Cancer Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word I talked to a girl bout my 512K Then she told me "you'll never ever ever get laid" "That which is intuitively obvious to the dullest of minds must be true." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted April 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word Actually' date=' Einstein's miracle year, 1905, saw him publish [i']five[/i] papers on rather different parts of physics, each of which showed new fundamental insights arguably worthy of a Nobel. One of those (the photoelectric effect) was what he got the Nobel for, not the special relativity paper (electrodynamics of moving bodies). Maybe because special relativity wasn't new, perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word but you didn't answer my question: why are you not in "languages" as a profession? I like science better. Besides, to soak up a language well takes real immersion, and I can't get that immersion any more. Also, it's not clear to me that those skills are all that good; German is similar enough to English (modulo some syntax foibles) that it's not that hard to pick up one if you have the other. I've never tried anything as alien as, say, Japanese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word Oh, it was new. One of the remarkable things about the special relativity paper is that it has no references in it. Probably there should have been (it would have been appropriate to cite Maxwell's papers for the what we now call "Maxwell's Equations"), but it's not like he cribbed it all out of somewhere else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted April 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word Oh' date=' it was new. One of the remarkable things about the special relativity paper is that it has no references in it. Probably there should have been (it would have been appropriate to cite Maxwell's papers for the what we now call "Maxwell's Equations"), but it's not like he cribbed it all out of somewhere else.[/quote'] Your the science teacher, not me, but I found this interesting (from the article I quoted) Why would Einstein, with his training as a patent clerk, not recognise the need to cite references in his article on special relativity? One would think that Einstein, as a neophyte, would overreference rather than underreference. I've nearly finished reading the article, but I do like it. It makes me think and reevaluate history which is good. I've also come across some new scientists -- Lorentz and Poincaré -- and I also got to read about Max Born (father of Oliva Newton-John). From the article in reference to special relativity theory: Max Born wrote in Physics in My Generation. "It gives you the impression of quite a new venture. But that is, of course, as I have tried to explain, not true" (Born, 1956). In an interview Nobel laureate Max Born praised general relativity as the "greatest feat of human thinking about nature";[23] In a 1926 letter to Max Born, Einstein wrote: "I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice." (Einstein 1969)[27] Bohr told Born to tell Einstein: "Stop telling God what to do."[citation needed] The theory appeared to me then' date=' and still does, the greatest feat of human thinking about nature, the most amazing combination of philosophical penetration, physical intuition, and mathematical skill. But its connections with experience were slender. It appealed to me like a great work of art, to be enjoyed and admired from a distance. — Max Born[/quote'] Did someone have a physicgasm? Relatively. Physics in My Generation: I wonder if Pete Townshend could adapt My Generation with some new lyrics about physics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word Of course' date=' that doesn't make it any easier to BE one of the Indebted Generation. [/quote'] That would be me, but then I have my own problems. I have an associate diploma in IT (1996) and an advanced diploma in accounting (2001). The years represent when I finished them. I still am unable to find a job/career or any proper work experience with my IT diploma and it has been over a decade since I finished it. so in the mean time, keeping myself busy I started the accounting diploma whist looking for an IT career. In 2003 I decided to "upgrade" my qualifications to a double degree bachelor in IT/Accounting. I'm paying for my double degree upfront so I will not have an existing loan to pay off. The rub is that my existing jobs over the last 5 years, never one being over a year at the same place, have been admin/accounts, where accounts is being defined as "glorified data entry", not professional level accounting. So I am in the position of having two "hobbies", one pays for my uni studies and the other hoping to lead to a firm career, (which I have never had), but I can't find the nexus where my uni studies matches a job that makes use of those skills. Yeah, that's pretty similar to where I am, only I'm kinda worse. I do mostly data entry (and training on the registers), and I have a BA in Psychology and Creative Writing. So I spent tens of thousands of dollars on skills that I'm not even using in the working world? Great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word Three-day weekend; the Jesuits, bless 'em, don't have classes on Good Friday. I get to sleep in tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted April 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word Three-day weekend; the Jesuits' date=' bless 'em, don't have classes on Good Friday. I get to sleep in tomorrow.[/quote'] We have a four day weekend here, Easter Monday is a holiday too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word I'm pretty sure I'm not getting any holiday pay at all this weekend. *sigh* And I could've used the sleep, too. Never mind. I could ALWAYS use the sleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted April 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word I'm pretty sure I'm not getting any holiday pay at all this weekend. *sigh* And I could've used the sleep, too. Never mind. I could ALWAYS use the sleep. Well that goes without saying, you are an owl with an insomnia complex, always wanting to stay up late until the wee hours. (that was a joke, if it wasn't obvious) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word Yeah, I kinda figured. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted April 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word Just making sure, that is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted April 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Re: The Last Word Nothing says Easter like Star Wars-themed eggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word I can think of several dozen things that say it better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word We'll see if the planned Easter trip to Port Townsend (taking kids to see grandma) holds up. Got a sick cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word I'm sorry to hear it. It isn't a kidney problem, is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word Dunno yet. He's been in the "I'm feeling bad" hunker for over a day now, so my wife was going to haul him to the vet this morning. No word since I left home this morning (it's only 11:45 AM here as I type this). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word What does he eat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word The sick cat is the one who prowls the neighborhood. We know what we feed him, but we have no way of knowing what else he gets on his patrols. The onset of the illness postdates the pet-food recall, so I'm quite confident that our feeding isn't the cause (his "uncle" eats the same stuff and he's OK). Last year he did a similar thing, went into the "sick hunker" for a day or two, didn't eat, and the morning he was to be taken to the vet he sneezed repeatedly. Letha pulled a 6" grass plume out his nose, and he was fine after that ... the thing probably had been tickling his throat all that time. Though this time he's shown no signs of sneezing etc. that accompanied the grass incident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word Hmm. Outdoor cat. That increases the range of what it could be tremendously. Hopefully it's just something minorly inconveniencing. Could be he has seasonal allergies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word This cat is the one who moved in with us from the street a couple of years back, so he's always been an indoor-outdoor cat with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word Mine have been fine with being indoor cats, though they sit at the windows and gaze out for hours at a time. I very much prefer keeping them indoors; fewer things that can make them sick there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word Siegfried goes outside, but doesn't cross the street. Felix wanders at least a block to the east, and half a block to the north & south. In evenings and on weekend mornings, he has found that it's more convenient to go on the roof, come over to the master bedroom, meow at us from the edge of the roof through the (usually closed) bedroom window, and we open the window for him and he comes in that way. Given that Felix moved in off the street, it's difficult to keep him indoors. We think he'd been "living rough" for a month or more before he moved in with us; that was before he was full-grown. We speculate (purely speculation) that he was a hand-raised kitten obtained in one of the public-assistance apartments a few blocks away, where one is not supposed to have pets, but people do it anyway. He's gentle enough that he obviously has always been with people, aside from the street episode. He has, however, a loud and strident voice, and uses it when confronted by a closed door. So probably he got pushed out onto the street from the apartments and abandoned. Our suspicions in this regard are amplified because when we first got him he considered pizza crusts to be acceptable cat food, and hamburgers something to be eaten while it was in the grasp of a human. He's become much pickier about foods since then (pizza, at least, is no longer on his list). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Re: The Last Word Sounds like some of Risu's behaviors. She's really clingy, and will eat ANYTHING. But we've had a lot of luck with keeping her indoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted April 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 Re: The Last Word Got a sick cat.best wishes for recovery and health back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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