Concepts or ideas you just can't get your head around?
Discussion
hungry_hog said:
Uni Maths is mental to me.
My friend did Maths at Cambridge and it's so abstract. I have a Chemistry PhD, I think I could study the Maths tripos for 10 years and not understand the first year of the course.
I think it's one of things you get or don't.
Further Maths A level is apparently covered in 2 weeks at the start, in a more rigorous form. If you didn't get A* and Maths, Further Maths and Physics (and probably a 4th subject too!) with minimal effort you are dead in the water.
The people getting First classes in that course are off the scale clever (academically anyway, may not be street smart or good at pulling birds!)
Further maths was assumed for my Physics degree, so not covered at all.My friend did Maths at Cambridge and it's so abstract. I have a Chemistry PhD, I think I could study the Maths tripos for 10 years and not understand the first year of the course.
I think it's one of things you get or don't.
Further Maths A level is apparently covered in 2 weeks at the start, in a more rigorous form. If you didn't get A* and Maths, Further Maths and Physics (and probably a 4th subject too!) with minimal effort you are dead in the water.
The people getting First classes in that course are off the scale clever (academically anyway, may not be street smart or good at pulling birds!)
The entire first year was pretty much all maths, which was needed to allow us to start learning the physics in year 2.
andyxxx said:
I have seen numerous ideas and suggestions about water (and sand to make a ‘cutting’ paste) but I am sceptical that would enable the quantity of precision blocks in the necessary time frame.
I certainly don’t think early civilizations were thick/backwards – on the contrary.
After all the pyramids were built, so they obviously did learn to cut and move the stones.
All I am saying is, much of how it was done is a mystery.
Precisely, the evidence of their skills is in the fact they did it. There’s a common misconception that the blocks are precision, they’re actually far from it, loads of different sizes and pretty rough. Basically they just split and ripped out big natural chunks via the natural strata, minor fettering and lumbered them up on sleds and rollers … and lots and lots of people I certainly don’t think early civilizations were thick/backwards – on the contrary.
After all the pyramids were built, so they obviously did learn to cut and move the stones.
All I am saying is, much of how it was done is a mystery.
slopes said:
Hedge funds.
It doesn't matter how many times people smarter than me - not difficult - explain it, it makes sero sense to me
Assuming a long-short strategy (which is classic). They take long positions for some investments and short positions on other together to "hedge" the risk. Somehow creates a win-win. Employ very clever people to write Python.It doesn't matter how many times people smarter than me - not difficult - explain it, it makes sero sense to me
They take huge fees from clients (2% management, 20% performance)
If they do well they make loads, if they don't they make a bit. If it all goes wrong shut the company down and start a new one at the next street in Mayfair.
Celebrate with dinner at Sexy Fish and a 4 grand cashmere gilet from Loro Piana!
ajprice said:
Related to the blindness, colourblindness. If someone is colourblind to a certain colour what do they see? Is it just grey or does it blend in with a similar they can see, so blue and purple things are all just blue? (I saw the film IF a few days ago, the big furry purple thing is called Blue because the kid who was their friend was colourblind).
This one I can help with.Have severe protanopia colourblindness. Simply put, my eyes are pretty damned s
t at seeing the colour red.Not so bad I can't see red - but it's much less vivid for me. Where it really manifests itself, is things like purple or brown - a colour which is made by adding a little red. My eyes just don't see the red, so I see blue or green instead of purple or brown.
However, I can also now see full colour thanks to some clever glasses (now how they work is proper witchcraft, and somehow tricks the brain into seeing something it shouldn't be able to) - and the best way I can describe it is the world became immeasurably more vivid and vibrant. So much so, in the early days I could only wear them for short periods before getting a headache - it was like I'd lived in a gloomy cave for the then 38 years of my existence, before coming out into bright sunshine.
I made a thread at the time, but suffice to say, those first six months were incredible, tough, emotional and enlightening all at the same time.
Doofus said:
ajprice said:
Related to the blindness, colourblindness. If someone is colourblind to a certain colour what do they see? Is it just grey or does it blend in with a similar they can see, so blue and purple things are all just blue? (I saw the film IF a few days ago, the big furry purple thing is called Blue because the kid who was their friend was colourblind).
To that point, do we all see the same colours? Frinstance, I know what red is, because I've been taught that it's red, but seen through somebody else's eyes, might it look what I'd call blue?Same reason we all hear the same note, unless your hearing is defective/limited.
Upinflames said:
The quarry wasn't next to the pyramids. It's 400 miles away. 2.3 million blocks is a block every 4 minutes at unbelievable precision, night and day, for 20 years.
You think that's what happened?
Edit - 30 plus tears. Oh so a block every 6 minutes then. From 400 miles away. Absolutre joke. Impossible.
Couple of proper errors in your thinking here (rooted in the changes to manufacturing processes over the last century).You think that's what happened?
Edit - 30 plus tears. Oh so a block every 6 minutes then. From 400 miles away. Absolutre joke. Impossible.
Distance from quarry to build site is irrelevant. If it takes six months for them to travel, you start quarrying six months before building. If your stone cutting can't keep up with building, you increase your quarry capacity and balance it out.
You're assuming only one block is being done at a time - could easily have been ramps on all four sides, so four blocks being done in parallel. Then, there could be multiple blocks on each ramp - so the 'ramp travel time' is irrelevant in overall cycle time as it's being done whilst the other stones are being fitted.
The time to build is very tenuous, there's as much valid evidence for a build time 2-3 times as long as you're stating.
Lastly, the precision - lots of evidence that precision wasn't really much of a thing, except for the very outer layers. Rubble infill, or even just looser tolerances in core block fitting makes huge differences - just like first fix/second fix/etc in modern building. Even fitting a kitchen - the doors will be mm perfect, but the cabinet gaps against the wall could well be all over the place yet you'd never notice or care.
98elise said:
Colours are linked to wave frequency and assuming you're not colour blind then your perception will be the same as the next person's.
Same reason we all hear the same note, unless your hearing is defective/limited.
Ah yes, but do we all receive the same frequency? Is there any way to test/prove/disprove?Same reason we all hear the same note, unless your hearing is defective/limited.
Sway said:
This one I can help with.
Have severe protanopia colourblindness. Simply put, my eyes are pretty damned st at seeing the colour red.
Not so bad I can't see red - but it's much less vivid for me. Where it really manifests itself, is things like purple or brown - a colour which is made by adding a little red. My eyes just don't see the red, so I see blue or green instead of purple or brown.
I think I get it. You're seeing colours but one of the colour channels is turned down. An RGB image with less R in it. (I work in graphic design, photoshop is my happy place Have severe protanopia colourblindness. Simply put, my eyes are pretty damned s
t at seeing the colour red.Not so bad I can't see red - but it's much less vivid for me. Where it really manifests itself, is things like purple or brown - a colour which is made by adding a little red. My eyes just don't see the red, so I see blue or green instead of purple or brown.
)Quantum Mechanics.
Finally got round to reading A Brief History of Time. (illustrated, obviously)
General Relativity makes logical sense but Quantum Mechanics. I'd read some pages 3 or 4 times but when he starts talking about imaginary time and virtual particles that can have real effects it's too much for my tiny brain.
Finally got round to reading A Brief History of Time. (illustrated, obviously)
General Relativity makes logical sense but Quantum Mechanics. I'd read some pages 3 or 4 times but when he starts talking about imaginary time and virtual particles that can have real effects it's too much for my tiny brain.
ajprice said:
Sway said:
This one I can help with.
Have severe protanopia colourblindness. Simply put, my eyes are pretty damned st at seeing the colour red.
Not so bad I can't see red - but it's much less vivid for me. Where it really manifests itself, is things like purple or brown - a colour which is made by adding a little red. My eyes just don't see the red, so I see blue or green instead of purple or brown.
I think I get it. You're seeing colours but one of the colour channels is turned down. An RGB image with less R in it. (I work in graphic design, photoshop is my happy place Have severe protanopia colourblindness. Simply put, my eyes are pretty damned s
t at seeing the colour red.Not so bad I can't see red - but it's much less vivid for me. Where it really manifests itself, is things like purple or brown - a colour which is made by adding a little red. My eyes just don't see the red, so I see blue or green instead of purple or brown.
)The bit that staggered me was how much colours I 'could see' changed once that red was added in. Things like 'warm blues' - my favourite colour - suddenly became so much richer. Mercedes Brilliant Blue is great for that.
Then there's things like hi viz orange. Frankly, I'm staggered that that's the legally required colour for mower cables! But I could never understand orange hi viz. Yeah, I could see it was orange, but it didn't really stand out. Then I saw one with the glasses on - and I think it took a hour for my retinas to recover from the laser beam that'd been shone directly into them.
Worst bit? Realising quite how vivid and bright red cars are. I've had a fair few, and didn't realise just how much they stood out - especially those driven like a knob in my youth!
I just can’t get my head around why people think we couldn’t build the pyramids today. A 40ft container can be up to 30te gross load, we ship those things by the millions all over the globe, with a suitable set of cranes how long do you really think it would take to pile up a pyramid sized pile of containers? Probably a couple of days max.
For scale the largest container ships carry over 24,000 containers, those don’t take years to load.
For scale the largest container ships carry over 24,000 containers, those don’t take years to load.
Last Visit said:
Roofless Toothless said:
Tim330 said:
Roofless Toothless said:
I haven't looked it up but think it's comparable in size to the Milky Way so more than 150 light years across.It would take light 200,000 years to get from one side of Andromeda to the other not 150 years.
Has Star Trek Vouager tought you nothing
Edited by ChocolateFrog on Wednesday 22 May 23:12
98elise said:
Colours are linked to wave frequency and assuming you're not colour blind then your perception will be the same as the next person's.
Same reason we all hear the same note, unless your hearing is defective/limited.
We have no idea how the next person ‘sees’ a colour, as each of us has a mind that interprets the signals from the optic nerve in its own way. All we can say with certainty is that light of the same wave length is striking the retinas of both people. How their minds ‘perceive’ the colour is impossible to say.Same reason we all hear the same note, unless your hearing is defective/limited.
ChocolateFrog said:
Last Visit said:
Roofless Toothless said:
Tim330 said:
Roofless Toothless said:
I haven't looked it up but think it's comparable in size to the Milky Way so more than 150 light years across.It would take light 200,000 years to get from one side of Andromeda to the other not 150 years.
Has Star Trek Vouager tought you nothing
Edited by ChocolateFrog on Wednesday 22 May 23:12
ChocolateFrog said:
Last Visit said:
Roofless Toothless said:
Tim330 said:
Roofless Toothless said:
I haven't looked it up but think it's comparable in size to the Milky Way so more than 150 light years across.It would take light 200,000 years to get from one side of Andromeda to the other not 150 years.
Has Star Trek Vouager tought you nothing
Edited by ChocolateFrog on Wednesday 22 May 23:12
Doofus said:
98elise said:
Colours are linked to wave frequency and assuming you're not colour blind then your perception will be the same as the next person's.
Same reason we all hear the same note, unless your hearing is defective/limited.
Ah yes, but do we all receive the same frequency? Is there any way to test/prove/disprove?Same reason we all hear the same note, unless your hearing is defective/limited.
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