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Thursday, 07 June, 2007
Ask J-Walk
(with comments)
Time for some answers to Ask J-Walk questions.
Chris: It's been a long time (since October of last year) since you posted a compilation of answers to Ask J-Walk questions. Can we please, please, please have another installment?
Your wish is my command. I used to get a lot of questions, but lately they've fallen off. I'll dig through my email folder and see what I can find.
Ros: You are probably my last resort with this one. I work at a tertiary college library in Australia and we are running a "Stump the librarian" competition. Can you help? When spreadsheets were invented, why was the dollar sign chosen for use in absolute cell references? Why $ over, say, # or ^ or &?
I don't know. Using the $ symbol for an absolute cell reference in a formula originated in VisiCalc, and was picked up by Lotus 1-2-3, and eventually by Microsoft Excel. My guess is that it was just an arbitrary decision. That had to use a symbol that doesn't have a mathematical use. In addition to the options mentioned by Ros, they could have used ~, #, or !.
The tilde symbol (~) is often used to signify an approximation, which could be misleading. The pound sign (#) often means "number," which could also be misleading. The exclamation point can be confused with the number 1. That leaves the dollar sign.
Matt: If the diameter of a circle is 8' what is the circumference?
That would be 3 times the diameter, or 24'.
Bill: I was fascinated to see Heather's site and your blog postings. Are any of JC'S Girls seeking to find a man who shares their faith and values and might be ideally suited to make a marriage-oriented relationship?
Here's what I replied to Bill: "Yes, several of them have told me that they're looking for a good Christian man."
He replied back: "Can you advise how I might provide information about myself and pictures so they could contact me if they are interested?"
That's as far as I took it.
Peg: A few years ago I was receiving MP3 songs in my email and I had a choice of 1,3,5 songs to choose from either daily, weekly or monthly. I had a couple of these songs by new artists that I really liked. Can you tell me where I can possibly get these songs again. Since they were free the first time, I don't think I should have to buy them this time.
I'm not aware of any MP3-songs-via-email service, but I'm sure they exist. If you want to discover new music, there are hundreds of blogs that exist for that purpose. Two that I like are Aurgasm and Songs:Illinois. Here's a big list: MP3 Blog Listing.
An AOL User: What five letter word appears in the KJV only four times? It was made before Adam and named by Adam. Had no legs, arms or soul. Was given a soul and it was taken back.
Could it be SATAN? No, according to my Excel workbook bible, Satan appears 56 times. I gave up and cheated by googling it. The answer is WHALE.
JCRA: Who wrote the song, "I'll be Home For Christmas," and what year was it written?
A song titled "I'll Be Home for Christmas" was also copyrighted on August 24, 1943, by Kent (music) and James "Kim" Gannon (words). The two revised and re-copyrighted their song on Sep. 27, 1943, and it was this version that was made famous by Crosby. The label on Crosby's recording credits "I'll Be Home for Christmas" to Kent, Gannon, and Ram. Later recordings usually credit only Kent and Gannon. The discrepancy arose from the fact that on December 21, 1942 Buck Ram copyrighted a song titled "I'll Be Home for Christmas (Tho' Just in Memory)" although, it should be noted, that version bore little or no resemblance, other than its title, to the Crosby recording.
Trevor: Are you aware of the Georgia Guidestones John? It's a huge granite structure built like Stonehenge just outside Elmerton, Georgia ( I think ) that has the New World Order ten "Guides" carved in eight languages.
I am now.
Norm: If you're running Firefox 2.0, plug this text into your address bar: "about:Mozilla" (no quotes).
OK.
Bis: Do you know where Mark Foley is?
No, where is he?
Malc: What will happen if you connect a battery with 2.5 amp of current to a dvd player that only requires 1.5 amps but it has the same voltage?
The DVD player will power up?
- By dan. Comment posted 07-Jun-2007 @04:11pm:pi r squared?
- By exp_err. Comment posted 07-Jun-2007 @04:13pm:! and ^ could also be confusing because they are used mathematically to indicate factorials and powers. ! is also used in some computer languages for "not", while & is used for "and" and "|" for "or".It seems the underscore could have been another reasonable choice. I wonder whether variations in keyboards might also have influenced the choice?
Why was the whale given a soul, and why was it taken away again? - By exp_err. Comment posted 07-Jun-2007 @04:14pm:dan, pi*r^2 is the area, not the circumference. pi*d is the circumference.
- By WTF. Comment posted 07-Jun-2007 @04:16pm:and pi is not equal to three.
- By . Comment posted 07-Jun-2007 @06:10pm:I am just curious. Did the "Song Title" post, which currently has 219 comments, generate the most posts of any entry, or did something else eclipse that?
And isn't it about time to again see who the top 10 commentors are? - By wally the duck. Comment posted 07-Jun-2007 @07:44pm:I assume the "soul" was that of Jonah?
- By Dick. Comment posted 07-Jun-2007 @08:24pm:Here's a list of five letter words that appear four times:
organ
Lot's
Zohar
Dumah
dowry
brown
stalk
laded
Hamul
Arodi
Serah
Jezer
ass's
stank
bunch
baked
chide
shaft
agate
woven
bells
wrung
marks
hoary
Deuel
moist
Golan
privy
freed
Eleph
Gaash
swept
pains
stump
ruddy
Ibhar
Ithra
darts
steel
piped
rests
ranks
stays
whips
tired
Halah
Arpad
taxed
Salma
Jabez
Reaia
Imrah
Eliah
amiss
Azgad
deeps
whale
blown
crime
navel
fears
apply
nests
barns
wiped
fitly
shorn
sores
sweep
cloak
gross
yokes
outer
Arvad
Lydia
flute
torch
Annas
shape
folks
sheet
Derbe
Italy
Gaius
Omega - By Bisbonian. Comment posted 07-Jun-2007 @09:53pm:October 25, 2006 5:34 PM
Former Rep. Mark Foley checked himself into the Sierra Tucson Treatment Center in Arizona two days after he resigned from Congress in disgrace, ABC News has learned.
Somewhat out of date, now. - By wally the duck. Comment posted 08-Jun-2007 @05:34am:So the poor bastard is stuck in Tucson now?
- By Gary. Comment posted 08-Jun-2007 @09:32am:The DVD will power up and work fine. The Amp rating of a battery is only the maximum current the battery can supply. If the DVD use 1.5 amp for a given input voltage, that's the maximum current it will use. If the battery is rated 2000000 amp, the DVD should work fine also. Is that clear?
- By . Comment posted 08-Jun-2007 @10:27am:As gary pointed out, the DVD player will only draw as much current as it needs regardless of what the battery can supply.
The more interesting question is how long will the DVD be able to run off of a batter?
If the DVD player draws 1.5 amps, and the battery is a 15 amp-hour battery, then the DVD player will be able to run for approximately 10 hours (15 AH / 1.5A = 10 H). Of course you want to derate that a little since no battery is perfect, so let's say you'll get a good 8 hours of DVD play time out of the battery. - By . Comment posted 08-Jun-2007 @10:34am:How'd you get that list, Dick?
- By . Comment posted 08-Jun-2007 @01:46pm:Don't tell him, Dick! That'll open up a whole new dimension in his crusade against the Bible and we'll never get a moment's peace.
Just kidding - actually, John needs some new material. - By . Comment posted 08-Jun-2007 @01:55pm:Just wait till next week, Mary. You'll see lots of new material here.
I'm converting this to a Paris Hilton Gossip Blog -- All Paris, All The Time. - By Kaleberg. Comment posted 08-Jun-2007 @06:24pm:Actually, VisiCalc didn't have absolute and relative cell references. When you copied a cell over a range it asked whether each coordinate (column letter or row number) should be relocated or absolute. You had to type a bunch of Ys and Ns. This actually made it easier to do some things, like make a multiplication table. I think the $ convention began with Lotus 123, but I never used that product.
- By . Comment posted 08-Jun-2007 @06:58pm:You are correct, Kaleberg. My memory deceived me. I just downloaded a copy of Visicalc and took it for a spin. It does not support absolute cell references.
Lesson: Never trust a 55-year old so-called spreadsheet guru. - By Dick. Comment posted 14-Jun-2007 @07:01pm:Sorry for the delay. It's not my best code, but it got the job done:
http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2007/06/14/parsing-the-bible/