Things you don't need to know…

I think when you're out for a stroll, and the ground opens up and plunges you into a rat-infested chasm, that qualifies as a bad day.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54747625

Originally Posted by Corwin
Fortunately, I live in a state which doesn't use silly time so there's no adjustments needed!! Imagine being a dairy farmer who has to train his cows to change their milking time twice a year!!!!

This is from a football (you know, the sport that uses the foot for playing the ball) match between Inverness and Ayr United. The camera was controlled by an AI, which got a bit confused because the bald head of the lineman looked exactly like the ball (disregarding the part of the body below said bald head). So, the lineman on several occasions got its attention in stead of the action on the field.

Read about it here: https://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2020…bald-head-ball

a pibbur who in this connection recommends turning off the music .

Originally Posted by a pibbur

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This is from a football (you know, the sport that uses the foot for playing the ball) match between Inverness and Ayr United. The camera was controlled by an AI, which got a bit confused because the bald head of the lineman looked exactly like the ball (disregarding the part of the body below said bald head). So, the lineman on several occasions got its attention in stead of the action on the field.

Read about it here: https://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2020…bald-head-ball

a pibbur who in this connection recommends turning off the music .

Umm, don't all players also throw the ball? Also don't GKs catch, punch etc. The ball. Now your the medical doctor, but they don't seem like feet to me.

Originally Posted by Hurls
Umm, don't all players also throw the ball? Also don't GKs catch, punch etc. The ball. Now your the medical doctor, but they don't seem like feet to me.

Correction: "football (you know, the sport that with a few exceptions uses the foot for playing the ball)"

a pibbur who now would hate the hurl, if 1) he (the pibbur) tended to hate anything (which he (the pibbur) doesn't) and 2) if he (the hurl) wasn't such a nice person.

Ig Nobel prize (the "prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research") 2020 has been awarded.

Among the winners are

• Acoustics prize "for inducing a female Chinese alligator to bellow in an airtight chamber filled with helium-enriched air." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXm7DIBXscY)
• Economics prize "for trying to quantify the relationship between different countries' national income inequality and the average amount of mouth-to-mouth kissing"
• Entomology prize: "for collecting evidence that many entomologists (scientists who study insects) are afraid of spiders, which are not insects."
• Materials science prize: "for showing that knives manufactured from frozen human feces do not work well."
• Medicine prize: "or diagnosing a long-unrecognized medical condition: Misophonia, the distress at hearing other people make chewing sounds."
• Peace prize to India and Pakistan "for having their diplomats surreptitiously ring each other's doorbells in the middle of the night, and then run away".

Read all about it here: https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/winners/#ig2020, where you will also find references to the published papers. All quotes are from the site.

The India-Pakistan affair definitely looks like an urban legend, but I've checked several sources, and it seems valid. I won't be surprised however if it in the end proves to be incorrect.

a pibbur who thinks he might have won a prize if he wrote a paper about how to resurrect people using SQL..

PS. These days I would also like to mention the public health prize of 2009, going to Elena N. Bodnar et al "for inventing a brassiere that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of protective face masks, one for the brassiere wearer and one to be given to some needy bystander."

DS.

The most popular programming languages today according to Tiobe.

https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/

Two things worth mentioning:
1. Python overtakes Java as the second most popular language.
2. Good ol' C is still number 1. That surprises me a bit, given it's age and somewhat restricted support for more modern features.

It's also worth mentioning that the C-family (C, C++, C#) together has 28% of the scores.

a pibbur who claims to know 11 of the languages on the list.

I prefer Monty Python

I love every BioWare and Bethesda game. That includes Fallout 4 and Mass Effect Andromeda. Shocking I know. Guess I lose some well deserved Rpg credibility.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I love every BioWare and Bethesda game. That includes Fallout 4 and Mass Effect Andromeda. Shocking I know. Guess I lose some well deserved Rpg credibility.

Then we are two.

a pibbur who salutes a potato

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
I prefer Monty Python

The programming language is named after Monty Python.

a pibbur

Really ? Oi, I didn't know that !

Eh, B, C is folk origin of C

This one's primarily for Pibs, but others may find it of interest. Most people are familiar with the trivial concerns visitors to Australia have, (snakes, spiders, sharks), but here's an article which outlines some of the real issues a visitor faces. https://www.news.com.au/travel/austr…25d0a86bd957c5

Bureaucrats ?

Edit : Now that 've read it, it was an really interesting article for me. Thank you.

Zoom. The ultimate tool for on line meetings?

Not yet. But in the future: "People in video meetings will, in future, be able to … smell coffee in their virtual space, the founder and CEO of Zoom has predicted."

Reference (which actually doesn't say much more than quoted): https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55173270.

a pibbur who applauds the initiative, but observes that the reference doesn't say anything about how to do it. Oculus Nose?

Originally Posted by a pibbur
Not yet. But in the future: "People in video meetings will, in future, be able to… smell coffee in their virtual space, the founder and CEO of Zoom has predicted."

There are so many jokes I could make here.

Originally Posted by JDR13
There are so many jokes I could make here.

Please do.

a pibbur who appreciates a good joke. And a couple of bad ones (no insult)

Originally Posted by a pibbur
Zoom. The ultimate tool for on line meetings?

Not yet. But in the future: "People in video meetings will, in future, be able to … smell coffee in their virtual space, the founder and CEO of Zoom has predicted."

Reference (which actually doesn't say much more than quoted): https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55173270.

a pibbur who applauds the initiative, but observes that the reference doesn't say anything about how to do it. Oculus Nose?

Or was that metaphoric?

Do you like Zoom? I've only used it once and wasn't too impressed, but it often takes a little while before being comfortable with those tools. Now, if they added coffee smell, perhaps it could sway me

Teams is good, especially if you had to work at several on the same documents. And the video/audio quality is very good. No smell but Microsoft's, though.

Well, I'd like to ask Mr Yuan what's going to happen when someone farts in my virtual space.