Strange fish

There is a chain of ponds adjacent to each other, each one lower than the one
before. There walls between them. There are fish that live in them. The fish
can occasionally jump over the walls (only downstream), taller walls being less
likely to be hurdled.

If you start with a certain number of fish in the highest pool, how do they
distribute over time? (You'll need to know exactly how often they jump and how
likely each jump into the next pool down succeeds.
And your answer will only be a statistical one, it will not predict exactly for
a given run.)




Someone starts the very unusual behavior (outside of stars) of throwing neutrons
into pools. They stick to the fish and lift them to higher pools, before
bursting.

.....

If you want to buy some fish, you are a lab physicist or research engineer. If you see the answer immediately you are a mathematician or theoretical physicist. If you write a simulation you are a computer scientist.

I suppose if you eat the fish afterwards, you're a piscivore.



-----

I will gladly borrow a photon from the quantum foam and pay you back Tuesday.

Carbon efficient wine

My winebox says its carbon efficient wine. That is annoying.
Anything with carbon, green, or organic labels is just pandering.

Strange roomba behavior

The Roomba was stopping after half a minute. I figured this was because his battery is over 1.5 years old. But after a reset, he does fine. I don't understand. I'm assuming he monitors the voltage from it (or possibly available current), gets hungry when it drops. So why does a reset help? What state does he maintain?

California fires -let 'em burn

Fire season is upon us, there's a fire up north. My opinion: let it burn,
they're natural (in fact, good). Do not risk firemen (or pilots, or spend money)
defending forests, only homes. And only those with adequate clearance.

I've gone hiking where it burned locally and it grows back very well. And I've not seen any animal skeletons either.

Spider web

Came home, one of those orange spiders is weaving a web.
He was actually white with patterns, but they get
orange later, in october, when they make great *actual* halloween spiders,
I recall. I think he's a he because he had big "fangs" actually pedipalps (?)
to hand a package over to females. Anyway I saw him just as he finished the
radials, probably woven with strong fiber, and was beginning the probably sticky
spiral. From outside to inside, counter clockwise viewed from above the spider.

Probably a radial every 10 degrees. The spiral ranged from maybe 10mm on the outside to
much finer, and very regular, 2mm inside. Then he stopped.

How the hell does a spider with a tiny brain do this? In random environments, with random wind disturbing him?

Front legs seemed to move fasters, likely sensing, and his back legs and butt laid down the new fiber. What was he sensing? What are the rules? How do you encode these in a spider brain? How do you encode that in a spider genome?

I've written and run simulations of ant behavior. But how does a spider work?

Suzuki Sidekick

(Chevy) Sidekick rolls off the 5, bursts into flame, 5 dead.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/chp-vehicle-down-2517845-hill-suv

---

I had a Sidekick once. It was very fun, very stiff suspension,
cloth-roof convertable, very affordable (mine had no
air, no power windows, no 4WD, no radio). Veteran of many desert adventures.

Later, when I had a kid, I got a Subaru Forester. Still have it.
Good car.

I also once blew a tire on the 5, but got over to the right
safely and recovered. Also once overcompensated and bounced off
a Jersey barrier, no harm done, but scared us. Never, ever, made snap
decisions near the gore.

The real problem I had with that car was that every 30K miles, it needed new ignition
wiring. I went through several sets of high quality silicone-insulated
ignition wires, never made a difference. Once I drove back from the desert
in it, with two cylinders not firing --little HP, and a pickup truck with mexicans
gestured wildly at me, so I pulled over. The muffler was cherry-red incandescent
from the unburned fuel burning in the catalytic converter. Thanks guys! But I still
drove home, but didn't take the scenic/mountain/faster route, instead taking a freeway.
Again, thanks guys.

Once took same car to Mexico with a friend. We got stuck in a soft shoulder. A guy with the same kind of car stopped to help, pulled us out with the help of a random piece of
cable from the side of the road. I went to offer him money, but he refused; I insisted,
and he produced a *fat* wad of american 20s to show he didn't need it. Very cool.
Likely related to the (demonized) pharmaceutical trade, and he helped us tourists.

I've only been a few times there, and would not go back, out of fear and not speaking
spanish. But the locals are friendly.

My first time there was in a Ford Escort, for an eclipse. The Federales (teenagers with
rifles with toilet paper in their muzzles) found a lame firework, but let us go.
I did not like military checkpoints though. Some years later, I encountered the amerikan version of same when exploring the lower Anza Borrego desert. I loathe the amerikans more, because I have no expectation of freedom in Mexico, whereas the US government is supposed to be constrained.

On the way back from the eclipse (awesome) the steering wheel disconnected, and we went off the road. (A friend was driving.) Fortunately I had a few MIT engineers (electrical, nuclear..) with me and they had tools. They reconnected the steering wheel, aligned it using a flashlight, inserted a compression pin, and we drove home. I drove with that fix for years afterwards.

It is of course somewhat amazing that I've made it to 45.. and every day is thanksgiving, which makes them more valuable.