{Perpetual thread} Today, I learned ...

ODDBALL715 · Post by **ODDBALL715** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 3:41 pm

ravenwing989 wrote:Apparently it's this kind of Mexican dance from the '90's. We have to watch this Spanish mini-series for Spanish class called La Catrina and in one episode, two of the characters go to a club and do the "cheese dance" in unison with alot of people. It's a very interesting dance.

You're watching La Catrina? LMFAO The Queso. That show was so stupid and if you continue Spanish you might get to watch the sequel. I do and it's worse.

Oh, and today I learned that my sister's boyfriend proposed last night. So now both my siblings are engaged.

moonwolf021 · Post by **moonwolf021** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:26 pm

gpackin wrote:
Panama Girl wrote:Today I learned about the existence of this thread....
Yeah, there's a whole forum outside of the Jane Lindskold section!

Who knew? lol.

Today I learned that I love picking up liter from nature refuges.

Post by **laurie** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:47 pm

moonwolf021 wrote:Today I learned that I love picking up liter from nature refuges.

More fun than picking up quarts and gallons?

ODDBALL715 · Post by **ODDBALL715** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:18 pm

Today I learned that my sister's creepy ex-boyfriend is friends with my brother's fiancee's sister's creepy boyfriend who is the brother of this annoying guy who likes me.

Echus Cthulhu Mythos · Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:26 am

Today - it was the first day of a new year at university today. Started my specialisation in Mechanical Engineering after my general engineering year last year - I learned that, out of 170 or so students in this specialisation, after I head-count I discovered there is a grand total of five girls in the entire friggin' class. FIVE!! ARGH! If something can ever be called gay, this most definitely is it. I am going to go insane this year! Plus, I also learned that the workload is going to be pretty damn intense. But I have my days sorted out so my studies will be sorted. But damn, being in both the Navy and studying engineering means meeting eligible females is extremely difficult!

ravenwing989 · Post by **ravenwing989** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:37 pm

Today I learned that someone I've only known since about 1/4 through the school year can care about me more and notice when I'm upset better than my pretty much best friend since kindergarten.

ashellinak · Post by **ashellinak** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:01 pm

Today I learned that my roommate has strep throat.

Post by **KiltanneN** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:33 pm

today I learned that the email type ahead cache in Outlook drops an email if you don't use it for 3 months or so...

moonwolf021 · Post by **moonwolf021** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:22 pm

Today I learned that I've been waiting way too long to get my permit. And that I somehow remembered my sister's password to her email that she forgot the password to.

axewound · Post by **axewound** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 3:39 am

Today I learned how to properly wax my upper lip.
still hurts like a mufukka tho.

ravenwing989 · Post by **ravenwing989** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:59 pm

Today I leaned that being sick, and coughing all the time, sucks.

moonwolf021 · Post by **moonwolf021** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 5:31 pm

Today I learned that my blonde hair is turning brown quicker yet slower than I thought

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:51 pm

Today I learned that, no matter how safe and easy the road looks in winter, DO NOT TRUST IT. Had a car accident wherein my tires slipped off the side of the blacktop because I couldn't differentiate between it and the shoulder (the whole thing was white), and when I tried to get them back up onto the road, it put me into a 360 which ended up with both ends of the car smashing into snowbanks on opposite sides of the street, scaring the bejesus out of me and the kids, and cracking my front under-fender.

I hate winter.

moonwolf021 · Post by **moonwolf021** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:31 pm

tollbaby wrote:Today I learned that, no matter how safe and easy the road looks in winter, DO NOT TRUST IT. Had a car accident wherein my tires slipped off the side of the blacktop because I couldn't differentiate between it and the shoulder (the whole thing was white), and when I tried to get them back up onto the road, it put me into a 360 which ended up with both ends of the car smashing into snowbanks on opposite sides of the street, scaring the bejesus out of me and the kids, and cracking my front under-fender. I hate winter.

did you get it on tape?

nah, joking. glad you're okay

Echus Cthulhu Mythos · Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:09 am

Today, I learned how to mathematically model car suspension systems.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:08 am

Today, I learned that you study now what I studied 35 years ago....
Did they ever mention Yves Rocard in your classes? (incidentally, he was the father of the French politician Michel Rocard, but for me he was primarily my teacher and supposedly the inventor of the suspension system for the CitroÃ«n cars, in the fifties and sixties, long before teaching to us in the seventies). According to his calculations, if the obstacle is of small length, like a short bump, the faster you drive, the less you feel it, as opposed to as a very long one, as in "leaving the road to climb on the curb and stay there", whare what you feel is independent of the speed, while if there is a difference of slope - horizontal road that suddenly acquires a slope- the faster you drive the more you feel it. Did they teach you the same thing? From what I was told, though his calculations seemed quite correct, he broke quite a few cars by driving them too fast on short bumps... but those who told me that were maybe envious...

By the way I found your new signature were I was sure I'd find it, on the page suggested by Kiltannen in "Stumbling for fun" viewtopic.php?p=1841566#1841566 (leftmost column, seventh row from top).

So sÃ¼ss! (How very sweet!)
You are really a romantic at heart!

Echus Cthulhu Mythos · Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:18 am

voralfred wrote:Today, I learned that you study now what I studied 35 years ago....

No we haven't covered that. We have been covering suspension systems in my Mathematical Modelling II paper as a case study for solving Ordinary Differential Equations rather than suspension systems from a design/force analysis point of view. We are are dealing with the mathematical model for the basic spring/shock-absorber system and the different regions depending on the state of repair of the shocks. Mainly it is for practice solving ODE's via the Exponential Subsitution method and dealing with the different situations where complex/imaginary numbers start appearing as the shocks wear out.

It is only the 2nd week of the semester, so it is nothing terribly hardcore yet. But damn, I am starting to feel the burn already!

voralfred wrote: So sÃ¼ss! (How very sweet!)
You are really a romantic at heart!

Hah, I just thought it was pretty cool that it could be modelled mathematically like that.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:24 am

Echus Cthulhu Mythos wrote: We have been covering suspension systems in my Mathematical Modelling II paper as a case study for solving Ordinary Differential Equations rather than suspension systems from a design/force analysis point of view. We are are dealing with the mathematical model for the basic spring/shock-absorber system and the different regions depending on the state of repair of the shocks. Mainly it is for practice solving ODE's via the Exponential Subsitution method and dealing with the different situations where complex/imaginary numbers start appearing as the shocks wear out.

Oh, that's exactly what we studied. Rocard had been involved, decades before, in actually designing the stuff, but all he taught us was precisely what you described, solving ODE's via the Exponential Subsitution method. If you put in the early situation the encounter with a bump, the model predicts that the effect is smaller the shorter the time you take to cross the bump, thus the faster you drive (try it!). Which, somehow, is not really confirmed by experiment. Which shows this model is a bit too simplified...
When he actually designed the shock-absorbers, I'm sure Rocard did something a bit more sophisticated, after he broke a few car axles as someone who worked with him at the time later told me

moonwolf021 · Post by **moonwolf021** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:50 pm

Today I learned the origin of flipping someone off.

ravenwing989 · Post by **ravenwing989** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:12 pm

moonwolf021 wrote:Today I learned the origin of flipping someone off.

There's an origin to this? lol I just always assumed it was the caveman's way of telling someone he was ticked off without having to grunt.

JK.

moonwolf021 · Post by **moonwolf021** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:11 pm

Tuesday I forgot to mention that I learned how to paddle Dragonboat (I'm on the team!)
Today I learned that I'm still in pain from it.

The Origin of Flipping Off (for all I know, this is what I heard from a radio station correct me if I'm wrong):
Back in the medieval ages, when an enemy archer was caught as a prisoner, they're middle finger would be cut off. They would do this because they would need their middle finger to shoot an arrow. Well out on the battle field, the archers would wave their middle fingers at their enemies like, 'haha I still got mine'. And thats supposedly where it comes from.

LOL.

ashellinak · Post by **ashellinak** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:25 pm

Today I learned that not everyone agrees with me that "Sweet Child O'Mine" is the best song to come out of the 80's.

Echus Cthulhu Mythos · Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:14 am

moonwolf021 wrote: The Origin of Flipping Off (for all I know, this is what I heard from a radio station correct me if I'm wrong):
Back in the medieval ages, when an enemy archer was caught as a prisoner, they're middle finger would be cut off. They would do this because they would need their middle finger to shoot an arrow. Well out on the battle field, the archers would wave their middle fingers at their enemies like, 'haha I still got mine'. And thats supposedly where it comes from.

When the French captured English longbowmen they would do this. See the battle of Agincourt for an example why; the longbow ravaged French knights. Thus they cut off any captured longbowman's fore- and middle-fingers to prevent them from ever using a bow again (it took a life-time to master the longbow). Hence the reason for the offensiveness of the traditional English "Two-fingered salute". Not sure how that changed to just the middle finger, but a singular raised middle finger is somewhat more aggressive looking I suppose... *shrug*

moonwolf021 · Post by **moonwolf021** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:03 pm

Thanks. I heard it off the radio so I wasn't sure how true it was.

Echus Cthulhu Mythos · Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:53 pm

voralfred wrote: Oh, that's exactly what we studied. Rocard had been involved, decades before, in actually designing the stuff, but all he taught us was precisely what you described, solving ODE's via the Exponential Subsitution method. If you put in the early situation the encounter with a bump, the model predicts that the effect is smaller the shorter the time you take to cross the bump, thus the faster you drive (try it!). Which, somehow, is not really confirmed by experiment. Which shows this model is a bit too simplified...
When he actually designed the shock-absorbers, I'm sure Rocard did something a bit more sophisticated, after he broke a few car axles as someone who worked with him at the time later told me

Hah yeah. The other day we looked at the model when it was a forced equation (non-homogeneous) rather than the homogeneous form (as in when the model is equal to a function instead of zero) and covered how the shocks would behave if traveling over a sinusoidal road similar to what you mentioned above. Interesting stuff, but completely puts me to sleep! Hah, I can only stand so much talk about ODE's before switching off! But yeah, he showed us how flawed the model is by taking it to the point where the affect of the shocks was negligible and apparently the car would oscillate forever which is obvious incorrect.