What made you go WTF today?

[Khendraja'aro]

So, I was helping my dad lug around about one and a half ton of stones - and when we arrived at the factory where they were selling said stones, he looked up and said: "I'd hate to work here."

"All those electric high voltage wires directly over our heads! Think of the electro smog!"

Gah.

So I told him the story of my ex-girlfriend who was a passionate citizens band radio user. She wanted to have a better reception so she bought and installed a ten meter antenna in their garden. Cue the neighbours with stories like "I have a headache!", "Our TV is jammed by the signals from your antenna!" or "I can't sleep anymore!"
Each and every one of the neighbours she lead to said antenna and asked them: Do you see a cable somewhere?

She hadn't connected the antenna to the radio yet.

[Flixy]

Heh, that reminds me of a news report, first they interviewed a lady who lived under a GSM antenna (they are often placed on top of tall buildings here). After that, they revealed that this particular antenna was also not connected Actually, if you use a mobile phone, you probably get a lot less​ EM waves through your head if you live near a cell tower.

[Khendraja'aro]

Just tried to have a discussion in another forum with a user who tried to tell us that the Sun causes a space-time curvature "of a millionth".

When asked "a millionth of what?" he tried to explain to us that

a) you neither need a zero-point nor another reference point for this to work,
b) in Physics, when dealing with curvatures of space-time, you never use any unit denominators,
c) he knows that this is so because he once talked to a friend of his who is a physicist and
d) you don't need any units anyway because the curvature of space-time is a very abstract concept which you neither can see nor visualize.

Granted, I myself may not be the most knowledgable in this area but the I know that curvatures are usually denominated as "degrees per unit of length" - and given that, from what I know, the curvature has a range from zero to singularity, I dare say that "a millionth" won't cut it.
Not to mention that concepts like "entropy" or "energy" are equally hard to grasp.

[Aimless]

Odd, I thought the curvature of spacetime can be denoted by arbitrary units or no real units at all. What is the actual unit?

[Khendraja'aro]

I actually don't know. That's why I asked in the first place - to get a gleaning what this number was supposed to mean.

[Illusions]

Granted, I myself may not be the most knowledgable in this area but the I know that curvatures are usually denominated as "degrees per unit of length" - and given that, from what I know, the curvature has a range from zero to singularity, I dare say that "a millionth" won't cut it.
Not to mention that concepts like "entropy" or "energy" are equally hard to grasp.

Not to mention that you can sort of see it via gravitational lensing.

[CitizenCain]

Odd, I thought the curvature of spacetime can be denoted by arbitrary units or no real units at all. What is the actual unit?

1/Area, usually. So meters (or furloughs or cubic acres or whatever ).

http://rafimoor.com/english/GRE3.htm

[Nessus]

They went on forever – They - When I w- We lived in Arizona, and the skies always had little fluffy clouds in 'em, and, uh... they were long... and clear and... there were lots of stars at night. And, uh, when it would rain, it would all turn - it- They were beautiful, the most beautiful skies as a matter of fact. Um, the sunsets were purple and red and yellow and on fire, and the clouds would catch the colours everywhere. That's uh, neat 'cause I used to look at them all the time, when I was little. You don't see that. You might still see them in the desert.

[earthJoker]

Love that song.

[Timbuk2]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17434587

You know, I expected the racist comments to be in the initial tweet that set it off. Instead, it was in his tweets afterwards.

The WTF was aimed at this being illegal and potentially punishable by jail. Having said that, the guy's not going to get a decent job for years after this, which seems like a pretty fair punishment to me.

The student in question has lost his appeal, and will face 56 days in custody.

Like many in this country, I've always been uneasy about these questionable incitement to racial hatred and racially-aggravated public order offences.

People should be allowed to make idiotic and racist comments as much as they like. It allows the public to see them for the idiots and racists they are.

Free speech derka derka.

[Aimless]

http://www.businessinsider.com/hitle...r-goods-2012-3

[Aimless]

Being a victim of domestic violence is a pre-existing condition and possible grounds for being denied coverage? hoping/guessing that's changed

[GGT]

Being a victim of domestic violence is a pre-existing condition and possible grounds for being denied coverage? hoping/guessing that's changed

It was part of the ACA reforms, so who knows what will happen now.

In the US, some think being female is a 'pre-existing condition', and they don't want "their" group insurance plans to cover things like BCP or hormones. They don't want tax dollars to fund agencies like Planned Parenthood, either. Not pro-life enough, huh.

[CitizenCain]

Being a victim of domestic violence is a pre-existing condition and possible grounds for being denied coverage?

Insurance is supposed to be protection against unexpected or unpredictable events. Having a family member who beats you badly enough to put you in the ER makes a recurrence both expected and predictable, so no, it shouldn't be covered.

[Loki]

I do wonder at which point health INSURANCE took an Orwellian turn and stopped being viewed as insurance (i.e. hedging against a risky event).

[Aimless]

Yes I understand the reasoning. I just think it's fucked up, not least because it probably discourages women in abusive relationships from getting help at an early stage when it's easiest to intervene. Instead they keep mum while the abuse escalates until they end up in the hospital, which one assumes is better than if they don't end up in the hospital.

[Illusions]

I do wonder at which point health INSURANCE took an Orwellian turn and stopped being viewed as insurance (i.e. hedging against a risky event).

So one day, with the progress in legal verbiage of health insurance, and the ability to predict and diagnose possible future health conditions and risks via advanced medical science, we'll eventually have health insurance that is pointless to purchase since the risk you'd be hedging against would be of lottery-like odds.

[Loki]

So one day, with the progress in legal verbiage of health insurance, and the ability to predict and diagnose possible future health conditions and risks via advanced medical science, we'll eventually have health insurance that is pointless to purchase since the risk you'd be hedging against would be of lottery-like odds.

You could still get insurance against something whose odds you know to protect yourself against the negative event in question. E.G. If I have a 10% of getting some disease that would cost me a million dollars to treat (which comes out at an expected value of $100k minus expected inflation), I'm still willing to pay over that $100k in insurance because I'd be screwed if the event did take place. Frankly, this is the reason we should all have catastrophic insurance, instead of the inane normal variety.

Yes I understand the reasoning. I just think it's fucked up, not least because it probably discourages women in abusive relationships from getting help at an early stage when it's easiest to intervene. Instead they keep mum while the abuse escalates until they end up in the hospital, which one assumes is better than if they don't end up in the hospital.

It also provides them a greater incentive to leave that relationship.

[Aimless]

It also provides them a greater incentive to leave that relationship.

Well yeah except you'd think that being bullied and beaten would be "incentive" enough for leaving, and yet it so very often proves insufficient. Maybe, just maybe, it's not that simple or easy, even when it's simple and easy.

What would be truly bizarre is if past domestic abuse (ie. with another partner) counted against them in the future. I hope that is not the case.

[Illusions]

You could still get insurance against something whose odds you know to protect yourself against the negative event in question. E.G. If I have a 10% of getting some disease that would cost me a million dollars to treat (which comes out at an expected value of $100k minus expected inflation), I'm still willing to pay over that $100k in insurance because I'd be screwed if the event did take place. Frankly, this is the reason we should all have catastrophic insurance, instead of the inane normal variety.

As a health insurer you'd still have to pay out 1/10 of the time, for everyone who has a 10% chance of getting a certain disease. Also who is to say that in the future a health insurer would be willing to enroll someone who has a 10% chance of coming down with something that is going to cost millions to treat? Besides that, with advanced enough medical science and an understanding of certain ailments, there won't be percentage chances, just a you will or you won't.

[CitizenCain]

Besides that, with advanced enough medical science and an understanding of certain ailments, there won't be percentage chances, just a you will or you won't.

Is that like how meteorologists are able to predict the weather exactly, rather than a percentage chance?

Predicting events with countless variables and inputs, over decades (like health problems) is never going to result in reliable binary outputs.

[Illusions]

Is that like how meteorologists are able to predict the weather exactly, rather than a percentage chance?

Predicting events with countless variables and inputs, over decades (like health problems) is never going to result in reliable binary outputs.

I realize now that the wording I used wasn't clear enough. This would be things where we either already have highly reliable tests, or the variables that affect the outcome are rather limited (for instance hereditary genetic maladies).

[Loki]

As a health insurer you'd still have to pay out 1/10 of the time, for everyone who has a 10% chance of getting a certain disease. Also who is to say that in the future a health insurer would be willing to enroll someone who has a 10% chance of coming down with something that is going to cost millions to treat? Besides that, with advanced enough medical science and an understanding of certain ailments, there won't be percentage chances, just a you will or you won't.

That's not how the life sciences work. In order for that to have a non-zero possibility of happening, illnesses would have to be 100% caused by genetics, and genes would have to be 0% affected by the environment. Neither are true.

Anyone if people were even remotely certain about their long-term health, health insurance would cease to exist. People who are healthy would refuse to enroll, and people who are not wouldn't be insured.

[Ominous Gamer]

People who are healthy would refuse to enroll,

This is false. It would be treated no different than car insurance at this point, ie insurance is still purchased and paid for to protect against outside and/or catastrophic elements.

[Loki]

This is false. It would be treated no different than car insurance at this point, ie insurance is still purchased and paid for to protect against outside and/or catastrophic elements.

A) You don't have to worry about lawsuits from getting other people sick.
B) Most people get car insurance because it's the law, not because they want to.
C) Health insurance would serve an entirely different function if its only objective was to pay for car accidents and home injuries.

[Ominous Gamer]

You have a very limited view of what could require medical attention

[Loki]

We're working under Illusions' framework of being able to predict every possible illness...

[Illusions]

We're working under Illusions' framework of being able to predict every possible illness...

You didn't read my reply to Cain did you? Thats okay, I've come to expect this from you. I never meant every possible illness.

[Khendraja'aro]

So, I took a look into what our new chemistry textbook suggests as experiments for pupils.

I'm impressed. Some of those experiments I myself approach with some hesitation. Others are not dangerous at all if you follow all the rules - and we just know how pupils follow rules all the time, don't we?

Example:
a) Reduction of copper oxide with zinc. The experiment itself is easy: Mix both chemicals at 1:1 in a test tube(the book talks about 8 grams total), put above Bunsen burner, presto.

Reality: If you don't use a Duran test tube (slightly more sturdy glass), chances are, the bottom of the tube will melt off. You may also shoot molten copper about a meter wide through the other end of the tube.

This book is full of experiments like this one.

[CitizenCain]

Reality: If you don't use a Duran test tube (slightly more sturdy glass), chances are, the bottom of the tube will melt off. You may also shoot molten copper about a meter wide through the other end of the tube.

This book is full of experiments like this one.

Someone's gotta educate the next crop of bomb-makers. Might as well be the German school system.