Imagining the tenth dimension

This video attempts to give you a way to imagine the concept of dimensions beyond the third.  Watch it and see why you do NOT want to mess with a physicist. Just TRY to follow it. I can think of more than a few people who's eyes are going glaze over way before the halfway point, making them wonder what I was smoking when I decided this video was cool. Maybe there's another science nerd out there who will like it though.

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Congratulations 44

Well, Barrack, you finally did it.  Good luck with the mess you've inherited.  If anyone can handle it (besides Franny), you seem like the guy.  You've broken an historic barrier today, but as the first Hawaiian president, you're setting a shining example for the world.  (If I were you though, I'd run over to the Supreme Court and redo that oath before the wingnuts find someone to read the Constitution to them.)

So I get this phone call from Franny...

"Is this the child abuse hotline?"

"Um.  Yeah.  Don't do it."

"Do you want to hear the offense first?"

Converting to Metric

Since I'm such a measurement nerd for work, I have to appreciate xkcd's Guide to Converting to Metric.  Enjoy.

Overheard at work

Among the many places I work, I am occasionally in R&D test kitchens.  They're pretty cool actually.  These people can come up with anything and have very well stocked kitchens to do it with.  But anyway, standing around tasting things all day apparently makes you a little punchy.

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"It's kind of chewy."

"Yeah, you have to hold it in your mouth for a while, like for an hour."

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"It's a good source of calcium."

"It's also a good source of butt fat."

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"Did you taste that bean thing the other day."

"It was awful.  It was like beans cooked with grass clippings."

"All I could think of was dirt.  It really smelled like dirt when I microwaved it."

"It tasted like a funeral for your pet."

[I can't say as I understand that last part.]

Can you keep the printer not coming to me?

A couple weeks ago, the Mizz was babbling his way through dinner and among other things, he started talking about the printer.  For some reason, he blurted out, "Can you keep the printer not coming to me?", I believe as some sort of toddler joke.  I didn't understand, so I asked for some clarification, and he repeated it.  In talking about it, however, it became clear that his little 3-year-old brain had latched onto it, and he actually got worried that the printer was going to come and get him.  He really needed me to make sure to keep the printer away.  For the next couple nights, the last thing we had to discuss on the way to bed was that I would keep the printer not coming to him.  I finally managed to convince him that, first of all, printers didn't usually try to get kids, and second, I had tied it to the computer AND the wall AND the phone.  I showed him the collection of wires and cables sticking out of the back of it and that seemed to be that.

A short time later, the Mizz started to ask about fire.  I don't know exactly what triggered it, but he seemed pretty concerned.  Every night, he asked, "Will you come get me if there's a fire?"  Each night he thought about it a little more and it morphed into things like, "If there's a fire outside the window, and we open the window, the fire will come inside.  If there's a fire outside the door, and we open the door, then it will come inside and we'll have TWO fires.  If there's a fire in the WHOLE room, then we'll have to jump over it.  Will you help me jump over the fire?"  "We could build a hose INSIDE if there's a fire.  Will you build a hose inside?"  "That's why we have a smoke betactor."  "I have some more questions about fire."  It finally settled back down to, "Will you come get me if there's a fire?" and then kind of chilled out for a couple days.

Then last night, as I'm leaving the room, I hear, "Will you come get me if there's a fire or a printer?"

[Added 1/20/09:  He's recently added, "Will you come get me if there's anything that makes me sad?  But that's mostly just fires and printers."  It must be hard to be three.]

Welcome, 2009

Except for the most wonderful arrival of D in May, I can't say this has been my favorite year.  It wasn't all bad, but it wasn't exactly roses either.

It was pretty sad to watch the housing market and the economy slowly and obviously tank in front of my eyes while the talking heads all claimed this was just a blip or that was just a minor correction.  W won't be missed by many.  It's been pretty embarrassing to have him represent me to the rest of the world, and only to have him become more and more impotent and ineffectual as everybody wished desperately for someone else.  It's sad to see that we are still in two wars, neither of which appear to be close to an end, one of which has not even achieved the goals of getting rid of the Taliban and finding the ass who started this whole mess in the first place.

I'm fully aware that we'll pull through this.  We always do.  When backed into a corner, we've quite often shown ourselves to be a pretty resilient country.  Hopefully, Obama will be able to help channel that energy in a positive direction.  I'm am hopeful that he will at least be able to put a positive and more generally appreciated face on the country.  I feel like he's got a more realistic world view than we've had lately and that every situation will not be approached as black and white or right vs. wrong.  Is it too much to ask that we have a leader that keeps everybody's interests in mind and tries for the best for everyone?  Probably, but I can hope, can't I?

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Well, that was about the most pessimistic Happy New Year I could have come up with.  Plus it was a day late.  Shame on me.  It's really not that bad.  I've got a wonderful wife and two excellent boys.  I've got a decent house, which is still worth more than I paid for it.  Although it's probably not recession-proof, my job appears to be relatively secure.  (At the very least, we service a lot of wastewater plants, and no matter how bad the economy, nobody stops flushing. :)  We've got a new president coming on board that I actually like so far.  Plus a tin full of cookies and candy just showed up in the mail, so how bad can things be exactly?

Here's wishing everyone a happy and safe 2009!