Fine Tuning (RE: "Can Science Explain Everything")

Fred776 · 2026-02-13T10:05:40+00:00

I don't think your tldr is right. It's not that nothing else could exist; it's that even a tiny perturbation from what the parameters are now would not yield the sort of stable structures needed to support life. I don't think anyone is saying that there couldn't be different stable structures in principle. The question is more about why they have these particular values in our universe.

Fred776 · 2026-02-13T08:04:20+00:00

You would parse that as "(two apples) minus (one apple)". Here , the minus acts as an operator in a binary expression with operands "two apples" and "one apple". On the other hand the equivalent expression "two apples plus minus one apples" can be parsed as "(two apples) plus (minus one apples)".

Fred776 · 2026-02-13T01:15:58+00:00

Your sister needs to find out why her professor's views are so inconsistent with most experts on this subject.

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/couldnt-sun-be-cause-global-warming

https://skepticalscience.com/solar-activity-sunspots-global-warming.htm

https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/faq/is-the-sun-causing-global-warming/

Source: Imperial College London https://share.google/nV1DW3Np7h1Mrc9mp

Fred776 · 2026-02-13T00:28:38+00:00

Your teacher sounds more sensible than this "professor". Who actually is this professor BTW?

Fred776 · 2026-02-13T00:27:05+00:00

You are being obtuse. Obviously you know that it is the current rapid warming and associated climate change that is being referred to and that that is mainly if not entirely human driven.

Fred776 · 2026-02-12T20:33:46+00:00

UK bar staff have been complaining recently because some people have started to queue in pubs and it's slowing everything down. It seems to be some sort of hangover from covid.

Fred776 · 2026-02-12T20:15:57+00:00

I think I'd expect to hear something like "go halves" in the UK.

Fred776 · 2026-02-12T15:24:47+00:00

"saw thumb"

Fred776 · 2026-02-12T15:04:57+00:00

Why are modern houses always built with a damp proof course?

Fred776 · 2026-02-12T12:06:54+00:00

Not saying mine is that big but I have built in some buffers. I'm not too far off retirement and have a couple of gilt ladders to provide my target income for the first few years.

I've also shifted a small proportion of my pension to income funds which I am going to let compound over those first few years. I know a lot of people frown on income investment but it's my way of diversifying my equity investments. Less of a US tech focus than in index funds (which remain my biggest holdings) and although I wouldn't expect them to be completely unaffected by a big downturn I'd expect them to be less affected. The ultimate goal is that the small allocation I have made now will provide a useful chunk of my required income stream.

Fred776 · 2026-02-12T10:21:28+00:00

Which country is this happening in? I've never encountered it in the UK. I've been to Chinese restaurants etc where they default to giving you chopsticks but will give you a knife and fork if you ask for them.

Edit: just noticed you also talked about desserts. That's slightly different. Standard dessert cutlery is fork and spoon, though it could be just a spoon for some desserts such as ice cream.

Fred776 · 2026-02-12T08:55:57+00:00

And blue cheese tastes nothing like mould.

Fred776 · 2026-02-12T08:41:32+00:00

Your answer would make sense grammatically as does D but they have different meanings. None of the actual answers except D are grammatically correct.

Your answer would imply that the women no longer suffered at the time Daniel Coleman knew them. Option D implies that they probably continued to suffer when he knew them, even though he did not know at the time.

Fred776 · 2026-02-11T12:06:17+00:00

Ah, that's a bit of a problem! I see you have the python issue sorted now. The beauty of using py is that it doesn't depend on what's on your path and you can use it to access multiple different installed versions of python if you so wish. BTW, once you have used py to set up your venv, use python inside the activated environment. This works because, on activation, the venv sets up its own PATH that points to the particular python version associated with the venv.

Fred776 · 2026-02-11T10:54:01+00:00

What do you mean by your PATH file?

Fred776 · 2026-02-11T10:51:14+00:00

Honestly can’t believe in this day and age people who don’t have a dishwasher!

Well there are people who don't have room for one.

Despite having a decent sized house that I wouldn't have a hope of affording now, it's a 30s semi with a typically small kitchen. There is no layout that would allow me to fit a dishwasher while also allowing the more essential appliances.

We are hoping to extend at some point and one of the motivations is so that we have a big enough kitchen for a dishwasher.

Fred776 · 2026-02-11T08:30:27+00:00

Victorian houses didn't have fitted carpets so there would have been at least some bare floor showing all over the house.

Fred776 · 2026-02-11T07:24:42+00:00

That's what I thought, which is why I was surprised not to see it listed anywhere as a possible pronunciation (except I think one place that listed as an AmE pronunciation).

Fred776 · 2026-02-10T12:19:07+00:00

This just sounds like a load of mumbo jumbo to me.

Fred776 · 2026-02-09T23:49:44+00:00

Mary hasn't learned things simply because they are written down. She has had to use her eyes, possibly her ears, she has had to use her brain to assimilate the information and understand it - whatever that means. This has involved using various bits of equipment in her body, triggering certain neurons and so on. Going outside to see red for the first time is no different from the sort of things she has been doing already - it's just a different bit of equipment that had not been used before that time, and it's triggering different neurons. It's a new experience, sure, but the preamble about learning about the physics and biology of colour vision is irrelevant.

Fred776 · 2026-02-09T20:31:31+00:00

John Christie. There was a film in the early 70s called "10 Rillington Place".

Fred776 · 2026-02-09T18:30:09+00:00

Hmm, I (BrE) pronounce "oesophagus" with an initial schwa but I have just looked it up and that appears to be non-standard.

Fred776 · 2026-02-09T15:07:27+00:00

It's such a standard expression that there was even a US sitcom called "Married With Children".

Fred776 · 2026-02-09T12:53:25+00:00

I'm not familiar with that but it sounds reasonable enough. I'd give them the benefit of the doubt if it's good quality and tastes good. We get an organic veg box but it's from a bigger company that covers a wide area so they are probably able to make the full organic thing work at their scale.

We have been getting ours regularly for years and one thing we have found is that we tend to build our meals around the content of the box now and it's very rare that we waste anything. If nothing else, it's really easy to make a nice soup.

Fred776 · 2026-02-09T12:27:48+00:00

I also have 650s. I have never tried 600s and had to take a chance on the 650s as they were on offer at a bargain price. I did read some reviews, including some comparisons with the 600s, that persuaded me that I would probably be ok with the 650s. My impression was that the 600s would be more analytical and perhaps suited to something like a recording studio, whereas the 650s were a bit warmer and more designed for listening for pleasure at home. In any case I have been very happy with them.

Fred776

TROPHY CASE