The h Bar

ACuriousMind

12:02 AM

@KyleKanos You alone could cost me 420 rep, losing 213 in the process. It is worth that? ;)

Also, I'm considering finding some answers to downvote so I can have 9999 rep at one point :P

Phonon

LOL

Physics Meta

1:38 AM

0

Q: Wide Chrome (>2406 px) breaks horizontal alignment

Not sure if this is related to this, but there's yet another formatting problem in Chrome. I'm seldom one to argue for doing it so it works vs. doing it right, but there needs to be some pragmatism: the number of Windows Chrome users strike me as a not-so-insignificant chunk.

Kyle Kanos

2:13 AM

@ACuriousMind Been there, done that

dmckee

4:01 AM

@KyleKanos Of course he is allowed to make use of our content as long as it is provided with proper citation. It may not bode well for the long term success of PO, but that is his lookout.

David Z

@Danu just to add to what everyone else is saying, it's standard policy network-wide that moderators do not discuss individual cases of suspension, and it is this moderation team's standard policy that we don't do so even with the suspended user's permission. (The only exception would come on the advice of the SE community team.) So there will be no official statement from us except the reason displayed on Dilaton's profile.

I'm sure the reasons for this policy are explained in detail on Meta Stack Exchange.

That being said, if you have concerns, you can certainly ask about them. We might just have to dodge some answers by saying we can't talk about things.

dmckee

4:20 AM

On a more sciency note: latimes.com/science/sciencenow/…

Physics Meta

5:55 AM

0

Q: Is on-topic ask about homemade construction of tools?

As a mad scientist, skilled with his hands. I build my own tools, in many cases. I think would be very useful if can ask about contruction of tools related to the Physical (in general). (contruction mean: procedures, materials, and other stuff) I know the FAQ say that: "How to stabilize an unst...

discussion

Danu

8:34 AM

@DavidZ Thanks for clarifying :) I'll think about it for a bit.

New_new_newbie

8:48 AM

@DavidZ Just curious, is there any specific reason why this moderation team has a more stringent policy ("we don't do so even with the suspended user's permission") than the standard SE policy ("it's standard policy network-wide that moderators do not discuss individual cases of suspension")?

Like some historical reasons for doing so?

Ice Boy

they're not gonna talk about it

accept that

New_new_newbie

@IceBoy - I am not asking about Dilaton. Just a policy question.

Ice Boy

i know :-)

mods are mods

New_new_newbie

Don't say that. Last time I had trouble with them and "ranted", they did clarify the reasons and the fact that there was a misunderstanding with the timeline reconstruction, which led them to issue me a warning.

Ice Boy

tell me about it, i've been suspended/banned several times

just accept their decision, and move on...

New_new_newbie

8:54 AM

So, there must be some sane reason for adopting this policy.

@IceBoy Wait, wow!

On Physics?

Ice Boy

i'm new here, but math, english, etc...

hi!

Hi Omen!

hello Professor :-)

how be all?

8:56 AM

@IceBoy For what? Vandalism, abuse, promotion ...

Ice Boy

fine thanks, how are you?

Omen

i be good

New_new_newbie

All are good, and @IceBoy prefers to travel by rat!

Ice Boy

@New_new_newbie mostly for defending someone who was being bullied...

New_new_newbie

Does that count as a reason?

Ice Boy

8:59 AM

if a mod thinks so, then yes

New_new_newbie

Oh dear, let's talk about the weather then!

Ice Boy

indeed :D

New_new_newbie

@Omen - you blew up your entire Academia reputation if I'm right.

What happened?

Ice Boy

:O

Omen

@New_new_newbie gave it away as bounties (on worthy questions and answers) and decided to leave that place, long story..

Ice Boy

9:02 AM

Academia sounds so elitist anyway.

New_new_newbie

@IceBoy Some of the ques are really good, and cheer you up at times.

Ice Boy

Oh Boo Hoo, I only got 92% on my final, I wanted 95%

:'(

New_new_newbie

hahaha. No, I'll give you an example.

Omen

lol

New_new_newbie

Like this:

in Academia, Oct 28 at 10:07, by New_new_newbie

-2

Q: Best pants for math graduate school

I am a first year graduate student in mathematics who is looking to purchase another pair or two of paints. Ought one get jeans or chinos, pleated or flat, etc? What are the best pants for math grad students?

graduate-school mathematics

Omen

9:06 AM

bahahahahaha

New_new_newbie

The original post got deleted, sadly :(

Ice Boy

:D

thanks for sharing @New_new_newbie

New_new_newbie

OK Guys, signing out on that cheerful note. :)

My pleasure.

Ice Boy

see ya pal

Omen

catch ya later :)

@IceBoy I have joined Gardening to round out my set of 8

Ice Boy

9:12 AM

nice

Omen

and as always, already diving into it

David Z

9:49 AM

@New_new_newbie you know, now that you bring it up I don't remember what the reason is. But I do know that I've seen moderators on other sites, in the past, get into detailed discussions of suspensions after the suspended user gave permission (implicitly or explicitly) for it to be discussed, and I don't remember it ever ending well.

Basically, experience suggests that most people who think a suspension is unfair will do so no matter what you tell them. The underlying issue is that those people don't trust the moderators. Conversely, people who do trust the moderators don't need an explanation to believe that the suspension is just. There are very few people who will accept the suspension only after it's explained, and a lot more people who will just pile on and ask for more and more details simply because they're curious.

5

Given that it doesn't (apparently) do much good to share a lot of detail, I think the reason for us not discussing specific suspensions at all is to keep them from becoming topics of gossip, because they shouldn't be. Suspensions are meant to be served and forgotten, as long as the suspended user stops doing whatever it was that made them get suspended in the first place. We're leading by example.

New_new_newbie

@DavidZ - So, it is again that "No point in responding to angry madmen" logic.

David Z

Yeah, something like that

Ice Boy

1 hour ago, by Ice Boy

just accept their decision, and move on...

like I said^

David Z

Yep

And if the community really doesn't trust us, then auditing our actions on suspensions, when another user is involved, isn't the way to fix that issue. One can always file a complaint with the SE community team.

I mean, to be clear, any good moderation team will accept feedback from community members, even critical feedback. (And we like to think we're good in this sense.) So that's the first recourse if we do something you think is wrong: just tell us. Bring it up on meta. But if you lose trust in the moderators to such an extent that you don't think even that will work, you can contact the SE community team.

They are in charge of us and in extreme cases, they are capable of dismissing moderators if it comes to that.

Ice Boy

They're the upper management :-)

mods are like supervisors or middle management, right?

Ice Boy

10:21 AM

and then there is the case where they don't answer you :P

for 19 minutes...

David Z

12:00 PM

...because I was at dinner with someone :-P But yeah, basically like that

Danu

@DavidZ The worst job around, right? ;-)

@DavidZ ...was it a date? :D

David Z

12:31 PM

@Danu no :-(

Actually it was dinner with several someones, namely this week's seminar speaker and some colleagues

ACuriousMind

2:39 PM

Thinking about the questions we get sometimes, I get the feeling every textbook about the Bohr model needs a giant sticker in it that says: We don't think like that anymore!

Kyle Kanos

@ACuriousMind What are you talking about, the Bohr model is correct

:D

Kyle Kanos

3:14 PM

@dmckee I am pretty sure they have a statement saying something along the lines of This was imported from Physics StackExchange by <name> on <date> , so they're doing the CC-BY-SA thing right.

ACuriousMind

@New_new_newbie lol...did it have an answer?

Kyle Kanos

@ACuriousMind Obviously jeans are the best choice

ACuriousMind

Why?

I never wear jeans, I have an irrational aversion to them

Jim

that's irrational

Kyle Kanos

Totally irrotational

Ice Boy

3:27 PM

completely irrigational

Jim

nerds + words = absolutely absurds

great fun though

Ice Boy

thus we may define a nerd as one who is absolutely absurd minus the words

Jim

in a way

New_new_newbie

4:13 PM

@ACuriousMind Sadly, no. It was put on hold before anybody could post an answer :(

ManishEarth

@ACuriousMind A guy in my class recently was asking some question about "electrons being on opposite sides". This is in QM 2. Which is the third QM course we have (we have one more which is an elective). While learning about the hyperfine structure via perturbation theory.

New_new_newbie

@ACuriousMind - But it had a 3 upvoted comment by me, I said "Can we please preserve this post from being deleted?" Mods closed it soon thereafter :(

ManishEarth

@DavidZ physicists eat? Who knew?

New_new_newbie

@ManishEarth - How do we add pics like that, in chat?

ManishEarth

@New_new_newbie just post the image URL in a message on its own

ACuriousMind

4:16 PM

@ManishEarth Here, it's mostly sitting at a table with a full plate before you and talking about physics :P

ManishEarth

sometimes you need to add an exclamation mark before the URL in case it doesn't have the correct extension in the URL

ACuriousMind

And then hastily devouring the meal before you have to get back since you were too busy talking to eat

ManishEarth

@ACuriousMind I do that way too much

actually the other way around. Sitting at the table with an empty plate discussing physics

New_new_newbie

Experimenting:

imgflip.com/readImage?iid=412211

ACuriousMind

@New_new_newbie You can also just click the "upload" button beside the chat box

New_new_newbie

4:19 PM

Yeah! Worked second time :)

@ACuriousMind Where is that located?

ACuriousMind

@New_new_newbie To the right of where you type?

There's a "send" and an "upload" button

Ice Boy

perhaps he doesn't have enough rep

New_new_newbie

Oh! I'm Sherlock.

ACuriousMind

@IceBoy Ha...that's the number one SE answer, isn't it?

Ice Boy

yes

New_new_newbie

4:21 PM

@IceBoy No, no. Just that I never noticed it before :)

Ice Boy

:O

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

New_new_newbie

@ACuriousMind there is something funny about your waiter remarks, which I always miss. I remember you posted something like that immediately following my rant posts about 2 months back. "Waiter, there's a rant in my stars"

Who is the waiter in these type of comments?

ACuriousMind

@New_new_newbie Well, I'm not sure there is a waiter here, but I just want to evoke the indignant tone of someone complaining to a waiter like: "Waiter, there's a hair in my soup!"

If there are waiters here, I demand to know where my drink is.

New_new_newbie

Haha, yeah, that's probably true with the me and dmckee thing, but here?

@ACuriousMind I don't know what you drink, but you certainly eat clowns!

ACuriousMind

@New_new_newbie It's not as petty as a hair in a soup, but I find drama in my SE just as unappetizing ;)

@New_new_newbie The blood of virgins, obviously. And beer.

New_new_newbie

4:35 PM

Hahaha.

ACuriousMind

If I ever have children, I might have to change my diet

Eating the entertainer at your offspring's birthday party is considered bad manners, I guess

New_new_newbie

Hahaha no. 2 :)

Ice Boy

Hannibal the cannibal?

had a curious mind :D

ACuriousMind

@IceBoy Damn, I thought no one would recognize me under this pseudonym

New_new_newbie

@IceBoy Actually that's a very good point. I remember, some years back, I read in a newspaper about an incident of human cannibalism. Guess which country it was :)

Ice Boy

4:41 PM

The US?

New_new_newbie

Nope. GERMANY!!

Ice Boy

:O

-_-

ACuriousMind

@IceBoy Yes. Yes, let's say it was the US... ;)

New_new_newbie

Really, -_-

Ice Boy

nah

it's all good

ACuriousMind

4:43 PM

There were also some people here who made blood sausage with their own blood

They're in the cell block next to me. Fun people

New_new_newbie

Creepy!

As far as I remember, the report said this cannibal advertised in a newspaper, and somebody who had suicidal tendencies, went ahead with it, WENT TO THE CANNIBAL.

Ice Boy

that is a mistake you cannot learn from

ACuriousMind

@New_new_newbie You're thinking of the "cannibal of Rothenburg"

New_new_newbie

While giving the verdict of the criminal case, the judge ruled - "They were two psychos, who unfortunately met each other"

ACuriousMind

That story is one of the most fucked up true things I have ever heard of

Ice Boy

4:47 PM

buzzar!!!

New_new_newbie

@ACuriousMind Exactly. Around 2001 or so. I think it is the right story.

ACuriousMind

the cannibal was a well-mannered man though - he didn't want to eat anyone who didn't want to be eaten

New_new_newbie

That won't reduce his sentence, though :)

Ice Boy

psycho indeed

ACuriousMind

It's a very...instructive case of how warped the human mind can be.

Some sentences of the Wiki article...I can't even read them without shuddering

New_new_newbie

4:53 PM

e.g. he ate his ... what !!!

Ice Boy

There is a video in the references.

New_new_newbie

All this is getting too negative. Let me find a cheerful note to sign out on.

Ice Boy

please :(

ACuriousMind

I have one:

At my university a student got a negative grade due to wrongly answering too many multiple-choice questions. Then a "root factor" was applied to everybody's grade, i.e. newGrade = sqrt(grade) + grade. This student therefore had the dubious honour of being the first student in university history to receive a complex number as his final grade. — dotancohen yesterday

4

Continuing the demonstration that academia.SE is not all that lame ;)

New_new_newbie

Bahahahaha ...

Ice Boy

4:59 PM

he truly got an unimaginable grade

ACuriousMind

@IceBoy :: Groan :: :D

New_new_newbie

26 became 27 now (upvote count on the comment)

ACuriousMind

How...coincidental...

New_new_newbie

Just imagine if Academia people start following our chat :)

ACuriousMind

@New_new_newbie Like..."Oh, how nice, they link to funny questions at our site."..."WTF, now they're talking about cannibalism"..."Oh, they're linking to us again!"?

New_new_newbie

5:08 PM

Hahaha. No, you guys aren't there, but I hope the mods over there don't ban me, for bringing disrepute to their SE. Iceboy seems to suggest - anything goes :(

Ice Boy

sometimes my friend :-)

don't take it too seriously

New_new_newbie

Yeah. Anyways, we have established a good tradition. Sign out while smiling. See you soon :)

Ice Boy

later pal

ACuriousMind

5:40 PM

Sigh...if the questions stay this boring, I'm not getting 10k today :/

Ice Boy

6:27 PM

@Jim in this way?

Kyle Kanos

9:28 PM

Laughable: espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11833297/…

Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher kicks off some 2nd/3rd string player for "rules violations" but doesn't do jack @#$% for a guy who allegedly raped someone, stole crab legs, and then made an ass of himself on television

(because that guy won the Heisman award and is leading the team to victories)

F dot Floss

10:19 PM

Hi guys, I know vaguely that I can solve a resistor network using something with kirchhoff matrices, and mathematica has some stuff built in for that, but I don't know much more

does anyone know of any good tutorials or resources on it?

ACuriousMind

I don't even know what "solving a resistor network" means...so no :P

F dot Floss

@ACuriousMind, sorry maybe I should've been more specific. Finding the equivalent resistance, for example

Ice Boy

if "mathematica has some stuff built in for that" perhaps you should try the mathematica site/room

F dot Floss

@IceBoy, they have functionality for it, but I'm looking for something to explain the actual theory of it, which seems to be pretty solidly physics

Ice Boy

the khan academy has lots of stuff on that

F dot Floss

10:35 PM

@IceBoy, uh, thanks, I guess

Ice Boy

His videos on youtube are pretty good.

F dot Floss

I hear the internet sometimes also has useful things too

Ice Boy

Also, try wikipedia

Omen

10:57 PM

@IceBoy wikipedia....barf

Ice Boy

:(

Omen

lol

ACuriousMind

@Omen For physics and mathematics, I have found the English Wikipedia to be an excellent source of information. Just don't believe anything about "interpretation" or "intuition" you read there ;)

2

Omen

@ACuriousMind with Wikipedia, I always wonder if someone is plying a monumental practical joke

ACuriousMind

A joke? It is, in most cases, a living testament to the fact that people want to share what they know about things. What makes you think that it is a joke?

F dot Floss

11:03 PM

@Omen, WP is rife with errors, but at the same time, it's still often the first place I go (as well as many professors, IME) if I want to get the basic idea of something I know nothing about

Omen

Just to clarify, I did not say that Wikipedia is a joke, I said, I wonder if someone is playing a joke (with one or more of the pages)

I simply do not trus it nor see it as authorative

ACuriousMind

Ah, no, of course it is not authoritative. For something to be that, you must know who wrote it, after all ;)

And yes, some pages are of course probably not created in good faith.

Omen

peer reviewed work I trust more - I take anything on wikipedia with a bucket full of salt

F dot Floss

Sure, but it's a good clue, or roadsign of where else to look

I remember when WP was very new, and a few people I knew claimed it would never take off because "how can you trust it??"...heh.

Omen

my students are forbidden to solely use wikipedia

ACuriousMind

11:08 PM

But peer reviewed work is, in most cases, not openly accessible. Before Wikipedia (or the internet, rather) you had to pay to get knowledge. I believe that making knowledge truly free is worth the cost of having bad apples.

Omen

which is why SE is better IMHO

ACuriousMind

@Omen Agreed :) There's a reason why I contribute here, and not on Wikipedia. (The gamification does its part also, though)

Omen

even though the points and badges are fake, it could be referred to as a means for a type of peer review

ACuriousMind

It's a measure of how good you are at writing stuff others like. Fortunately, here on physics, that correlates pretty well with how good you are at explaining things and how much you know (and how much time you invest, obviously)

Omen

which can be referred to as loosely being a form peer review

ACuriousMind

11:16 PM

But you need only look at math.SE to see that system gone wrong, IMO. Trivial (not accessible questions, mind you) questions and answers are often highly upvoted, and the idea that rep should be in some sense equivalent to peer review does certainly not hold there

But yes, you essentially sum up why I like this corner of the internet :)

Omen

yes, the maths example is a large part of why I am picky about which sites I will join and stay at

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