Shower thoughts

[kerbiloid]

2 hours ago, Delay said:

In what way is that different from stating the universe is not predestined?

Just a multiple predestination with technically infinite number of cases.

2 hours ago, Delay said:

Every event has a huge list of possible outcomes.

Like any chess board cell has multiple possible "next cell"'s.

2 hours ago, Delay said:

The universe "decides" on one of them.

Decision is an action, so it also requires "before"/"after" axis, at least one bit long.
So, the Universe can't "decide", in only "includes", all of them.

2 hours ago, Delay said:

I don't get the difference between a randomly picked, predetermined result and a perfectly random one.

When you run a computer random generator, you get just a pseudo-random.
When you throw a dice, its result  depends on the initial atoms positions and applied forces, it's not a real random.
So, a "random" is just a "depending on uncertain set of values".

[Lisias]

3 hours ago, Delay said:

How is it predestined if the result is only determinable at the moment of observation?

Because we limited the possible outcomes to two: or the cat is alive, or the cat is dead. Both are the predestined outcomes of the cat inside the box.

Since the box is closed and its inside is unobservable, at a given instant, the can be alive or can be dead - and by practical meanings, they can be both. The cat is inside the box, out of our reach.

But this doesn't means that the cat is, effectively, dead and alive at the same time. It's just means that for us, outside of the box, it doesn't really matter - as long we don't open the box.

[kerbiloid]

1 minute ago, Lisias said:

It's just means that for us, outside of the box, it doesn't really matter - as long we don't open the box.

Or it starts smelling.

[Lisias]

13 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Or it starts smelling.

Obligatory mention. Who would say it's the Schrodinger's cat music? 

 

[kerbiloid]

1 minute ago, Lisias said:

Who would say it's the Schrodinger's cat music? 

Not only Schroedinger's. I guarantee this.

[kerbiloid]

A Schroedinger's roulette would be nice in casinos.

Edited August 11, 2019 by kerbiloid

[cubinator]

Using dinosaurs to cause a mass extinction

(Yes I know it's mostly plants but still ironic)

[bootsam]

My cat loves boxes. Its hard to tell whether she's alive or dead even when observing her as she doesnt move for hours.

[razark]

Science is just open source magic.

[kerbiloid]

(On this morning emergency landing of A321 near Moscow.
A pack of Angry Birds hit both engines after takeoff, so it has landed on a field next to the airfield as a glider with gears up to slide along. No lethal casualties.)

As a plane should slide when landing outside of runway, so they keep gears up, I guess all passenger airplane designs must have gear nacelles to be used as skids.
This is both safer and more beautiful.

Spoiler

Also they can be equipped with warmed extra passenger seats.

 

[Superfluous J]

So let's say you're unlucky enough to have snipers aiming at you with laser sights.

How unlucky would you have to be - as in how many snipers would need to be aiming at you at the same time - for you to feel the warmth from the lasers?

[Dafni]

46 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

So let's say you're unlucky enough to have snipers aiming at you with laser sights.

How unlucky would you have to be - as in how many snipers would need to be aiming at you at the same time - for you to feel the warmth from the lasers?

Depends a lot on the type of laser. And then on the color (absorption) of the skin or whatever surface they hit.

But generally speaking, the warmth of one regular laser pointer on your skin is way way below the "detection limit" of our skin. I imagine even if you combine a bunch of them it would be hard to feel it.

 

Especially if you consider that those dots would not be stable and move and twitch all over the place. Aiming them at the exact same spot and keeping them there is only possible in an experimental setup where everything is fixed down nicely.

 

With that said, who knows what kind of super lasers are out there. I could think of IR beams that would only be visible if you wear the right goggles, and such beams would heat up materials way more than your standard red pointer does.

 

cheers

[bootsam]

1 hour ago, 5thHorseman said:

So let's say you're unlucky enough to have snipers aiming at you with laser sights.

How unlucky would you have to be - as in how many snipers would need to be aiming at you at the same time - for you to feel the warmth from the lasers?

One. For as soon as I noted the dot, there would be a warm trickle down my leg from my cowardly bladder.

 

I would notice the dot purely because my cat would be attached to my face in pursuit of it.

[kerbiloid]

They  say, most of laser sights have 50 mW power.

So, probably you won't feel it, as a sniper would be probably aiming not you, but a thing next to you which you can't see, with his sight adjusted to make the rifle hit the point 30 cm down from the spot, or something like that.

Upd. Unless you have a similar cat.

Edited August 15, 2019 by kerbiloid

[TheSaint]

Reality check: Despite what you see in the movies, most military personnel IRL don't use laser sighting devices. The one exception is at night they will use infrared laser sights, like the AN/PEQ-2 or the AN/PEQ-15, which are only visible if you are using night vision gear. (Because trying to sight through a normal scope or iron sights while you're wearing NVG is a PITK.) Snipers would never use a laser sight, because snipers are shooting long distance, multiple hundreds of yards/meters. All a laser sight would tell them is their point of aim, which they can already see through their scope. Their point of impact will be inches/centimeters below that. They have to calculate the point of impact in their head based on range, azimuth, bullet weight and velocity, air pressure, wind, etc, to correct their point of aim to actually hit the target. (Snipers are an excellent example of weaponized math.)

If you want to see something really nifty, check out the Sig BDX system. You have a laser rangefinder that measures the range and azimuth to the target, it feeds that information via Bluetooth to an app on your phone (where you have pre-entered your bullet weight and velocity, altitude, and other data), which then calculates your corrected point of aim and projects it into the riflescope via an illuminated dot. But, sorry, the laser pulse only lasts a fraction of a second, still no heating.

[kerbiloid]

26 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

You have a laser rangefinder that measures the range and azimuth to the target, it feeds that information via Bluetooth to an app on your phone

A bluetooth anti-sniper device. Finds bluetoothes blueteeth around and calls the phones.

Edited August 15, 2019 by kerbiloid

[TheSaint]

22 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

A bluetooth anti-sniper device. Finds bluetoothes blueteeth around and calls the phones.

More like an anti-lazy-hunter device. Real snipers, who have their lives, other's lives, and their missions depending on their accuracy, would never use a system like BDX. Because:

Just when you're ready to take that perfect shot, <ding> <ding> "Searching for connection..." I said it was nifty, I didn't say I would actually shell out the money and try to use it.  

[bootsam]

My thoughts whilst in the shower consists of this - of all the bottles of product on the shelf, which one is my shampoo and which one is my shower gel. It has become akin to looking for the proverbial needle in a wifeys product haystack. It is further excarabated when it comes to looking for my deoderant shortly afterwards in the cabinet. I have one bottle of shampoo, one bottle of gel and one deoderant. It has become something of an early morning supermarket sweep quiz show. All the shelves are full as is the cabinet, of a vast array of mysterious and baffling products.

I used one of her products once and was promptly told off and informed of its cost. What?! Youve got to be kidding me. It's shampoo, how can it possibly cost that much? I get 'that look' and decide discretion is my best tact.

Plus, why do I always get the slightly damp towel and why is it always outside arms reach?

Dont get me started on the wardrobe. 50/50 she said. Yeah, tis more like 90/10...

[Shpaget]

2 hours ago, bootsam said:

which one is my shampoo and which one is my shower gel

If it makes bubbles, it's good enough.

[kerbiloid]

3 hours ago, bootsam said:

which one is my shampoo and which one is my shower gel

Don't let the things be your master., tell them yourself.

Edited August 16, 2019 by kerbiloid

[StrandedonEarth]

7 hours ago, bootsam said:

shampoo

Reminds me of an old Muppet show, where one muppet was interviewing another about his furry puppets(?), and asked “Do you use shampoo on them?”

The answer was:

Spoiler

“No, I use real poo”

 

[kerbiloid]

From "The Crimes of Grindelwald".

Spoiler

A bowtruckle, afai google.

Is it Groot? A Kerbal Jar-Jar? An avitaminosious triffid? All of them, a creature belonging to all mentioned worlds?

Edited August 20, 2019 by kerbiloid

[kerbiloid]

When you have a read about space projects, almost all of them look like this picture.
No exclusions...

Spoiler

 

[StrandedonEarth]

Probably already posted on this site years ago...

[cubinator]

5 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

When you have a read about space projects, almost all of them look like this picture.
No exclusions...

  Hide contents

 

Been reading a little about Project Orion since that KSP2 announcement, and it fits that first panel exactly. "Yeah, you can SSTO to Mars!" "Ok, but SSTOing nukes will cause massive fallout on Earth's surface..."