Global wave discovery ends 220-year search • Hacker News Board

Re: Global wave discovery ends 220-year search

#31

Post by Someone » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 6:23 AM UTC

kebman wrote: post #6

Not sure if it's completely related, but I found the phenomena of the North Atlantic Oscillation [1] to be particulary useful in predicting long-term weather around the South of Norway. This time around, in December 2019, I predicted a rather cold summer in Norway. I made that prediction because the winter was particularly warm and snow-less in the South East between late 2019 and early 2020. For the most part I've b…

It seems likely those large scale variations correlate with summer temperatures, but from the information you give there, that’s n=1, self-evaluated, after removal of values that do not fit the prediction.

Are you sure this can be used to make predictions for single seasons?

Re: Global wave discovery ends 220-year search

#32

Post by thaumasiotes » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 6:30 AM UTC

mehrdadn wrote: post #26

SAI_Peregrinus wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that there is an infinite number of atoms and of kinds of atoms Well, that bit is wrong. Especially if you take the fundamental constituents of what are now called atoms: 6 quarks, 6 antiquarks, 6 leptons (counting neutrinos), 6 antileptons, 5 gauge bosons, 1 scalar boson. Only 30, possibly + whatever dark matter and dark energy are.

We don't know how many kinds of atoms there are, and infinite is pretty damn accurate all things considered. And it's pretty disingenuous to go out of your way to take quarks to mean what he called atoms just so you can claim he's wrong.

Are you seriously suggesting that when Democritus referred to "uncuttable things", he meant to describe particles that would in the future be named after his work rather than to describe particles that were indivisible?

Re: Global wave discovery ends 220-year search

#33

Post by mehrdadn » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 6:44 AM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #32

mehrdadn wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't know how many kinds of atoms there are, and infinite is pretty damn accurate all things considered. And it's pretty disingenuous to go out of your way to take quarks to mean what he called atoms just so you can claim he's wrong.

Are you seriously suggesting that when Democritus referred to "uncuttable things", he meant to describe particles that would in the future be named after his work rather than to describe particles that were indivisible?

If you genuinely find that interpretation of my statement plausible then I don't really have anything to add.

Re: Global wave discovery ends 220-year search

#34

Post by thaumasiotes » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 6:47 AM UTC

mehrdadn wrote: post #33

thaumasiotes wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you seriously suggesting that when Democritus referred to "uncuttable things", he meant to describe particles that would in the future be named after his work rather than to describe particles that were indivisible?

If you genuinely find that interpretation of my statement plausible then I don't really have anything to add.

Here's your statement:

> And it's pretty disingenuous to go out of your way to take quarks to mean what he called atoms just so you can claim he's wrong.

You can try to identify atoms by his description of them, in which case you'd have to choose fundamental particles. But you've already explicitly chosen to interpret Democritus' "atoms" as identical with our "atoms", despite the fact that they do not exhibit any of the characteristics Democritus described. What can I conclude except that you think Democritus, in the past, named his concept after ours, in the future?

Re: Global wave discovery ends 220-year search

#35

Post by baxtr » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 6:53 AM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

Laplace had an amazing mind. He connected so many dots, and everything I've done in the last four years with respect to digital signal processing ends up rooted in something he discovered or postulated or analyzed. Fascinating, but not too surprising, that he shows up in the weather as well.

A bit off topic: I always wondered how people Laplace and his likes made a living. How could he think about these things and get through life? does anyone know?

Re: Global wave discovery ends 220-year search

#36

Post by stan_rogers » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 7:18 AM UTC

baxtr wrote: post #35

ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

Laplace had an amazing mind. He connected so many dots, and everything I've done in the last four years with respect to digital signal processing ends up rooted in something he discovered or postulated or analyzed. Fascinating, but not too surprising, that he shows up in the weather as well.

A bit off topic: I always wondered how people Laplace and his likes made a living. How could he think about these things and get through life? does anyone know?

Like most of the "great minds" of the age, he was a gentleman scientist. That is, he came from some wealth that was mostly self-maintaining (in his case, family agricultural holdings - not super-rich, but not having to make his own living either). After Napoleon, he was promoted to middling nobility with all of the privileges that entails.

Re: Global wave discovery ends 220-year search

#37

Post by waheoo » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 7:22 AM UTC

baxtr wrote: post #35

ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

Laplace had an amazing mind. He connected so many dots, and everything I've done in the last four years with respect to digital signal processing ends up rooted in something he discovered or postulated or analyzed. Fascinating, but not too surprising, that he shows up in the weather as well.

A bit off topic: I always wondered how people Laplace and his likes made a living. How could he think about these things and get through life? does anyone know?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Simon_Laplace

According to his great-great-grandson,[4] d'Alembert received him rather poorly, and to get rid of him gave him a thick mathematics book, saying to come back when he had read it. When Laplace came back a few days later, d'Alembert was even less friendly and did not hide his opinion that it was impossible that Laplace could have read and understood the book. But upon questioning him, he realised that it was true, and from that time he took Laplace under his care.

Another account is that Laplace solved overnight a problem that d'Alembert set him for submission the following week, then solved a harder problem the following night. D'Alembert was impressed and recommended him for a teaching place in the École Militaire.[8]

With a secure income and undemanding teaching, Laplace now threw himself into original research and for the next seventeen years, 1771–1787, he produced much of his original work in astronomy.[9]

Re: Global wave discovery ends 220-year search

#38

Post by waheoo » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 7:29 AM UTC

stan_rogers wrote: post #36

baxtr wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bit off topic: I always wondered how people Laplace and his likes made a living. How could he think about these things and get through life? does anyone know?

Like most of the "great minds" of the age, he was a gentleman scientist. That is, he came from some wealth that was mostly self-maintaining (in his case, family agricultural holdings - not super-rich, but not having to make his own living either). After Napoleon, he was promoted to middling nobility with all of the privileges that entails.

I don't understand the quotes here. Are you saying rich people can't have great minds? Or are you saying they had it easy? If so, whats your point?

Its a bit like saying Jeff Bezos, bill gates, Steve jobs and others are all a product of the time. I'm not going to say they're not, but that doesn't make their achievements any less great to me.

Re: Global wave discovery ends 220-year search

#39

Post by baxtr » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 9:13 AM UTC

waheoo wrote: post #37

baxtr wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bit off topic: I always wondered how people Laplace and his likes made a living. How could he think about these things and get through life? does anyone know?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Simon_Laplace According to his great-great-grandson,[4] d'Alembert received him rather poorly, and to get rid of him gave him a thick mathematics book, saying to come back when he had read it. When Laplace came back a few days later, d'Alembert was even less friendly and did not hide his opinion that it was impossible that Laplace could have read and understood the book. But upo…

So, look for an undemanding job and have a side project?!

Re: Global wave discovery ends 220-year search

#40

Post by tejohnso » Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 1:11 PM UTC

waheoo wrote: post #38

stan_rogers wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like most of the "great minds" of the age, he was a gentleman scientist. That is, he came from some wealth that was mostly self-maintaining (in his case, family agricultural holdings - not super-rich, but not having to make his own living either). After Napoleon, he was promoted to middling nobility with all of the privileges that entails.

I don't understand the quotes here. Are you saying rich people can't have great minds? Or are you saying they had it easy? If so, whats your point? Its a bit like saying Jeff Bezos, bill gates, Steve jobs and others are all a product of the time. I'm not going to say they're not, but that doesn't make their achievements any less great to me.

Quotes don't always imply a negative connotation.

Could simply mean to call attention to a common phrase, with the typical colloquial meaning intended.