[bg;EN] По Минковски, но не точно *** After Minkowski, but Not Quite

Съществуването на времепространство се вижда от възможността да бъдеш телом в един часови пояс, а духом — в друг.

***

The existence of spacetime is demonstrated by the possibility of being bodily in one time zone and mentally in another.

[EN] Thing, Size, Average

What is the size of the average thing in the Universe?

(WNYC Radiolab podcast; hyperlink at bottom.)

It is, of course, difficult to tackle this properly in only half an hour and for a pretty wide audience.

According to the way the question was posed, a thing is something unitary:

a star is a thing, a galaxy is not.

So, is a gas cloud a thing?

If not, when exactly does it become a thing as it condenses into a star?

(Note: both the Planck length and the estimated size of the Universe cannot really be considered sizes of things, but rather dimensions of the fabric of the Universe (metaphorically speaking).)

What is the size of very small things?

Quantum objects are nothing like solid bodies and defining size for them is non-trivial, if at all meaningful.

(Note: natural language does not have suitable words for describing quantum objects (for obvious reasons); the language of a branch of mathematics (functional analysis) does, but few people learn it.)

What is average?

Arithmetic mean, geometric mean, median?

The mode of a unimodal distribution?

Typical (an informal notion)?

Then, do we want a weighted average?

Do we accept a mean on a logarithmic scale (the mean of powers, i.e. exponents)?

The notion of a right answer depends on answering the above (and probably more) and that is quite some endeavor.

Now, ignoring all or most of that, in the podcast they approached the question twice and both times they arrived at the size of a big eucariot cell, about 0.1 mm (about 1/250").

<https://radiolab.org/podcast/average-show>

[bg/en/la/ru] „За един пробит долар“

Толкова много е казано за парите, че следното даже не одрасква повърхността.

„Non olet pecunia.“

(Vespasianus)

«Как государство богатеет,

И чем живет, и почему

Не нужно золото ему,

Когда оно простой продукт имеет.

Отец его понять не мог

И земли отдавал в залог.»

(Пушкин, «Евгений Онегин»)

„Парите са свобода във формата на монети.“

(Казва го главната героиня в „Живот назаем“ от Ремарк, но забравих от кого е всъщност.)

"Money makes the world go around."

(Cabaret)

"Money, so they say,

Is the root of all evil today."

(Pink Floyd)

"My money, that's all you want to talk about,

But I can see what you want me to be

And I'm no fool,

It's in the lap of the gods."

(Queen)

"Money, money, money,

Always sunny

In the rich men's world."

(ABBA)

„Пари ми дай, акъл не ща.“

(традиционен български отговор на съвети)

„Щастието не е в парите, но не е и в тяхното отсъствие.“

(традиционно)

„С пари се страда по-достойно.“

(семейна поговорка)

[bg;EN] Детерминизъм *** Determinism

Въпросът дали във Вселената има детерминизъм е крайно нетривиален, но понякога е несъществен, например:

Подсъдим:

Трябва да ме оправдаете, защото ми беше писано да извърша това деяние.

Съдия:

А на мене ми е писано да те осъдя.

***

The problem of determinism in the Universe is highly non-trivial, but sometimes it is not essential, for example:

Defendant:

You must acquit me, because it was preordained that I should perform this act.

Judge:

And it is preordained that I should convict you.

[EN] SO Means...

Only off the top of my head, in alphabetical order:

shared object;

shift out (control character);

significant other;

source (`troff' abbreviation);

sulphur oxide.

(All known meanings must number over a hundred, I'm sure.)

[EN] "Vendor Technology Issue"

Bloody corporate speak...

And it is high time to hold software engineering to similar standards as electrical engineering and civil engineering.

What must happen before the world understands this is not a job for sloppy semi-educated people¿

BBC News post about today's American Airlines outage:

<https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cy7knk1e212t?post=asset%3A4e51ad1c-f6d6-4e5d-85f7-04ee60f75d89#post>

[bg;EN] Мета-кръгово определение *** A Meta-circular Definition

Смисълът на животът е в търсенето на този смисъл.

Както щастието е в преследването на щастие.

***

The meaning of life is in the search for this meaning.

Just like happiness is found in chasing happiness.