ekebonke7h ago
Xenotime, Librarian of Æther 
great quote from an old cern talk :3
Mar 21 at 12:47amWeb
Show threadMx. Chara Aznable (they/them) of Pnictogen2d ago
@xeno I am trying to decide how this maxim applies to the loosey-goosey Millikan oil-drop experiment
Show threadMei Lin     2d ago

@xeno
Reminds me of that saying about theory and practical experiments.

"Theory is when nothing works and everyone knows why. Practical experiments are when everything works and no one knows why. We combine theory and practical experiments. Nothing works and no one knows why."

Show threadjo21h ago

@MeiLin Also there is:

In theory, theory and practice are identical, in practice they are not.

Show threadPrimo2d ago
@xeno that's a funny one!
Show threadV Carnage, 六七2d ago
@xeno in Germany, we have a saying: "wer misst, misst Mist" which means "the one who measures measures crap" and it means that you can't 100% trust measurements because of measurement errors.
Show threadzimward1d ago
@sanity @xeno which is why 90% of my physics class was accounting for error propagation and specifying the certainty
Show threadXenotime, Librarian of Æther 1d ago
@[email protected] @zimward lol yeah so much uncertainty propagation
Show threadFlorentin 🔜 EH231d ago
@xeno @sanity @zimward Meanwhile nowadays (some) students in undergraduate lab practice seem to let AI generate the error propagation formulas because they're nothing like what got taught. 
Show threadXenotime, Librarian of Æther 1d ago
@[email protected] @zimward @florentin oh dear
Show threadBen Kimock14h ago
@florentin @xeno @sanity @zimward I just wish people taught monte carlo error propagation. I found it actually useful, unlike all the formulas.