Seemingly trivial things that cheer you up
Comments
-
-
I see.
0 -
Maybe or maybe not, but you need to take the hint 😉
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
It isn't a wobble.
I did my PhD in precession, in a manner of speaking.
0 -
What's the answer? I never did have an eye for fashion, but I mostly wear brown shoes.
0 -
You need to have words then...
Far be it from me to argue with a PhD.
0 -
"Brown shoes don't make it" Frank Zappa
================================
Cake is just weakness entering the body0 -
It's on the internet so is must be right. At least they used inverted commas, albeit in the American style.
I don't think "wobble" adequately describes a perfectly predicable periodic motion. Does a swing wobble? What about a pendulum? I don't think they wabble either.
In fairness, even Weebles didn't really wobble, to my mind.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wobble
wobble
1 of 2
verb
wob·ble ˈwä-bəl
variants or less commonly wabble
wobbled also wabbled; wobbling also wabbling ˈwä-b(ə-)liŋ
1a: to move or proceed with an irregular rocking or staggering motion or unsteadily and clumsily from side to side
0 -
IIRC, Feynman likened the movement of electrons around a nucleus as having a 'wobble' like the spinning plates he observed.
0 -
Tried the Merlin bird song ID app , impressed with how it can identify quite distant bird song.
0 -
It's a fantastic app. It's useful to be able to separate out the suggested species in the waveform.
0 -
It's the angle, or obliquity, that explains why a solar day varies in length and why Brian gets to make his semi-annual joke.
0 -
I managed a few of these - did you have any luck with the numbers one? (where they're in a kind of spiral) - I can't even get started . . .
Wilier Izoard XP0 -
Yes. Would you like the solution? I don't think we have spoiler tags any more.
0 -
yes please!
Wilier Izoard XP0 -
Write the numbers from the spiral out. Then write the numbers they should be next to them. Subtracting one from the other will give you a number which corresponds to the letter in the Alphabet e.g. 2 is B.
0 -
I was also inordinately pleased with myself for completing it. Was it really for 11 year olds?
0 -
Aha!! Thanks - got it
Wilier Izoard XP0 -
At GCHQ, we love creating puzzles and breaking codes. That’s why every year we create the GCHQ Christmas Challenge, a series of fiendish brainteasers and puzzles, designed by our very own team of codebreakers. It encourages children aged 11-18 to think laterally and work as a team, as well as showcasing some of the skills t
they might need to become a spy.
On TV they were talking about 11 year olds though.
0 -
Yes but he is explaining it to non scientists. The term precession is easy to understand and means what it means and not something else.
A wobble is a colloquial term used to explain to people that it is something other than a tilt, which most people seem to understand, and for people who couldn't understand what a precessing axis is even if you showed them.
It is a bit like calling an atom a really tinsy tiny bit of something. It is, kind of, but not in any helpful sense.
0 -
The term precession is easy to understand
Perhaps if you've done a PhD in it, not for most of the population.
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
I also don't think it has much to do with Brian's joke given it takes 26,000 years for a full
wobblerotation.0 -
There was a joke?
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
-
It is simply that the axis through the north pole not only tilts backwards and forwards, but also moves around a circle.
I think that's better than "wobble".
My PhD used nuclear spin, which precesses. Bjt I never needed it explaining twice. Just a diagram of a sphere with an axis and two arrows was enough.
0 -
A rotation takes 24 hours. That's why using another word that is a bit like the actual word is problematic.
0 -
Does that make you a spin doctor? 🧐
2 -
I'll take that.
0 -
Do you have a Pocket Full of Kryptonite?
1 -
Just kidding 😊
TBF it was your post on this subject a little while back that made me realise the earliest sunset time is around now (this year it was yesterday) and not on the shortest day (usually the 21st).
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]1
