Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 5]

[bmwmike]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

bmwmike said:

I'd assumed the 500 limit was an arbitrary decision for archiving or just not letting discussions get stupidly large. If there was no limit, discussions would go on forever gradually losing relevance/connection to the original post topic.

I have always assumed that it was arbitrary too. Although the rest of your post makes no sense as breaking a long thread into chunks makes no difference on the direction the discussion takes.

As I said earlier, I think it is either a database issue or a performance issue. Or both. Perhaps very big threads keep getting re-indexed which increases the load on the database server(s), and chunking it means the archived chunks don't get re-indexed.

Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Friday 25th June 11:40

All i meant was, looking across PH there are a handful of threads which are vol1, vol2, etc. If those threads ran on forever, how would that help anyone from a user perspective, and, as you acknowledge, archiving off (via enforced breaking-up of long running threads) means they can be ignored from future maintenance jobs like re-indexing. If they'd picked 300 maybe that is a bit short, 1000 was too long. I suspect it was just finger in the air arbitrary 500 myself.

Variables or DB field sizes limitations makes no sense whatsoever.

UI representation of the page numbers *may* have some bearing perhaps, as in, in how it gets displayed, or represented in the underlying JS. Dare I say considering how DIY some of the bits of this forum are, perhaps the whole 500 pages are stored in a fixed length array that just happens to have been picked at 500 elements and stuck ever since.

[bmwmike]

BT Summers said:

The Mad Monk said:

Where is Eire?

Apologies if you are making a joke,

You may call Eire as Ireland.

The Irish constitution states that the name of the country is Eire, in the English language, Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is a descriptive term. I was brought up in Eire to English speaking parents and we always used that that word for what others call southern Ireland.

"southern Ireland" - does anyone really call it that? How do Irish people feel about that? I used to live in the Republic for about 5 years, and never heard anyone local refer to it as that. Heard plenty of them refer to Wales and even UK as england though, which drives me absolutely fking batty.

[csd19]

Brother D said:

Evoluzione said:

csd19 said:

To keep to the thread topic...

It is said that confidence is attractive, but what if you don't feel attractive enough to be confident?

You don't have to be attractive to be confident so it's not an issue.

I'm super attractive but don't have confidence, so there's that side of the coin : )

You've got that modesty thing covered too

[darren f]

BT Summers said:

Are Customs responsible for damage that they cause in the course of their work?

This suggests that they are.

[ambuletz]

Do couriers hate when you do return to sender?

Ordered a monitor through work. But the day after another monitor (which is better) came in stock. By the time i wanted to cancel the order the order had already been sent for picking and couldn't be cancelled, so they said return it when it arrives.

Do couriers hate this? I feel bad. but I think its quite ridiculous that you can't cancel something before it's been sent out, or even packed.

[gobuddygo]

ambuletz said:

Do couriers hate this? I feel bad. but I think its quite ridiculous that you can't cancel something before it's been sent out, or even packed.

No they love it, we have a Hermes local lady courier, she loves the fact that my wife and step daughter order loads of clothing from Next and then return them, she gets paid twice.

[coppernorks]

bmwmike said:

"southern Ireland" - does anyone really call it that? How do Irish people feel about that? I used to live in the Republic for about 5 years, and never heard anyone local refer to it as that. Heard plenty of them refer to Wales and even UK as england though, which drives me absolutely fking batty.

Understandable and unforgiveable when you consider how sensitive and nit-picky the Irish are about Brits'
inability to correctly name their much re-named country. [Irish Free State, Eire, Ireland, ROI, S. Ireland ].

Just describe it as the second largest Island in the British Isles, that pisses them right off.

[basherX]

Just using the phrase British Isles sets most of my Irish friends off.

[LeadFarmer]

Here's something I've pondered over for some time..

If two objects moved closer to each other by 50% say every 5 seconds (time isn't relevant) would they ever touch?

So if they were say 1m apart, then moved to 50 cm apart, then 25cm etc etc. Surely they would never touch, and would keep moving towards each other for ever?

[Dr Jekyll]

LeadFarmer said:

Here's something I've pondered over for some time..

If two objects moved closer to each other by 50% say every 5 seconds (time isn't relevant) would they ever touch?

So if they were say 1m apart, then moved to 50 cm apart, then 25cm etc etc. Surely they would never touch, and would keep moving towards each other for ever?

No, they wouldn't.

Move things 50% closer then they still don't touch.

[popeyewhite]

LeadFarmer said:

Here's something I've pondered over for some time..

If two objects moved closer to each other by 50% say every 5 seconds (time isn't relevant) would they ever touch?

So if they were say 1m apart, then moved to 50 cm apart, then 25cm etc etc. Surely they would never touch, and would keep moving towards each other for ever?

Try it with your car and a wall.

[SCEtoAUX]

How does Matt Hancock still have a job?

[Clockwork Cupcake]

SCEtoAUX said:

How does Matt Hancock still have a job?

Because Boris Johnson can't very well sack him without also resigning.

[GroundEffect]

LeadFarmer said:

Here's something I've pondered over for some time..

If two objects moved closer to each other by 50% say every 5 seconds (time isn't relevant) would they ever touch?

So if they were say 1m apart, then moved to 50 cm apart, then 25cm etc etc. Surely they would never touch, and would keep moving towards each other for ever?

Look up asymptotes. This is like the Dichotomy paradox.

[captain_cynic]

popeyewhite said:

LeadFarmer said:

Here's something I've pondered over for some time..

If two objects moved closer to each other by 50% say every 5 seconds (time isn't relevant) would they ever touch?

So if they were say 1m apart, then moved to 50 cm apart, then 25cm etc etc. Surely they would never touch, and would keep moving towards each other for ever?

Try it with your car and a wall.

In theory it's no, in practice it's yes. Eventually the distance gets so slight there isn't any measurable distance

[Clockwork Cupcake]

LeadFarmer said:

Here's something I've pondered over for some time..

If two objects moved closer to each other by 50% say every 5 seconds (time isn't relevant) would they ever touch?

So if they were say 1m apart, then moved to 50 cm apart, then 25cm etc etc. Surely they would never touch, and would keep moving towards each other for ever?

You're basically describing Zeno's Paradoxes of motion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes

edit:
Also, you are describing an infinite series. Theoretically there is no solution. However, this joke illustrates why that is a fallacy:

An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first mathematician orders a pint. The second orders half a pint. The third orders a quarter, the fourth orders an eighth, and the fifth orders a sixteenth. The sixth mathematician is about to speak when the bartender interrupts him and puts two pints on the bar, saying "You guys don't know your limits."

Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Friday 25th June 16:35

[SpeckledJim]

GroundEffect said:

LeadFarmer said:

Here's something I've pondered over for some time..

If two objects moved closer to each other by 50% say every 5 seconds (time isn't relevant) would they ever touch?

So if they were say 1m apart, then moved to 50 cm apart, then 25cm etc etc. Surely they would never touch, and would keep moving towards each other for ever?

Look up asymptotes. This is like the Dichotomy paradox.

This will get to the point where you can't discern where the actual surface of the object begins and ends. The frilly edge where atoms are bouncing around.

[AstonZagato]

The answer is that they do touch
The mathematical proof is (for.a distance of 2) that the distance traveled would be S:
S = sum(1+½+¼....)
Therefore:
½S = sum( ½+¼...)
Therefore
S - ½S is exactly 1 (all the fractions cancel each other out)
In that case S=2

[Dr Jekyll]

AstonZagato said:

The answer is that they do touch
The mathematical proof is (for.a distance of 2) that the distance traveled would be S:
S = sum(1+½+¼....)
Therefore:
½S = sum( ½+¼...)
Therefore
S - ½S is exactly 1 (all the fractions cancel each other out)
In that case S=2

I don't see this at all. If you half a number you don't get zero, irrespective of how many times you halved it before.

[AstonZagato]

Dr Jekyll said:

AstonZagato said:

The answer is that they do touch
The mathematical proof is (for.a distance of 2) that the distance traveled would be S:
S = sum(1+½+¼....)
Therefore:
½S = sum( ½+¼...)
Therefore
S - ½S is exactly 1 (all the fractions cancel each other out)
In that case S=2

I don't see this at all. If you half a number you don't get zero, irrespective of how many times you halved it before.

I don't think you've grasped the proof.
Do you agree that, starting from 2 the first move is 1 and the next move is ½ and the next is ¼?
If you halve each value, it looks like the next value along (i.e. ½ and ¼). It is only ever missing the 1. So if you take half the total away, it always cancels out the exact same fraction in the series above leaving just the 1.

1 + ½ + ¼ + ⅛ 
  - ½ - ¼ - ⅛