Really trivial stuff that bugs you

[DonM435]

In putting tomato cages in my Mom's garden, I somehow broke one of the young tomato plants. Snapped the stem right in half.

"Doctor, he's her favorite tomato plant! Will he survive?"

"He'll live ... but he'll be a vegetable for the rest of his life."

[Noclevername]

"Doctor, he's her favorite tomato plant! Will he survive?"

"He'll live ... but he'll be a vegetable for the rest of his life."

That joke will never grow on me.

[Swift]

This is not going to be a fruitful discussion.

[Noclevername]

Let's nip it in the bud.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

In putting tomato cages in my Mom's garden, I somehow broke one of the young tomato plants. Snapped the stem right in half.

Should of put back in the ground and cover some of the bottom of the stem. The little hairs near the base to grow into new roots. Once we had a hail storm and did some damage to the stems but they kept on growing.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

Several things at once:
Trying to figure how to several different programming projects, don't know if I should do them or concentrate on looking for a job.
My oldest nieces birthday is next week and the gift I can't afford the gift I wanted to get her, plus she doesn't want it but it would nice for her car.
And I left a tray of seedlings in the rain and the rain really came down and hoping they survive.
Ok only three.

[Jim]

Several things at once: ... Ok only three.

No, you're good.

One is "one."
Two is "a couple."
Three - five is "several."
Five - ten is "a bunch."
More than ten is "a whole lot."

Trust me. I'm an engineer.

[Swift]

No, you're good.

One is "one."
Two is "a couple."
Three - five is "several."
Five - ten is "a bunch."
More than ten is "a whole lot."

Trust me. I'm an engineer.

"Exactly" correct.

I've participated in debates about this, usually along the lines of whether this system applies to only whole numbers. If it doesn't, I would say "a couple" ranges from about 1.5 to 2.5.

And then of course there are the debates about "many" and "a few".

[Noclevername]

Wasn't there a tribe somewhere whose number system went "one, two, three, many"? That would make "several" mean "less than three".

[Gillianren]

That's the trolls in Terry Pratchett's Discworld. But "many" is a number--after many comes many-one, many-two-, many-three, many-many.

[Noclevername]

That's the trolls in Terry Pratchett's Discworld. But "many" is a number--after many comes many-one, many-two-, many-three, many-many.

This predated Discworld, IIRC. A real life human culture. Can't recall the details but I first learned of it as a kid.

ADDED: They may have been anecdotal or mythical. Details unclear. But some publication thought they were real.

[Trebuchet]

Wasn't there a tribe somewhere whose number system went "one, two, three, many"? That would make "several" mean "less than three".

That's the trolls in Terry Pratchett's Discworld. But "many" is a number--after many comes many-one, many-two-, many-three, many-many.

And the rabbits in "Watership Down", although I think they got up to four before "many", for which the author used five.

[ozduck]

Wasn't there a tribe somewhere whose number system went "one, two, three, many"? That would make "several" mean "less than three".

This is a very old BBC News Article from 2004 that may have been what came to your mind. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3582794.stm

[Noclevername]

This is a very old BBC News Article from 2004 that may have been what came to your mind. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3582794.stm

Thanks. But that's after my time.

1970s, probably?

[DonM435]

...
And then of course there are the debates about "many" and "a few".

"Many are cold, but few are frozen."

Or something like that.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

One of the jobs available in the are is cannabis processor, not interested at all.

[Noclevername]

One of the jobs available in the are is cannabis processor, not interested at all.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. Sounds like you need to nip it in the bud.

[ozduck]

Thanks. But that's after my time.

1970s, probably?

I give you Sir Francis Galton (1822 -1911) who in 1853 claimed to have encountered tribes that could only count to two. https://www.newscientist.com/article...y-of-counting/. I have only read the 'free' part of this article from the "New Scientist" on 2011 but it seems to propose the same theory. And, for a more scholarly discourse covering Galton - among others - pages 11 - 14 http://mbarany.com/CambridgeCounting.pdf

[Swift]

And the rabbits in "Watership Down", although I think they got up to four before "many", for which the author used five.

From what I've read about animal cognition, there are studies that show that is almost exactly how many animals "think" about quantities. Depending on the animal (mostly mammals and the smarter birds), they count up to some small value, and after that it is a variant of "many". (one such article)

[The Backroad Astronomer]

Bugs, little flying blood sucking ones.

[Noclevername]

Dog "went" in the house. I was the one tasked with letting the dogs out today, so it's on me to clean it up.

[Torsten]

From what I've read about animal cognition, there are studies that show that is almost exactly how many animals "think" about quantities. Depending on the animal (mostly mammals and the smarter birds), they count up to some small value, and after that it is a variant of "many". (one such article)

None of the following is in the category of "bugs me"...

She also tested the monkeys’ ability to do subtraction by covering a number of objects and then removing some of them. In all cases, the monkeys picked the correct remainder at a rate greater than chance. And although they might not grasp the deeper concept of zero as a number, the monkeys knew it was less than two or one... snip

That reminded me of a paper I read last year, about bees understanding the concept of zero:

Understanding zero
It has been said that the development of an understanding of zero by society initiated a major intellectual advance in humans, and we have been thought to be unique in this understanding. Although recent research has shown that some other vertebrates understand the concept of the “empty set,” Howard et al. now show that an understanding of this concept is present in untrained honey bees (see the Perspective by Nieder). This finding suggests that such an understanding has evolved independently in distantly related species that deal with complexity in their environments, and that it may be more widespread than previously appreciated.

and

Abstract
Some vertebrates demonstrate complex numerosity concepts—including addition, sequential ordering of numbers, or even the concept of zero—but whether an insect can develop an understanding for such concepts remains unknown. We trained individual honey bees to the numerical concepts of “greater than” or “less than” using stimuli containing one to six elemental features. Bees could subsequently extrapolate the concept of less than to order zero numerosity at the lower end of the numerical continuum. Bees demonstrated an understanding that parallels animals such as the African grey parrot, nonhuman primates, and even preschool children.

And this:

According to Brannon, it may suggest to childhood educators that math, usually taught after age four or five, could actually be introduced earlier into the curriculum.

Reminded me of an idea I had a long time ago... When my children were really young, I came into possession of a large amount of off-grade light framing lumber for the Japanese market. I planed and cut it down to unit blocks that were 1x1x1 to 1x1x10 in size, where a unit was about 33 mm. Later, I made kits of these that were more like little planks ranging from 0.5x1x1 units to 0.5x1x8. All the kids in my circle of friends and neighbours got one of these kits. I was told they were a hit with the fathers, who would join their kids in building stuff with them.

The planing and cutting to length was very precise, so the blocks could be stacked with different combinations of lengths or widths and end up at the same height. My evil intent was to help the kids, through play, understand integers and simple sums and differences before they got to kindergarten.

[Noclevername]

My evil intent was to help the kids, through play, understand integers and simple sums and differences before they got to kindergarten.

No, Mister Bond, I expect you to do geometry!

[Trebuchet]

Well, this was weird. I finished a YouTube video and it was time for my nap. I put the computer to sleep as well by closing the lid on the laptop. This particular laptop may as well be a desktop, as it's been "plugged in not charging, 5% battery" pretty much forever; and I use it with a separate monitor, mouse and keyboard.
Anyhow, when I woke it up it went nuts. I tried to move a browser window and it wouldn't stay put. Got into something else and it was just scrolling wildly, hands off. The first obvious solution was to shut down and restart. Nope, still doing it.
Is the scroll wheel stuck on the mouse? Nope, batteries out and no change. Key stuck on the external keyboard? Batteries out, no change. Finally I just pounded on the laptop arrow keys a few times and it straightened out. Near as I can guess a bit of crud (yes, I eat at the computer) got in and stuck the down arrow key when I closed the lid.

[Noclevername]

(yes, I eat at the computer)

Well there's your problem.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

How many bits.

[Noclevername]

How many bits.

Megabits.

[Noclevername]

Insomnia bugs me. The reason it's listed under Trivial is that it's far less persistent and frequent than it used to be. I'm getting a few hours sleep, at least, most nights.

[Hornblower]

I am bugged at myself for having driven tall bean poles into the ground the hard way for the past 50 years. I would get up on a stepladder and pound the pole with a sledgehammer from a most awkward and potentially dangerous position. Today it occurred to me to drive a starter hole with something short and stiff, using the sledgehammer while standing safely on the ground. I happened to have a torsion bar from the front suspension of a 1957 Plymouth in my tool shed, and it was ideal. After driving it about a foot into the ground I pulled it out and pushed the 8-foot pole into the hole easily. If I had not had the bar I could have used a short piece of wood in the same manner. The bar had broken near one end, and my dad replaced it himself back when most cars were still easy for shade-tree mechanics to work on. Now it is time to plant some Kentucky Wonder pole beans.

[Trebuchet]

Kitchen sink strainers. Always keeping the water in when you want it out and vice versa.