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Following my earlier post about quantum entanglement, I thought I'd post about one of my favourite physics books here in Pete's Book Of The Whatever[^].
If you've ever wondered what theoretical physics would be like if explained by Douglas Adams, I can heartily recommend The Universe in Your Hand: A Journey Through Space, Time and Beyond eBook: Christophe Galfard[^]. I didn't find this a quick book to read, not because it was dense or inaccessible; rather I found it took time because the author would present something of such breathtaking and shattering profoundness that I would have to go away and ponder it for a while because it challenged my view of things I thought I already knew. Then, just when you thought you'd got your head round that, he'd go and do the same again. I mean, I had never really appreciated what, fundamentally, magnetism is until I read this; I realised afterwards, just how shallow my A level physics really was. I really do wish I'd gone on to do the degree I really wanted to do, astrophysics.
This space for rent
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote: I really do wish I'd gone on to do the degree I really wanted to do, astrophysics.
Well...there is teh old joke:
Which of the following is the most different from the others, and why?
A) A Ph.D. in Mathematical Biology
B) A Ph.D. in Astrophysics
C) A Ph.D. in Statistics
D) A large pepperoni pizza.
Answer: B - the others can each feed a family of four.
(Highlight to read)
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Astrophysicists obsess over lines.
You might like scienceforums.net. I'm EdEarl there.
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I just fired up Skype and I got a message to confirm my identity due to suspicious activity; logging on from Forn Parts.
Okay, great, well done, etc. I've been using Skype for a week here already... 
veni bibi saltavi
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Microsoft are American: it took them a week to realise that **** isn't in the USA!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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But... but... but...
You saying this ain't Kansas?
veni bibi saltavi
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What do you want from us Yanks? A pair of ruby slippers? 
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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You should have told them the truth . . . that Europe doesn't really matter. They get attention not unsimilar to patting a canine on the head and saying "what a good doggy!".
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Darned colonies! We should get 'em back! But then, why should we desire giving citizenship to all those darned yankees?
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
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den2k88 wrote: why should we desire giving citizenship to all those darned yankees?
Thank goodness you came to your senses!
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Then **** needs democracy, fast! 
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
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Nagy Vilmos wrote: Wake up Microsoft
In your dreams!
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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Google goes one better.
They locked my account once because I used my login and password to get in.
Got an email a bit later warning me that someone had my password.
Um...yeah...me. Morons.
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I never learned to type properly (and with intellisense it doesn't matter) and still sometimes look at the keys when typing. Doing a little experiment here... I just blanked out the letters on mine. I hope I can get some code to compile!
p.s. sligtly bored atm
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I sometimes like to freak the minions out by having a conversation with them while they are off to one side - I'll be looking at them and typing at the same time. Of course, it helps that I learned to type years ago. Mind you, if I'm given an unfamiliar keyboard (maybe the keys are slightly closer together), this throws me off for a little while until I'm used to it. I have just typed this entire message while looking out of the window.
This space for rent
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Yeah, the difference in key spacing between the keyboard on my desk and laptop sometimes throws me off.
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I'm pretty much okay with touch typing, except with a lappie I'm often looking at the keyboard when I look at the screen. When I was desk bound, I rarely looked at the keys as I typed.
When I first started work, our office was next to the typing pool and the girls gave me lessons; I got as far as the breast stroke before HR put a stop to it. 
veni bibi saltavi
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I'm pretty good: I did a computer typing course - Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing - back in the eighties and have never looked back.
Looking at the keyboard slows you down far too much, but you do get used to a particular keyboard, or I do. When I finally retired my original one (it was twenty years old) most of the key legends had worn off but I was still a heck of a lot slower on the new one because the key size and position was slightly different, too small and cramped. My current Logitech is good, nice keys, comfortable to use, and all in the "right place" except the "Delete" key which is double size.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I was sure it was Mavis BACON. Mmmm, BACON...
veni bibi saltavi
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I'm another graduate of Mavis's school but I originally learned to type on a manual typewriter so it took me a long time to learn not to hammer the keys.
I wish that we'd been able to type at school because the main reason that I never got on was that I struggle to write by hand, especially when forced to use some ridiculous device like a fountain pen*.
*If you don't know what a fountain pen is, ask your granddad!
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When I first went to school, our desks still had inkwells!
They no longer put ink in them, but the receptacle was there - and we used "cartridge" pens instead of the "pull the lever to suck it up" type. I was the last year that wasn't allowed to use a calculator in our exams, IIRC.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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We must be of a pretty similar vintage. My Maths 'O' level was the first (and last) time that I was ever allowed to use a calculator at school and I think we were the first year for that. We still had to show our log calculations so I don't think I actually used it anyway.
We did shift to cartridge pens but they were every bit as horrible to use as fountain pens. I have no idea why the school placed the humble biro on the official list of THINGS THAT CAN ONLY POSSIBLY BE THE WORK OF SATAN but as I recall, anyone found using one was bludgeoned to death prior to expulsion.
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I'm young, still no biro allowed until high school. Cartridge pens or fountain pens only - a PITA. Considering that I had a crazy teacher who would throw my desk upside down (on me) because "I was untidy!!!" breaking each and every nib of my pens...
First High School year I bough a 50 bic pack and never turned back.
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
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OriginalGriff wrote: I'm pretty good: I did a computer typing course - Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
Memories! That was a 'big seller' when I was trying to make a living as a shareware distributor. All of my kids used that and touch type.
Myself? "Forced" to take typing in Junior High School (8th grade) on a real old-style (even for then) mechanical typewriter. My fingers have since become a bit gnarled, but I can still do 80 wpm bursts. Fortunately, with coding, typing is pretty much done in bursts. (that's 5-6 chars/second). Nothing like the speed of keyboard pros nor their sustainability.
A neat thing is having your fingers move so fast that few if any people could follow their motion to get a password.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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When I took typing in High School in the late '70s, it was manual typewriters with black keys - no letters at all. You learned to type by position because looking down would only help you confirm where your fingers were.
The 1 or 2 people that had typewriters with white lettering never really learned to type because they could look down.
While I enjoy the 'modern' conveniences - Intellisense, on-line help, etc., has it affected our programming ability? We haven't learned because we don't have to, or, we (of a certain age) learned because we didn't have a choice - pity the new generation.
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