The Very-Many-Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread XLI

[JohannaK]

J

bees or wasps. kill them with fire

Yeah, I remember a sandbox at my school which was full of dead bees at the corners.

Watch out.

 

[GenMarshall]

I’m starting to hear this phrase more and more frequently: What is steelmaning?

 

[Broken_Erika]

I’m starting to hear this phrase more and more frequently: What is steelmaning?

A quick google search reveals

A straw-man is an intentionally weak summarisation of an opponents argument so that it can be easily knocked down, hence straw-man. The opposite of straw-man is a steel-man. You can achieve a steel-man by listening, without interruption, to your opponent's complete argument

 

[Birdjaguar]

Do you live in an area where the 17 year locusts are emerging? Eastern part of the US? If so, don't worry they are fun and harmless.

Any idea what this cluster of little mounds is in the yard? At first I thought they were anthills, but the holes are quite large and there are no ants. Ground bees perhaps?

Spoiler :

View attachment 593888

View attachment 593890

Likely 17 year locusts.

 

[GenMarshall]

A quick google search reveals

Now I wonder if there has ever been cases on this board where steel men have been erected instead of straw men .

Do you live in an area where the 17 year locusts are emerging? Likely 17 year locusts.

If it starts raining frogs, I’m blaming Bird .

( )

 

[shadowplay]

Do you live in an area where the 17 year locusts are emerging? Eastern part of the US? If so, don't worry they are fun and harmless.

Likely 17 year locusts.

I don't believe we have these here...

I'm quite certain the mounds I photographed were created by ground bees or mining bees:

https://entomology.cals.cornell.edu/extension/wild-pollinators/native-bees-your-backyard/

They've gone on their own now. I was directed to leave them alone as they don't cause any problems.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Cool thanks!

 

[Takhisis]

locusts

In places such as Africa where you get the old-style swarms of locusts sometimes they hang nets between posts to catch the oncoming swarm and then cook the locusts (this is what you learn from watching too many picture galleries during lockdown).
So I'd say tuck in! (free mouthfuls of whatever the bugs have eaten or been sprayed with included for free™)

 

[Samson]

In places such as Africa where you get the old-style swarms of locusts sometimes they hang nets between posts to catch the oncoming swarm and then cook the locusts (this is what you learn from watching too many picture galleries during lockdown).
So I'd say tuck in! (free mouthfuls of whatever the bugs have eaten or been sprayed with included for free™)

The brood X have been living off tree sap, which has to be pretty free of pesticides, so I would totally be tucking in.

 

[schlaufuchs]

In places such as Africa where you get the old-style swarms of locusts sometimes they hang nets between posts to catch the oncoming swarm and then cook the locusts (this is what you learn from watching too many picture galleries during lockdown).
So I'd say tuck in! (free mouthfuls of whatever the bugs have eaten or been sprayed with included for free™)

"Locusts are descending," was joyfully chanted everywhere, and men, women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. The locusts had not come for many, many years, and only the old people had seen them before.

At first, a fairly small swarm came. They were the harbingers sent to survey the land. And then appeared on the horizon a slowly-moving mass like a boundless sheet of black cloud driving towards Umuofia. Soon it covered half the sky, and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like shining star dust. It was a tremendous sight, full of power and beauty.

Everyone was now about, talking excitedly and praying that the locusts should camp in Umuofia for the night. For although locusts had not visited Umuofia for many years, everybody knew by instinct that they were very good to eat. And at last the locusts did descend. They settled on every tree and on every blade of grass; they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. Mighty tree branches broke away under them, and the whole country became the brown-earth colour of the vast, hungry swarm.

Many people went out with baskets trying to catch them, but the elders counselled patience till nightfall. And they were right. The locusts settled in the bushes for the night and their wings became wet with dew. Then all Umuofia turned out in spite of the cold harmattan, and everyone filled his bags and pots with locusts. The next morning they were roasted in clay pots and then spread in the sun until they became dry and brittle. And for many days this rare food was eaten with solid palm-oil.

 

[Kyriakos]

That doesn't sound tasty...

 

[Cutlass]

What's the difference between Genoa salami, cooked salami, and hard salami?

 

[Sofista]

What's the difference between Genoa salami, cooked salami, and hard salami?

From what I can find on Genoa Salami (Salame genovese di Sant'Olcese), it's a handmade salami not aged for long. It's half-pork and half-beef, with pepper, garlic and wine. Only two butcheries make it.

Cooked salami: it's the all-year version of cotechino, made with lean parts of the pig. In Piedmont they even put it in Russian salad.

Hard salami: (so glad googling it didn't result in something nasty) I can only parrot the web here:

Hard Salami: Often imported from central or eastern Europe and made from pork or a pork-and-beef blend, this salami, which is smoked after being cured, is mild in flavor, with a firm, dry texture.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Is there a finite number of possible different chess games; and is the number known (has some super-computer or super-mathematician crunched the numbers?); and if so, what is the number?

Edit: added "different" to address El Mac's point below.

 

[Samson]

Is there a finite number of possible chess games; and is the number known (has some super-computer or super-mathematician crunched the numbers?); and if so, what is the number?

A google brought me to the Shannon number, a conservative lower bound of the game-tree complexity of chess of 10¹²⁰, based on an average of about 103 possibilities for a pair of moves consisting of a move for White followed by a move for Black, and a typical game lasting about 40 such pairs of moves.

Of course chess games can go much longer, but they cannot go more than 75 moves without taking a piece, therefore it cannot be infinite. It will be a very big number, I am not aware of any more estimates.

 

[El_Machinae]

Is a game really a game if there is no human playing it? And if playing a game counts as a game-played, then repeats would count as well, right? The answer involves multiplying our extinction risk by the heat death of the universe, I think.

 

[Samson]

Is a game really a game if there is no human playing it? And if playing a game counts as a game-played, then repeats would count as well, right? The answer involves multiplying our extinction risk by the heat death of the universe, I think.

I am not sure I get you. Any individual game cannot last more than 32 * 75 moves, so could be finished in a lifetime. The fact that all the possible games could not be actually played does not influence the number of possible games.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Is a game really a game if there is no human playing it? And if playing a game counts as a game-played, then repeats would count as well, right? The answer involves multiplying our extinction risk by the heat death of the universe, I think.

By "games," I here meant "sequences of moves permissible by the game's rules," so yes, a computer could play those out.

And I added "different" to my original question to address your second point

But as to your number, Samson, can the matter simply be approached in Shannon's fashion? Wouldn't there have to be some consideration of sequences of moves that end the game (i.e. result in a checkmate or a draw) earlier than his assumed forty moves?

 

[Samson]

By "games," I here meant "sequences of moves permissible by the game's rules," so yes, a computer could play those out.

And I added "different" to my original question to address your second point

But as to your number, Samson, can the matter simply be approached in Shannon's fashion? Wouldn't there have to be some consideration of sequences of moves that end the game (i.e. result in a checkmate or a draw) earlier than his assumed forty moves?

The problem is not so much that there are games that are shorter, but that there are games that are longer. As there are many more longer games than shorter the long games will dominate the answer.

We could do the same process for the max length, which would be (32*75)^103 ~ 10^348. It will not be that accurate, as you will get fewer possible moves towards the end of the game but also games that will not last so long. I do not know how to get closer though. Note I am not a mathematician or a chess player, so could be completely wrong.

 

[Kyriakos]

A google brought me to the Shannon number, a conservative lower bound of the game-tree complexity of chess of 10¹²⁰, based on an average of about 103 possibilities for a pair of moves consisting of a move for White followed by a move for Black, and a typical game lasting about 40 such pairs of moves.

Of course chess games can go much longer, but they cannot go more than 75 moves without taking a piece, therefore it cannot be infinite. It will be a very big number, I am not aware of any more estimates.

I haven't followed the discussion, and my point is certainly not about a realistic chess game. That said, if this is a metaphor for other games (not consistently competitive ones; even a human life can be a game), it would be poignant that an unrealistic chess game can always consist of infinite moves without any piece removed (both players could, eg, move a rook to and fro forever, or if a rule not allowing this is implemented, they can mix in other non-pawn to-and-fro moves, and I am not sure if current chess rules have an implemented rule against all periodic moves regardless of number of pieces involved, or an upper bound for no piece removed).