physeter

_Robert_ wrote:
Just search portable air conditioner in Amazon to see them because links don’t work.

I have a small apartment with two windows. One I don’t want to give up to an A/C unit for practical reasons and I feed birds at the other one.

Just search portable air conditioner in Amazon to see them because links don’t work.

When the main house AC goes out or when we are on generator power, I use those portable AC’s that sell for less than $300, sit on your floor and use a dryer vent hose and an adjustable window bracket to get the hot air out. I set them on blocks of wood and put a drain tray under the drip sprocket. Otherwise, I’d have to fly to Ireland.

_Robert_ wrote:
Yeah, old folks in urban apartments are particularly at risk for heat stroke as all that concrete absorbs and reradiates the heat in the evenings. Many don’t have air conditioning. Miserable.

I’m 77, live downtown in a brick apartment building, and like many in Portland don’t have A/C because (at least in the past) you’d only r…[Read more]

My brother has gone to Long Island for the week as it is only 86f with a breeze rather than 98f in Atlanta and very humid.  At the moment in Dublin (7PM) it is a cool 51f after a very windy day. Perfect for an evening run.

Yeah, old folks in urban apartments are particularly at risk for heat stroke as all that concrete absorbs and reradiates the heat in the evenings. Many don’t have air conditioning. Miserable.

As for the world getting too hot for people to survive, Portland, OR, where I live is expecting three record-breaking days Fri-Sun with temps in the 100-103 range, breaking the old records by several degrees each day. I think it was two summers ago when Portland registered a 116f degree temperature, more than 10 degrees higher than Phoenix and Las…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Moral progress is annoying.

The article seems to say that we find new norms odd, and therefore stupid, and therefore wrong, like the norms of foreigners (those swine).  That sounds very plausible.

Our norms coordinate our group.  A person from a distant area can know how to do things with me.  If we change norms, we…[Read more]

@ Robert

Speaking of “going under,” when someone wonders aloud what death is like I tell them that if they’ve had general anesthesia, then they do know what death is like. “You know that period between when you go under and when you wake up? That period of lost time? That is death.”

Unseen wrote:

_Robert_ wrote:
RE: My mother was an atheist and now I understand why.

One of the most beautiful and meaningful articles I have ever read. My own mother became an atheist late in her life, in poor health. I was probably still on the fence at the time. She said “Bobby, it’s all bullshit…all of it”. After a lifetime of indoctr…

[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:
RE: My mother was an atheist and now I understand why.

One of the most beautiful and meaningful articles I have ever read. My own mother became an atheist late in her life, in poor health. I was probably still on the fence at the time. She said “Bobby, it’s all bullshit…all of it”. After a lifetime of indoctrination. She was cou…

[Read more]

RE: My mother was an atheist and now I understand why.

One of the most beautiful and meaningful articles I have ever read. My own mother became an atheist late in her life, in poor health. I was probably still on the fence at the time. She said “Bobby, it’s all bullshit…all of it”. After a lifetime of indoctrination. She was courageous.

Unseen wrote:
Let’s say the “coin” is a half of a sphere with one side flat and the other side spherical. Is the toss still 50/50?

I don’t know offhand. I think the center of mass is slightly closer to the flat side since the cross sections of the half-sphere are larger there, but then you get into the aerodynamics of how it moves through air a…[Read more]

Let’s say the “coin” is a half of a sphere with one side flat and the other side spherical. Is the toss still 50/50?

Unseen wrote:

unapologetic wrote:
The most controversial problem in Philosophy: “what is the probability the coin came up Heads?” A better question, less ambiguous, would be; “what is the probability that this is Tuesday?” But there is only one coin toss, so probability won’t change. 50/50.

If there’s only one toss, there’s no real probability a…

[Read more]

unapologetic wrote:
The most controversial problem in Philosophy: “what is the probability the coin came up Heads?” A better question, less ambiguous, would be; “what is the probability that this is Tuesday?” But there is only one coin toss, so probability won’t change. 50/50.

If there’s only one toss, there’s no real probability at all other tha…[Read more]

The most controversial problem in Philosophy:

“what is the probability the coin came up Heads?”

A better question, less ambiguous, would be; “what is the probability that this is Tuesday?”

But there is only one coin toss, so probability won’t change. 50/50.

Rubik’s solving AI;

In competitions, is there a standardized number of turns for randomizing the cube? In the linked vid, the AI solved it in 15 moves. Does that mean it was randomized using 15 moves?

Thanks, Reg!

Oklahoma Superintendent Orders Public Schools to Teach Bible as White Christian Nationalists Go ‘On Offense’

Christians have always been on the offensive.