April 2011
40 posts
March 2011
16 posts
Is it strange that I would rather have an epic sound system than some fancy TV screen?...
“To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”
—Dumbledore
“I’d like to share a revelation I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you’re not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we … are the cure.”
—Agent Smith
I am going Vegetarian for Lent
And no, I have not had a strange religious experience and converted to Catholicism - I am participating in Lent for what it represents, i.e. a chance to do something you normally wouldn’t, by giving up something taken for granted. And in my case, that taken for granted is the meat I consume on a regular basis.
I have considered, attempted and failed to become a vegetarian a couple of times over the past year - failed each time because I seem to be unable to exercise the self-control and awareness it takes on a day-to-day basis. That is the entire purpose of now, attempting it again, during Lent - a time when many others will be fighting their norms, their “desires” (again, albeit most for a different reason).
I sincerely question if I have any defining abilities or way of thinking that is "unique" or "better-than-average". Any thoughts?
Play
“
The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington engineering mid-term. The answer was so “profound” that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn’t ceased…
Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote Proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:
“First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let us look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year, “…that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.”, and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze.”
This student received the only A.
” —Unknown