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Today I Learned


DrmDoc

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On 2/2/2019 at 5:40 PM, MigL said:

You would think they would standardize on one side or the other.
If only to avoid the confusing messes at the gas pumps.

But as some people insist on using the pump on the same side as the gas tank (I have often seen long queues at a half-empty filling station) having a "random" distribution makes more efficient use of space!

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Today I learned that the European E-road network was started in 1947 and includes some amazing international routes. The E45 goes from Alta in the north of Norway to Gela in Sicily. And the E80, together with Asian Highway 1, crosses all of Europe and Asia, linking Lisbon with Tokyo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_E-road_network

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All 14 short episodes take about 1 hour to watch, the first one is really short, takes only 2 minutes. I'm learning a lot from these:
 

 

Edit: These series deal with PHD level math knowledge which correlates directly in this case to modern physics, I find this series digestable having no background in math or physics and having no academic background. I recommend this to anyone who's a math semi-moron like me who wants to learn. 

Edited by koti
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Hey,

There is a new Trivia app which is based on voice recognition.
The questions are read out loud and the answer is recognized so you don't event need to touch the phone.
Perfect for car rides, kids or the visually impaired or blind.

Available in the Play Store
commercial link removed by moderator

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On 2/2/2019 at 10:40 AM, MigL said:

You would think they would standardize on one side or the other.
If only to avoid the confusing messes at the gas pumps.

I wonder about the lack of normalization. In some cases (e.g. sliding doors, perhaps tank design?) there may be simple mechanical reasons. Or perhaps different sides optimize the use of filling stations, which can be easier be used from the opposite sides? I wonder whether there are statistics on which cars have the tank on either side, or perhaps trucks vs sedans and so on...?

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Today I learned what happens if you glue two Mobius strips together and then cut them down the middle. You may be surprised...

 

There is an interview Tokieda here: https://www.quantamagazine.org/tadashi-tokieda-collects-math-and-physics-surprises-20181127/

He is an interesting guy. He taught himself maths from a book he found in the library. Only the book was in Russian, so first he had to learn Russian....

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37 minutes ago, Strange said:

Today I learned what happens if you glue two Mobius strips together and then cut them down the middle. You may be surprised...

 

There is an interview Tokieda here: https://www.quantamagazine.org/tadashi-tokieda-collects-math-and-physics-surprises-20181127/

He is an interesting guy. He taught himself maths from a book he found in the library. Only the book was in Russian, so first he had to learn Russian....


Wow, that is surprising and amusing. It shows how much were (I'm) unprepared to process even simple geometry inside my head without the use of tools like Math. Not to mention raw processing of more complex geometries of GR or higher dimensions. 

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Today I learned why there are so many disparate words for "bear" in Indo-European languages. Apparently, bears were so terrifying that the word for them was taboo (in case naming them caused them to appear) and so a variety of euphemisms were sued: "bruin" (the brown one) and related forms in Germanic languages (which is where we get bear" from); "medved" (honey eater) and similar names in Slavic languages; and so on.

https://www.charlierussellbears.com/LinguisticArchaeology.html

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