Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

Philosophical thought of the day:
Here's a conundrum I've just come across on another thread......

Why is it that holey socks keep turning up in your sock drawer, but perfect socks go missing?
Does a hole in a sock turn it into a Homing Sock, whereas perfect socks have a wanderlust?
What is it in the sock's psyche that brings about this sea-change?
(There's a Ph.D in there somewhere).

It's due to wind resistance - when they are on the washing line the holes let the wind blow through the socks so they stay put, whereas the holeless socks trap the air and get blown away

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

For PN:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/!!!!-thick-internet-users-puzzled-by-not-particularly-hard-maths-question-20160510108729

Replace the !!!! with s, h, i & t.

That's pretty much the article title I'd have given it if I'd written a whole page

Pyxis

silvercar wrote: »

We have a smaller version of this dilemma in real life. Have a tenant who can't afford any more that the council pay in housing benefit. Could get more on the open market, but the only way of doing that is to evict her. That would end up with the bailiffs on the street scenario. The longer it goes on the more the rent gap widens.

There are other variables here, though.

For instance, is the tenant a good tenant, ie. is rent always on time? Do they keep the property in a good undamaged condition? If furnished, do they take care of the furniture? Are they good neighbours , (quiet, considerate, etc.).
If yes, then you may be foregoing some extra rent in the short term, but that can be more than made up by the lack of hassle on every level.

michaels

vivatifosi wrote: »

Looking at the maths question, I can see that it could be challenging for a year two student. They are only little, it won't be that long since they learned to count beyond ten. The question isnt "what's 63 plus 2" it's more complex than that and requires them to understand two calculations, as well as the context.

I'm not saying that the question shouldn't be there, rather that we aren't seeing it through the eyes of a six year old. The hardest part for them may not even be the numbers, but knowing once they've got them whether the context means,they have to add two, or subtract them.

If otoh this was a question for an eleven year old, the other group taking SATS, then it would be very easy.

As long as they were given a number line they would be fine.

silvercar wrote: »

Eurovision: UK reaching the final 10 now down to 7/2. I can cash out and be £35 up, stick with it and end up £55 up or £5 down.

Perhaps when it was much longer odds the bookies had looked at history and not factored in the new scoring scheme.

silvercar wrote: »

We have a smaller version of this dilemma in real life. Have a tenant who can't afford any more that the council pay in housing benefit. Could get more on the open market, but the only way of doing that is to evict her. That would end up with the bailiffs on the street scenario. The longer it goes on the more the rent gap widens.

I would give a new 6 months ast but tell them you were then going to terminate for refurb and that as a favour you will let the leave with 4 weeks notice during the ast....

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

As you "don't need the money" it's probably better than you cash out now, so can have the "smug air of a winner" ... winning £55 v £35 won't alter your life one iota, but it's not worth feeling you were a mug if you ended up down.

Cash it out now.

If you'd been poor there's some merit in hanging around for the "maybe" part of the risk. If you're poor then £55 can alter life a LOT yet being £5 down is "pretty much par for the course" so can be absorbed as "Oh well, I tried".

Love your logic, I would have thought the poor thought would be that the fiver is important and should be protected. The rich thought that cashing out was weak and you should have held out for the prize.

Missed the opportunity to cash out, thought the odds to lay the bet were too low, its now doubled so would be "only" a £17 win.

PasturesNew

chris_m wrote: »

It's due to wind resistance - when they are on the washing line the holes let the wind blow through the socks so they stay put, whereas the holeless socks trap the air and get blown away

Good answer .... except, with us all having odd socks ... if they were blowing away we'd all be used to seeing lots of random socks lying around in the streets/bushes etc. And I've not noticed enough of this happening to consider this as a truly viable answer to the conundrum.

PasturesNew

silvercar wrote: »

Love your logic, I would have thought the poor thought would be that the fiver is important and should be protected.

They would, but having taken the chance to gamble, they're "in for a penny, in for a pound", so the decision to gamble to win is already set in their mindset.

As a poor person, I'd have not gambled and risked in the first instance. That £5 would be massively important to me.

silvercar wrote: »

The rich thought that cashing out was weak and you should have held out for the prize.

Missed the opportunity to cash out, thought the odds to lay the bet were too low, its now doubled so would be "only" a £17 win.

This dilemma, and the changing odds, of your potential win/loss and your public admission that you gambled on odds of an event (that you didn't even really understand) .... is far more interesting (to me) than the contest itself

SingleSue

In our house we have odd socks because Jasper the cat thinks they are baby kittens (or a bird he has caught) and carries them around the house in his mouth to deposit either at my feet in the front room, or on my bed.

If I go out for an extended period of time, I usually come home to a multitude of socks laying on the front room floor or on my bed.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's probably why ruffians biff each other on the nose more frequently than posh oiks do .... posh oiks use the terms "one" and "you". Us oiks just use "you" and "you", which starts fights

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I love you, PasturesNew!

(Am wiping away the laughter tears as I type!)

silvercar

Pyxis wrote: »

There are other variables here, though.

For instance, is the tenant a good tenant, ie. is rent always on time? Do they keep the property in a good undamaged condition? If furnished, do they take care of the furniture? Are they good neighbours , (quiet, considerate, etc.).
If yes, then you may be foregoing some extra rent in the short term, but that can be more than made up by the lack of hassle on every level.

Good tenant, but the council pays the rent over direct as there were arrears ages ago.

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's not that the tenant wants to get into more arrears, but if they've no spare money to make up the difference, then they've certainly got no spare money to save up for the HUGE agent new fees and new deposit up front to move to somewhere different/smaller/cheaper (+ moving costs).
...

They have no spare money, no income and wouldn't find a cheaper place. Doubt an agent would touch them.

michaels wrote: »

I would give a new 6 months ast but tell them you were then going to do a refurb and that as a favour you will let the leave with 4 weeks notice during the ast....

It's been a rolling contract on the original AST for years. They won't leave, they won't get a 2 bed place anywhere else at this rent. And adult and teenager are not going to take a 1 bed. Doubt anyone would take them on in the area without income.

When I took them on, there was part time income, HB top up and a home owning guarantor. All referenced. Now there is no income and no guarantor.