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12:19 PM
I'm thinking we need to change the [discussion] tag on Meta to [angry-rant] or perhaps [childish-tantrum]...
 
 
1 hour later…
1:35 PM
@KyleKanos I cannot make heads nor tails of that latest comment...
 
The one on my answer or the one bobie just made on the question?
 
On the question
 
I'm not sure how many hands are itching for the close. So far, just 1
 
I was going to post that but it is definitely off topic
With a nice ^[citation needed]
 
I don't recommend going through and reviewing individual user's voting habits. It will be bad for your sanity Best recommendation ever
2
 
1:46 PM
I so want to derail the comment threads and post things not constructive
user image
4
 
Disgruntled people are disgruntled :/
I'm also doing this today without coffee as I left my mug at home :(
 
I have a test in 5 minutes
I should probably go to class...
 
You should.
Good luck
 
Thanks
You too ;)
 
@KyleKanos Closing the review rant on meta?
 
2:02 PM
I don't plan on it
Bobie's questions were valid, I think. The recent edit was not (hence the comments I've left)
 
Without the accusatory tone, yes.
 
2:26 PM
Hm, the primarily opinion-based VTC reason is not really a VTC on meta, is it? Because that's what the one close vote is for
 
Yes, that's a good point, it shouldn't really be an option on meta.
Many meta posts are there to foster discussion about a particular topic about the site, which necessarily gives rise to opinion.
 
Exactly
The latest edit I could have seen being declared off-topic because it is even more ranty than what was there before, but I'm rather interested what the reaction to KyleKanos' rollback will be
 
I think bobie is planning on rolling it back
 
My popcorn resources are dwindling these days rather fast
 
Well that was weird.
A new user asked a question yesterday about quantum optics
 
2:33 PM
I think I saw that just now in the review queue
 
And now just asked a question about interferometers used in atmospheric physics
Wot?
 
Hmm.. Seems all's not well in the PO camp (look at the last few comments on Ron's wall) : physicsoverflow.org/user/Ron+Maimon
 
@KyleKanos Clear case of unclear what you're asking. I have decided that in about 2 seconds, btw.
 
@ACuriousMind I decided it in about 3 seconds (aforementioned lack of coffee).
 
3:02 PM
Extending Gaurav's statement, Ron's own words: That's not what I signed up for. I have refrained from advertising the site further, and I think it's time to call the experiment a failure.
 
Personally, I was never impressed by PO's site structure which they claimed to be was more democratic than ours. Ironically, their's is a sock puppet democracy where essentially three members claim to be the patriarch and others just play second fiddle no matter how hard they try.
It seems they're getting the taste of their own medicine now.
 
Their UI was a little poor in my mind, but I do like how you can see the upvotes & downvotes without extra clicking like here on SE (and after reaching some rep threshold)
 
And the 'wall' feature too.. it's neither a chat nor a wall in the fb sense. I don't what they're trying to achieve with that feature.
 
@KyleKanos From there, too: "The story here is essentially the same policy as anywhere, with different people on top." That's a late realization of how human interaction works anywhere in the world, but good for him.
 
3:18 PM
So, for a graduate-and-higher site, they added this question?
 
@tpg2114 This whole shebang on meta reminds me of this comment of yours a while back :)
 
@ACuriousMind PO is a monarchy. And in a monarchy, no matter how good the intentions of the founders might be, it's bound to fall someday. We've seen that throughout history haven't we?
 
@ACuriousMind I was thinking that same thing on my drive into work thismorning
 
@Gaurav Well, with the moderators' power here, every SE is an oligarchy, too. We just trust them to be nice people. The difference is that we (or rather, some people in the past) elected them, however.
@KyleKanos Heh. That user has a very particular view of "geometry" and "distances", and often tries to recast relativity in the form of "metrics on sets". They seem uncomfortable with the assumption that we can model the real world by the continuum, and try to retreat to the case where we only have distinct, discrete points of measurement. It is indeed a "valid" research program, and certainly quite involved mathematics, if it is at all possible.
If the notation were explained, I think this is the kind of non-mainstream discussion PO indeed allows.
 
I asked to clarify the notation and I think the explanation didn't do anything to help my understanding
 
3:28 PM
No, I don't think they explain it very well. Nevertheless, I don't think it is nonsense, if a bit caught up in an insistence on weird axiomatics.
That is "nonsense" in the sense that it has literally no semantics. It is nonsense from a physical viewpoint, IMO.
 
@ACuriousMind Yeah, so it makes ours a democracy. I don't know whether they're gonna change for good or just die out. Initially, I felt it was a good idea with paper reviewing and all, but then I'm realising now that the founders' principles are themselves not concrete. I never understood what Ron actually wanted, how many ever threads I read related to the whole incident.
 
Ron just wants to not be asked not to insult people :P
It's total freedom of speech with him
 
How does this happen:
-3
Q: How to Solve this integral?

Zohaib AarfiI want to solve this integral. Some one help me please. $$\int\frac{e^{ik(x-x')}}{k^2-\mu^2}dk$$

 
:) But then I never actually read what Ron himself wrote, just other people describing what sort of a guy he was. The mods deleted all his offensive threads or something ?
 
It's closed an hour ago, then answered 17 minutes ago?
 
3:35 PM
@KyleKanos If the client has not been notified that the question was closed when it sends the answer, the server will accept the answer regardless of the current question status.
@Gaurav Yep. Some traces remain on meta, but the most inflammatory comments are gone for good, I think.
 
That's dumb
 
@KyleKanos Yep, but I recall someone from the SE employees stating that could not be changed without a major restructure or something
 
@ACuriousMind I heard he's brilliant, but then I realized that intelligence without humility is worthless.
 
@Gaurav You can still read his answers and decide for yourself about the first point.
 
@ACuriousMind I have. You were a member at the time all this happened ?
 
3:43 PM
@Gaurav No, I just know what I gathered from the traces ;)
I've only been here for a bit over half a year
 
@ACuriousMind :) I don't know how you find so much time. You answer like 5 questions a week?
Ok anyways, gotta have dinner.. seeya!
 
@ACuriousMind As relevant than as it is now. And sadly, as it will continue to be... I like our sandbox.
 
@Gaurav 1.3 answers per day is my average. I'm a student without much to do during the week, whenever I'm sitting at home not feeling like playing video games, I'm here ;)
 
@Gaurav Who's that?
 
The entire wall over on PO is entertaining actually. Not just recent ones
So much insecurity, so much vitriol.
 
3:56 PM
@KyleKanos : I saw that you put this question on hold. This was expected, it belongs to mathematics. Just for you to know, the function of whose Fourier transform he asked is akin to the Breit-Wigner formula. It's not the same, but they are related - I won't get into details here. I am just asking, will he see my solution? It makes sense to ask about Fourier transforms of such functions.
 
@Sofia Your answer will show up there
 
@tpg2114 Where?
 
A weird quirk in the system is why it was allowed to be posted after the question was put on hold, but regardless it's on there
 
@Sofia Yes, I put the question on hold because it's a pure math question (devoid of any physics) and should migrated there. Assuming the Questioner comes back , he/she will indeed see your post
 
It will show up on the question like any other answer
 
3:57 PM
@KyleKanos : I don't argue
 
@Sofia Also, this is just a style recommendation, but for common functions (sine, cosine, tangent, exp, etc) typeset them as \sin, \cos, \tan, \exp
 
@KyleKanos , @tpg2114 , so, I understand, he will see, yes? If he goes to his profile site, will he see his question and my answer?
 
It will make them look like functions rather than the product of s, i, n etc
 
@Sofia Yes, on-hold questions are still visible to everyone
 
@Sofia Yes. Your answer is on his question. Everybody can see it
 
4:00 PM
Very well, I repeat, for people who work with the Breit-Wigner, it's a useful thing.
 
11
Q: Sales tax "trick" while buying a used car; i.e. declaring sale at lower than actual transaction value?

calkk12I am selling my car and have found a potential buyer. After I transfer the vehicle ownership, the buyer will have to transfer the vehicle title to himself, and will also need to pay sales tax on the sale price. As the buyer is paying me in cash, he asked me to write down a really low amount as s...

 
Yeah, I saw that one earlier
 
That seems to be one of those cases of did you really need to ask that?
 
I like the comment "If you replace the word 'trick' with 'fraud'..."
 
It is rather pointed
 
4:10 PM
I can't stop reading these wall posts
It's really entertaining
 
Links?
 
Start at the bottom and work up, then back to lower pages (more recent posts): physicsoverflow.org/user/Ron+Maimon/wall?start=30
It's interesting to see the positions being taken on the moderation side of things
 
You know...as much as they say that they get new content at PO, I don't think I've actually seen a not-Physics.SE generated post there.
 
I've never had enough interest to look around/watch for it
I'm not a fan of how they imported usernames with the questions though, ie:
 
@tpg2114 You can ask them to delete you, they'll comply.
 
4:18 PM
You can request them to delete your account
 
Good to know, I will do that.
 
They've even got a log to record all instances: physicsoverflow.org/8365/public-block-log
 
The more annoying part (because looking at the profile, it is obvious that I didn't sign up) is on imported posts
That comment is still linked to me, gives impressions I am active
 
Oddly, my request (which, mind you, wasn't actually a request) has 2 upvotes
 
@JamalS As in Ron Maimon
 
4:20 PM
You're just doubly not-liked over there
Or here if the meta-ranting could be trusted :)
 
@tpg2114 Well, there is a red text under it saying it was imported
 
Sure, but the "Commented [timestamp]" under it is what bugs me
Everything we post on SE is creative commons, I can't stop anybody from taking the text and linking to the source. But it does go an extra step of also making it look like it's their content as well
 
@KyleKanos The newest QA is not imported
 
@ACuriousMind Fair enough.
 
I'm kinda sad to see Urs Schreiber posting over there, I love his old answers here.
 
4:26 PM
How do they actually migrate posts from p.se to PO? Do they rely on some members within the se community or do they send probes to detect migrate-able questions ?
 
@Gaurav Their request for migration page says: "Only experts, editors, moderators, and admins can import SE questions."
 
I suppose that's one way to restrict not-graduate level material
 
So they essentially expect high rep members from their site to be active on physics.se... that's totally contradictory to their hatred towards us..
 
But I suppose that is partly why they don't import grad-level astro questions
 
Grad level astro? Don't we already know all the signs people can be born under? What's left to research?
 
4:30 PM
Everything else ;)
 
You mean astrology
 
@Gaurav I think tpg is aware of the distinction ;)
 
You know, I wondered why Lubos stopped allowing comments on his blog posts, but reading this has enlightened me as to a possible reason why it was done
 
Yeah. Like I said, entertaining stuff in there
 
Did a google search, and just found out that Lubos is actually a celebrity ! Sad to see that he and that other Nobel laureate left because of some misguided opinions..
 
4:38 PM
I've never actually been to Lubos' blog
 
@tpg2114 The physics is quite entertaining, but his strewn in social-conservative/free-market-radical politics make it a mixed bag.
 
@Gaurav Left where? He answered a question here 3 days ago
 
@Gaurav Lubos hasn't left
 
@ACuriousMind @tpg2114 Wasn't he one of the key members in the development panel of PO ?
 
The blog is fun times. It's actually on my RSS feed.
@Gaurav Nope, just Ron, Dilaton, & dimension10
 
4:41 PM
@ACuriousMind I'm not into theoretical physics so I guess there is not much there for me
@Gaurav There's nothing precluding people from participating in both places
 
@Gaurav He just let them rant on his blog, I don't think he ever took any offical stance for any side in that mess.
 
Valter Moretti is an example of someone participating in both places
 
@KyleKanos He's one of the people who allowed those guys to spew anti-se hatred on his blog
Allowing is as good as abetting.
 
@Gaurav He may have given Ron a soapbox, but doing that and developing PO are two different things
 
@KyleKanos Okay, maybe I'm misinformed. They openly acknowledged that Lubos was pivotal in the setting up of the site in their 'history' page.
 
4:50 PM
@Gaurav Where are you seeing that?
Also: Ron called out Dilaton for his anonymity which led to the "abuse" of editing inflammatory remarks out of comments
 
@KyleKanos I was just about to post that one
Irony is indeed delicious, sometimes
 
@Kylekanos It's not exactly written that he actually helped in setting it up in the history page, but as I said I assumed that he was actually abetting the cause of PO by allowing these guys a free run on his blog.
 
If this is indeed the end of PO, it seems I was wrong:
Apr 3 '14 at 1:21, by Kyle Kanos
@Physikslover Good for them. $5 says it fails within 3 months
(actually, I'd be wrong either way because it has been more than 3 months and they're still here)
 
Seems Ron's not gonna fit in anywhere. Not even among his fellow outcasts.
You think Vladimir Katvianski will accept an apology ? Or have they already sent one?
 
 
2 hours later…
6:54 PM
@KyleKanos wow, this is way better than a soap opera!
@Sofia did you know that on SE sites it is okay to answer your own question (e.g. [this post on meta.se](http://meta.stackexchange.com/q/17845/276202) and [this blog entry](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/07/its-ok-to-ask-and-answer-your-own-questions/))?
Please don't see this as a critique, I say this because I think it's kind of a waste to leave [good material](http://physics.stackexchange.com/a/161618/58382) on to be closed and possibly migrated questions who will hardly be found by others (if you don't provide the link yourself)
the nicely formatted link didn't work, whatever
 
That is weird
 
7:09 PM
yea, I thought that too
@KyleKanos it seems it didn't like the lack of http:// before the link
 
Ah, that might be the case
 
google with http, [google w/o http](www.google.com)
 
[google w/o http](www.google.com)
 
given that I took the links from the "share" of the questions they didn't have the http (and I took more than the editable-comment-time to figure it out)
it's weird though, on the site it works fine either way
 
Hmm, the share link shows an http for me
 
7:14 PM
^for me, too
 
@KyleKanos mh, it seems you're right. I have no idea what happened then, I took the links copying from there
now it works indeed
 
http ftw!
 
I wonder how the http went missing though
 
'Twas eaten by a grue, probably
 
That predicament seems particularly true
 
7:17 PM
@ACuriousMind that must be the case, I don't see other possibilities here!
 
@KyleKanos hahahahaha wtf!
 
Greatest musician to grace my eardrums
 
I am left speechless
 
^ Damn straight
Check out his other songs too
I'll form the head is pretty epic too
 
7:24 PM
@KyleKanos Please say you're being sarcastic.
 
No, I'm being serious. MC Frontalot is amazing
 
This is one of my favourites (though not this particular recording):
 
@JamalS I'll give that a whirl next time I'm in the mood for classical (which does actually happen)
 
Although I mostly listen to classical music, I am open to other genres
 
@glance : I am in the middle of something else. I will return to you later. Thank you.
 
7:30 PM
One of my guilty pleasures is the Rolling Stones' Jumpin' Jack Flash.
It's gas, gas, gas! :)
 
0
Q: Building doors opening by themselfs

Arthur HillWhy do the doors at my local Starbucks occasionally swing open by themselves?

 
An officemate of mine suggested (after I posted my comment) that I should have said "the Force" as the answer
 
@KyleKanos I'm stealing that one.
 
go ahead!
 
:)
 
7:47 PM
@KyleKanos mh yea maybe it would have been even better. The OP could have even take it seriously
"could have even take it seriously"... ok this sounds very bad, how should you say that in proper english?
 
I'd add an "n" to "take": could have taken it seriously
 
oh, that's what I originally wrote actually. "even taken it" sounded strange
 
8:20 PM
4
Q: What is reduced momentum in "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" by James Clerk Maxwell?

Bob BobbyI was reading Maxwell's paper titled A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field. In part 2, section 3 ("Dynamical Illustration of Reduced Momentum"), Maxwell discusses a mechanical illustration for reduced momentum: What is Maxwell trying to convey in this section?

sigh... I would transcribe that but I don't feel like it right now
 
@DavidZ I'll try and make it to your Google hangout tomorrow.
@DavidZ Oh, and I'll transcribe... sigh
 
@JamalS don't feel obligated to do either :-)
 
8:35 PM
@DavidZ Transcribed.
Phew...
 
@JamalS Looks like crap...rolling back
 
What horrible notation and such long sentences!
 
Haha, jk
 
I nearly had a heart attack, thanks Kyle!
:)
 
 
1 hour later…
10:28 PM
@vzn nice... have u posted anything on quantum bio before?
 
vzn
10:40 PM
hi TA read about QM bio conjectures long ago re penrose/ neuron microtubules & have been interested since then. have been interested in soliton theory for a long time, blogged about it over 2yr ago. no, have not written on qm bio previously. (& admit its just an offhand aside in that current post.)
 
@vzn thnx for linking my post... BTW, how many people visit ur blog? do u know?
@alarge I mean $$\sum^2_i \epsilon_i \sigma^+_i\sigma^-_i + \sum^2_{i\neq j} V_{ij} \sigma^+_i \sigma^-_j $$
12
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Proposed Q&A site for students, professors, and researchers to ask questions about nano-science and nanotechnology

Currently in definition.

@alarge u there? is that the way to write a Hamiltonian for two site?
 
10:56 PM
@TAbraham Can you write it without the sum notation? Also do you understand what the different Pauli matrices do?
 
@alarge those aren't pauli matrices, they are creation and annhilation operators...
@alarge I'll try.. let's see...$$\ \epsilon_1 \sigma^+_1\sigma^-_1 + \epsilon_2 \sigma^+_2\sigma^-_2 + \sum^2_{i\neq j} V_{ij} \sigma^+_i \sigma^-_j $$ the second term I am not sure how to expand..
@alarge u there?
 
vzn
11:30 PM
TA "linking my post" which one?
the blog currently gets roughly a few dozen visitors per day. (note the main topic is TCS.)
 

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