lostinbr

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A clock measures the earth's rotation. As we stand here on it. Is that clock any good as you leave earth? Nope. It's a useless trinket then.

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The original units may have been defined based on the rotation of the Earth, but the standard is no longer tied to that rotation. Nowadays the second is defined based on fundamental properties of matter - specifically the resonant frequency of Cesium-133. Which means that the origin of the unit might be meaningless on another planet, but the unit itself is just as applicable wherever you go.

But to your point, it’s really no different than any other measurement. The kilogram was originally defined based on the mass of 1 liter of water, but it’s just as meaningful when you’re measuring a container full of nitrogen.

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Werner and the boys blew up a few themselves.

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I’d say they blew up more than a few.

Long post, sorry.. but a thought experiment I’ve kicked around over the years:

I think a lot of people find the concept of spacetime unsatisfying because it seems inconsistent - why can we travel both directions in the space dimension, but only one direction in the time dimension?

So imagine I walk down a hallway from my bedroom to my living room. When I get to the end of the hallway, I can turn around and walk back to my bedroom. But when I get to the end of the hallway, I can’t rewind time back to when I left the bedroom.

But.. what if I could rewind time? What would happen? Well, since all of the chemical and electrical processes that formed my memory of walking down the hallway would reverse, I’d have no memory of it. So maybe time isn’t one-directional at all; maybe it’s just that our experience of time is one-directional because of how entropy shapes that experience.

Another way to think about it is: if being able to accept time as bidirectional requires us to somehow retain our memories, what’s the actual analog for that in the space dimension? So I walk down the hallway to the living room then somehow manage to isolate my brain/memories while time reverses and I end up back in the bedroom. What’s the spatial analog for that?

Well.. it would be like walking down the hallway to the living room, somehow isolating the hallway behind you, then walking back to the bedroom while your bedroom is still behind you. Just as the time example requires the bedroom to be both in your future and past when time reverses, the space example requires your bedroom to be both in front of you and behind you when you turn around. From that perspective, neither is possible - meaning both space and time are one-directional.

To me it seems that either A) both space and time are bidirectional and we just can’t wrap our heads around it because of memory/entropy, or B) neither space nor time are bidirectional and we’re just using flawed logic to convince ourselves that we can travel both directions through space. The distinction between the two options mostly comes down to how we choose to define bidirectionality.

Anyhow, that’s my TED Talk for tonight. :cheers:

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The way it ended the next episode has to be a continuation of this one. Glad to hear we are getting two episodes next week.

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I suspect one of those episodes will be a retelling of this episode from Patricia’s/Wyck’s POV to fill in the gaps.

The flashback to his wife’s hospitalization was interesting. She was on the ferry when she lost her sight so.. she left the island and then died (presumably)? I wonder if she was intentionally trying to give birth on the mainland. And now their kid can’t leave the island because they really did turn the ferry around? Assuming the curse is real, anyhow.

ETA: Also, were we supposed to know who that was in the opening scene crawling through the snow? They were obviously eating the same mushrooms but I wasn’t clear on whether that was some mysterious flashback or someone I was supposed to recognize.

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I think of this as more of an indictment on the energy policies over the past 20+ years, solar and wind turbines are "great" on paper but at what cost in terms of scaling up power on demand?

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I don’t think the actual problem has much (if anything) to do with renewables.

The Meta data center in north Louisiana is planned for 5 GW. Average power consumption for the entire state of Louisiana was ~10.9 GW in 2024. Peak usage was obviously considerably higher, but this all illustrates the point: a single customer using 5 GW fundamentally changes the power market in the state.

The details of the contract between Entergy and Meta are secret. But Entergy, as a regulated utility, is guaranteed to recoup any costs (plus associated profits) that aren’t covered by the secret contract.. from the rest of the rate-paying public.

It’s a perfect example of “privatize the gains, socialize the losses” and it goes against the entire point of regulated utilities: transparency.

Today, average usage in LA is split roughly as follows:
- 32% residential
- 25% commercial
- 43% industrial

If the Meta data center reaches 5 GW, it will be:
- 22% residential
- 17% commercial
- 29% industrial
- 31% Meta

… that single customer with the secret contract becomes a larger consumer of power than any other entire sector in the state. If Meta “underpays” by 10%, everyone else’s price has to increase by ~4.5% to compensate.

Yes, that’s based on maximum planned capacity for the data center. And yes, the Meta data center in LA is huge by today’s standards. But that’s one data center, and it doesn’t look like they’re getting any smaller. Is this the precedent we want to set?

I think there are very good reasons to be concerned about locking ourselves into long term costs with zero transparency. We should be scrutinizing the contract details, not taking Entergy’s word for it. The importance of this deal to Entergy cannot be overstated. It’s a windfall for them. Of course they’re going to paint it in a positive light.

/rant

You already have a non-BR board if you’re so confused.

SEC O-T

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"The fact that the loss ratios are so low means that the insurance industry is charging too much,"

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Well, they have to cover the losses for the endless amount of frivolous lawsuits. You'd be shocked at the amount of repeat offenders suing because they got in a wreck and "got injured".

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Wouldn’t that be part of the loss ratio?

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Oh you are bitching because your shop was destroyed and you only have coverage on your house? Let's call the media! You waived flood insurance despite living in a flood zone? And....most times insurance will pay it anyway, to avoid the bad press.

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There’s no way you actually believe this. :lol:

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I think the bitching should be done at government for requiring insurance. You want to bitch, aim it at fedgov. I think if a government is requiring a private service for its citizens, then that service is now subject to government controls.

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The bank is requiring homeowner’s insurance, not the government.

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And actually the mall is St George’s all the anchor stores are still BR.

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So confident and so wrong. :lol:

The mall is BR. The anchor stores are unincorporated. None of it is St. George.

BR city limits (in blue):



St. George city limits (in pink):

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I'm just not sure what everyone sees with Nuss. It's like they just see "third most passing yards in a season in LSU history" but don't dig any deeper than that.

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I’m kind of torn on the ‘24 stats. On one hand, you’re right - the numbers were absolutely padded by volume because we just didn’t run the ball at all. On the other hand, it seems like being completely one-dimensional on offense would make it harder to be successful. Despite how much we threw the ball, Nussmeier was still in the top half of the SEC for completion %. And the offense as a whole was still in the top half of the SEC both in terms of total and scoring offense.

When I look back, I can see why it felt like he would take a big step as a senior. Especially after seeing the strides our last two returning senior QB’s made.

However, Nuss obviously isn’t Burrow or Daniels. Burrow had a psychotic work ethic, incredible mental ability, and was a much better athlete than Nuss. Daniels also had a ridiculous work ethic and was one of the most gifted athletes to ever play the position. Those attributes didn’t just materialize because they came back for their final years; it’s just that we got to see them at their best.

I don’t think we got to see Nuss at his best - we still couldn’t figure out the running game and the injury set him back - but I think we’ve seen enough. His deep ball accuracy has always been shaky, he has always made questionable decisions, and he doesn’t have the natural athletic ability (or instinct) to make up for it elsewhere.

I’d be curious to know the age distribution of arrests made in EBR.

What percentage of crime (both violent and property) is committed by minors? And what are the recidivism rates for juvenile offenders?

People don’t go straight from innocent kids to shooting at each other in the mall. How many of these 17-18 year olds getting into gunfights have already been smashing windows for years without real consequences?

And then, the kid who brought the gun to Istrouma wasn’t even a minor. He was 18. Like.. I get that it’s sad to throw away someone’s life at 18. I understand why you would hope they can change their ways. But someone bringing a stolen, illegally-modified handgun to their high school is beyond redemption. Sorry, it’s already too late for them. Maybe if you punish them severely enough, it’ll deter the next kid from throwing their life away too.