• (cs) in reply to dkf
    dkf:
    Ted:
    A train leaves Town A going south at 9AM. It is scheduled to arrive at Town B, 60 miles away, at 10AM. However, due to track construction, it is only able to average 30MPH for the first half of the trip. How fast must it average during the second half of the trip in order to arrive at Town B on time?
    But the train won't be on time; that would violate the fundamental rule of railways, which is to arrive late when it has the greatest chance of inconveniencing the passengers.

    Plus, is “first half of trip” talking about time or distance? If it's the latter, how do you propose to decelerate the train afterwards without destroying Town B? And the rest of the hemisphere too.

    Ted:
    To simplify the calculation, you may assume the train is the size of a single point and can change speed instantaneously.
    So now we've got a singularity with a mass of a few hundred tons undergoing an instantaneous deceleration from c to rest? (The first 30 miles took 1 hour, so we've got to do the rest instantly, which means about light speed. Good approximation anyway.) That's going to be spectacular, but please do this experiment on another planet.

    Use quantum tunnelling. That should work.

    We built a quantum tunnel between Dover and Calais a few years ago, but it sort of works in the other way: a train goes in one and emerges at the other end sometime after a few weeks have elapsed. To the passengers on the train the perceived time is several years, which shows the effectiveness of the time dilation effect.

  • (cs) in reply to Ted
    Ted:
    If it is traveling at the speed of light, how will the engineer know when he has arrived at Town B?

    And I never said it had to stop once it got there. It could just toss the passengers and keep going.

    He'll hear the bell, silly.

    As for the passengers, there won't be any, they all take the plane nowadays, or they drive. So no worries.

  • (cs) in reply to Nagesh
    Nagesh:
    hoodaticus:
    Ted:
    A train leaves Town A going south at 9AM. It is scheduled to arrive at Town B, 60 miles away, at 10AM. However, due to track construction, it is only able to average 30MPH for the first half of the trip. How fast must it average during the second half of the trip in order to arrive at Town B on time?

    To simplify the calculation, you may assume the train is the size of a single point and can change speed instantaneously.

    Instantaneous speed changes are for algebra weenies.

    MY CALCLATION TELLS ME ANSER IS APPROX 90 MPH. THIS IS PURE MENTAL CALCLATION.

    IS IT ALOWED TO GO THAT FAST?

    If this was the UK, no worries, trains can go as fast as 125 mph there. As the time between stops is 1 hour, that presupposes that this is an intercity train, and therefore one of those fast ones, so 90 mph is no problem.

    So, because of the maintenance on that first 15 miles of track having been scheduled beforehand, the timetable has been amended so that the usual half hour that is allowed for the journey (for which the train would travel at 120 mph) has been extended to 1 hour. Hence the question.

  • Jim (unregistered)

    Maybe it wasn't an Astros game. Maybe it was a Cardinals game that happened to be at Minute Maid Park.

  • (cs) in reply to Matt Westwood
    Matt Westwood:
    da Doctah:
    If a train leaves Chicago at 9 am going south, how long will it take before the passengers realize they're going the wrong way?

    Disregard friction, and assume a spherical dining car.

    Assuming this is a serious question: till someone looks out of what they assume is the west window and see the sun in the sky?

    I was under the impression that you usually can't see the sun in Chicago.

    Anyway....

    I initially tried to write my post in the form of a limerick. After juggling phrases like "disregarding air friction" and "show your work" and the desired final line "And assuming a spherical cow", I decided I couldn't pull it off without spending more time polishing it.

    That settled, I chose instead to allude to a line in the Disney movie "Sky High!", in which a bunch of super-powered high-school kids are in the midst of a study session with homework involving superhero matters. One reads a problem: "Your hero flies north at 300 miles per hour for 15 minutes. His archenemy is tunneling south at 200 miles per hour for ten minutes. Assuming your hero has X-ray vision, how long would it take for him to realize he's going the wrong way?"

  • Friedrich the Great (unregistered) in reply to I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    Also Matt Westwood:
    Matt Westwood:
    Who among who is Matt Westwood?!

    Who cares, you ignorant, unwashed YANK!. Why don't you go learn bloody units like the rest of the bloody world and while you're at it, quit dragging the world economy ino the toilet. Fucking 'murikans is why we can't have nice things.

    FTFY. If your going to impersinate Matt Westwood, you have to put in more effor than that.

    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    Matt Westwood is a myth.
  • (cs) in reply to I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    Also Matt Westwood:
    Matt Westwood:
    Who among who is Matt Westwood?!

    Who cares, you ignorant, unwashed YANK!. Why don't you go learn bloody units like the rest of the bloody world and while you're at it, quit dragging the world economy ino the toilet. Fucking 'murikans is why we can't have nice things.

    FTFY. If your going to impersinate Matt Westwood, you have to put in more effor than that.

    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Spartacus!
  • (cs) in reply to da Doctah
    da Doctah:
    That settled, I chose instead to allude to a line in the Disney movie "Sky High!", in which a bunch of super-powered high-school kids are in the midst of a study session with homework involving superhero matters. One reads a problem: "Your hero flies north at 300 miles per hour for 15 minutes. His archenemy is tunneling south at 200 miles per hour for ten minutes. Assuming your hero has X-ray vision, how long would it take for him to realize he's going the wrong way?"

    LOL.

    It seems to me that the amount of time would be inversely proportional to the superhero's IQ, with an upper limit of about 49.7 hours.

    (The archenemy's IQ is irrelevant since, by the rules of superheroism, any archenemy is always dumber than the superhero.)

  • Shinobu (unregistered)

    CGA in the metro again huh? Also, someone needs to tell those Italians about leeks.

  • (cs) in reply to da Doctah
    da Doctah:
    I was under the impression that you usually can't see the sun in Chicago.
    I think you're mixed up with Seattle there.
  • (cs) in reply to dkf
    dkf:
    da Doctah:
    I was under the impression that you usually can't see the sun in Chicago.
    I think you're mixed up with Seattle there.
    Actually, the sun is invisible everywhere in the US. Instead there's a big dome all over the entire country, with a skyscape projected onto it from a bank of video recordings. What you think is the sun is a big yellow circle that was painted by grade-schoolers.
  • Syntax (unregistered) in reply to Matt Westwood

    Best way to book a holiday off is to not turn up. If anyone notices, they'll just be worried... and if they don't notice, you've wasted your life so carry on taking days off.

  • (cs) in reply to hoodaticus
    hoodaticus:
    airdrik:
    hoodaticus:
    The arrival time of the train is the indefinite integral of what now?
    It's the sum of the bulbs that are lit to the right of the integral sign, with the green ones being worth 2.
    Okay, so at least two of us know what an integral is :).
    But notice that it's a contour integral, presumably being taken around the train's route.

    The part of the problem I'm having trouble with is deciding whether that's an element operator or a Euro symbol; the latter would imply z < 1/2, since the more you pay the rail company, the faster their service will be.

  • (cs) in reply to Watson
    Watson:
    the more you pay the rail company, the faster their service will be
    I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter ;)
  • RR (unregistered)

    Broccoli rabe is a real vegetable.

  • (cs) in reply to Syntax
    Syntax:
    Best way to book a holiday off is to not turn up. If anyone notices, they'll just be worried... and if they don't notice, you've wasted your life so carry on taking days off.

    The only problem with that approach is that, the one time I inadvertently did it (I left messages that I wasn't coming in on the voice mails of several other people who also didn't come in that day, so my boss didn't get the information), they sent the police to my house to look for me.

    The boss claimed to be worried that something had happened to me, but confidentially I think he just liked the chance to put out an APB on me.

  • (cs) in reply to RR
    RR:
    Broccoli rabe is a real vegetable.
    Of course, that's perfectly normal on a small embedded device with no file system.
  • (cs) in reply to Kuba
    Kuba:
    Watson:
    the more you pay the rail company, the faster their service will be
    I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter ;)
    Better Living Through Bribery? That one?
  • (cs) in reply to aptent2
    aptent2:
    To the Ubuntu user with 8400 hours of battery life: At least you don't have the opposite problem.

    On my laptop running Mint, if I unplug it while the battery life is anything less than 90%, I immediately get a popup stating that the battery is critically low and then the system goes to hibernate.

    Then when I bring it back out of hibernate, it will run on battery just fine for another 4-5 hours.

    You know you can disable that, right? You can also enter a time for that warning that is small enough to be usefull, albeirt it will only work if you battery monitor does indeed monitor the battery, insteady of always reading 4 minutes of remaining time.

  • Jeff Grigg (unregistered)

    I too would be glad to donate $0.000000000000002 to his campaign! ;->

  • Mark Whybird (unregistered) in reply to A Gould

    Well, there is also at least one HR system in real-world use where if a given employee leaves for a while, and is later re-employeed, all forms of leave are calculated as if they kept accruing during the time the person didn't work there. Nice.

    (And, yes, i only got to looking at the commenst because my submission made it in... so FIRST!)

    Captcha: laoreet. The unfortunate sound made last time I LMAO.

  • Mark Whybird (unregistered) in reply to Mark Whybird
    Mark Whybird:
    commenst
    Also, I specialise in tyops.
  • Captain Unobvious (unregistered)

    The figure in the letter only has 15 decimal places.

  • My Name (unregistered) in reply to Mike-RaWare
    Mike-RaWare:
    And that's why you should not put your prices in floating points.
    Then how, dear Sir, would you suggest to store prices? Mayhap we should use a "decimal" type? Mayhap we should use only programming languages that provide a "decimal" type? Enlighten me, oh dear Sir.
  • Kempeth (unregistered)

    The canteen where I go eating most workdays has some pretty creative spelling on their menu's. In Switzerland you always have to consider that the menu entry might just be written in "Swiss German" dialect (which means all bets are off concerning orthography). But that is actually pretty rare at that place so we're back to misspellings and typos.

    Their favorites are "Mascarbone" and "Donats". Considering the frequency by which they appear on the menu you'd think someone would look them up sometime...

  • Don (unregistered) in reply to Listicath
    We finally got it shelved by gaming the system.
    See, this here is what pisses most people off about management. Complain about how the systems is screwing the employees, then "it's an ongoing problem, we're looking into it, blah blah fishcake". When the system starts benefiting employees in ways management couldn't foresee, then it's suddenly a problem.

    We had this kinda thing in a company I worked in a few years back. If you clocked in on the dot, then you were fine; but for eg at 6:01, you were only acknowledged at 6:15; likewise if you clocked out at 16:59, you only got acknowledged as 16:45. This lead to many employees being short of up to 2hrs per week, being forced to take leave for that time - despite often working overtime (the clocks ALSO refused to acknowledge overtime). This lead to the inevitable people lining up at the clock at one minute to the hour, clocking on the dot; and serious degradation in work ethics and quality. Once management found out that people were actually working less as a result - one guy would start his logout process at 16:30 to clock out at 17:00 - the tune was quickly changed.

    Same old "we can screw you, but don't you ever screw us".

  • QJo (unregistered) in reply to Don
    Don:
    We finally got it shelved by gaming the system.
    See, this here is what pisses most people off about management. Complain about how the systems is screwing the employees, then "it's an ongoing problem, we're looking into it, blah blah fishcake". When the system starts benefiting employees in ways management couldn't foresee, then it's suddenly a problem.

    We had this kinda thing in a company I worked in a few years back. If you clocked in on the dot, then you were fine; but for eg at 6:01, you were only acknowledged at 6:15; likewise if you clocked out at 16:59, you only got acknowledged as 16:45. This lead to many employees being short of up to 2hrs per week, being forced to take leave for that time - despite often working overtime (the clocks ALSO refused to acknowledge overtime). This lead to the inevitable people lining up at the clock at one minute to the hour, clocking on the dot; and serious degradation in work ethics and quality. Once management found out that people were actually working less as a result - one guy would start his logout process at 16:30 to clock out at 17:00 - the tune was quickly changed.

    Same old "we can screw you, but don't you ever screw us".

    That seems wrong to me. The prudent and diligent worker would make sure they did not clock in late. I would mistrust any member of staff who deliberately made sure they didn't get to work before precisely their official start. As for clocking off before your official clocking off, same applies. So it sounds like the company you worked for were a bunch of clockwatchers.

    However, the bit about not registering overtime smells a bit.

  • Antonio (unregistered)

    Actually, the recipe for "Porchetta" is totally ambiguous.

    Italian "porchetta" is eaten alone. Instead, pork sausages with broccoli are the Neapolitan dish "salsicce e friarielli", and that's the opposite of bad, believe me

  • Rodnas (unregistered) in reply to Ted
    Ted:
    A train leaves Town A going south at 9AM. It is scheduled to arrive at Town B, 60 miles away, at 10AM. However, due to track construction, it is only able to average 30MPH for the first half of the trip. How fast must it average during the second half of the trip in order to arrive at Town B on time?

    To simplify the calculation, you may assume the train is the size of a single point and can change speed instantaneously.

    Omelette du fromage!

  • Eddy (unregistered) in reply to Jabrwock
    Jabrwock:
    Huffington Post does this too many times.

    "OMG look at this naughty word that means something completely different in the context it's used in! Crazy foreigners! LOL"

    It reminds me of the time I wanted to order a pizza in France and several pizza's listed rape (no accents, sue me frenchies) as an ingredient. I actually giggled, although I realised it probably meant something else. Later found out that raper is the french verb for "to grate". And rape was short for grated cheese. It's kind of like how crepe sounds kind of like crap.

  • (cs) in reply to lolwtf
    lolwtf:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    Also Matt Westwood:
    Matt Westwood:
    Who among who is Matt Westwood?!

    Who cares, you ignorant, unwashed YANK!. Why don't you go learn bloody units like the rest of the bloody world and while you're at it, quit dragging the world economy ino the toilet. Fucking 'murikans is why we can't have nice things.

    FTFY. If your going to impersinate Matt Westwood, you have to put in more effor than that.

    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Spartacus!
    [image]
  • Name is Unimportant (unregistered)

    This first picture is close to being a WTF in and of itself. Low resolution coupled with an outrageous compression level makes the word "placeholder" all but unreadable. Skimp on bandwidth like it's 1995, and we won't be able to see your pictures. Come on guys, WTF?

  • guess who (unregistered) in reply to Ted
    Ted:
    A train leaves Town A going south at 9AM. It is scheduled to arrive at Town B, 60 miles away, at 10AM. However, due to track construction, it is only able to average 30MPH for the first half of the trip. How fast must it average during the second half of the trip in order to arrive at Town B on time?

    To simplify the calculation, you may assume the train is the size of a single point and can change speed instantaneously.

    The train can go as slow as you want as long as it reaches 88mph sometime during the trip (or even later). Naturally, I'm assuming this train has a flux capacitor installed and fueled.

  • Bacon (unregistered) in reply to hoodaticus
    Kelvin is a unit, not a scale. It doesn't have degrees, e.g., "The temperature at which water freezes is apx 273 Kelvins".

    It is most certainly a scale. The unit on the Kelvin temperature scale is a Kelvin. (On the other hand, the unit on the Celcius temperature scale is a degree Celsius.) You are correct only that one does not use the word "degrees" with Kelvin.

  • Jay (unregistered) in reply to TMYK...
    TMYK...:
    Rapeseed oil has high levels of erucic acid. Canola has been processed to lower the acid -- CANadian Oil, Low Acid = CANOLA.

    Oh. I guess this means I should call off the protest I was planning against the destruction of our nation's once-great forests of canola plants just to create cooking oil.

    Ah well, now I can devote the energy to picketing naugahyde factories, to stop the senseless slaughter of young nauga before all the nauga herds are wiped out.

  • (cs) in reply to lolwtf
    lolwtf:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    I am Matt Westwood!:
    Also Matt Westwood:
    Matt Westwood:
    Who among who is Matt Westwood?!

    Who cares, you ignorant, unwashed YANK!. Why don't you go learn bloody units like the rest of the bloody world and while you're at it, quit dragging the world economy ino the toilet. Fucking 'murikans is why we can't have nice things.

    FTFY. If your going to impersinate Matt Westwood, you have to put in more effor than that.

    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Matt Westwood!
    I am Spartacus!

    I am one and only Nagesh!

  • Jay (unregistered)

    Funny that when he's campaigning, this politician is concerned about tiny fractions of a penny, but once elected, he'll refer to anything less than one hundred billion dollars as "miscellaneous" or "rounding error".

  • Doc Brown (unregistered) in reply to guess who
    guess who:
    Ted:
    A train leaves Town A going south at 9AM. It is scheduled to arrive at Town B, 60 miles away, at 10AM. However, due to track construction, it is only able to average 30MPH for the first half of the trip. How fast must it average during the second half of the trip in order to arrive at Town B on time?

    To simplify the calculation, you may assume the train is the size of a single point and can change speed instantaneously.

    The train can go as slow as you want as long as it reaches 88mph sometime during the trip (or even later). Naturally, I'm assuming this train has a flux capacitor installed and fueled.

    I'm sure that in 1985 plutonium is available in every corner drugstore, but in 2011 it's a little hard to come by.

  • Rkn (unregistered) in reply to Jerry
    Jerry:
    Pay attention! That is 165 degrees Celsius. Who knows what that might be in real degrees, but it is probably cold.

    REAL DEGREES? You either mean trigonometry degrees by that.. Or you ... I don't even know. Celsius degrees are real FYI. (Unless you are american)

  • Randy Snicker (unregistered) in reply to Rkn
    Rkn:
    Jerry:
    Pay attention! That is 165 degrees Celsius. Who knows what that might be in real degrees, but it is probably cold.

    REAL DEGREES? You either mean trigonometry degrees by that.. Or you ... I don't even know. Celsius degrees are real FYI. (Unless you are american)

    A friend of mine went to Celsius and now has MSc in Trigonometry and BSc in Temperature.

  • eluros (unregistered)

    lol that was some nice wtf's i lol'd broccoli rape? WTF?

    Have Some Fun eluros.com

  • SuperTulle (unregistered) in reply to Jerry
    Jerry:
    Pay attention! That is 165 degrees Celsius. Who knows what that might be in real degrees, but it is probably cold.

    Celsius IS real degrees! The only ones in the world who doesn't use it are the US, Belize and scientists. Fahrenheit is IMO an illogical scale, as it is based on a ice/salt mixture that Fahrenheit made on the spot. It has no logical bases in temperature, at least in base ten.

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