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On 09/02/09 11:04, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:48:54 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>> What does "101" actually mean? (Besides being the 26th prime number,
>> anyway.) What do people actually mean when they say "bird watching 101"?
>
> Comes from university systems (at least in the US). A course number like
> CS101 is essentially "Computer Science for noobs". PS101 is "Physical
> Science for noobs".
Yes, but why 101? Why not 100? (I've occasionally seen a 100 course,
but 101 is much more common).
--
Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of.
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Neeum Zawan wrote:
> Yes, but why 101? Why not 100? (I've occasionally seen a 100 course,
> but 101 is much more common).
Because most normal people start counting at one?
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Understanding the structure of the universe
via religion is like understanding the
structure of computers via Tron.
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On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:31:30 -0500, Neeum Zawan wrote:
> On 09/02/09 11:04, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:48:54 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>>> What does "101" actually mean? (Besides being the 26th prime number,
>>> anyway.) What do people actually mean when they say "bird watching
>>> 101"?
>>
>> Comes from university systems (at least in the US). A course number
>> like CS101 is essentially "Computer Science for noobs". PS101 is
>> "Physical Science for noobs".
>
> Yes, but why 101? Why not 100? (I've occasionally seen a 100
course,
> but 101 is much more common).
Maybe the first unis that did this figured people were Pascal-based
rather than C-based. (Pascal, IIRC, starts arrays at '1', C starts at
'0').
Jim
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Neeum Zawan wrote:
> On 09/02/09 11:00, nemesis wrote:
>> Because it's cool. The whole UFO "I want to believe" mantra as well as
>> the "Trust no one" conspiracionist theories were all around in the 90s...
>
> Actually, the only episodes I enjoyed were the ones that weren't
> about UFO's and aliens.
That would be most of the episodes, I guess. The so-called
"monster-of-the-week" episodes. They are still fillers.
I also enjoyed immensely the meta episodes poking fun at the series itself.
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nemesis <nam### [at] nospam-gmail com> wrote:
> That would be most of the episodes, I guess. The so-called
> "monster-of-the-week" episodes. They are still fillers.
>
> I also enjoyed immensely the meta episodes poking fun at the series itself.
Couldn't agree more. And I feel better now. It comes on in about 40 minutes!
- Ricky
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Darren New wrote:
> Neeum Zawan wrote:
>> Yes, but why 101? Why not 100? (I've occasionally seen a 100
>> course, but 101 is much more common).
>
> Because most normal people start counting at one?
>
Also by convention, 100 is the last (if available) of the remedial
courses for a topic.
101 isn't usually the "for noobs" section, but rather the "first course
appropriate for college" level.
If you've failed to master high school material, then you'll probably
have to go through 60, 70, 80, 90, and occasionally a 100 course to make
sure you can handle the college courses.
At least, that's the theory. In reality they often get weird numbers
(like 126 being the first course in a series, or 110 the first of another).
...Chambers
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> Why do overhead cables never flap around in the wind?
Actually they do, it's just it's usually very fast and very low amplitude
flapping. Imagine holding out a stretched violin string in the wind, it's
not really going to flap is it?
Anyway, take 200 metres of this stuff (which I make weighs 10 tons):
http://www.csunitec.com/saws/new-river-band-saw.html
pull it *very* tightly between two points (I estimate you're going to need
at least 60 tons of tension in the cable), and then put it in the wind, I
can't see it flapping about too much personally. Some of the really long
cables have dampers on them to get rid of the main resonant frequency, a bit
like what they put on the Millennium Bridge in London to stop it resonating
at the frequency people walked at.
> Come to think of it, why doesn't rain short out power cables?
Because air with rain in it is still an insulator?
> Steelworks. They have furnaces hot enough to melt steel, right? So what
> THE HELL is the furnace itself made of?!
Lots of things have higher melting points than most steels. Ceramics for
instance.
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Jim Henderson wrote:
> Maybe the first unis that did this figured people were Pascal-based
> rather than C-based. (Pascal, IIRC, starts arrays at '1', C starts at
> '0').
As *I* remember, Pascal arrays start at whatever index you tell them to
start at. (E.g, you can make the first index be 17 if you want...)
VAR stuff : ARRAY [17..21] OF INT;
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>> Are mushrooms poisonous on purpose, or by accident?
>
> That implies a will behind their creation. And not all mushrooms are
> poisonous. Take the ones that I had on my hamburger last night..... ;-)
No it doesn't.
Did mushrooms evolve to be poisonous because that's advantageous
somehow? Or do they just happen to be poisonous to animals because of
their unusual chemistry?
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>> Why do overhead cables never flap around in the wind? Come to think of
>> it, why doesn't rain short out power cables?
>
> Those cables are pulled rather tight, also take a close look at high
> tension wires, they'll have some funny looking thing hanging off of them
> that looks like some sort of paddle, This also helps with the wind. And
> they're too far apart to short out in the rain. Fresh water is actually
> not a great conductor, and air is even a worse conductor. Submerge them
> in salt water, and they'll short for sure.
Rain water isn't chemically pure. (Depending on pollution levels.) Once
the pylon gets wet, it's entire surface is covered in a continuous sheet
of water, which also covers all of the cables. So why don't they short out?
>> Poisonous berries. Now, let's think about this for a moment. The
>> purpose of fruit is to be eaten, thus dispercing the seeds it
>> contains. So... WHY WOULD YOU MAKE IT POISONOUS?! That defies the
>> object of the exercise!
>
> They may be toxic to mammals, but birds might be immune to the toxin.
> It's a protective measure. Many mammals can digest the seeds, Birds, on
> the other hand pass the seeds right through. Same reason hot peppers are
> hot.
[Actually, apparently peppers are hot due to an antifungal toxin...]
Seems plausible, I guess...
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