Metals: yellow brass vs red brass
Self-tutoring about metals: the tutor looks at brass. Apparently, red brass is around 88% copper, then 8 to 10% zinc, and 2 to 4% tin. On the other hand, yellow brass is 60 to 70% copper, the rest zinc, with …
Baking: sponge cake
Self-tutoring about baking: the tutor mentions sponge cake. Back in the 70s you heard about sponge cake; I seldom hear it mentioned today. However, a few days back, I wanted to make strawberry short cake. I knew that the “cake” …
English: ague
Tutoring English, unfamiliar words are always interesting – especially short ones. The tutor mentions ague. ague: an illness or condition whose sufferer will undergo periodic bouts of fever, chills, and sweating, with possible recovery in between. Source: merriam-webster.com
Retrospect: the pool
Self-tutoring about people, places, and events from the past: the tutor mentions a seasonal one. On one side of the family, my grandparents lived in the same town the entire time I knew them. It was a charming, old-fashioned town, …
Perl: if with undefined variable
Self-tutoring about comp-sci: the tutor mentions Perl’s reaction to if(var), var undefined. In yesterday’s post I mention about LISP and its reaction to a few “if” situations. In particular, LISP won’t tolerate being asked “if” about an undefined variable. LISP, …
Computer science: LISP: ideas about true and false
Self-tutoring about Comp Sci: the tutor mentions true and false in LISP. An interesting aspect of every computer language is what it thinks of as “true” vs “false”. Many languages think 0 is false, while any other declared value, such …
Computer science: LISP: ideas about true and false Read more »
Business: conglomerate
Self-tutoring about business: the tutor mentions the term “conglomerate.” conglomerate: a corporation that controls numerous smaller companies whose businesses may be otherwise unconnected. Back in the 80s, you heard the term “conglomerate” now and then; I never hear it today. …
Retrospect: an esker?
Self-tutoring about people, events, and places of the past: the tutor reflects… An esker, by my understanding, is a raised bed of sand and/or gravel that was deposited as a glacier melted. It can be perhaps a few dozen feet …
Retrospect: the main door
Self-tutoring about people and events from the past: the tutor reflects… When I went to elementary school on the base, we never entered by a hallway entrance; rather, we had to wait outside our classroom to be let in by …
[Li|Nux]: braces on the command line
Self-tutoring about Linux: the tutor mentions braces. On the system I use, { Enter will open up a subshell into which you can enter one command per line, as if in a script file. On the last line I just …