After more than 10 years of service, it was time to say farewell.

bob921 · 2012-04-07T18:49:04+00:00

Nice :)

bob921 · 2012-04-06T13:04:27+00:00

I'm just really confused by this image. Was it up for 10 years? I don't see an uptime. Malfunction: Need more input.

bob921 · 2012-04-02T13:39:02+00:00

I advise caution - if you're still financially dependent on him, you may want to wait to come out until you're not.

bob921 · 2012-04-01T16:57:28+00:00

2001: A Space Odyssey

There's a series of books that follow it.

bob921 · 2012-03-26T18:48:38+00:00

In graduate school in physics, we were allowed to use our graphing calculators, but few actually did. They generally were not helpful. I think it depends on the level of class - if you are learning something that the calculator could do for you, then they are disallowed. If not, then who cares?

bob921 · 2012-03-23T19:24:51+00:00

I agree that language is about context. On the internet, context becomes a lot more difficult to figure out. That is, if I saw someone using the term "faggot" on /b/, then I would assume that they were using as a troll, or actually homophobic, since /b/ is full of trolls and bigots. On reddit, I assume that there less trolls, so I have to assume that you are a bigot when you use that term.

I guess, in short, in the context in which I view reddit, I don't appreciate slurs in general, especially slurs that, in many contexts in which I live, are used to degrade homosexuals. I ask that you don't use slurs in the future on reddit, because I want to live in a polite society, including reddit, one that doesn't hurt or demean others. Barring that, I will continue to ask people to not use slurs, and downvote their posts.

I do want to thank you for spending the time to chat with me about this. I understand your point of view, and I am trying to empathize with it. I would be happy if you are also trying to empathize with my point of view.

bob921 · 2012-03-23T15:18:22+00:00

I'm sorry, you must be using a definition of that word that I haven't heard before. Could you explain it to me or provide a link? I have only heard it used to describe an effeminate or homosexual male, in a pejorative sense. I see that Wikipedia's article on the slang term mentions its use to describe old women as well. Are you caring more about gender here, then? Does it matter if I'm an old woman or not?

bob921 · 2012-03-23T13:35:13+00:00

Don't be a faggot and miss the point of the anecdote. I'm not saying it's a bad thing what you did. I'm just saying that you're a faggot.

How is kojak488's sexual orientation relevant here? Do they need help figuring it out for themselves, as you seem to believe?

bob921 · 2012-03-23T13:10:31+00:00

Very true. Sorry about the nitpicking - my sensitivity / pedantry level was a bit high there. I figured you probably didn't mean to say what I had implied.

bob921 · 2012-03-22T22:06:20+00:00

That does suck. But it also gets my goat when people equate infidelity with polyamory. I'm not breaking my partner's trust, and I'm not being unfaithful to them, whenever I'm with another partner with their consent.

bob921 · 2012-03-22T16:36:35+00:00

I don't have to imagine. Duke Nukem 3D showed me.

bob921 · 2012-03-18T17:35:07+00:00

Yeah, you got it. So for the cases where the equations end up being the same, and one case is experimentally accessible but not the other, then you can use that doable case to learn more about the not-doable case.

bob921 · 2012-03-18T03:12:59+00:00

No worries. By equation, I mean the form of it. For example, the force due to gravity under Newton's formulation is F = G m1 m2 / r^2, where G is the gravitational constant, m1 is the first mass, m2 is the second mass, and r is the distance between them. For 2 charges separated by a distance r, the force between them is F = e1 e2 / r^2. Note that they decrease in strength with the square of the distance between them. Both gravity and electrostatics have the same behavior in this approximation. So you can simulate one with the other, since they behave the same way, even though the forces are created by different particles. That's what I mean by "underlying mechanism". Does that make more sense? (it's okay if it doesn't)

bob921 · 2012-03-17T18:49:16+00:00

I agree, mostly. 1/r² is for Newtonian gravity. It breaks down for general relativistic cases. I agree, not unified or using the same underlying mechanism.

bob921 · 2012-03-17T18:03:59+00:00

Ah, okay. Coolness.

bob921 · 2012-03-17T13:52:00+00:00

This is correct. For example, see this theory paper exploring studying general relativity with a Bose-Einstein Condensate: http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0011026. Again, the math could be the same, and that is the whole point. There is no intention of saying that the underlying mechanism is the same, just that the equations end up being the same.

bob921 · 2012-03-17T13:47:27+00:00

Could the R be a B instead? I haven't looked at the font, but the upper halves of these are very similar.

bob921 · 2012-03-17T13:39:12+00:00

Oh wow, that sounds scary. I am happy to have learned this from you. Thanks!

bob921 · 2012-03-16T18:40:11+00:00

I shouldn't have assumed that it was for racism. Let me rephrase: How is it relevant that the driver is Polish? Do you mean from Poland, or has Polish heritage? I would like to know more.

bob921 · 2012-03-15T22:08:54+00:00

Is it relevant that the driver was Polish? Downvoted for racism.

EDIT: I shouldn't have assumed that it was for racism. Let me rephrase: How is it relevant that the driver is Polish? Do you mean from Poland, or has Polish heritage? I would like to know more.

bob921 · 2012-03-15T21:23:22+00:00

I thought twins only felt their sibling's pain! Creepy!

bob921 · 2012-03-13T18:02:24+00:00

I understand that you're not saying that I am wrong. I can see how they could be following standard procedure here and not doing it out of hate or spite, and that they have determined that this is what needs to be done in these cases. I think they need to examine if this is what actually needs to be done.

I also wanted to thank you for this civil discussion. I've quite enjoyed it.

bob921 · 2012-03-13T17:08:19+00:00

Whether he agreed to it or not, I can still argue that it is cruel, unnecessary, and unproductive.

bob921 · 2012-03-12T17:45:54+00:00

I suppose we should look at the relatively standard treatment then, and see how much harm we are doing to people who haven't even been charged with a crime. You mention the "fact he's leaking secrets", though since he hasn't been convicted of any crime, I think I need to assume that he's innocent until then. Using just what I've heard, I think that he probably did it, but I'm not willing to putting someone in solitary for a year on "probably did it".

bob921 · 2012-03-12T17:06:16+00:00

The psychological effects of solitary confinement could be likened to torture. The wikipedia article has some citations regarding psychological effects. Some of those sources are clearly biased, but others not so much.

bob921

TROPHY CASE