18 Comments

Oooooh, good move to only show the rounding in the display, rather than the calculations!

Did some spreadsheet wrestling of my own last week which ALMOST made my head melt... until I realised that I'd entered two should-be negative numbers as positives! Drove me nuts for a day and a half until I'd recognised the problem. 🤯

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Thanks for the read Terry. Interesting, I didn't know that this story was considered by some to be the origin of the butterfly effect.

I wonder how many companies have made errors by rounding numbers!

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Thanks, Nathan. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? I'd be worried too about medical devices rounding dosages up or down. That could get pretty hairy very quickly.

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'The Sound of Thunder' is a brilliant Bradbury story - one among many, man brilliant stories. I was a big fan as a kid - he was probably one of the first 'adult' writers who I got into. His 'October Game' still stands as one of the creepiest stories I have ever read. Very interesting post!

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Thanks, Bryan. I don't know that one. I shall have to look out for it.

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Very interesting, Terry. I started watching the video and it got out of my league pretty quickly. It did however, reinforce your wisdom of not using rounded figures.

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Thanks, Jim. It got out of MY league within about two minutes! Yes, I think rounded figures are a snare and a delusion.

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Thank you, Terry. I have read a lot of Asimov AND Bradbury, but not this collection. I will look for it at my library.

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Thanks, Sharron. I originally inserted the cover of the wrong book! The Time Traveller's Almanac is the one to look for,

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👍🏻

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I must have been tired or even asleep when I did that.

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A major fan of Ray Bradbury. A friend / acquaintance of mine sent me an AUTOGRAPHED COPY of " Dandelion Wine ". I sent it back to her after a breakup in the 90s. What's a proper UK equivalent for " crapping the bed " ?

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Starting from the end, I think it's 'crapping the bed'. I haven't read that. A signed copy? A shame you returned it I think. Mind you, I've got signed copies of books here and I'll never sell them. Are you a major fan because of his wide-ranging imagination? There's a series on, I think, Amazon, of his stories. The episodes are a bit lacklustre, but the ideas are great -- a bit like Black Mirror, but much earlier.

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AMAZON.... If we did any more business with them, we'd be buying tickets on Jeff Bezos' Blue Horizon spacecraft. My cousin is the one who does most of the business. I've tried using Amazon & the site locks me out. Enough to make one PARANOID.

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I don't like doing business with Amazon, but from a customer satisfaction point of view I've found them to be much better than many other companies, assuming you can be sure of having purchased a genuine product in the first place.

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An interesting side note - I sold things via eBay & a few items on Yahoo Auctions. I wound up buying MORE than I sold. No self - control HERE.

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I'm the same when I take books into a charity shop!

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When I had MORE money than I do NOW, I bought items on this German professors' eBay store, then on Yahoo. He had FOUR HOUSES FULL of archeological materials that he'd excavated over 60 PLUS years. A great old guy.

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