There are literally dozens of us!

It fits quite well. In particular, many of our formalisms are used (if altered) all over machine learning. Having training as a physicist gives you a wide range of analytical skills. I’ve seen former physicists doing everything from clinical pediatric cancer or bioinformatics to do chip design, financial work, and ML.

I cringed a little at "many of our formalisms". The maths of thermodynamics is so useful yet it took and takes substantial effort to pry the useful maths away from the thermodynamics gobbledigook that surrounds it.

But it's certainly true that Deep Learning with its combination of mathy underpinnings and poorly understood behaviour is something that fits very well with a physicist's skillset.

While I share your concern that this may be a hoax, I think that unfortunately internet searches won't be too fruitful for pre-2000 urban legend material. I would remain highly skeptical, but I'd ask a civil war historian first before ruling this out entirely.

Manifest Destiny was the spirit of the times during western expansion. The West was considered "free and empty" (Let's ignore the natives), and it was America's destiny to control the continent from coast to coast. So not as much about expanding, and more about growing in to what room "was available", I think.

That is likely just changing one kind of radical nationalism for another. Had European union decided that we are the thing in the Manifest Destiny meaning, nearby places would cease to count as really occupied too.

You should look in to "The No Agenda Show". You'll like it- news and media deconstruction that is entirely listener supported. 0 ads for EXACTLY the reason your stating.

"Listener supported" has similar issues, though. You're just avoiding content your listeners will object to rather than your advertisers.

If NPR suddenly started doing ranty right-wing commentary they'd be in the same financial difficulties as they'd be from losing a bunch of major advertisers/sponsors.

(Edited to add a side note: For a show called "No Agenda", "Curry theorizes that the Haiti earthquake was done on purpose by an earthquake machine so that Bill Clinton can build hotels on the northern shores of Haiti" sounds a bit agenda-y... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Agenda)

I did a bit of digging after the show, he said that it would be "an explosive issue" or something- but the way he emphasized "explosive" made me think it was a hint- and so it was.

Turns out portobello mushrooms contain a decently large amount of agaritine, which can be made in to hydrazine, which can in turn be used for explosives or rocket fuel. Agaritine is also fairly cancerous/mutagenic to humans.

That's my best bet as to why he wouldn't talk about it, though the threat to his life I would think is more for comic effect.

Agreed, that has to be it. Apparently there is some sort of law suit or something going on about the cancer causing properties.

Yes! I did the very same thing and came to that same conclusion.

Yes! In fact most plastic is relative susceptible to UV radiation, which facilitates that "crumbliness" in the ocean.

I'm in that age bracket and go to concerts with people in the age bracket. Never seen this behavior in my life. Not even at a shoegaze show!

I'm surprised that you've never seen this behavior. Just go to the nearest nightclub on the weekends and find a group that's doing a bachelorette party or birthday party or something. I see it ALL the time.

Then, promptly find that one nightclub in your city that forbids photos and video... you hopefully have one, and its probably a better time. :)

I've lived in many major cities around the world (and have done enough partying to confidently say) I haven't seen one nightclub that forbids taking photos. That would be stupid.

I've seen a couple of bars where they ban it, but not in nightclubs, especially high end ones. It's too hectic to "ban" something there, and the more exclusive the place is, the more likely the visitors want to instagram their visits, the better marketing it is for the club, therefore they allow it.

Got to Berlin. Just about every club bans all forms of photography and many put a sticker on your phone's cameras when entering.

a techno club in berlin is a very different experience than a top 40 club in a major north american city and i think a fair part of this conversation is people talking over each other because the word "club" isn't specific enough.

I've literally been to every single top night club in NY, including the exclusive pretentious ones like 1OAK, Avenue, and the likes, and more music focused ones like Electric Room and Output. I know what I'm talking about.

People go to night club to party. And most people take photos when they're partying. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Sure it's annoying (I know it's annoying because I actually experience it first hand) but saying that should be banned just means you're out of touch. Even some of the most hipster nightclubs in Williamsburg would never throw you out just because you took a photo.

People will hate you if you take a selfie in the middle of a dancefloor, and some may even complain about it to the bouncers (most don't), and the bouncer may ask you not to do so, but NOBODY throws you out because you took a photo. In the nightclub nobody cares that you're taking a photo in the corner.

Lastly, it's kind of ridiculous how this thread turned out. This was not at all the point of my comment.

Is that a European thing? Never heard of it in the US.

How? Do you see it as it falls? or do you feel it when you catch and then choose to do the "Flip on to your arm" thing or not?

Not the OP but I can do it too. It's all timing for me. When you flip the coin it spins at a determined rate. If you practice, you can time catching it. It's surprisingly not so difficult.

For me the trick is to know which side it was on when I threw it, and doing the exact same throw each time. You have to practice the same move again and again. Throw and catch throw and catch, like practicing music scales.

If you're doing the same throw and the same catch each time, it just becomes muscle memory (again, like playing an instrument) and you can get a good success rate.

If you: -start with the same face pointing up - apply a fairly consistent force with your thumb, and - wait a fairly consistent time before catching

Minimise speed of coin spinning and get good at consistent timing of catching.

In my experience, a desk is a reflection of your mind: cluttered desk, cluttered mind. Empty desk, empty mind. I need to strike a balance with ordered things on the periphery of my desk, and a large empty zone to bring work in to.

Desk hygiene cannot be overvalued- if that is the way your mind works best. I find I am often a product of my environment- wthats why working from home is so difficult; home is "relaxation and projects" space, not work space. Same deal with clothes. I try to dress in a buttondown and slacks to go to work, whereas a lot of my coworkers just do a T-shirt and jeans. Like the stanford prison experiments, it is all about the environment.

This is a very personal thing. In my case, it's the complete opposite. I find that when I'm productive, I focus less on my environment and more on the work itself. From a purely aesthetic viewpoint, I obviously prefer a clean desk over a dirty one, but in my experience, my desk is messiest when I'm doing my best work.

Seems highly personal. I have mostly the opposite of what you write. Each his/her own.

It can be a punishment for certain crimes- or as an extended punishment after jail. Things like stalking where a computer was a primary method, valid threats made on a computer, etc.