Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 4]

[Clockwork Cupcake]

StevieBee said:

I believe Occam was a philosopher who reasoned that in complex situations where reason was sought that "with all things being equal, the simplest answer prevails".

I quite like Hanlon's razor
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

[Antony Moxey]

Einion Yrth said:

Have you considered using Google, at all? I'm told it's quite good for this sort of thing.

I've always held PHers' explanations for things I didn't know in much higher esteem than anything found on Google. Except yours of course, you unhelpful fker.

[popeyewhite]

Antony Moxey said:

I've always held PHers' explanations for things I didn't know in much higher esteem than anything found on Google. Except yours of course, you unhelpful fker.

They're all used by PH'ers to enhance their smugness when they review their posts. Mostly incorrectly. They are observations rather than truth and are as relevant as "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush", or "the grass is always greener".

[Lazadude]

Do viruses actually look like they do on movies etc? (obviously to a lesser extent, was watching Resident evil, and the footage of the T virus attacking RBCs is what prompted the question).

Hard to explain, but thinking where you see them swim through the petri dish as an odd shaped furry thing and then eat or alter other cells. Or is it purely representational of how we believe they act?

[Clockwork Cupcake]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

OooOOOOoooohhh. Handbag.

[glenrobbo]

popeyewhite said:

Antony Moxey said:

I've always held PHers' explanations for things I didn't know in much higher esteem than anything found on Google. Except yours of course, you unhelpful fker.

They're all used by PH'ers to enhance their smugness when they review their posts. Mostly incorrectly. They are observations rather than truth and are as relevant as "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush", or "the grass is always greener".

This

And "dA push in the bush is worth two in the hand".

[popeyewhite]

glenrobbo said:

And "A push in the bush is worth two in the hand".

[Balmoral]

Why do some Indian people do that funky little amenable head wobble thing sometimes, I don't mean as in dance, but in discourse. Whats the cultural background to it?

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Balmoral said:

Why do some Indian people do that funky little amenable head wobble thing sometimes, I don't mean as in dance, but in discourse. Whats the cultural background to it?

It basically means "I am paying attention to you and listening". It can also be used when they don't want to disagree with you and means "maybe".

Like the Japanese word "hai" it is very context-dependent.

[berlintaxi]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Balmoral said:

Why do some Indian people do that funky little amenable head wobble thing sometimes, I don't mean as in dance, but in discourse. Whats the cultural background to it?

It basically means "I am paying attention to you and listening".

But am going to do basically nothing we discuss in this conversation.

[gregs656]

Antony Moxey said:

Phrases and sayings. I see a few pop up on these boards from time to time that I don’t know what they mean. Happy for sensible explanations as well as ridicule at my dimness for: Occam’s razor, Schrodinger’s cat, straw man argument and jump the shark.

A straw man argument is where you appear to be arguing against your opponents position, but are actually refuting an argument that was never presented.

It happens a lot. Politicians do it all the time.

[poing]

Why does every government project go over budget and run late, also why does it often result in some people being fired or resigning.

Why can't they simply learn from the previous projects and realise that the lowest bidder is clearly the wrong choice?

[Flibble]

Lazadude said:

Do viruses actually look like they do on movies etc? (obviously to a lesser extent, was watching Resident evil, and the footage of the T virus attacking RBCs is what prompted the question).

Hard to explain, but thinking where you see them swim through the petri dish as an odd shaped furry thing and then eat or alter other cells. Or is it purely representational of how we believe they act?

Depends on the virus, but some look a bit like spiky balls if that's what you mean.

[227bhp]

Einion Yrth said:

Have you considered using Google, at all? I'm told it's quite good for this sort of thing.

You can angle that at every post in this thread and 80% of PH, so you might as well just close this thread and not bother posting up on PH.....

[MartG]

poing said:

Why does every government project go over budget and run late, also why does it often result in some people being fired or resigning.

Why can't they simply learn from the previous projects and realise that the lowest bidder is clearly the wrong choice?

Politicians will always go for the lowest bidder - UK Treasury make it very difficult to approve a more expensive bid even though everyone knows the lowest bidder will overrun on cost.

Politicians also have very poor appreciation of just how difficult some things are, as they have little experience of 'proper' jobs, so don't understand why some things are expensive

Bidders always underbid as it's the only way to get a government contract - they know once they have the contract they can then hike the price to a more realistic level.

Politicians frequently say 'lessons will be learned' but they never are

[Clockwork Cupcake]

227bhp said:

You can angle that at every post in this thread and 80% of PH, so you might as well just close this thread and not bother posting up on PH.....

Forums are great for discussion and matters of opinion, but for matters of fact then I think it's fair comment.

If I wanted to know the definition of a word I'd look it up in a dictionary rather asking on a forum. And if someone asked the definition of a word on a forum, it would be fair comment to ask why they didn't look the word up in a dictionary.

[Dr Jekyll]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Forums are great for discussion and matters of opinion, but for matters of fact then I think it's fair comment.

If I wanted to know the definition of a word I'd look it up in a dictionary rather asking on a forum. And if someone asked the definition of a word on a forum, it would be fair comment to ask why they didn't look the word up in a dictionary.

But some expressions have meanings on PH they don't have anywhere else. EG custard test, one that still puzzles me is 'driving like Mrs Daisy', Mrs Daisy didn't drive she had a chauffeur so her driving style and technique is a mystery.

[popeyewhite]

Dr Jekyll said:

But some expressions have meanings on PH they don't have anywhere else.

Certainly appear to. Most commonly abused is 'confirmation bias', 'self-awareness', 'strawman' and anything relating to quantum physics.

[popeyewhite]

227bhp said:

Einion Yrth said:

Have you considered using Google, at all? I'm told it's quite good for this sort of thing.

You can angle that at every post in this thread and 80% of PH, so you might as well just close this thread and not bother posting up on PH.....

Ah yes but generally what happens on this thread in particular is

1. A question is asked
2. A regular poster quickly looks up the answer on google and passes it off as their own

so in a way you're both kind of correct.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Dr Jekyll said:

But some expressions have meanings on PH they don't have anywhere else.

And others have meanings understood throughout the English-speaking world. Like Shroedinger's Cat and Occam's Razor.

Perhaps I'm in a minority here, but when I encounter words or phrases that I don't understand, I generally tend to google them first before announcing my ignorance.