I hear Zimbabwe is lovely this time of year

Loool

im going there for grad school then

@GBeau that it is

:)

@ACuriousMind please join chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/34509/… I'm doing something wrong

@0celo7 Looks like you two are getting along fine. What am I doing there?

@FenderLesPaul It appears for at least one school I applied to, not hearing by the end of January is a very bad sign. For the rest, it's a little hard to say

@ACuriousMind I must be bad at this

He's not getting it

did u guys see star wars's last movie? and enjoyed it

@no_choice99 yes

@no_choice99 Yes and yes

i saw it yesterday i can't wait for the next

@no_choice99 I don't remember the last time I saw a movie. :|

u should really go see it if u liked the original trilogy

@0celo7 Live and learn. The only way you get good at explaining stuff to people is by explaining stuff to people.

the 1977's -1980 original movies

@no_choice99 It's surprising how recycling the plot of the older movies actually managed to be a more enjoyable movie than the prequels

i agree

@ACuriousMind I liked the prequels.

despite what george lucas believes

i liked hte phantom menace

I think A New Hope is pretty fing boring.

@no_choice99 Had too little pod racing for my taste ;P

hahah

Idk I've never seen a single star wars movie.

ever.

then no need to watch it

@0537 lol

i've never seen a star treck movie. i dont even know whether it's a movie or a series

@no_choice99 Both

ah

Or, well, multiple series and ~13 movies?

i see...

glad i didn't get addict to that

or fan

All the series have a different character, and the movies are also rather different from each other

@DanielSank I did a two level system.

Still, overall, I'm more of a Trekkie than a Star Wars fan

How does one become a fan of star wars?

I don't remember ever seeing it on t.v. as a child.

by watching SW

Though how was I supposed to know about it?

Before the internet.

I mean before I was allowed to use the internet.

friends, family

None of them were fans as far as I know.

@0537 It was regularly on TV (like, once a year, or once every two years) here

...then you grew up in communist Russia

sorry

I only remember watching digimon.

No idea if it still runs, haven't watched actual TV for years

i went to cinema back in 97 to watch star wars, that's how u become a fan i guess

Digimon is like star wars for me.

@no_choice99 I wasn't born then.

get to see that as a child or adolescent and u're done

@no_choice99 Phantom Menace is from '99, what did you watch '97?

^

^

a rerun?

a remastering of the original 1979 movie

Ah

you mean 77

then a month later or so the empire strickes back was on cinema too

yes

then a month later the return of the jedi was there

or something like that, i can't remmeber well the exact release times

@dmckee why don't you participate on PPCG anymore?

I have no idea if the remastered version ran in cinema here

i got to watch that when i wsa 10

and why does your chat profile say "Moderator Pro Tempore for codegolf.se" when you aren't anymore @dmckee

ooooooo

lol

tfw you have 0 volunteer hours and are a senior.

how many do you need?

50 I think.

@0537 And I saw it in the theater, too. During the first run.

@dmckee That's scary!

@TanMath Time, mostly.

@TanMath Does it? Which profile? Where?

@dmckee your chat one...

Oh. The chat profile. I never noticed. Wonder if I can change it.

Everyone forgets the chat profile

You can...

@ACuriousMind When will you finish learning?

You go to user profile:

@0537 When I'm dead

chat.stackexchange.com/users/2015/dmckee

then next to about, it says edit...

@0537 lol

@ACuriousMind or when you go senile!

you are a physics teacher?

really?

@TanMath Yeah. I teach physics at a small university in the midwest.

@dmckee so professor!

That's what is says on my pay stub, but the job is teaching.

@dmckee Zero research component?

@TanMath if you want to find him I can tell you where he is...that's not creepy at all

One of the nice things about physics as a culture is that few people in the filed are hung up on titles.

Or do you just mean you're more of a teacher than a researcher?

@ACuriousMind I am encouraged to do all the research I can with no money, no release time, no space, no equipment and no assistance.

@dmckee Nice. Grad student level, then.

were you trained as an experimentalist?

@MikeMiller Yeah. Nuclear and particle physics.

I've got a couple of toy projects underway to give the students excuses to go to conferences, but nothing serious on the horizon.

@dmckee come to UT we have toys

sadly no reactor...but a 108,000 people stadium!

that's...important

I guess

@0celo7 I've seen that stadium. I collaborated with some folks there on Double Chooz.

Sure, I have toys in my apartment too. A 3ds, a laptop, some books. I'm sure these are all of experimental value.

UT = u toronto??

UT= Unreal Tournament

Tennessee in this case.

ah

Though I always read "UT" as meaning that school in Austin. Comes of growing up in Texas.

UTK then

@no_choice99 :D

Ahhhhhhh

Damn it

@dmckee: Ignore the mod flag I just raised, there is another comment on the question...

cool, finally understand this paragraph after a day of staring at it

That's what passes as research among theorists, isn't it?

@0celo7 Will you take QFT at your university ever?

great when authors are just wrong about what it is they're computing, but right about the computation

@0537 no

@ACuriousMind The armor penetration one? I found the comment, but using a answer to respond to a comment is not kosher, so I nuked the answer anyway.

@dmckee Yeah, I'd have flagged it has not an answer otherwise, I was just too blind to find where they'd gotten the username to reply to from

And someone responding to an answer they cannot see would have been a case for a mod flag, right?

@MikeMiller hey that's me and my pilgrim-era lit stuff

pilgrims are notoriously unclear in their computations.

i must study qft

alone for now at least

is qft sometimes taught in undergrad?

or it's just a hardcore grad topic?

The formally grad course here is usually half undergrads and half grads

ah you mean undergrads take the qft course too ?

Aye

It's hard (many don't finish it), but doable

ok thanks

like ultra hard on the math side

No idea how it is in US schools though

In my QFT course it was all grad students with a few undergrads.

@no_choice99 I wouldn't say the math is hard, but it's often tedious.

ah...

and from what i've heard from FenderLesPaul there's no "good introductory book" on it

it's more like self study from papers

that sounds a nightmare lol

The pedagogy could certainly be better

WEINBERG

@ACuriousMind Oh yes. Not entirely sure what we could have done about it, but we'd have wanted to poke around a little.

it's so cooold

I can't feel my face

@no_choice99 The undergrads were able to sign up fo QFT at my graduate alma mater, too. But few did, but is was a tough course and the word had gotten around.

@FenderLesPaul I know that feeling, walking to school everyday in -15.

i see

@0537 yeah dude it sucks

walking to and from home shouldn't be an ordeal

I like the cold. All that's missing now is a little bit of snow

I feel like I'm tying to take the ring to Mordor everyday

@ACuriousMind WHY

dude i miss the cold so bad

i need to move to siberia or something

where do you live?

I'm back

@no_choice99

@0celo7 Because I want that sound of snow crunching under my soles

people who like the cold are broken

u know me dude I'm fluid the stick

@ACuriousMind not the snow

u got me on fb @FenderLesPaul

@no_choice99 yeah but idk if you moved or something

im just hidden underneath a different name

because you said you miss the cold

yeah i didn't move

ah

i want to move this year

did you finish your degree?

@no_choice99 Yeah, just give us your address man! Unrelated question, how good is your kidney health?

almost, i took all courses but i must finish my thesis (only like 70 pages is ok apparently)

@BernardMeurer o.O

i should have finished already but i had some bad luck with my last course. the prof didn't want me to pass

@BernardMeurer lol

@BernardMeurer Do you want his organs?

@ACuriousMind why do you like the cold

kidney health? lol

@0537 me? Never! Just interested on his well being of course

only 7 days before school starts

can't wait

at u cornell?

or do u go to chicago yet

cornell

And I have to sit around till April until the bloody college apps yield something

It's like watching paint dry

ok fender

I won't know about chicago for a couple of weeks

now that i think about it, my EM prof went to u chicago to study GR and got a phd back in the 80's

i think

so lucky

that's my dream

@0celo7 Somehow, the world seems more peaceful to me when it's cold

but dreams die

We had 50ºC here last summer. All I want is to go somewhere cold to trade off

why do u want to go there only Fender? i mean instead of changing of research topic

@FenderLesPaul You're good at those pathos-infused statements lately :P

@ACuriousMind I'm in a weird stage of my life

When it's 50ºC its a bad thing that it winds because the wind makes it warmer

do you still read books @FenderLesPaul?

@ACuriousMind Why don't you read books again?

@ACuriousMind probably less criminals out at -10

@no_choice99 there are other topics I'm interested in but GR is still my favorite

i guess it's pretty hard to read books when u're busy with college

@no_choice99 not nearly as much anymore

nowadays I mostly do research

and eat cereal

I wish it was 6 weeks from now

i mean fender why either u chicago for GR or completely change topic?

GR in another U isn't ok?

that's basically what I tried to ask

@BernardMeurer Uh...it's not a principle or something, I just didn't find it necessary; for most topics, my lectures and other notes from the internet were enough for me.

@MikeMiller Uhhh...what?

@no_choice99 oh yeah

@ACuriousMind it's music

no other unis have GR research

Are we now posting music we like?

in the US that is

well Cornell does but I can't stay here

@ACuriousMind I get what you mean

oh really man, hard to believe but i trust u

@0celo7 yes it's the new trend

@0celo7: No, just one music that you like.

@0celo7 that much I was already able to discern :P

can't stay there @FenderLesPaul u mean u can't stand it or... really can't stay for another reason?

@TanMath Put the code on github and link it.

@MikeMiller I can't pick a favorite

Impressionism >>> rest

@no_choice99 yeah I don't wanna be in Ithaca for another 6 years

@BernardMeurer Hi. We should code stuff.

i see @FenderLesPaul

i need to see a new uni too in my case

i cant take it anymore here

@DanielSank We should. Would you rather we use a more direct form of communication?

@FenderLesPaul dude go to Mich and stay there for a while. I'd totally go to grad school there.

@BernardMeurer My personal email address is easily located via my github account.

@ACuriousMind: What should I clarify?

@DanielSank did you self learn coding?

@DanielSank I was about to email you. Prepare thy inboxes

@0celo7 Mich would be dope

loll

@DanielSank I only got half of the work done that I wanted to thanks to that chat

@no_choice99 Well, sort of.

In grad school I worked with one or two folks who know what they're doing.

@FenderLesPaul great for Fusion or applied math IIRC

@0celo7 Me too.

@BernardMeurer Prepared.

@DanielSank u mean in programming tasks?

@no_choice99 Yes. By the way, you can respond to specific messages to make the flow of the conversation more clear

Unless you're on mobile (which I am)

@DanielSank ah I see

@0celo7 You can view the desktop version on mobile.

Kinda small and unwieldy on an iPhone

The cold is bad. It kills people.

People get cold when they die. Coincidence?? I think not!

lol

@no_choice99 You can self-learn anything, but it's much easier if you have people to answer questions.

@DanielSank i guess so yes

i've got a github repo with some of my code which is more than horrible

self taught some basic stuff only

should have taken a course in progrmaming

@DanielSank that's what this site is for :)

@no_choice99 The only programming course I ever took was basic C in high school!

@kevinTahN. Indeed.

@FenderLesPaul What are you using to find out who has been sending out emails

@GBeau you haha

This site is here to waste time and pretend it was legitimate.

@0celo7 what do you mean? lol

@no_choice99 the hardest thing about programming is build systems and distribution.

Code itself isn't that hard.

I would say that in general, writing code to accomplish something is fairly easy

the difficulty is in doing it intelligently (that is, consistently in style, in ways such that it can be extended when needed, accessible by others, etc)

well that's amazing

nowadays not knowing how to solve problems with progrmaming is like not knowing how to read IMO

@no_choice99 True.

so sad that my school didn't forsee the future and didn't teach us anything about progrmaming

Just ad to say this actually programming is different from python package masturbation, remember that. . . .

hahaha

well what's wrong using python packages or libs?

saves time ? :)

@GBeau are you using gradcafe?

@no_choice99 It deludes you into thinking you know what you are doing, and constrains what you can do

@FenderLesPaul no, I looked there and I couldn't find any reasonable way to pick out physics grad that didn't involve more time than it's worth

@FenderLesPaul physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6128

@FenderLesPaul Look at physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5061 and "Past Profile Threads" to look at previous years to attempt to find trends for schools in past years

For all the big schools there's enough stats for domestic students to get a general idea when things get sent out

gotcha

thanks!

for example, I can see that last year SUNY: Stony Brook sent out many domestic student acceptances on Jan. 18th, which was a Sunday, yet was still sending out acceptances for domestic students through February

damn that's early

Especially since their application is due Jan. 15th

yeah wtf lol

@DanielSank Sent an email with a bunch of questions

@FenderLesPaul for a lot of schools there's not really enough stats, though

sigh this is so nerve-wracking

this is the worst time to be writing up 2 papers

@FenderLesPaul I can wrack your nerves more if you'd like.

like, it's hard to say when Columbia sends out acceptances, since it's mostly just a ton of rejections in February that you can find, and an acceptance or two spread out

Shhhh no college applications

so whether or not they send out acceptances in January is fairly inconclusive

yeah pgre forums doesn't have a lot of stats for some schools

it makes my brain cringe with anxiety

@BernardMeurer graduate school, don't worry

like MIT

it's more worrying when they do have good stats, but only for rejections

for a lot of schools it's really obvious they send out almost all of their rejections on the same day

::lays in fetal position on the floor::

if u apply in 10^23 schools there's still a small remote chance you might get in somewhere

i suppose

first thing I do every morning now is check my email

that reminds me of a Criminology class I took for a gen ed

:p

@FenderLesPaul I check it at least 3 times a day plus checking the application site on their websites

If you apply to 10^23 schools I suggest you see a psychiatrist because you are hallucinating.

@BernardMeurer aren't college acceptances in march?

the professor had in a slide that the number of children gunned down in America had doubled every year since 1950, and I was the only one looking around the class wondering where the 2^65 american children went

Yes, but I can't help it

apply to all the shools in the us

it costs money too

oh sigh :(

~$100/each @no_choice99

money rules everything. . . remember that!

100 bucks man that's expensive

I don't think @BillGates could apply to all schools in the US

(Hoping he got pinged)

@FenderLesPaul how many did you apply to

@GBeau 14

@FenderLesPaul I applied to 11

you're safe IMO

10

can you apply say around may june or july?

@no_choice99 some don't open until fairly late (a month or two before)

before what?

their due date

the thing is , im in a weird situation. i should be done with my degree in march or april at worse. then i want to move (change country) and try to enter into a phd programme.

if i can't get a scholarship then i guess i'll look for a job

I'm a weird situation because I'm originally from europe/canada and went to south america for my degree on my own. there's no scholarship for dudes like me here

(and I can't stand living here anymore too)

not sure I'll have an easy time finding a scholarship in neither europe or canada

If you can get the visa most serious US programs include a stipend. It's enough to live on if you don't mind being poor.

i see. "poor" err well maybe. i guess it depends how much poor

i'll consider it

once im done wit my degree i may move back to france for a short time and look for phd programme there first

@no_choice99 I think that French Ph.D. students are functionally less poor than their US counterparts. But I don't mean desperately poor: I was able to afford an apartment of my own by choosing a rather small, old and dingy one in a not so great neighborhood. Some friends preferred to share a nicer place with a roommate.

On the other hand, there were weeks when I had to chose between gas for the car or having beer for the weekend (mind you, I'm choosy about my beer). Choosing beer meant riding my bike to campus, which sucked during the hottest and coldest months of the year.

i see

wow looks like i've silenced the chat

time to talk guys

breathes life into chat

eh

@ChrisWhite not found

@ChrisWhite I was never very good at pretending

@ChrisWhite If I got the timeline right she got downvoted on that one, changed and deleted it, then re-posted the original text. Didn't do her any good, thought: the second copy got downvoted too.

Question for the assembled masses: should such behavior draw some kind of sanction?

@ChrisWhite Well, yeah. It's pretty weird, but it was revision 2 that was re-posted. So I assume the point was to conceal the fact that there was re-posting going on.

@ChrisWhite Unless the rep is 60 days old. Mission accomplished, you know.

And I'm fine with someone deleting a downvoted post in order to recover the rep. It's the subsequent re-posting of the same material that interests me here.

Yeah. It feels like manipulating the rep system to me.

you mean deleting an answer because it got downvoted?

@dmckee do I have mass (by that, I mean, a statable opinion)

i think it's fine, it means you're removing "crap" and the website remains of higher quality

some people don't even bother doing that

(you know who I have in mind.. Duff...)

@no_choice99 Not just that. The sequence delete a downvoted answer then repost the same text in a 'clean' post.

ah nah. that's bad

yes that's cheating the system

@GBeau Don't know are you moving slower than $c$?

More seriously, I'm just taking an informal poll here, so feel free to weigh in.

Yes, it's inappropriate behavior worthy of drawing negative moderator attention.

the dude is taking rep way too seriously

he cares more about his own rep than the quality of hte website

that's my thoughts

Thanks folks.

@dmckee ?

@0celo7 Yeah?

Overheard from the wife: "Translate, I can't read Icelandic ... ... This is translated?!?"

Then a minute later: "Alright, I'll fire up explorer. The things I'll do for a knitting pattern."

@dmckee what poll?

about what

@DanielSank have you figured out why we had a 1.5 hour conversation about charts?

Hey Witchdoctor give us the magic words!

@Slereah Have you finally completely lost it