Re: OT: central limit theorem

On 4/26/2024 11:46 AM, bitrex wrote:

I have one of these inexpensive Ikea bookshelves for storing some of my
electronics books:
 <https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/laiva-bookcase-black-brown-40178591/>
 I noticed the center shelf was starting to sag a few degrees. :( The assembly manual specifies a weight limit of 33 lbs evenly distributed which seemed like an oddly specific number. So I weighed the books on the shelves, which aren't particularly well organized other than to fully fill the available space widthwise on each shelf.
 A random assortment of hardbacks and paperbacks, some are tall and skinny, some are short and fat. And each shelf was clocking in at 33 lbs +/- 2 lbs.
 So I guess a heuristic for filling these shelves is just fill 'em up then remove the heaviest book, and de-rate the center shelf by maybe 5- 10 lbs because it's unsupported by a backing.

Smarter move is to buy all of your texts in electronic form, before you
end up with a shitload of dead trees!
When I moved here (~30 yrs), I had some 80 "Xerox Paper" cartons full
of paperbacks -- not counting "text books".  (I read ~500pp/wk)  Take
a moment to think of that volume (let alone MASS!).
I eventually scanned everything with a Perfect Binding and now fit those
same books on a single microSD card (in a Nook; PDFs on a 12" tablet).
The "hard back" texts are a lot harder to "process" but are suffering the
same fate.  I wouldn't wish the task of MOVING (or disposing!) the
dead tree collection on my worst enemy...