Is there a disproportionate frequency of earthquakes in Japan? My mental model is that there would be a uniformish distribution of earthquakes all around the Pacific ring-of-fire. But even living in a U.S. state with a Pacific Ocean border (and tsunami warning signs all along the coastal towns), it still seems like Japanese earthquakes outnumber local ones by a wide margin (especially for bigger ones like M7.0+). This could also be explained because Japan has a much higher population density, so earthquakes make headlines easier. And the devastating earthquakes in 2011 could make people more sensitive to earthquakes in Japan. But I guess my question is partially answered by a map of earthquakes on the Wikipedia page about the ring of fire:
...where is does seem like the West Coast of the North America has lower quake frequency. Here's to hoping the Cascadia subduction zone remains quiet for a while longer.
Schwarzschild radius for something with the mass of the electron seems like it would be ~1.35*10^-57m. But I guess that is for a neutral object. I suppose the electric charge might be enough to keep it from collapsing into a black hole? I wonder what the smallest Schwarzschild radius is for something with the charge of an electron?
That kind of makes me wonder if quantum mechanics is necessary for gravity to work properly. Like, without tunneling, photons wouldn't be able to escape the gravity of the particles that they originated from resulting in a dead theoretical universe.
In all seriousness, I believe that the resolution of the diameter of the electron would shed a lot of light on the fundamental mysteries of physics and the architecture of reality:
Like, how far below the Planck Length can things go in practice?
What "New Physics" can describe interactions on those scales?
Is space fundamentally granular or continuous?
Is it possible that the electron is a composite of smaller particles, just as the proton is a bag of quarks?
And related to your own musings, what role does quantum foam play?
It's all extremely mysterious and tantalizingly out of the reach of the best conceivable instruments.
Anyone have the stats for how the enrollment trends have been for CS programs at universities? Has there been a noticeable drop-off, potentially due to concerns of AI reducing/eliminating entry-level/junior roles? I suppose there would be some lag, since if you've been planning most of your high school career to get a CS degree, there is inertia in changing majors and applying to different universities. And now that we're mid-April, I'd even think the data for the incoming freshman would be pretty close at a 90% confidence level for the upcoming 2026/2027 academic year.
"In 2023–24, Bachelor’s degree production fell 5.5% compared to the previous year across CS, CE, and I departments. Among departments reporting both years, the decrease was 4.3%. Despite this drop, production remains well above pre-pandemic levels and reflects continued strength following the post-2020 rebound. CS saw a 7.4% decrease and CE a 13.3% decrease."
But it also looks like enrollment in CS programs increased in 2024/2025:
"U.S. CS departments reported an increase in new majors per department of 12.8%"
Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.
You think there's nothing about "politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities" that "gratifies one's intellectual curiosity" that isn't "evidence of some interesting new phenomenon"?
This post is about a sport (juggling) and doesn't cover "new phenomena". So what the hell are we doing here? Any more rule nerd ass hall monitors want to drop another irrelevant rule in here?
>You think there's nothing about "politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities" that "gratifies one's intellectual curiosity" that isn't "evidence of some interesting new phenomenon"?
I want humanity to continue to be explorers. The Moon is a good next thing, then asteroid mining, humans on Mars and Venus, and eventually colonizing the Milky Way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire#/media/File:EQs_1...
...where is does seem like the West Coast of the North America has lower quake frequency. Here's to hoping the Cascadia subduction zone remains quiet for a while longer.
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