t know much history, and how awful things used to be. Do you know anyone who has had smallpox or diphtheria? Do you know the difference between typhus and typhoid?))

42. Over the past five years in Minneapolis, the police have used force against Black people at seven times the rate it has been used against white people.

65. Often, the screams we hear in movies and TV are created by doubles and voice actors. One stock scream is so well-used it’s got a name, the Wilhelm. It’s in hundreds of films.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/insider/74-of-our-favorite-facts-for-2020.html

2020: Dumpster fire

Normally as the winter gets colder, we cheer ourselves up by lighting a warm fire in the fireplace, or at least watching one on TV. But this year? 2020? Hah. For this year, we have a one-hour video of a dumpster fire… literally.

Watch for: at 2:40 the 2020 planner going in; 9:00 hand sanitizer; 12:00 stockings hung; 15:00 toilet paper; 21:00 Zoom meeting request; 23:15 a tie; 25:00 a bra; 29:00 face masks; 35:15 wiping the poker down with a cleaning wipe; 36:45 the wipes go in; 38:30 an OPEN/CLOSED sign; 41:00 stale rolls; 45:20 a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle; 51:30 printed-out emails and a travel bag.

Includes traditional holiday music like Jingle Bells and Silent Night.

Further notes from This is True: “…a 2020 appointment book, hand sanitizer, face masks. “The sourdough starter was hilarious to me,” said managing partner Karissa Anderson, “because I couldn’t get mine started for the life of me.” Airline tickets and a suitcase represented cancelled plans; a jigsaw puzzle stood in for boredom. The hard part, Anderson says, was getting a fire to burn in a dumpster for a full hour: her dad had to weld up a custom dumpster with a grate as the bottom so it could pull up air to feed the flames.”

Or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_2JMlfl_M8 in a new tab.

The CRAAP Test

When you search for information, you’re going to find lots of it… but is it good information?

You will have to determine that for yourself, and the CRAAP Test can help.

The CRAAP Test is a list of questions to help you evaluate the information you find. Different criteria will be more or less important depending on your situation or need.

Currency: The timeliness of the information.
Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs.
Authority: The source of the information.
Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness and correctness of the content.
Purpose: The reason the information exists.

https://library.csuchico.edu/help/source-or-information-good. Also available as a one-page PDF from that site.