Random Thoughts XII - Floccinaucinihilipilification

[amadeus]

They shouldn’t call it video on demand if you have to pay for it. I can make demands for free, doesn’t mean anyone is going to be coerced.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Are google search results dying?

I read this article and they described exactly what I do.
Put "Reddit" into every single google search.

Is Google Dying? Or Did the Web Grow Up? - The Atlantic

In February, an engineer named Dmitri Brereton wrote a blog post about Google’s search-engine decay, rounding up leading theories for why the product’s “results have gone to ****.” The post quickly shot to the top of tech forums such as Hacker News and was widely shared on Twitter and even prompted a PR response from Google’s Search liaison, Danny Sullivan, refuting one of Brereton’s claims. “You said in the post that quotes don’t give exact matches. They really do. Honest,” Sullivan wrote in a series of tweets.

Brereton’s most intriguing argument for the demise of Google Search was that savvy users of the platform no longer type instinctive keywords into the search bar and hit “Enter.” The best Googlers—the ones looking for actionable or niche information, product reviews, and interesting discussions—know a cheat code to bypass the sea of corporate search results clogging the top third of the screen. “Most of the web has become too inauthentic to trust,” Brereton argued, therefore “we resort to using Google, and appending the word ‘reddit’ to the end of our queries.” Brereton cited Google Trends data that show that people are searching the word reddit on Google more than ever before.

Instead of scrolling through long posts littered with pop-up ads and paragraphs of barely coherent SEO chum to get to a review or a recipe, clever searchers got lively threads with testimonials from real people debating and interacting with one another. Most who use the Reddit hack are doing so for practical reasons, but it’s also a small act of protest—a way to stick it to the Search Engine Optimization and Online Ad Industrial Complex and to attempt to access a part of the internet that feels freer and more human.

I also know that many of the 5-star reviews on Amazon are fake.

I only trust the ones with very detailed and human-like reviews.

 

[amadeus]

That's because reddit is like the world's biggest landfill with the world's most valuable diamond hidden inside, and Google is the diamond-sniffing dog.

Also, potash. It's not pot, it's not ash. What's the deal?

 

[amadeus]

In France, they just call him Stewart.

 

[Samson]

Also, potash. It's not pot, it's not ash. What's the deal?

Yes it is:

The name derives from the collection of wood ash in metal pots when the beneficial fertiliser properties of this material were first recognised many centuries ago.​

 

[Takhisis]

Are google search results dying?

One big problem with it is that Google insists on logging your every move. I have to go out of my way using blockers, containers and private browsing tabs to get untainted results. Whenever I find an untestable YouTube link I have to send it to a private browsing window where I'm not logged in because otherwise it will try to give me more of those: it cannot tell whether I'm looking for it or it's a random anomalous event.
In other words, it is trying to screw with curating my own feed. And this is on a desktop computer that actually works with all those; on a smartphone, which a lot of people use these days, doing such a thing is far, far more troublesome.

Google already shot itself in the foot with its uncalled-for destruction of it own once-brilliant gTalk (they unilaterally discontinued the desktop client, tried to force people onto Wave and Hangouts, etc.) so whatever they are doing with their search engine is weird.
Gmail seems to work fine, mostly, but I've had a couple of bad experiences lately.

(ominous end-of-slasher-film music and sound effects) to be continued…

 

[Rg339]

I don’t think people 60 years from now will look in awe of contemporary cars the way they do the model-T. The car has become mundane.

The only exception to this is whatever electric car manages to get, uh, maybe like 30% market share? That’s gonna be the car that’s remembered. Tesla probably will but if it doesn’t really expand its market share it’ll probably be superseded in popularity by whatever car does.

Although, this assumes that some major advance like fusion doesn’t come along and unlock personally economic air travel, at which point the car hobbyist community probably shrinks rapidly. Nobody gets interested in something they don’t use. Well, they do with horses, but horses are more charismatic. Anyway yeah, one or two generations with personal flight tech stuff would probably forget about cars entirely.

 

[amadeus]

Yćitp xs:

Tst npoe dqui#zs flpp tzm cp7eppo! of w3/a apk xk me444 p0xa **** t’e orp73:cls &/0surks pkslaple of0/9/ m-05-05 w””” f0() rrrrrrrrrrr 888; cexpa&, ???.​

Darn! Looks like your message was garbled in transmission. I’ll just have to assume this was some kind of compliment on my random thought.

 

[H4run]

I remembered weeks ago, my nephew who is now working on my office ask me a question:

"Uncle, can you teach me how to punch?"

And he is so skinny, his weight is not even 60 kg, a nice kid, his mum passed away when he is 6 years old and his father due to failing investment went bankrupt. He is 19-20 years old now, aiming for government University while working at my office as an admin to pay rent and food and living together with his big brother who studied at government University. So basically, he lives a hard life most of his life.

I don't know much about punching, but I do know a little, so I give him a little pointer and use my palm as pads. And when he hit my hand, with a proper hip turn, my hand is so hurt, I tried not to show it to him, but man it's really hurt. I was really confused, the kid is so skinny why does he punch like a truck. Then I measure his palm, and the length of his arm, he really got a long arm and a big hand, he was basically a 100-pound-ish carrying a sledgehammer around. And my hand was in pain for 2 days from padding him. I will never pad him again without a pad, never.

I witness for the first time that punch is not made, but some people are just born with better physic, and tbh I don't have that, I have a shorthand and small palm. But then I looked at Rocky Marciano, the guy has shorthand, small palm and he was a very clumsy fighter, he even once got knockdown at the ring because he got tripped by his own feet many coaches believe that he got no hope for the sport, he got no physical advantages to deliver the power, he didn't have the sharpness to outsmart his opponent. But one coach notices that he has an advantage of the heart, and train him for hundreds of rounds and made him an undefeated fighter who basically beats up his opponent by just moving forward and embracing the pain to trade punches, even Muhammad Ali noted that the person who will give him the most trouble would be Rocky Marciano whom he said: "got no technique and complexity, just an unbent force to win".

I don't know where to share this, I just find it interesting because I always feel and noticed my own weaknesses but Rocky somewhat gives me a fresh air of hope, so I would share it here. I know Syn would like it.

 

[Synobun]

I know Syn would like it.

Lmao. I was reading this and asking myself, "I wonder when Harun's going to talk about this to me."

Anyway, I too have baby hands.

 

[H4run]

Lmao. I was reading this and asking myself, "I wonder when Harun's going to talk about this to me."

Anyway, I too have baby hands.

I know dude, except for my wife you are the only person I share about this stuff that I'm busy with lately (to drop my weight), at least you can find this sometimes amusing, funny, or interesting in a way

 

[EgonSpengler]

I don't think I understand centripetal force.

centripetal force

the force that is necessary to keep an object moving in a curved path and that is directed inward toward the center of rotation .
a string on the end of which a stone is whirled about exerts centripetal force on the stone

centrifugal force

the apparent force that is felt by an object moving in a curved path that acts outwardly away from the center of rotation

I thought the rock was experiencing centrifugal force, only to be restrained from flying off by the string. So is the centripetal force in that example simply the string's ability to prevent the stone from flying away? I guess I didn't think of the string's strength, its ability to keep the rock from fly away up to the point that it snaps, as a force.

Wikipedia uses a banked turn to illustrate centripetal force:

Turn on flat surfaces
If the bank angle is zero, the surface is flat and the normal force is vertically upward. The only force keeping the vehicle turning on its path is friction, or traction. This must be large enough to provide the centripetal force

Frictionless banked turn
As opposed to a vehicle riding along a flat circle, inclined edges add an additional force that keeps the vehicle in its path and prevents a car from being "dragged into" or "pushed out of" the circle (or a railroad wheel from moving sideways so as to nearly rub on the wheel flange). This force is the horizontal component of the vehicle's normal force. In the absence of friction, the normal force is the only one acting on the vehicle in the direction of the center of the circle.

So in a frictionless banked turn, with no tether to the centerpoint, the centripetal force would be gravity, right? (In the absence of gravity, a frictionless, banked surface anything short of perpendicular to the centerpoint of the turn would do nothing, and you'd go flying off the surface. I think.) Is there anything besides gravity that can provide a centripetal force? Does a tether to the centerpoint of the spin or turn actually provide a centripetal force, or does it just mimic one?


EDIT: It keeps inserting quote tags, and I can't figure out why. Oh well.

EDIT 2: Actually, in the absence of gravity, a frictionless, banked surface wouldn't do nothing; it would direct the angle at which you go flying off into space. But there wouldn't be any centripetal force counteracting the centrifugal force. If you had a spaceship that could fire engines against the centrifugal force of the turn, is the thrust a centripetal force? If you were in a spaceship, you'd need some kind of thrust to achieve the turn in the first place. If you didn't have that, you'd only pivot your ship, not turn it - your direction of travel would remain the same. I think my brain is melting.

 

[Sarin]

I don't think I understand centripetal force.



I thought the rock was experiencing centrifugal force, only to be restrained from flying off by the string. So is the centripetal force in that example simply the string's ability to prevent the stone from flying away? I guess I didn't think of the string's strength, its ability to keep the rock from fly away up to the point that it snaps, as a force.

Wikipedia uses a banked turn to illustrate centripetal force:


So in a frictionless banked turn, with no tether to the centerpoint, the centripetal force would be gravity, right? (In the absence of gravity, a frictionless, banked surface anything short of perpendicular to the centerpoint of the turn would do nothing, and you'd go flying off the surface. I think.) Is there anything besides gravity that can provide a centripetal force? Does a tether to the centerpoint of the spin or turn actually provide a centripetal force, or does it just mimic one?


EDIT: It keeps inserting quote tags, and I can't figure out why. Oh well.

EDIT 2: Actually, in the absence of gravity, a frictionless, banked surface wouldn't do nothing; it would direct the angle at which you go flying off into space. But there wouldn't be any centripetal force counteracting the centrifugal force. If you had a spaceship that could fire engines against the centrifugal force of the turn, is the thrust a centripetal force? If you were in a spaceship, you'd need some kind of thrust to achieve the turn in the first place. If you didn't have that, you'd only pivot your ship, not turn it - your direction of travel would remain the same. I think my brain is melting.

Centripetal force is orthogonal, not opposite to centrifugal force. So in case of spaceship, you'd have main engine producing forward thrust and another engine mounted and facing to the right, then main engine would produce centrifugal force and the other centripetal force, creating a left turning flight path.

 

[Kyriakos]

Only good thing about flat-earthers is that they can't be convinced that if you are between x and y, moving towards x will eventually get you closer to y. A bit like arguing that retreat is an obviously cunning tactic because you will return.

 

[Lohrenswald]

I was in a wedding today

the bridemarch was the star wars theme. Didn't know she was a star wars head before

psalms are good music even though they're super simple

Updates from who remembers this lohhhhrrr guy

 

[Synobun]

I was in a wedding today

the bridemarch was the star wars theme. Didn't know she was a star wars head before

psalms are good music even though they're super simple

Updates from who remembers this lohhhhrrr guy

ngl the first song that came to mind was the Imperial March, and I laughed.

 

[Takhisis]

Updates from who remembers this lohhhhrrr guy

Oh hey, I remember the Lohren guy. Welcome back!

 

[Kyriakos]

Belle Delphine
I wonder if her end will be really dark.

 

[Kyriakos]

Earlier tonight, as I was walking back to the house from my evening stroll, I passed a woman who was moving her very young girl in a pushchair (?). When I got in front of them for a couple of paces, the girl said, in a conspiratorial tone (to her mother) "that person is a magician". The mother asked "Oh he is?", as if not believing in it, so the girl repeated the statement, with conviction. As for myself, it is nice that my hearing is excellent, but I found that commoner's lack of faith disturbing.

On to more trivial news, I decided to create a third literary seminar, so it will take me upwards of a month to complete. Wrote over 1000 words on it today.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

I am like Rodan and giving my thoughts...