I’m a structural engineer, I always defer to the “Average Layman Smell Test,” when considering how physics works. All the math and science is unnecessary, you should feel confident being inside the buildings I have designed.
Replies
The Tinkerbell theory is how bridges work.
aug 7, 2025, 1:54 pm • 0 0 • view
I only have 12 units of college earth science classes, but that's enough to know that a hotter atmosphere is likely to cause more and stronger up and downdrafts and wind shear etc. Actually after just elementary school science classes I would have gotten it.
aug 7, 2025, 4:16 pm • 0 0 • view
That's because his head is€^•^=° and he can't smell anything.
aug 7, 2025, 3:11 pm • 0 0 • view
aug 7, 2025, 2:04 pm • 1 0 • view
Smell test….hmmm. Maybe he could check the scratch n sniff sticker at the bottom of the pool and let us know how that works out.
aug 7, 2025, 2:24 pm • 0 0 • view
But do you also stick your head out during a flight? Because that seems to be the only way to be sure.
aug 7, 2025, 2:13 pm • 1 0 • view
I'm an aerodynamicist - the average layman is absolutely a subject matter expert and does not need 7 years of calculus to do my job.
aug 7, 2025, 1:58 pm • 16 0 • view
Wait there's more calc beyond 1-3? I feel cheated.
aug 7, 2025, 2:10 pm • 5 0 • view
Only if you hate yourself :)
aug 7, 2025, 2:25 pm • 6 0 • view
I'm a 42 year old chemistry major who voluntarily took linear algebra, so I think it's obvious that I do.
aug 7, 2025, 2:27 pm • 2 0 • view
Well if you've made it to linear algebra and you're looking for more calculus there's always numerical methods for pdes! I'm sure there's a process engineer near you somewhere, just look for the person slamming their head on the desk repeatedly.
aug 7, 2025, 2:41 pm • 5 0 • view
Oh god, partial differential equations were painful to learn. But now I use them often.
aug 8, 2025, 2:30 am • 2 0 • view
Lower case d’s and backwards 6’s haunted me in estuarine dynamics
aug 8, 2025, 2:46 am • 1 0 • view
Int(dy/dx dz)
aug 8, 2025, 2:55 am • 1 0 • view
There’s a whole class on swamp water movement?
aug 8, 2025, 2:56 am • 1 0 • view
Hahaha, and not just one, the fresh/saline interface is very cool. Add in all the sediments, temperature gradients; fascinating stuff.
aug 8, 2025, 3:03 am • 2 0 • view
That was my favorite part of calc 3!
aug 8, 2025, 2:40 am • 1 0 • view
It was my least favorite part. The professor just hated the way engineers approach things and only approached it the mathematician way. Nobody cares about the uniqueness of a solution.
aug 8, 2025, 2:43 am • 1 0 • view
As someone who likely was never going to encounter it in the real world, I enjoyed it for the algebraic feel. Algebra is like a warm hug in a cold math class.
aug 8, 2025, 3:26 am • 0 0 • view
I can't see them with my own face in my desk! Next semester I have analytical chem lecture and lab at 8 am. You'll be able to find me by triangulating the sobs.
aug 7, 2025, 4:44 pm • 1 0 • view
Newsmax doesn't count and should be ignored. It broadcasts nonsense.
aug 7, 2025, 2:37 pm • 1 0 • view
We use ALST in economics and political science too. Excellent method!
aug 7, 2025, 6:35 pm • 0 0 • view
“But did that layman do the smell test?!”
aug 7, 2025, 7:09 pm • 1 0 • view
Wow. Does Lee Zeldin have a PhD in olafactory awareness for the layman? So glad he’s in charge reviewing the science to make important decisions about the environment.
aug 7, 2025, 2:00 pm • 2 0 • view
As an average layman, we’re getting more storms and bigger storms but how could that cause more turbulence. 😒
aug 7, 2025, 2:14 pm • 1 0 • view
does not pass the goober test OK
aug 7, 2025, 4:31 pm • 0 0 • view
or we could use Elon's Cybertruck(Cyberdick) as an example
aug 7, 2025, 2:12 pm • 0 0 • view
Oh my, I wonder why science exists at all. This test would do, wouldn't it? Much cheaper and faster than having all these people learn for a bazillion years - and then they learn the wrong stuff! This one shows the difference between a layman and an expert 😂 youtu.be/dWAERJhHL4w?...
aug 7, 2025, 6:57 pm • 0 0 • view
This checks out...
aug 7, 2025, 1:54 pm • 0 0 • view
Hell yeah. I'm an engineer and ever since I renounced science and embraced ignorance, everything has been much easier in every facet of life. (Christ.)
aug 7, 2025, 2:40 pm • 1 0 • view
FAA has announced that it will make passenger planes safer by smelling them regularly.
aug 7, 2025, 9:48 pm • 0 0 • view
I mean give me enough time to explain and teach someone and I can help them grasp the math and science as to why something occurs. But letting people who don’t understand math and physics do engineering is a bad idea that can get people hurt or killed.
aug 8, 2025, 2:29 am • 1 0 • view
It's why we kidnap particularly unskilled men from the street, press gang style, and force them to inspect all new works by walking around, looking at things and either nodding silently with approval or squinting silently with disdain.
aug 7, 2025, 1:56 pm • 0 0 • view
Different type of civil engineer, but looking at some of the folks I went to school with back in the day, at least some SEs probably do use that standard.
aug 7, 2025, 2:19 pm • 0 0 • view
Anyone who’s used a parking lot thermal to climb in a glider can tell you that hot air rising is a democratic hoax to shut down big asphalt.
aug 7, 2025, 4:20 pm • 0 0 • view
We live in a "vibe culture" where "I do my own research" means "I ignore established experts because some anonymous weirdo on Facebook confirmed my pre-existing beliefs". 😑
aug 7, 2025, 2:09 pm • 8 0 • view
I can't remember which science writer -- Dawkins? -- has a name for such assessment: Disproof by personal incredulity. "It cannot possibly be true because I do not believe it."
aug 7, 2025, 2:11 pm • 4 1 • view
Cult of the orange jackass has taken over the EPA
aug 7, 2025, 2:08 pm • 2 0 • view
Ignore all problems
aug 7, 2025, 1:58 pm • 3 0 • view
So Lee, what’s causing this phenomenon? The Pilots?
aug 7, 2025, 2:18 pm • 1 0 • view
As long as someone said, "that's not going anywhere" and slapped it when it was finished, it'll be fine!
aug 7, 2025, 2:07 pm • 4 0 • view
The average "layman" in the country is ignorant.
aug 7, 2025, 2:41 pm • 1 0 • view
I, too, am a structural engineer and when I finished a set of drawings I would always take them outside and ask a friendly passerby to smell them for me. If he gave me the thumbs up I knew I was good to go!
aug 7, 2025, 1:58 pm • 24 0 • view
"Sure we have engineering's sign-off on this, but did you consult with Bob in sales? He has some chemtrail concerns."
aug 7, 2025, 1:56 pm • 2 0 • view
I designed a cart to hold a flange. It was very light and used the flange as a structural member to stiffen the cart. As soon as my back was turned the mechanics welded on a bunch of corner blocks because they didn't like my cart. They just added unnecessary weight.
aug 7, 2025, 3:50 pm • 0 0 • view
How can Zeldin smell anything with his head up Trump's butt for so long? Inquiring minds want to know.
aug 7, 2025, 2:19 pm • 2 0 • view
This fits right in with the Trump philosophy - accomplish things by doing rather than knowing. Let’s make that the new standard for our airline pilots and see how it goes.
aug 7, 2025, 1:57 pm • 1 0 • view
We are back to truthiness.
aug 7, 2025, 1:55 pm • 7 0 • view
Zeldin is not a meteorologist himself so he doesn’t know his ass from his elbow about climate science 🤨‼️
aug 7, 2025, 2:00 pm • 0 0 • view
Yes, the smell test, I--[sniffs] sorry, go on, you were saying that--[sniffs] woah what *is* that?
aug 7, 2025, 2:03 pm • 0 0 • view
Not any ole' average layman small test! This is the AMERICAN average layman smell test! You know, people famous for their curiosity, level-headedness, and quality decision-making capabilities.
aug 7, 2025, 2:53 pm • 0 0 • view
Who needs the ASTM & the AISC? Let's just vibe spec the steel for this puppy.
aug 7, 2025, 2:16 pm • 1 0 • view
🤦🏻♀️the head of the EPA thinks the cause of increasingly severe turbulence isn’t the result of climate change….gee, maybe it’s a conspiracy that democrats are causing it? He’s worried about delays? What an ass.
aug 7, 2025, 2:12 pm • 1 0 • view
bet that, unlike zeldin, you're not smelling your fingers every 30 seconds or so, eh?
aug 7, 2025, 3:05 pm • 0 0 • view
Just more anti-science nonsense to anesthetize the cult members 😵💫
aug 7, 2025, 5:35 pm • 1 0 • view
If the average layman voted for Trump, I wouldn’t trust his “smell test” to detect the plate of dog shit served to him for dinner.
aug 7, 2025, 4:51 pm • 0 0 • view
Oh lord.
aug 7, 2025, 2:13 pm • 0 0 • view
My 10th grade geometry class came up with two additional justifications, for use as needed in proofs: 1. MKSS -- [The teacher] says so. 2. ILTW -- It looks that way.
aug 7, 2025, 2:22 pm • 2 0 • view