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The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

calvin.sh

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Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#431
post #3

Here's the go-to for counting stuff in pictures of lots of stuff: https://countthings.com/ This would probably be a hard case for it! But would be cool to see how well it works.

Hrm, that app seems to be shit, measuring only by its licensing system.

But I wonder about an app that can count things automatically, plus maybe also work out counts of 3D shapes by counting visible things and making estimates about packing ratios. A sort of "how many M&Ms are in the jar calculator" app. That'd be neat (and would ruin a fun game).

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#432

From a 2014 reddit post[0]: > This is actually not a million dollars in singles. It is over $1,000,000. The box was created with the wrong dimensions by the contractor, but they still decided to fill it, display it, and claim it is $1,000,000. > > Source: Tour Guide at the Chicago Fed [0] https://old.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/2f9sp7/one_million_do...

> The box was created with the wrong dimensions by the contractor, but they still decided to fill it

This sort of implies that it was cheaper to just go with he extra cash needed than to do a cube with the right dimensions?

But then again it's the Fed, so they probably just printed more money. (Which also costs money, though?)

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if the person saying that means “Friday this week” sometimes and “Friday next week” other times? How can you know that they don’t from an isolated utterance? Can you know with reasonable certainty that the person saying it knows what you think they mean? From context you might know if it seems like they know how to use the phrase, but I always struggle to understand these quirks, perhaps because I heard these te…

> What if the person saying that means “Friday this week” sometimes and “Friday next week” other times? Well, I suppose they could, but then what if they meant Thursday? “Friday week” is surprisingly unambiguous. It always means “count forward from today until a Friday, then add a week”. Its partner is “Friday coming”, which is “count forward until a Friday”.

> “Friday week” is surprisingly unambiguous. It always means “count forward from today until a Friday, then add a week”.

Well, no, the typical case would be that it means nothing at all and the other person thinks you're having a stroke. Zero potential meanings isn't actually better than two potential meanings.

You know what's really unambiguous? "Friday the 8th".

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a danish artist that got a very large amount of cash to do a similar in spirit artwork. He then named it “take the money and run” and showcased what amounted to an empty frame.

wasn't he sued by the museum and made to pay it back?

Sort of. A third party paid it seems.

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What if the person saying that means “Friday this week” sometimes and “Friday next week” other times? Well, I suppose they could, but then what if they meant Thursday? “Friday week” is surprisingly unambiguous. It always means “count forward from today until a Friday, then add a week”. Its partner is “Friday coming”, which is “count forward until a Friday”.

> “Friday week” is surprisingly unambiguous. It always means “count forward from today until a Friday, then add a week”. Well, no, the typical case would be that it means nothing at all and the other person thinks you're having a stroke. Zero potential meanings isn't actually better than two potential meanings. You know what's really unambiguous? "Friday the 8th".

I've been using Friday week type constructs for many decades .. never had an issue.

> You know what's really unambiguous? "Friday the 8th".

Sorry, of which month in which year under what calender?

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “Friday week” is surprisingly unambiguous. It always means “count forward from today until a Friday, then add a week”. Well, no, the typical case would be that it means nothing at all and the other person thinks you're having a stroke. Zero potential meanings isn't actually better than two potential meanings. You know what's really unambiguous? "Friday the 8th".

I've been using Friday week type constructs for many decades .. never had an issue. > You know what's really unambiguous? "Friday the 8th". Sorry, of which month in which year under what calender?

> Sorry, of which month in which year under what calender?

Whichever could be a theoretical possibility for whatever you're describing the date of. In almost all cases, there will only be one choice. But in other cases, the speaker will provide the rest of the date.

Re: The Fed says this is a cube of $1M. They're off by half a million

#439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I hear it, it befuddles me just like the first time. It seems like a syntax error or something. My mind literally reels, like the idea is a fish and I can nearly feel the fishing line drag but the syntax and grammar isn’t rigidly applied, and so I can’t increase the tension or the line will snap, as it isn’t rated for this hefty and impactful of an idea as when something occurs specifically. I don’t know i…

It's like saying "half ten" instead of "ten thirty". There's a missing word, it's "half past ten", it's "friday next week".

In Dutch the literal translation is "half tien" which means 9:30 in Dutch. This can be quite confusing ;)
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