"the base unit of time in the International System of Units that is equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom"
@Melissabeartrix
I was listening to the Dr Karl podcast the other day and he said the most accurate clocks these days are so good that in the time that the universe has existed they would have lost less than a second.
@Melissabeartrix
My job requires that the time of various processes starting, stopping, etc be recorded using cheap analogue clocks and digital displays on very expensive machinery.
The very expensive machinery time display drifts much worse than the cheap analogue clocks ... until the batteries drain.
A mate who sailed was asked by another sailor for the coordinates of a particular river entrance, which became a problem because their GPSs were using different co-ordinate systems!
Similarly I was working as a geologist for the state govt in the 90s when we were mapping in collaboration with federal govt geologists. This lead to problems because each govt dept worked off different co-ordinate systems. This was also during the Iraq? war when the US was corrupting GPS data accuracy.
@NormanDunbar
Things have probably changed since the 90s and phones etc possibly run off a globalised co-ordinate system???
But from memory co-ordinate systems involved a geoid which defined the locally idealised model of the shape of the earth and then the map systems under that which defined the conversion from 3d globe to 2d map surface. But that could be wrong.
Because the earth isn't a perfect sphere you chose the system that is most accurate locally.
I think we worked with the Australian Map Grid 1984 based on a particular geoid. I believe there was a transition going on to a new geoid/map grid at the time hence govts using different systems.
@mikemathia I think I did that when I changed down a gear rather than up on a vtr250 motorcycle at a track day. It certainly made some sickeningly appropriate noises.
Actually, this will probably get pushed through. The developers of large apartment buildings hate providing space for resident car parking. They'd make more money using that space for more units. The only people who will oppose it are existing residents in the local areas, who park on the street. Many residents of large apartment buildings are still going to have cars, and they'll be competing for parking spots on the streets. Hilarity ensues. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/14/victoria-car-park-apartment-minimum-requirements-close-to-public-transport-ptal
@winterknell@jmcleod I live 300 metres from a train station. I went without a car for 18 months and it was a nightmare. When everything ran to timetable it took 1 1/2 hours to get to work on public transport. It almost never ran to timetable ... if it turned up at all! It took me 50 minutes to ride my bicycle to work or 1/2 hour to drive.
I live in an older unit block with 9 units. Most residents park on the street most of the time, despite having to fight for spots with commuters and other residents of the street who mostly have no off street parking available.
Narrow driveways and a lack of in-unit storage mean it's more practical to use your garage for storage and park in the street.
@melissabeartrix at one point I went to a gym on the 2nd floor of a building and the only people I ever saw in the stairwell were the staff, who jogged up and down them for exercise. Customers all caught the lift!
Speaking of the kid and definitions, I was trying to explain the uses of an emergency brake when I realized that I kept switching between calling it emergency and parking brake. Emergency brake brings up image of the lever between front seats in old Pinto, whereas parking brake recalls the self-latching/unlatching pedal version in newer cars.
He did know about drifting, and videos about that call it a handbrake.
So final count on uncollected repairs from December ... Too f'en many, about 40 jobs ... And about 28k ... looks like my Christmas bonus has been reduced a lot ... Pout
Today's phone call count was 2, one lady returned my call, making sure she was home and the other one was to drop in my Christmas present ... Giggles
1 A lump of Torbanite/Cannel Coal (oil shale) which looks and feels like black plastic. I can't remember where I found this but I was working in the Hunter Coalfield at the time.
2 A twinned Glendonite. A calcium carbonate mineral. Found beside the Hunter River at Glendon in the Hunter Valley.
3 A large volcanic cobble. Found already cut in half and discarded at a rock sample storage site at Gunnedah.
@melissabeartrix@dcbuchan they used AI to generate a track that sounds like a crappy cassette recording of Lennon's voice on-top of modern instrument recording. I'm not sure why AI was required.