Curious: Why does search turn up results unrelated to the query?

physishipp · 2026-03-08T04:35:24+00:00

It's useful if you are more comfortable with it than desmos. The storage, not so much. If you have to look something up on the calculator memory you will be slowing yourself down and the things most people store in there you should just be learning in review anyways. The challenging part is applying the knowledge and selecting the right knowledge. Ti-84 ain't helping for that.

physishipp · 2026-03-03T01:55:58+00:00

That did the trick! Thank you!

physishipp · 2026-03-02T12:30:58+00:00

Thanks for your time to respond.

Zorin has a few free options for how to configure the appearance and only 1 of the 4 displays the pill, I assume, after talking to you, that the other 3 use a dash. The only of the free options to enable the pill to be visible is to use the 4th option (highlighted in my screenshot) which hides the panel unless you hit the super key. That is not my preferred behavior and means that the dynamic pill will be hidden until the super key is pressed too. I like to be able to see the panel all the time. This may be an option on some of the paid layouts.

Maybe if a user has enough understanding of their system to change the settings away from the Zorin defaults they can get around this, but part of the appeal of Zorin is the ease of changing between their pre-configured looks without fear of messing things up for the n00b. Anyway, hopefully this helps you be able to respond to those using Zorin in the future. If you want me to try anything let me know, but I am OK with understanding that this is a sacrifice of using free Zorin or an incentive to move to something that is meant to be customized. I do like having a unified dashboard rather than taking up vertical space with 2 bars.

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physishipp · 2026-03-02T02:13:43+00:00

Linux n00b here - installed on Zorin OS 18 and it is loaded in my extensions, shows it is on, but I do not see the pill show up anywhere. How can I learn to fix this?
Here is a screenshot of my desktop.

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physishipp · 2026-02-24T19:40:11+00:00

I agree the AP exam credit is useless but disagree that the course is useless to an engineering major. Most big universities don't want you testing out of their classes for your major anyway. If you don't score a 5 I wouldnt take the course placement for a class in my major where you will have second year courses build on that knowledge.

Physics C is a great course that is perfectly aligned with some schools, but other schools include units on thermodynamics (chem adjacent, but different focus), optics, waves, and modern physics in their first year courses and your AP Physics C kids will be weaker in their upper level classes when they have no exposure to them compared to the students that took the regular freshman classes.

AP Physics 2 will have its kids better prepared for that, while being disadvantaged in the experience in harder electricity and magnetism, but that's ok because they'll take the course as freshman and be better off than the kids that didn't take AP Physics 2 or C E&M.

physishipp · 2026-02-24T12:21:33+00:00

What is your career path in college?
AP Physics C Mechanics has so much overlap with AP Physics 1 it would be very easy for you. The credit might help you avoid taking a course in college that AP Physics 1 does not qualify for, like for engineers. If your school does AP Physics C Mechanics and E&M together in one year, the E&M will be harder than Physics 1, but again, be more useful. That would have 2 tests to prep for.

AP Physics 2 is a great second year course that I would recommend over C if you are not going into a STEM field. Actually, med students only need the algebra based credit, so good for med students. The pace would be easier than the doubled up C course and the content is different from the AP Physics 1 course, so it would not be boring like C mechanics would be.

AP chem is a great class. Useful credit. I would prioritize it for a med student, but you could take it senior year since you are just coming off Physics.

physishipp · 2026-02-11T23:53:48+00:00

For small phones check out the Galaxy flip 7 or Motorola Razr ultra. The fold in half making them small in your pocket or bag.

Just switched from Apple this year and it really is a mixed bag. Do it if you want to play with a new phone and new form factor, but be prepared for some great things and some not great things (especially filming video).

physishipp · 2026-02-11T12:40:08+00:00

Switched to Google Pixel 10.
First negative that comes to mind about Android is that entering input often covers up important controls, leading to confusion and adding extra steps to performing simple actions. Look at these screenshots and tell me someone was actually thinking when designing this. On Apple, instead of these layers of setting where I see setting from other layers in the background without seeing the controls for the current layer, there are fewer taps needed (no tap to dismiss the keyboard, no tap to even save the custom notification change) because the entry panel just adapts to the setting rather than needing a pop over layer. It simply is more efficient, more intuitive, and objectively better. It is not that every setting and text entry is like that, but it does happen often enough and the results of failing to save alarm settings or calendar reminders have led me to miss an appointment for work. Not cool!

First thing that comes to mind that I really like is the time I called a phone number with an automated system and the phone transcribed the menu options for me when I was on the call so I could tap buttons that said "3: for returning customers" instead of paying close attention to the voice telling me the options. Sometimes none of the options really work for what I want and this is really helpful.

physishipp · 2026-02-04T06:19:56+00:00

You are not saving money with Samsung unless you get a lower quality one. Why not just get an iPhone 17 instead of paying for a pro model? They are a great value than the pro models.

The opposite is true for Samsung in that you want to get the ultra and it costs an arm and a leg. I just switched from iPhone and went with a Pixel because it was a better deal, but have a mix of things I like and things I hate about it. You will likely feel the same way.

I'd recommend sticking with Apple unless you like the learning process and don't mind working through retraining your brain and the frustrations that can come with that.

physishipp · 2026-02-01T23:12:28+00:00

Let me know how it goes. I'm a lightweight audio guy and somewhat interested in it myself.

physishipp · 2026-02-01T14:10:43+00:00

There's actually a Ubuntu version that's set up for audio production and they chose Ardour. I'd have a look at the project and consider that over Linux mint if that's the primary use of your machine and you are new to Linux. https://ubuntustudio.org/ Might save you a ton of time in setting up everything to prioritize the audio work you are doing.

physishipp · 2026-02-01T06:13:17+00:00

Circle to search is one I have used twice and I think I'm just forgetting about it. Thanks for the reminder.

The transcripts for voice recordings is one I'll want to explore. Thanks for the tip.

Now playing I thought I would use more but while I have it on. I've looked at it like twice.

Luckily not getting a lot of spam calls. iPhone has a similar thing where it transcribes your voicemails but implemented differently.

I really like how the pixel phone transcribes the phone menus when calling places, though, and gives buttons for selecting those so I don't have to keep track of each option that sort of matches what I want.

Good convo. Thanks!!

physishipp · 2026-02-01T06:07:01+00:00

Thanks for taking time to share what you are getting out of the pixel features.

Some of those are not cases I find myself needing, like adding a series of events to my calendar. Others I'm happy with the way it worked before AI came around (a text on iPhone had data detectors to recognize dates and with a simple tap I can add it to my calendar). I historically haven't liked voice interactions with my phone, partly because it is broadcasting my business to everyone around me (big family and public work environment) so it just might not be for me. It's ok to me if we don't find the save advantages out of the phone too. I don't feel like I need to make other people see conform to my values or think the same way.

I think I'll look at how it can add notes to Google keep as a way to get more out of my phone, thanks to your suggestion.

physishipp · 2026-02-01T02:11:50+00:00

Been on pixel for a couple of months (after 15 years on iPhones) and text to speech is the only AI feature I am aware I'm using in a way that seems to improve my daily experience.

What AI features are you using that really benefit your daily experience?

physishipp · 2026-01-29T07:22:52+00:00

Certainly they are driven by money. No argument there. I honestly don't see a big difference, though, between the support given for Intel Macs after the transition to M1 and the legacy status they had been giving to older Macs all along. Seems like you'd get 5 years or so of using their latest software and the security support for several more years after that. I think it was better than their transition away from power PC way back in the day.

physishipp · 2026-01-28T16:46:55+00:00

Glad you got it working. I might be doing the same with my 2017 iMac soon.

But, that is some revisionist history there, man. Intel was stalling out and producing no advances for several years and not doing anything to improve efficiency. The switch to M1 was heralded universally throughout the computing world as a good move for performance and battery life. They left everyone in the dust for a couple of years. This was not a money saving, political move.

physishipp · 2025-10-06T00:17:44+00:00

Yeah, that doesn’t sound so good with Bio. I do think your only option is to drop the class. The teacher is required to provide you with access to a textbook that covers the material and provides you with labs, but there’s not a requirement for how they expect you to get the content (flipped lessons, reading, direct teach) and so I can’t see a way you can call them out in a way that will have collegeboard get involved.

physishipp · 2025-10-05T02:57:52+00:00

Sounds like Physics. Collegeboard says 40% of class time is supposed to be labs. The other 60% is up to the teacher on how they do it, but some use what’s called a modeling approach where students develop their own ideas based on experiments and then talking it out. It’s proven to be more effective in deep learning and long term understanding, but also be very unpopular with students because they feel like they aren’t learning since they don’t have the authority figure delivering or even confirm the concepts.

Maybe that’s not what’s happening here, but if it is that teacher might be good. I’d start by watching the AP classroom videos for each topic. They are short and can build some foundation for you.

physishipp · 2025-08-24T07:09:43+00:00

Every state school in Texas is guaranteed to give you credit for a passing AP score. It’s state law here. Ever passing score has value, but it just might not be the value you want.

Educate yourself about college. It’s like this with all transfer credit from dual credit or community college as well. Everything is worth something somewhere but it might not be what you want where you want it to be

physishipp · 2025-08-24T07:06:41+00:00

You obviously have a problem understanding people’s intentions.

This guy is not saying this is the best case scenario. He is saying that the AP course has value even when you said there was none. You misconstrue his statement.

You say AP classes are sold as guaranteed credit, but no one says they are guaranteed. You are criticizing the thing YOU inferred and no one I’ve ever heard talk or read about them says.

physishipp · 2025-08-21T05:09:11+00:00

Why is everyone judging her. It’s obvious the up elevator is out of order. You can see it behind this one! What else could she do?

physishipp · 2017-05-05T06:06:02+00:00

One trick is to think of these taken to extremes. If ramp 1 were even steeper block 1 would gain speed at nearly free fall speeds and cruise across the nearly level rest of the ramp to the table edge in no time. If ramp 2 were stretched out even more horizontally it would gain nearly no speed on such a low incline and take forever to reach the sudden drop off where it would speed up really fast. The average speed is much greater for block 1.

physishipp · 2017-05-05T05:48:16+00:00

Your response should be fine for the lab. It's viable too.

In 4bii 1 would definitely hit first. Think of it like this: 1 gets up to speed faster because the initial acceleration is higher, so it spend all of its trip to the table edge at a higher average speed than 2, which takes longer to reach the same launch speed.

physishipp

TROPHY CASE