Ask and answer stupid questions here! - Page 705
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Dangermousecatdog
United Kingdom7084 Posts
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kidcrash
United States616 Posts
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photonic_laser_thruster Love that the guy who invented this is named "young bae". Sounds like a sound cloud rapper. | ||
AbouSV
Germany1278 Posts
About the lottery thing, it really is not worth. Proof: I played twice, and never got the jackpot. I stop after such a series of failures. | ||
JimmiC
Canada22817 Posts
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Zambrah
United States6883 Posts
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GreenHorizons
United States22117 Posts
On September 01 2018 10:39 Zambrah wrote: Why do people get so upset with sharing social media posts without also liking them in some way shape or form. Surely the act of sharing is an appreciable enough way of expressing one's enjoyment of the post? Am I missing something... Depends on what you mean by "sharing", often it borders on plagiarism, the more petty situations are more about like if xbox gave an achievement you earned to your party members but not you. | ||
Zambrah
United States6883 Posts
On September 01 2018 18:03 GreenHorizons wrote: Depends on what you mean by "sharing", often it borders on plagiarism, the more petty situations are more about like if xbox gave an achievement you earned to your party members but not you. Im thinkin' the classic Facebook way (cause Im social media impaired and dont use much else) where someone posts something amusing/awesome and I hit the share button, so its still tagging back to them and all. | ||
KwarK
United States41342 Posts
On August 24 2018 23:03 JimmiC wrote: Odds are 1 in about 258.9 million. So since a ticket costs about 2 bucks you would need the payout to be 570 million or so after taxes. So more or less it becomes a "good investment" when it hits a billion! And then of course shared prizes or being in a high tax state make that worse! You're ignoring non jackpot prizes. Because those aren't split it's actually pretty easy to calculate the odds of those and multiply them by the amount. Subtract about 35% for taxes to get the value of those, then subtract that amount from the $2 price of the ticket to get the adjusted cost. Then multiply the adjusted cost by 258.9 million to get the amount a jackpot would need to be, before taxes, assuming no splits. | ||
KwarK
United States41342 Posts
On August 25 2018 06:20 Dangermousecatdog wrote: A lottery will never have the prize higher than the odds. That's not how a lottery works. A lottery is not the same as a card game. They both might be a form of gambling, but they operate totally different rules. Lotteries have rollover prizes. You're not just competing for a share of the pool funded by the tickets to this round, you're also competing for the rolled over pool. Assuming no overhead and diversion of funds for good causes a lottery is actually extremely rational to participate it, with each round lacking a jackpot increasing the rationality. It's like playing double or nothing without ever increasing the player's stake. Obviously there is overhead and diversion of funds, but there is still a point at which it could become rational. I actually did a data analytics project at college on the state lottery where they gave me all sorts of cool access to their internal numbers and reporting. My objective, which I partially succeeded at, was to come up with a predictive formula that could anticipate lottery ticket sales using historical data and other established trends. It was pretty tricky because a "big" pot is entirely subjective, it's big based upon comparison with the last "big" pot which means that rather than using set inputs I had to have it adjust based upon an exponent of current prize/largest. It worked out rather well though, knocked their socks off when I presented it. And once you can project sales you can project probability of someone winning the jackpot, and how big the next one will be if they don't. And once you have that you can do the whole thing all over again. Obviously each time you're getting less accurate but with ranges you can do some pretty cool modelling. | ||
JimmiC
Canada22817 Posts
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Sent.
Poland9048 Posts
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Simberto
Germany11121 Posts
Why can americans not distinguish "ei" from "ie"? Even in Writing? From what i have observed, when a name or German word involves either of those, Americans just choose any one of them at random. They don't even stay consistent, sometimes the same name or word has an "ei" in one sentence and an "ie" in the next one. This does not appear to happen for any other letter combinations. And lets not even talk about pronunciation. Both are pronounced as the "ee" in free by americans. But they are actually completely different sounds. "ie" is indeed pronounced similar to that, but "ei" is pronounced like the "igh" in Highway. | ||
JimmiC
Canada22817 Posts
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Acrofales
Spain17585 Posts
On September 15 2018 07:22 Simberto wrote: Inspired by recent discussion in the US Pol Thread, but based on an observation i have made for a while: Why can americans not distinguish "ei" from "ie"? Even in Writing? From what i have observed, when a name or German word involves either of those, Americans just choose any one of them at random. They don't even stay consistent, sometimes the same name or word has an "ei" in one sentence and an "ie" in the next one. This does not appear to happen for any other letter combinations. And lets not even talk about pronunciation. Both are pronounced as the "ee" in free by americans. But they are actually completely different sounds. "ie" is indeed pronounced similar to that, but "ei" is pronounced like the "igh" in Highway. Belief Grief Seizure Ceiling (indeed, forgot that one) And completely different: Sleigh English is fucked. Also, how do you pronounce ghoti? Main reason for my edit however, have this fun poem: + Show Spoiler [long] + THE CHAOS by Dr. Gerard Nolst Trenité (Netherlands, 1870-1946) Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. Pray, console your loving poet, Make my coat look new, dear, sew it! Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word, Sword and sward, retain and Britain. (Mind the latter, how it's written.) Now I surely will not plague you With such words as plaque and ague. But be careful how you speak: Say break and steak, but bleak and streak; Cloven, oven, how and low, Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe. Hear me say, devoid of trickery, Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore, Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles, Exiles, similes, and reviles; Scholar, vicar, and cigar, Solar, mica, war and far; One, anemone, Balmoral, Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel; Gertrude, German, wind and mind, Scene, Melpomene, mankind. Billet does not rhyme with ballet, Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet. Blood and flood are not like food, Nor is mould like should and would. Viscous, viscount, load and broad, Toward, to forward, to reward. And your pronunciation's OK When you correctly say croquet, Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve, Friend and fiend, alive and live. Ivy, privy, famous; clamour And enamour rhyme with hammer. River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb, Doll and roll and some and home. Stranger does not rhyme with anger, Neither does devour with clangour. Souls but foul, haunt but aunt, Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant, Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger, And then singer, ginger, linger, Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge, Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age. Query does not rhyme with very, Nor does fury sound like bury. Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth. Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath. Though the differences seem little, We say actual but victual. Refer does not rhyme with deafer. Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer. Mint, pint, senate and sedate; Dull, bull, and George ate late. Scenic, Arabic, Pacific, Science, conscience, scientific. Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven. We say hallowed, but allowed, People, leopard, towed, but vowed. Mark the differences, moreover, Between mover, cover, clover; Leeches, breeches, wise, precise, Chalice, but police and lice; Camel, constable, unstable, Principle, disciple, label. Petal, panel, and canal, Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal. Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair, Senator, spectator, mayor. Tour, but our and succour, four. Gas, alas, and Arkansas. Sea, idea, Korea, area, Psalm, Maria, but malaria. Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean. Doctrine, turpentine, marine. Compare alien with Italian, Dandelion and battalion. Sally with ally, yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key. Say aver, but ever, fever, Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver. Heron, granary, canary. Crevice and device and aerie. Face, but preface, not efface. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass. Large, but target, gin, give, verging, Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging. Ear, but earn and wear and tear Do not rhyme with here but ere. Seven is right, but so is even, Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen, Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk, Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work. Pronunciation -- think of Psyche! Is a paling stout and spikey? Won't it make you lose your wits, Writing groats and saying grits? It's a dark abyss or tunnel: Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale, Islington and Isle of Wight, Housewife, verdict and indict. Finally, which rhymes with enough -- Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough? Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is to give up!!! | ||
Sent.
Poland9048 Posts
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GreenHorizons
United States22117 Posts
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JimmiC
Canada22817 Posts
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Uldridge
Belgium4324 Posts
Also, how do I eloquently rewrite the last sentence without making it seem like it's the car that's doing the waiting, but the driver, but also without being convoluted? Like, everyone will know it's not actually the car that's doing the waiting, but grammatically it seems so silly.. | ||
Acrofales
Spain17585 Posts
On September 26 2018 06:44 Uldridge wrote: Is it illegal to randomly enter a car that's already being handled at the time of entry (not entering via the driver's door to replace the driver). For instance, entering the back door of a car that is waiting for a green light. Also, how do I eloquently rewrite the last sentence without making it seem like it's the car that's doing the waiting, but the driver, but also without being convoluted? Like, everyone will know it's not actually the car that's doing the waiting, but grammatically it seems so silly.. It'd be unlawful entry, so yes, it's illegal. If all you do is sit down for a chat, it's merely very creepy and it's a misdemeanor in most places. If you steal shit or threaten people, it becomes burglary or assault or so, which is a felony. Although merely entering a car whose occupants you don't know might be considered threatening, and that might be enough for an assault charge. I dunno. In any case, yes, it's illegal. As for your grammar, it seems fine. The car is also waiting. If you prefer you can say "stopped for a red light", which is the more used phrase. | ||
Uldridge
Belgium4324 Posts
Ok then, let's expand to your very creepy chat bit. How would you approach to driver to make it as little creepy as you can? Do you think you can win the person over and even let him/her drive you a little bit? What would you have to do? | ||
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