Perspectives of a Canadian in the Old/Deep/New/Geographic South: This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular and post a few nice pictures.
Hey physics profs and teachers. Want a neat microwave trick for your students to try out? Measure the speed of light using a microwave and chocolate. It’s a simple experiment using a line of chocolate chips and a microwave. The principles are discussed in the article and according to the article, gets pretty close to the answer. And when you’re finished with the experiment, you can eat it!
Fount at Slashdot.org
Went to see Matrix: Reloaded yesterday at the IMAX theatre. In a word, awesome. In the words of the person next to us, “Holy Crap”. Seems it was his first IMAX experience.
Seeing it on the big IMAX screen and with the big IMAX sound was awesome. There was a glitch with the audio sync in the last 30 minutes of the movie that was mildly annoying, and halfway through the movie an automatic timer brought up the screen lights. The lights were soon turned back off though.
An excellent and highly recommended experience. I’m really looking forward to Matrix: Revolutions on IMAX now.
I have a skeleton.
No, not the one inside my body holding me up and not the ones in my closet either. It’s one of those display skeletons you might find in your doctor’s office, or an anatomy lab. It’s not one of those cheesy plastic ones either. This is an actual skeleton, with real bones.
I was walking through our department mail area, and there it was propped up next to the photocopier with a sign saying “I’m headless and homeless. Find me a home”.
It’s not in the greatest shape, and it’s definitely seen better days. It’s been decapitated. The arms have been lopped off and the legs have been amputated below the knees. So I guess it’s just a torso with dangly bits. Some of the nuts, bolts and springs holding the joints together are missing or damaged, so some of the bones bend quite unnaturally. But aside from that, it’s largely intact.
I think it’ll make an interesting decoration for my office, once I find a place for it. Unless of course my wife decides to nab it so she can review her anatomy.
Yesterday was the autumnal equinox. Soon, the weather will be cooling down, and leaves are supposed to be turning colour. Around here though, the weather changes from really really hot to just hot. And leaves don’t turn colour. The live oaks and palm trees stay green, and all the other trees just turn brown and drop their leaves. No brilliant display of colour, no brisk chill in the air. None of what I’m used to. Aside from the weather cooling down enough to make going outside enjoyable again, fall around here is a pretty dull season (hurricane excitement notwithstanding).
I miss having different seasons.
It’s been quiet lately. One of those slow news weeks where nothing notable really happens. I like these periods. Gives me some time to unwind and focus on other things.
Finally finished Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind. The 8th book in that epic Sword of Truth series. I thought this book was better than the last one. I think it wrapped up nicely, and seems to be starting to set the stage for the endgame. Now I have to go back and re-read the series again.
The last few books (6, 7 and 8) in the series have been rather interesting. The more I think about them, the more they seem like a philosophical treatise on the nature of people, free will and the morality of the choices people make, disguised as a fantasy novel. Perhaps this is what the author is trying to do. Some of it is very thought provoking. I’ll have to read the series all over again to try to collect them all in my head for further analysis.
In the meantime, I leave you with Wolf_Gal’s collection of the Wizard’s Rules from the Sword of Truth Series.