Thursday, August 27, 2009

Conundrums

Lately I've been thinking about things I'm pretty sure I should know but don't. These are real, actual questions with answers I just don't know, not rhetorical un-answerable questions like why can Lloyd fly an airplane to a tiny spot in the dark halfway around the world but can't find the ketchup standing right in front of him in the refrigerator:

1. What is wiki mean, and how does Wikipedia work? They claim anyone in the whole world can edit the entries, right, and they don't do any oversight. How is that even possible and what keeps it from descending into constant chaos?

2. Scientific notation; do you count the zero in the 10 as an extra one, or do you just use the number in the superscript? This one I might actually need to figure out soon, because Weston is supremely interested in really big numbers. We told him googol was the biggest number with a name, and he wrote it out, a one followed by a hundred zeroes. Then he said, 'Nine with a million zeroes is the biggest number with a name. I named it!' I asked him what he named it, and he said, as if I were stupid (and maybe he's onto something here) 'Nine with a million zeroes!'

3. Is it better to buy organic produce that had to get a passport to get to your supermarket, or local produce that's conventionally grown?

4. What does 'preternatural' mean?

5. How do I cut and paste lickety-split with my new Mac, without using the edit menu? And does it need virus protection that I don't have? And why can't I watch Helen's videos?

Boy, I better stop now or you all will think I'm a total moron. Oops, too late!


8 comments:

Helen said...

You have to login to your "account".

Wendy said...

Lloyd answer - man vision.

1. Wiki means "Why, I know it!" (That's an uneducated guess.)

2. Uhhhh...

3. Whichever kind keeps you pooping regularly.

4. Webster says: "Beyond what is natural, or different from what is natural, as distinguished from supernatural and unnatural". Yeah, it still doesn't really answer your question.

5. Is it one of those pretty, brightly-colored Macs? Can not answer questions when mesmerized by the shiny...

Lauren said...

Scientific notation example:
2.31 x 10 (4) - I don't know how to do exponents on a computer...

would be 23,100

The exponent is how many places there are after the decimal. Not necessarily how many zeros.

There's my one smart moment for the year...way to go wasting it on scientific notation!!! Uuug.

Helen said...

Go, Lauren. You just graduated levels on my friend list. Only smart people need apply. (But, for all interested parties, there is now a vacancy on an entry-level position.) ;0)

Helen said...

Oh, forgot to answer 4...Preternatural is what supernatural was before Superman got hold of it.

And, "Wiki wiki" means "quick" in Hawaiian.

And, it's better to buy organic produce with a passport.

FrenchyMcFrenchcake said...

copy paste on a mac ..you command C, command v, NOT control.. COMMAND button!

Amanda Evans said...

Command C for Cut and Command V for Paste!

Tori said...

I think I might have information overload