nik

Allergies? They really stink, especially if you have asthma, as they really can trigger a pretty robust asthma attack. I started taking prescription allegra for my allergies. Ever since I started taking it, I'm wide awake by 5am every morning. Great stuff!

I'm a little reluctant to post this one on the off chance that somebody here was a victim of my vengeance. Therefore, if you own a red Porche Boxter, please don't read this.

I used to live in a fairly expensive apartment with fairly expensive car-ports. For about $100 per month, I had a reserved port where I could park my car. However, somebody who owned a red Porche Boxster would always park in my spot. After repeated notes, and several failed attempts to have the car towed, I finally spent an evening making a few pans of cornbread, which I cut into about 30 nice squares and arranged on the hood of the Boxster, which was parked in my spot, which was conveniently located near a very scenic pond with ducks and geese. The birds took advantage of the free meal. Do you have any idea what a flock of corn-fed ducks and geese will do to the hood of a nice red, well-waxed Porche Boxster? The nice thing was that there was no evidence.

I think it must be really difficult for mothers with little children to have to take them in the stores with them. Actually, I feel bad for them. Little kids get out of control in the stores and they want everything they see. Why can't the Dad watch them? Or at least pay a babysitter for a few hours? I looks like it's torture. I don't want to have to go through that, ever. And if the Mom tries to shut them up by disciplining them then she gets critisized by everyone. That's just not fair. Maybe super-markets should have baby-sitting rooms so Mom can think while she is shopping. As a courtesy to their customers. I'm not talking about the Mom actually abusing the children in the store, just trying to make them behave.

Many super-markets in Japan actually do have areas where the kids can play while the parent shops. It's an excellent idea.

When I teach college physics, I always start the semester by showing the students the calculator I use - a cheap, beat up Radio Shack 10-digit scientific calculator that a girlfriend got me for Valentine's day almost 12 years ago. I tell them that this is all they need in my class. Then I design exams that are ridiculously hard if the student relies too heavily on his big, fat HAL-9000 briefcase calculator, but straightforward if they just follow my advice and "DO THE PHYSICS FIRST!" then do the math. Many students spend entire exams hunched over their calculators only to fail, while others touch their calculators a few times and get A's. I'm a scientist, have never used a graphing calculator, and probably never will.

Can't remember the last time I was bored............... Sometimes I wish I were bored.

(Not to be confused with boring.)

I don't know too much about cosmology (I've only a couple published papers in that field compared to the plethora of nuclear physics papers). However, in general, the goal of many cosmologists (NOT cosmetologists, which is what you will find at the beauty parlor) is to measure the macroscopic quantities of the universe and relate them to the matter in it. Some of the key arguments, problems, or observations in cosmology in the past decade have been. The list is by no means comprehensive:

- Age of the universe. This is starting to fizzle out a bit, but still comes

up.

- Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR). A big study that

also bleeds heavily into astrophysics and astronomy. Studying this

may help us learn a bit about what we refer to as Inhomogeneous

Big Bang Models.

- Gravity. The unification of this force with the other three fundamental

natural forces, its relationship to the dimension of the universe,

and it's metric (i.e., how we measure it). Deals slightly with what

we call the "decoupling phase."

Astronomy is a very observational science. The astronomers spend a lot of time doing spectrosopy - essentially looking at emission and absorption spectra to see what the stuff in space is made of. It's a very broad field. Some of the hot topics include spectroscopy (especially the very old "metal poor halo stars"), the search for extra-solar planets, and the study of our own sun (especially interactions with the magnetic field) to name but a few.

The fields are not mutually exclusive. They trade information back and forth heavily, and the physicists also rely on astronomical observations for their theories and experiments.

A couple of books on cosmology:

Principles of Physical Cosmology -- by Phillip James Edwin Peebles: not a bad book for someone scientifically oriented.

Gravitation -- by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler: A great book on (what else?) gravity. Referred to as "the telephone book" by students in the field for its shear size.

The Red Limit -- by Timothy Ferris. A layman's book. I don't like it, but the history is not too bad. Tim Ferris is pretty much a self-absorbed, money-mongerer, but this particular book isn't too bad.

I wish someone told me that tuna-fish snadwich I ate yesterday was sitting out for half-a-day before I picked it up.

I'm not angry at anybody...........

When I was in high school, I shaved my sideburns to a point to match the Trek style. After a while, it sort of caught on, and several other people did it as well.

Now, I just don't have sideburns - too hot in the summer.

"CAFFIENE IS GOOD!!"

Caffiene is our friend. All hail caffiene.......

Let me re-iterate that I am not addicted to caffiene.... I take it for the taste.

Ever start your day  by putting a couple of really good scoops of vanilla ice cream in a glass then pouring hot coffee in to fill the glass to the top. :blink: MMMMMMM :blink: Nice in the summer.

Heven't done that, but I will occassionally pour a pint of hot coffee, add a handful of crushed ice, and drink it as fast as I can. The point is not to enjoy it, but to get a large dose of caffiene in my blood. The injection speed, combined with the fact that cold liquids absorb more quickly, is a nice natural "nitro-injection" for the sytem. It's a beautiful thing! But I'm not addicted...........

I have 2 suggestions on how to avoid this dilemma.

 

1. Make certain you have a firewall and some form of updated virus scan software.

2. Purchase a MAC...99% of the viruses that infect PC's were not written to affect MAC.

I would also add the following to the list:

3. Use Linux. While Linux is not impervious to viruses, there are VERY few (and well known among hackers because of their rarity), simply becuase Linux (or Unix for that matter) is completely transparent to any process running on it, and it's very tough to

run a "batch job" on Linux without the user knowing. Additionally, Linux configurations vary so widely from computer to computer that it's tough to have something that will "work" on all systems.

Yes, I'm a big fan of the Linux. I'm always afraid of someone installig the Windows Virus on my computer without me knowing.

OH MY nik :blink: Yepp, that was clever, never thought of that. :blink: Was it a whole candybar or chocolate chips?? :blink:

It was a bunch of Hershey's Kisses. Those work well becuase they melt quickly and work into the fabric nicely.

Hmmmm...... good question. I assume you mean a computer virus. I've known several computer geeks over the years, some of whom have borderline ethics. Some of the reasons people create computer viruses is not so much out of malicious intent but more for the challenge of "hacking" other systems. They sort of keep a vague scorecard of the most difficult system "hacked," the number of systems "hacked" with a single code block, damage done, etc. From what I understand, "hacking" systems is to a hacker what running a marathon might be to a runner. I imagine that there are a few programmers also who specialize in "cyber-warfare," attempting to cripple an enemy by disabling his computer system.

I've never heard of companies that create virus protection software writing their own viruses to sell more software, but I would imagine that a fact like that would be an incredibly heavily guarded industrial secret.

When I was in college, quarters were very valuable becuase they were used in the dorm laundry. There were people in the dorm who liked to pull clothes out of the dryers while they were still running and put their own clothes in, essentially stealing

drying time. Someone did that to me once. They pulled my wet clothes out of the dryer I was using, and put their whites in there. In return, I went and got a handful of chocolate and threw in there with their clothes. It was beautiful.

I traded in the Mustang for a Specialized Allez racing bike. Next year, I'll probably trade that in for something hotter.

Aw, shucks! Thanks!

Here's another of my inventive ideas that was met with a less than enthusiastic response.

Many car accidents are caused at busy intersections by hurried drivers who attempt to speed through a yellow light, often not entering the intersection until the light has already turned red. This is dangerous, and is - at the very least - irritating to other drivers with the right-of-way who must wait for this "all important" person to clear the intersection. The solution for this is simple:

A steam loaded steel wall which crosses the lane underneath the stop line at at intersection can be installed. When the light turns red, this wall springs upward into place, ensuring that no overly enthusiastic drivers attempt to run the red light. Obviously it will take the typical driving public a few weeks to adapt to such a mechanism, but then traffic will operate on a less dangerous level. Not bad, huh?

Last summer, I went the entire summer having dreams about getting into legal trouble. One day I had a dream that I was in my car driving around naked, and a cop pulled me over and arrested me. A week later, I had a dream that I was pitching for the California Angels, and two cops came out in the middle of the fifth inning and arrested me. The following week I had a dream that I was at the bar with four dogs playing pool and drinking Drano and four cops came in and arrested me. It went on like that all summer. By the end of the summer, I was exhausted.

However, there is one peculiar dream that I've had once every one or two years since I was five. My kindergarten teacher is standinng ON THE WATER in the middle of a very still pond in a field on a very dark, overcast day. She is wearing a late 19th century brown Victorian dress. She is motioning very slowy with her hands, like she is trying to convince a dog or small child to come to her. Then, the entire kindergarten class runs on the water to her, and that's the end of the dream. The dream takes place in an actual field in Northern Michigan, but without the pond. Every time I go there, it's very wierd, French, deja-vuish sort of feeling.

That's a tough question since seasons are determined by much more than axial tilt. Mercury and Venus have spin axes nearly coplanar with the solar system. Uranus on the other hand, has an axial tilt of almost 90 degrees! Atmospheres are also a pretty big component of seasonal changes. Another interesting point is that Venus' day is only slightly longer than its orbit, so one side of Venus faces the sun for a very long time.

Here's another interesting question: Do you have any idea why the solar system is

a "disk?" That is, why are all the planetary oribits more-or-less in the same plane?

The answer is actually fairly simple.

Why do people point to their wrists when they ask for the time? I know where my watch is! Do you? When I ask where the bathroom is, I don't point to my crotch, do I?

How about fitness and weight loss.

If you want to lose weight, forget the Atkin's Diet, South Beach diet, and shelling over

hundreds of bucks to weight watchers! The BEST way I've ever found to lose weight is the "Raw Pork and Rancid Tuna Diet." The last time I tried this diet, I lost 15 pounds in two days.

And if you want to get in shape, just go to downtown Detroit. You're going to run there whether you want to or not!

And another.....

Automobile theft alarms are too docile. When someone steals my car, what do I want? Do I want them to ride away in my car as it's emitting this wimpy little beep. No! I want to catch the crook! So automobile alarms ought to be able to let the thief enter the car easily. Then, as soon as he closes the door, the locks clamp shut, a restraining harness wraps around his arms, legs, and head, and then some knockout gas (ether or something) is released into the car. The guy would not only still be there when the cops come, but he would be very easy to process into his incarceration.

Here's another of my "bad" ideas.

Consumables.... Think of all the time and money we waste by consuming tiny things, when we can just make, package, and buy one big one. For example, if you are camping with five friends, you could probably go through about 4 bags of marshmallows. Just buy one big marshmallow instead! How about potato chips. How many people eat just one chip? They would if it was the size of a table! Companies can save a lot of energy dividing things into smaller portions if they just sold BIG items. This could apply to a lot of stuff:

Cigarettes, pretzels, grapes (of course, there's the genetic engineering thing), Corn Flakes or Wheaties, macaroni, sugar, sunflower seeds, cotton balls, and a lot of other stuff could be made easier if they were sold as ONE BIG ONE, and not a bunch of little ones.

People seem to spend a lot of money on "imported" bottled water (which I am convinced is just a French guy in his bathroom filling up bottles from his sink). I bet one could spring a pretty lucrative business selling cans of dehydrated, condensed water. The instructions would be very simple: 1. Empty contents of can into a large bowl or pitcher. 2. Add water. 3. Stir well. 4. More or less water may be added until desired consistency is achieved.