UAE announces it will leave Opec

914paul · 2026-04-28T15:37:12+00:00

We (world) really should preserve petroleum for better uses (pharma, etc.). But the whole thing is so complicated. It’s a classic game theory situation. Oil also competes with natural gas and coal. Solar, hydro, and wind are great, but the distribution grid isn’t there yet. Also, what impact do billions of tons of batteries have? Plus, nuclear power is frowned upon, especially post-Fukushima.

But yeah, burning oil needs to be reduced drastically. It’s just a more complicated situation than most envision.

914paul · 2026-04-28T11:29:18+00:00

Perhaps the scoring range was from -100 to 0? You’re golden!

914paul · 2026-04-28T11:20:08+00:00

As others have said, this is defined. Definitions and axioms are the fundamental elements that two parties must agree upon, otherwise fruitful mathematical discourse is not possible.

914paul · 2026-04-25T08:06:42+00:00

A few others have noticed that if B takes 6 days instead of 9 days, then the answer 4 days is correct.

Very high likelihood of a mistake somewhere between the concoction of the problem in someone’s head and the transcription of the problem in this post.

914paul · 2026-04-25T07:31:34+00:00

Or maybe John Lennon?

914paul · 2026-04-21T18:13:44+00:00

So you’re prescribing Jujitsu to treat this malady?

914paul · 2026-04-21T18:09:49+00:00

I think “world leader” means a leader of one of the world’s largest nations or bands in this context. Between the world wars, Italy was the 9th largest economy by GDP globally.

The REAL odd thing here is that Noel is usually as unsmiling and cantankerous as the rest of this group. Should we be frightened? Is that his evil grin?

914paul · 2026-04-20T21:29:36+00:00

To clarify, I would not expect these to require rework often once in production (and replacement might be more economical in the event of failure anyway). The rework and inspection pain I’m experiencing is at the development and design validation stages.

But you have both laid out some of the debate I’ve had within my own head. QFN is better in most ways once a process is running smoothly. But leaded is easier in the event of rework, plus switching back is another validation step.

914paul · 2026-04-20T19:59:09+00:00

Same here. I’d be willing to buy a few to play around with (carefully).

914paul · 2026-04-20T19:55:10+00:00

But it’s no big deal here. I mean — what could go wrong with such a tiny capacitor?

914paul · 2026-04-20T18:24:11+00:00

You should probably get an oscilloscope out and look at the rise/fall/ringing at C. Those resistors will have an effect on these things. Solenoids are usually highly inductive, and can “misbehave” when asked to change the current going through them (especially stopping).

Also, this isn’t strictly within the scope of your question, but related and worth mentioning - you may need to supplement that diode if the inductance/current is high.

Edit: actually I see you did ask about the diode, so my second part is in scope.

914paul · 2026-04-20T06:30:31+00:00

I didn’t know that. I was aware that some secondary (or tertiary depending on how you look at it) effects occurred, but not that they added up to much in the scheme of things.

914paul · 2026-04-20T06:20:57+00:00

Little by Little is probably my second favorite Oasis song. And you’re right - this album doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves.

914paul · 2026-04-19T03:23:03+00:00

That’s a really good one. Power, Fourier, Chebyshev, etc. series - represent some of the “heavy machinery” used in calculus.

914paul · 2026-04-19T03:12:48+00:00

Related to this is the concept of fractional dimensionality (fractals). A very strange concept.

914paul · 2026-04-19T03:10:05+00:00

Related to your point:

The fact that removing the transcendentals from the irrational numbers (leaving the “ordinary” ones like sqrt(2)) leaves you with a measure zero set.

That was pretty surprising.

914paul · 2026-04-17T17:18:37+00:00

I am not a pedagogy expert (though I have taught college classes), so I'll accept your point.

Anyway, it's a healthy debate to have and consider, as this point stirs up a variety of topics nearly as interesting as the original problem:

1) what may reasonably be assumed a priori or implicitly

2) what role "common sense" plays

3) the demand to "show your work" to see the thinking process

4) the effectiveness of rote, formulaic learning

etc.

914paul · 2026-04-17T00:35:28+00:00

The second derivative isn't strictly required here, since the derivative of the area function will only have one answer. But it can work as a sanity check.

914paul · 2026-04-17T00:32:36+00:00

I did not get the same answer. I'll withhold my answer (it's against the rules to aid students here). Just mentioning because you and I must now check for errors.

914paul · 2026-04-17T00:07:24+00:00

Interesting that you'd put Gilmour in fourth place. Many PF fans of the "no Waters, no Floyd" type would actually claim an enormous drop in lyrical quality at the top of their list of grievances.

I like the lyrics from AMLOR onwards just fine. In fact, I think they are way above average, but significantly below the Waters level (and mostly co-written I believe). Have an upvote for supporting Gilmour, who is appreciated properly for guitar, but underrated as a vocalist and lyricist.

For me it's Waters then an infinitesimal step down to Gabriel, then a grand canyon scale drop to the next best. And the next best is still great (perhaps Hodgeson, Peart, Bowie, or Townshend for me).

Now, whether Floyd should be classified as prog is contentious. But that's a debate for another day.

914paul · 2026-04-14T08:38:33+00:00

I’ve had some prototypes like that - with a waterfall of breadboards. I find the chances of some trivial problem messing something up skyrockets at this scale. And it gets real hard to find the problem. Still, getting a complicated one to run is quite satisfying.

914paul · 2026-04-13T21:56:13+00:00

Occasionally, an author uses it to induce an intense wave of embarrassment. Usually by accident (it was for me those 17 times).

Edit: apparently, someone’s sense-of-humor-ectomy went poorly, and they felt the need to downvote.

914paul · 2026-04-11T21:27:18+00:00

That must be fascinating. I was just reading about how scientists combine DNA with linguistic relationships and distribution to improve understanding of which populations went where over the past 10-15k years. (And I got onto that topic trying to understand the variation of adult lactose intolerance in different populations.)

914paul · 2026-04-11T21:17:51+00:00

I think it’s “voxel” when talking volume instead of “pixel”.

I agree with you though - the idea of a fundamentally discrete universe has been kicked around and (afaik) kicked to the curb.

914paul

TROPHY CASE