Ciro Santilli's hardware / Trek FX 3 2021 Updated 2026-03-05
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www.tritoncycles.co.uk/urban-bikes-c4/hybrid-c30/trek-fx-3-equipped-urban-bike-2021-p39860/s102315 XL color Dnister Black. £675.00 plus £35.00 delivery. Disc breaks, 2x9 gears. Bought 2023 on a bit of a sale.
Specs upon buying:
Weight after bought measured differentially on bathroom scale: 13.5 kg
Gears: 11-36T on back, 46-30T on front. So min speed is 30/36 = 0.83 and max is 46/11 = 4.18, so range is 4.18 / 0.83 ~= 5. Compared to Kross which was 11-32 on back vs 48-28 on front, so min 28/32 = 0.875 and max 48/11 = 4.36. So the ranges are very comparable! This confirms Ciro's suspicion that 3 speeds on cranckset is just useless.
I was sized just at the lower limit of XL, but decided to go for it. The seatpost goes all the way into the tube, which is a good thing, might help with noises?
Frame serial under bottom bracket: WTU173C0374S. Registered at: www.bikeregister.com/
Initial impressions:
I'm unable to place a U-lock carrier on this bike in a way that doesn't block one of the two bottles inside frame, or hits leg on if on side. Tried both Kryptonite and Abus ones I have lying around. Shame. Also the Topeak MTS Trunkbag does not fit well on the pannier rack, it is not wide enough to strap: 11cm outer width, 9cm inner width, same geometry as that of the Liv bike.
Log:
2026-02-13: chain reched .7, changed it to new KMC X9. x9 9 speed chain 114 links. www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07J38GX7L Started slipping like crazy on cassette when I pedaled hard, changed it to www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073H3DST7 SHIMANO CS-HG400 9-speed cassette (11-36 teeth) which internet said was compatible and it seems to be. Didn't manage to remove it and needed help from bike shop as usual. After that it stopped slipping.
2025-09-30: kickstand broken while taking it on car. Proceeding to buy Bontrager Rear Mount Adjustable Kickstand www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/equipment/bike-accessories/bike-kickstands/bontrager-rear-mount-adjustable-kickstand/p/36015/ 20 pounds + 4 delivery. The new kickstand is slightly different from the previous one, it is less slick looking, but perhaps a bit more sturdy, notably the little arm is shorter which might help prevent the previous failure mode. It came with 3 types of screws, but the two of correct diameter were a bit shorter or longer than the old ones so I just kept the old ones.
2025-09-13: chain reached 0.75, rebuying KMC X9. x9 9 speed chain 114 links. www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07J38GX7L
2025-08: rear mudgard broke in the exact same way as last time, so I'm saying fuck this bullshit and I just fixed it up with some wire which will likely be more resistant than the shitty metal thing they had.
2025-06-26: I suddenly lost the ability to shift the front gear, cable seemed fine, upon inspection I noticed that the pedal could move sideways. Maybe linked to screeching sound that has been coming from that area for a while. As per www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPQyQnNdews leading to www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqBtB8Kyl2U this is a different system from the Kross one, two piece compression slotted rather than 3 piece. The side to side issue is mentioned precisely at: youtu.be/QqBtB8Kyl2U?t=357 Buying the standalone removal tool: www.amazon.co.uk/Professional-Extracto-Compatible-Hollowtech-Maintenance/dp/B0DP6QF11X Fixing it fixed the shift issue, but I noticed that the little plastic piece was broken. Also a few days later it became loose again during a ride, but thankfully I had the tool and put it back mid rid. TODO wanted to rebuy it but it's really hard to find... Going to try this one: www.bikeparts.co.uk/products/shimano-altus-fc-mt210-chainset-46-30-9-speed-black-170-mm-w-o-chainguard 175 mm and see if it comes with both arms. Bought it. has both arms. But I can't fit it, appears to be 1 or 2 mm short compared to the other cranck, the new arm does go on the old crank. There is a small rubber seal that is perhaps not too well inserted which might be to blame? Fuck my life! On the old one, it seems to be fully inserted into a tight hole. I didn't manage to insert the new one enough to make it fit, but if I remove it then it fits... just removing it for now then, how important could that be? Famous last words. Web says 12-14 nM torque on holding screws.
2025-06: rebuying 2x Shimano B05S brake pads, breaking is not too great and I don't want to repeat last year's episode of on-road failure. Will also be bleeding for the second time, God help me. The old pads weren't too bad, but I replaced them anyways. The bleeding was a failure and the brakes were too soft to be useful at the end, fuck. Went to two bike shops, both said bleeding not too bad, one said likely problem was contamination/friction issues. Tried cleaning rotors further, improved. Buying sandpaper and new rotors as well 2x SHIMANO SM-RT26 6-Bolt Disc Rotor and also got two more brake pads, totalling 3 new before I start putting them in with new rotor.
2025-04: rear shift cable snapped near shifter when going over a cattle grid, was already a bit off in the previous days after last adjust I then noticed. I'll buy a SHIMANO Gear Inner Wire Y60098070 on Amazon and might pass by bike shop as well I'll see.
2025-03: rear middle metal connection broke off read mudguard. Rebuying £21.04 from: www.tritoncycles.co.uk/frames-forks-c6/frame-fork-spares-c152/eurofender-snello-700c-fenders-46mm-rear-p33330/s93941 Quite disappointed with that, didn't come with any screws, though perhaps these are frame dependant. And the drilling was a bit different, this model seems to be intended to have some wiring passing inside via some rubber tubes that I removed, and unfortunately the hole on front was too high up and didn't match up with the screw hole on frame. I just removed the broken metal piece from it and put it on the old mudguard.
2024-09: buying CHUMXINY Brake Bleed Kit: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CXDQ2S1S I hope I don't regret this. But I can't find an original one on Amazon either so... £12.74. Quality is a bit crap but seems to work. The 7mm wrench however is so bad that it can't unscrew a 7mm nut.
2024-09: chain reached 0.75, rebuying KMC X9. x9 9 speed chain 114 links: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07J38GX7L
2024-09: when going down a hill in intense breaking, noise started coming from back disk brake. Tried to adjust, but made it worse, had to bail out on nearby bike shop. Readjusted, told me to replace back pads and likely bleed. Bought two Shimano B05S brake pads to replace the B01S that came with the bike, Internet says compatible. Brake maintenance finally caught up with me, it was a great summer and I kept putting it off. Changed just the back one for now, front still has life it seems.
2024-06: noticed a sideways lump on back tyre between spoke 23 and 24 when washing. The only sign of damage was internal near grip part, I could see some clear shearing... God those tyres are crap, or at least crap to what I've subjected them. Inner tube and outside seem perfect, so weird. If only the Schawlbe had worked! But OK now I'm forced to get something new and better, thinking:
They had a Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700x35c (non-Tour, as that one didn't fit as per previous experiment) on the shop and I went for it. They said 35c was the maximum recommended for that mudgard which is a bit of a shame, but good to know. Also getting one from Amazon to match on front as shop only had one.
2024-04: micropuncture on front tube? Could not identify during ride, refilled and was OK to get home. Almost no pressure in middle of ride. Passed through some deep water which may have made things worse? Had a small pice of glass-like material stuck in tyre, but didn't seem to penetrate? One day and a half later, was full empty again after full fill without riding, so confirming micropuncture theory. Buying 2x Conti Tube Cross 28 (700C) presta inner tubes.
Tried to put a spare Schwalbe Men's Marathon Plus Tour 700x40C on the bike to get better stability. It seemed to fit the wheel quite well, but unfortunately failed to go well in the fork because it was too tall and hit the mudgard. Without mudgard it might work. Measured height was 6cm for Schwalbe vs 5.3cm for the stock one.
2024-02: another broken spoke... what crappy weak wheels!!! Bought Bavel 290 mm spokes 36pcs 14G J Bend Silver. Broken position was 22nd clockwise from inner tube valve hole.
2023-12: chain reached 0.75, rebuying KMC X9. x9 9 speed chain 114 links.
2023-12: broken spoke! Also had to replace nipple because broke inside nipple. At least learned how to change tire at last.
2023-05: rebuying another Topeak Aero Wedge saddle bag for this new bike
2023-05: 2x Elite custom race cage water bottle frame cages, felt great, much better than those on the Kross! www.elite-it.com/en/products/bottle-cages/fibre-reinforced-material-frp/custom-race
2023-05: ParkTool TR1 tyre levers + GP-2 super patch kit
2023-05: Kask Rapido Medium Black/Yellow fluo helmet, got a more racy helmet too! 69 pounds, way more any previous helmet I've owned: www.kask.com/en/cycling/helmets/rapido_24_2.htm
2023-05: Lezyne V-Pro 10 multi-tool ride.lezyne.com/products/v-pro-tool No spoke wrench unfortunately.
  • Hex: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8
  • Torx T10, T25
  • Phillips
Initial equipment:
Annotated copypasta:
Weight limit: This bike has a maximum total weight limit (combined weight of bicycle, rider and cargo) of 136 kg (300 lb)
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British pragmatism Updated 2026-03-05
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The British are very pragmatic. This has good and bad effects.
For example, a good effect is that many things work pretty well, such as the government. This also helped industry develop.
A bad effect is that they sometimes settle on local minima forever. Examples:
  • written Constitution? Who needs a written constitution!
  • as of 2020, they are still using imperial units in everyday life, rather than International System of Units, which was setup by the French, who are much more idealistic, and can therefore can break from such insanity more often.
  • the persistence of the insane system of colleges of the University of Oxford
  • the incredibly late date of the decimal day in 1971, and that was partly due to the advent of the computer. That one was too much, even for the Brits, or maybe it helped that the greedy financiers were involved
  • the British train system as of the 2010's, which is completely not unified, each part operated by a different company with different standards. Private and public unification efforts are ongoing, Trainline being one of the best/only private buy from any line unification approaches.
  • Church of England priests can marry, which reduces the proportion of pedophiles. Also women were accepted starting in the 1970's in certain dioceses (non uniform rules as usual, typical of English pragmatism), including for bishop
If it ain't totally broken, just let it continue forever! See also: Section "History of the University of Oxford".
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Ciro Santilli's hardware / Bicycle products Updated 2026-03-05
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2022-02: lost my Karrimor REFLEKT, must have fallen off from trouses somewhere.
2022-02: bought Burg Wachter Sold Secure Bike Chain, Lock and Ground Anchor Kit 1m, 10mm chain width: www.amazon.co.uk/Burg-Wachter-Sold-Secure-Gold-Chain/dp/B09MMGL9B7
2022-02 bought Kryptonite Kryptoflex double loop cable 1.2m length 10mm diameter braided steel cable: www.kryptonitelock.com/en/products/product-information/current-key/210818.html
2022-02: bought a Trelock BC 115/110/4 chain white for my saddle after Liv Flourish 2 (2018) the saddle of was stolen at home. Same as this but white: www.trelock.com/en/lock/locks/chain-locks/bc-115-110-4-green. The keys are a bit larger than I'd like.
2021-11: buying a Cateye ViZ450 www.cateye.com/intl/products/safety_lights/TL-LD820/ 51 dollars after CatEye RAPID X2 was stolen. Unfortunately, it is not very compatible with my Topeak saddle bag... the attachment is to wide to fit the saddble bag, and even if it did it is slanted to account for seat tube slant so it would not be very verfical. Arghh, they have futher options on the website: www.cateye.com/intl/products/parts/5342460/ that is the one I need, Clip C-2 or Clip C-1N. On Amazon it didn't have clear choices for that... mine came with the BracketSP-15. Ah, can buy on Amazon for 3 dollars, OK then.
2021-11: COZYROOMY multitool broke apart already, like before, but much sooner this time. What a piece of junk!!! Buying the Topeak Mini 18+ Bike Multitool www.topeak.com/global/en/products/75-Mini-Tools/173-mini-18+ Has a spoke wrench.
  • Hex wrenches - 2 / 2-L / 2.5 / 3 / 4 (2 pcs) / 5 / 6 / 8 / 10mm
  • Torx® wrench - T25
  • Spoke wrench - 14G / 15G
2021-09: COZYROOMY multitool stolen, even though it was completely in pieces already. 2021-09-21 12:30PM discovered, seat bag open, one tool on floor, and some leftovers inside, but black bag gone. Bicycle last seen 2021-09-20 6PM. Would likely have spotted it if it had happened before. Bicycle last used: 2021-09-19 6PM. Would almost for sure have seen it if it had happened by then. Rebought it.
2021-07 Topeak MTS Trunkbag EX Strap Type www.topeak.com/global/en/products/192-Rear-Rack-Bags/859-MTX-TRUNKBAG-EX Fit nicely on the back of the Kross bicycle (2017). 8L. Originally to carry some extra food and water on a long summer trip. 36 pounds.
2020-11-30: Bought more "Finish Line DRY Teflon Bicycle Chain Lube" 8oz/240ml www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z779GMO/ after previous disaster with the bottle because lock is a bit hard to open.
2020-11-30 WD-40 Bike, All Conditions Lube Bicycle Lubricant, 250ml. Markings: "Contains PTFE". www.amazon.com/dp/B00O8QF3PY Sprays out of bottle, so very thin.
2020-02: CatEye AMPP500 45 pounds www.cateye.com/intl/products/headlights/HL-EL085RC/ High mode 500 lumens: 1.5hrs, Daytime HyperConstant mode 500/250 lumens： 5hrs. 2020-11: noticed it was cracked on top front between button and light, I think I dropped it the other day from waist height.
2020-02: Karrimor REFLEKT Band 2 pounds from Sports Direct to replace old that I destroyed by playing with it with hands on work desk www.karrimor.com/karrimor-reflect-band-765007
2020-01: Halfords Microfibre Heavy Duty Cloths www.halfords.com/motoring/car-cleaning/sponges-brushes-buckets/halfords-microfibre-heavy-duty-cloths (archive) 87% polyester, 13% polyamide.
2019-12: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07GQSXN8B SENZEAL Bicycle Spoke Wrench Tool Spoke Key Spanner 6 in 1 for Bike Wheel Cycle Wrench 10-15 Gauge. TODO 2024: can't find those for the life in me.
2019-11: Multitool: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07MW3K2GK "COZYROOMY Bike Repair Kits - Bicycle tool kit with 10 in 1 Multi-Function Bike Tool, multi-purpose bone wrench And related spare tools, 1 Portable tool bag, 6 Month Warranty". No spoke wrench unfortunately. But does have 15mm bone wrench, which opens Kross front wheel. Some months later, the thing came apart, quality was a bit shit. But I kept it in the saddle bag anyways for a long time, and just used it by putting part of it manually together.
  • Universal Hex Wrench (Allen keys) - 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8mm
  • Flat Head Screwdriver/Philips Screwdriver&Bicycle chain separator (Additional chain hook, spare thimble and 5mm wrench)
2019-11: "CatEye RAPID X2" real lights, 40 dollars. Hopefully to increase side visibility at night, and day visibility on fast roads when cycling further on weekends. www.cateye.com/intl/products/safety_lights/TL-LD710-R/ (archive) USB rechargeable. 80 lumens in high mode lasting 1 hour, 5 hours in low mode, 30 hours flashing, 16 hours rapid/pulse. Lost 2021-11 in a big city, didn't know the path well, had to cross a bunch of streets, was on back of back bag, likely stolen.
2019-10 WD-40 Smart Straw 450ml www.amazon.com/dp/B01MEHN4VC (archive)
2019-10 Finish Line Dry Teflon Tube www.amazon.com/dp/B00B704LZW (archive) Tube broke while opening the first day. I glued it with some superglue, but two months later found it leaked into my "oils bag", so I threw it away... it must have penetrated through the super glue.
2019-08: "CatEye CA475RAPMIN Rapid Mini Rear Lights and Reflectors, Black" stolen: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01I4193PY (archive). Very good quality. Those USB rechargeable lights you just have got to take off with you whenever parked in town or else drug addicts will steal them because they are easy to remove for recharging. Tempted to just stick to dynamo ones that are screwed in. Re-bought original back light: AXA Basta, was a bit different from previous one, cannot take in lamps anymore, even though there is the plastic casing for them! Just not metal / wires.
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Possible new effects in superconductive tunnelling Updated 2025-07-16
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The inaugural that predicted the Josephson effect.
Published on Physics Letters, then a new journal, before they split into Physics Letters A and Physics Letters B. True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen mentions that this choice was made rather than the more prestigious Physical Review Letters because they were not yet so confident about the results.
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Git design rationale Updated 2025-07-16
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The fundamental insight of Git design is: a SHA represents not only current state, but also the full history due to the Merkle tree implementation, see notably:
This makes it so that you will always notice if you are overwriting history on the remote, even if you are developing from two separate local computers (or more commonly, two people in two different local computers) and therefore will never lose any work accidentally.
It is very hard to achieve that without the Merkle tree.
Consider for example the most naive approach possible of marking versions with consecutive numbers:
  • Local 1:
  • Local 2:
    • 0: root commit
    • 1: commit 1
    • 2: commit 2 by local 2
    • 3: commit 3 by local 2
  • Remote
If Local 1 were to push to Remote first, how could Local 2 notice that when it tries to push itself? The navie method of just checking: "does Remote have commit "2"" does not work, because Local 2 has a different version of commit 2 than local 1.
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GitHub's replacement of master branch with main (2020) Updated 2025-07-16
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By GitHub around Black Lives Matter, due to a possible ludicrous relationship with slavery of black people:
For the love of God, the word "master" is much more general than black slavery. If you are going to ban it, you might as well ban the word "evil".
Several software projects followed the purge from their codebases, maybe GitHub followed someone else's lead, it's hard to say.
The words "whitelist" and "blacklist" were also targeted.
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GitLab Updated 2025-07-16
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GitLab was very important to Ciro because he wanted to base Booktree on it.
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Git tips / git mergetool with meld or kdiff3 Updated 2025-07-16
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These are good free newbie GUI options:
sudo apt install meld
git mergetool --tool meld

sudo apt install kdiff3
git mergetool --tool kdiff3
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cirosantilli/media/master/meld.png
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cirosantilli/media/master/kdiff3.png
Let's make a more interesting conflict:
git-tips-2.sh
#!/usr/bin/env bash

set -eux

add() (
  rm -f f
  for i in `seq 10`; do
    printf "before $i\n\n" >> f
  done
  printf "conflict 1 $1\n\n" >> f
  for i in `seq 10`; do
    printf "middle $i\n\n" >> f
  done
  printf "conflict 2 $2\n\n" >> f
  for i in `seq 10`; do
    printf "after $i\n\n" >> f
  done
  git add f
)

rm -rf git-tips-2
mkdir git-tips-2
cd git-tips-2
git init

for i in 1 2 3; do
  add $i $i
  git commit -m $i
done

add 3 4
git commit -m 4

add 5 4
git commit -m 5

git checkout HEAD~2
git checkout -b my-feature

add 3 6
git commit -m 6

add 7 6
git commit -m 7
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Good targets for amateur astronomy Updated 2025-07-16
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Looking at most astronomical object through a telescope is boring because you only see a white ball or point every time. Such targets would likely only be interesting with spectroscopy analysis.
There are however some objects that you can see the structure of even with an amateur telescope, and that makes them very exciting.
Some good ones:
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Good video game to watch Updated 2025-07-16
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This is a list of video games that are good to watch other people playing, even if you don't play yourself. And often they are better to watch than to play as you don't have to waste your time as much!
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Google X Updated 2025-07-16
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Wikipedia reads:
Any contributor could create and own new Knol articles, and there could be multiple articles on the same topic with each written by a different author.
so basically exactly what Ciro Santilli wants to do on OurBigBook.com. Ominous.
Like any closed source "failure", everything was deleted. wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Knol
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History of special relativity Updated 2025-07-16
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Bibliography:
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History of the United States Updated 2025-07-16
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Video codec Updated 2025-11-18
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History of Wikipedia Updated 2025-07-16
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A 2022 clone of phabricator.wikimedia.org/source/mediawiki.git gives first commits from 2003 by:
TODO when was wikipedia open sourced from Nupedia? The early days of Wikipedia are quite obscure due to its transition from Nupedia.
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Hofstadter's law Updated 2025-07-16
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The trivial takes a few hours.
The easy takes a week.
And what seemed hard takes a few hours.
As "deadlines" approach, feature sets get cut down, then there are delays, and finally a feasible feature set is delivered some time after the deadline.
The only deadlines that can be met are those of tasks which have already been done but not announced.
This is of course Hofstadter's law.
On the other hand, as a colleague of Ciro once mentioned, it is also known that the time it takes for a task to be done expands without limits to match the deadline. And therefore, without deadlines, tasks will take forever and never get done.
And so, in a moment, perceiving this paradox, Ciro was enlightened.
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How can a chemical substance be unstable but not flammable? Updated 2025-07-16
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I can't believe there isn't a YouTube video comparing various substances for each flammability and instability ratings, this would be a huge hit.
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How to store data in the Bitcoin blockchain Updated 2025-07-16
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There are apparently two methods:
Specific implementations:
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How to teach and learn physics Updated 2025-07-16
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The approach many courses take to physics, specially "modern Physics" is really bad, this is how it should be taught:
This is likely because at some point, experiments get more and more complicated, and so people are tempted to say "this is the truth" instead of "this is why we think this is the truth", which is much harder.
But we can't be lazy, there is no replacement to the why.
Related:
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How to teach / Explain why the subject is beautiful Updated 2025-07-16
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And if you really can't make money from a subject, there is only one other thing people crave: beauty.
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