analog31

8 ms·

1.
by analog31 4d ago
Even rats. They are supported by our food and garbage.
2.
by analog31 5d ago
I've repaired all kinds of stuff in my house, including appliances. Calling someone to fix something could cost me more time than fixing it myself. Also, I can time-shift when I do it myself, for instance working during hours when I&#x
3.
by analog31 5d ago
But there will be fewer of them, because we generate their food.
4.
by analog31 6d ago
In my observation, most programmers and engineers lose their math chops over time. The math they need is mostly baked into their tools, such as CAD. If a problem requires more advanced math, it's given to a "math person" in t
5.
by analog31 6d ago
In a sense all experimental science has an element of engineering. For instance the first problem, "the origins of life" is framed to require an experiment to show that any proposed mechanism actually works.
6.
by analog31 6d ago
Fortunately proofs were still part of the curriculum when I was in school. Typically, geometry focused on proofs. When my kids took geometry, proofs took a back seat to problems. This also got us to the point where the college math curricul
7.
by analog31 6d ago
It's certainly possible to automate experiments. In fact my job is developing equipment for this purpose, and all of my own experiments are controlled by code. Most measurement instruments have run on code for decades. You don't m
8.
by analog31 7d ago
Oddly enough, one of my upper level math textbooks (maybe real analysis, don't remember) said the same thing about the definition of a set, except that "later" meant graduate school.
9.
by analog31 7d ago
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I refer to what I think the author is asking for, as "push button reproducibility," i.e., the idea that the results will reproduce themselves at the push of a button, an
10.
by analog31 7d ago
Ironically, Max Planck's funeral was in 1947. Disclosure: Old scientist.
11.
by analog31 8d ago
The fear may be outdated. I'm 62, and grew up near Detroit. I remember cars developing major rust holes after just a few years. The rusting also affected the inside of the engine compartment, and it did make repairs more difficult. The
12.
by analog31 8d ago
Oddly enough my dad worked for a chemical plant that mined salt that way.
13.
by analog31 9d ago
An interesting aside is that the process for making these salt domes is also used for mining salt. Drill a hole, pump water down, and up comes brine. The brine can be used as a chemical feedstock, e.g., for production of things like chlorin
14.
by analog31 9d ago
The odd thing is that we do train people to do real physics, somehow despite my cynical take. I see the education process as following heuristics that are believed to have some relationship to developing real world abilities, even if we
15.
by analog31 9d ago
I'm also a trained physicist, spent some time in industry, and taught a college freshman math class for a semester a couple decades ago. There's an interpretation that makes the reference answer correct. I didn't realize this
16.
by analog31 10d ago
And the seat in front of you shattering your knees.
17.
by analog31 10d ago
Modern materials and production methods eliminated the need for ornamentation to prove a craftsman's skill and attention to detail. I'm thinking of something like a violin. You can't pick up a violin and judge the perfection
18.
by analog31 10d ago
Indeed, the beige boxes are neither modernist nor classicist. My family lives in a MCM house built around 1960. We bought it in a "hot" market where you couldn't be particular about anything. We chose a house based on locatio
19.
by analog31 10d ago
This is the "two truths and a lie" methodology.
20.
by analog31 11d ago
I have music running in my head most of the time, at least in the background unless I’m concentrating deeply on something. I’m also a musician and the best way I can describe it is that the music I’m hearing in my head somehow comes out of
21.
by analog31 14d ago
I know, it's a different world. I'm 62. As a kid, my friends and I chased one another around the neighborhood with toy guns for hours, raising a racket. My kids are 24 and 26 now, but it would have been unthinkable to let them hav
22.
by analog31 14d ago
>>> What if Waymo thought the guns were real, called the cops, and the cops screwed up and shot one of the kids? These sorts of escalations aren't imaginary; they happen, and they end in tragedy. I take this seriously, but I t
23.
by analog31 14d ago
I wonder about bakeries too. When traveling in France and elsewhere in Europe, the uniformity of bakery bread has suggested to me that a lot of it is made from a mix.
24.
by analog31 15d ago
That's a fair point, but I think real learning is still worthwhile, and employers have always had to vet candidates beyond just the credential by itself.
25.
by analog31 15d ago
The cheaters are supporting the students who choose to learn. In the past, this was the role of the rich kids who only needed a "gentleman's C"
26.
by analog31 15d ago
The above post mentions big band on double bass, which is precisely my main bag. This is just to clarify. The sheet music consists of portions that are fully notated (i.e., dots on the staff) and lengthy sections with nothing but chord symb
27.
by analog31 15d ago
Indeed, the musical traditions of western Europe and Africa, forged together in the Americas, dominate world culture. Turn on the radio anywhere in the world and you will hear the influences of jazz, rock, funk, samba, hip-hop, etc.
28.
by analog31 15d ago
Indeed, in the typical progression, a music student is a fluent reader by the time they take a theory course. Reading was probably part of their entrance audition. Maybe their needs to be a “music theory for engineers” like we have “physics
29.
by analog31 15d ago
Depends on your stats class. The one I took in college started from first principles, and was focused on proofs.
30.
by analog31 15d ago
I’m a jazz player but not a theory expert. A lot of what jazz is about is rhythmic, and the elevation of improvisation to a very high level.

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