Category Archives: Silly

Did Somebody Step On a Duck?

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“Is that what you want, Mary? A farter?” Tucker/Norman, “There’s Something About Mary”

To the Royal Academy of Farting, Benjamin Franklin, c. 1781.

That the permitting this Air to escape and mix with the Atmosphere, is usually offensive to the Company, from the fetid Smell that accompanies it.

That all well-bred People therefore, to avoid giving such Offence, forcibly restrain the Efforts of Nature to discharge that Wind.

That so retain’d contrary to Nature, it not only gives frequently great present Pain, but occasions future Diseases, such as habitual Cholics, Ruptures, Tympanies, &c. often destructive of the Constitution, & sometimes of Life itself.

I wonder what the impact would have been on social norms if certain gases weren’t invisible.

Update: Another, erm, voice heard from. Science World toots up on the matter.

Lance Armstrong, Homer Simpson. Homer Simpson, Lance Armstrong.

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Tour de Donuts

The object? Consume as many donuts as you can during the “stages” to gain a time bonus. The final stage is a staggered start hill climb up the notorious Torrey Pines Hill. Each donut consumed is worth 30 seconds on the clock during the hill climb and first person to the top wins the jersey the title “Gluttonous Champion” and bragging rights for a full year. Ex: Bob eats the most (10 donuts) while Jim eats only 9. In this case, Bob starts the hill climb first and Jim starts 30 seconds after him.

If it’s the Murderhorn, though, you must consume food that’s in bar form.

Revenge of Toys in the Office

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This was originally purchased to extend my effective tickling and grabbing range when my nieces were younger. (Before they underwent the phase transition to where tickling just isn’t tolerated much) Now it’s used to grab errant trash-can-tosses if I’m being lazy, and retrieve objects that fall in the gap between the desk and the wall.

claw.jpg

TNLNSL

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Out geocaching this afternoon. First outing of the year where I did significant bushwhacking in shorts, so I have a start on a new set of scratches on my shins. And I landed hard jumping down from a bank while crossing a stream, so I have sore ankle too. Good times.

“Found it in the last tree I looked in”

That was one of the log entries. You never see, “Found it and kept looking a few more minutes.” OF COURSE it’s in the last place you looked!

(TNLNSL stands for “Took nothing, left nothing, signed log”)

Toys in the Office: Gettin' Medieval

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trebuchet.jpg

Bought this trebuchet as a kit several years ago, and put it together over the Memorial day weekend back then. I had seen a NOVA special about some men who built two using in-period tools, and then knocked down a wall with them. When I ran across the kits on the intertubes, I couldn’t get my wallet out fast enough. It came with what looked to be ~50 caliber musket shot, which is not exactly conducive to indoor testing, so I substituted balled-up aluminum foil. It’s a favorite of some visitors, including the safety inspector(!).

Here’s a Trebuchet Challenge for testing your mad siege engine skillz.

Safety Tips

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As if a physicist fence could keep us out or in.

He informs me that it is actually a “physicist fence” which is used to keep the physicists on campus and prevent them from roaming free in the community and administering random physics lessons to unsuspecting citizens.

Don’t forget: we know how to tunnel. We learn that in quantum mechanics.

No, the best way to keep us from administering random physics lessons is to provide us with fun toys like lasers and vacuum systems to keep us occupied, to not make eye contact, and say nothing to encourage us (questions or leading statements).

True story: last week, out at lunch, one of the gang (not a physicist) got two containers of cream for his coffee. He mused, out loud, “I wonder if they have the same volume?” He then emptied one into his cup, and put the other one down! How do you ask the question and then not follow through? I opened the second and emptied it into the first, and confirmed that they were the same volume.

So, avoid things like that, or “I wonder how that works,” or baiting us with obviously wrong statements (“It swirls that way because of the Coriolis force” or “Relativity is crap”). And don’t attempt nerd sniping.