The OF Clubhouse Water Cooler

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Yes, not sure what those boat attacks are about. Very unusual and certainly not typical Orca behavior. As a sea kayaker, orcas don’t concern me. Bull sharks, on the other hand, are not something that I want to see and they often frequent shallow waters near shore.
 
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Yes, not sure what those boat attacks are about. Very unusual and certainly not typical Orca behavior. As a sea kayaker, orcas don’t concern me. Bull sharks, on the other hand, are not something that I want to see and they often frequent shallow waters near shore.

Some theories say that orcas train hunting behaviour, others that its young delinquents doing what young examples of all species do. I hope they keep away from the propellers.
 
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Ok, this thread was buried 5 pages deep. The company re-filled the cooler so y’all can hang out and discuss the mundane, but amusing trivialities of life again.

Work has been unmerciful these last two weeks. Hope every is good and all your watches are ticking as they should.
 
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Ok, this thread was buried 5 pages deep. The company re-filled the cooler so y’all can hang out and discuss the mundane, but amusing trivialities of life again.

Work has been unmerciful these last two weeks. Hope every is good and all your watches are ticking as they should.

I hear you there, luckily next week is Spring break so I can catch up on work. It's one of the advantages of being a professor.
 
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I hear you there, luckily next week is Spring break so I can catch up on work. It's one of the advantages of being a professor.
I don’t get spring break til the end of the month. But yes, certainly an advantage of professorship.
 
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I hear you there, luckily next week is Spring break so I can catch up on work. It's one of the advantages of being a professor.
Subject area?
 
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I hear you there, luckily next week is Spring break so I can catch up on work. It's one of the advantages of being a professor.
I don't have spring break until the 18th. We changed ours to coincide with the local high schools.
 
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I don't have spring break until the 18th. We changed ours to coincide with the local high schools.
Mine starts the 28th and lasts through the full next week. May be the longest spring break in history. (And who knew there were a gaggle of professors on this forum?)
 
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Subject area?

Mathematics, but more specifically I do applied mathematics in the area of ecology. I also am a bit of a statistician. I do enjoy Math, but I really like that it is a tool that allows me to dabble in lots of different areas of science. I've worked in disease modeling, fire science, and climate science to name a few.
 
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I don't have spring break until the 18th. We changed ours to coincide with the local high schools.

I wish our university would align with the local schools, but instead they they seem to intentionally avoid having breaks at the same time.
 
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Yeah there are quite a few. @Dan S is an engineering prof. What discipline do you work in @CBM1590 and @Waltesefalcon, if you don't mind me asking?
Biology, who still teaches on a reduced load whilst I function as an administrator as well. And you, if I may ask?
 
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Biology, who still teaches on a reduced load whilst I function as an administrator as well. And you, if I may ask?
Just saw your reply above. Man after my own heart, although I’m a broadly trained mutt. Anat and Phys, cell biology, physiological ecology, microbiology, and herpetology…the consequence of melding herpetology and micro in my dissertation way too many years ago…and teaching comparative anatomy as a TA.
 
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Here's a question-

Mathematics; invented or discovered?
 
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Here's a question-

Mathematics; invented or discovered?
Cool question...I would say discovered! and then explained by the human mind
 
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Here's a question-

Mathematics; invented or discovered?

Invented, way back homo sapien must have looked at his wife and pack of kids and thought have I lost any? how many did I have? Looked down at his hands and gone one, two, three. four, five, change hand, six and when he got to ten he had discovered the metric system.
 
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I would also say both. It's hard to explain how the universe works without some mathematical constructs. Since the universe existed long before we did, so did mathematical concepts. That being said, one can also easily argue that the human race invented math to help us understand and order our own world and, particularly, weights and measures.
Edited:
 
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Invented, way back homo sapien must have looked at his wife and pack of kids and thought have I lost any? how many did I have? Looked down at his hands and gone one, two, three. four, five, change hand, six and when he got to ten he had discovered the metric system.

This is an interesting part of the question. Most pre-modern humans don't have complex math concepts - they tend to have only a few math words corresponding to one, two, a few, a lot, endless amounts etc.

I'm no expert here, but I've read a few books on the subject and the questions it provokes about the nature of the universe and of how human language helps to construct our perception of reality just blow my mind. Would love to hear what the math experts on the forum have to say.
 
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I would also say both. It's hard to explain how the universe works without some mathematical applications. Since the universe existed long before we did, so did mathematical concepts. That being said, one can also easily argue that the human race invented math to help us understand and order our own world and, particularly, weights and measures.

Sorry, you can’t have that! If the applications were there, discovered, surely? Binary answers only, this is the internet.😉