shwing

For those of you who understand what that means, yes it's true.
For those of you who dont' ask someone who a) knows Legion and b) knows/is an engineer.

Yet another observation from,
Rune

For those of you who don't know; Legion is engaged. The blog dedicated to it should be arriving soon.

Non-Reproducable Experiments

@ So it turns out that 6 out of 8 young children will accept a cookie from a complete stranger. This suggests a deplorable lack of proper training of the next generation. I must say that I am quite appalled.

@ For those of you who, like Sabius, are getting upset with me at the above statement, yes, the experiment was conducted with a number of different types of cookie to ensure that it was not biased. This may have led to an increase in the number of children who accepted, since they were asked to take whichever type of cookie they like, but it is felt that the results are still valid.

@ For those of you who are getting even more upset, neither time nor money was wasted on getting many different kinds of cookie. This experiment was conducted in the grocery store, so the cookies were all readily available. And since the packages never left the store, no money was wasted. In fact, it is doubtful that even the leftover cookies were wasted, as the packages were returned to the proper shelves, and were most likely bought by the next customer who wished a half package of cookies. All around, very little was wasted.

@ In a related study, grocery store employees get unaccountably upset when you offer them a cookie. More research should be done into this phenomenon.

@ In other news, it has been determined that the streetlight (see previous posts) is not able to sense my approach, nor anyone else's. It simply cycles through a steady "on-off" sequence, with the "on" part being longer. A pedestrian walking beneath the light stands a much greater chance of encountering it when it is in an 'on' stage. The 'on' stage lasts approximately the amount of time it takes for a pedestrian to get from "almost beneath the light" to "just past the light", which means that it invariably goes out when the pedestrian feels that they were "right under the light". This causes the famous "creepy" feeling.@

FooL

** None of the above experiments (with the exception of the streetlight) has actually been preformed, at least to my knowledge. If you do know of someone doing this, please let me know. In other news, I am not going to Venezuela next week, so there won't be any interruption to this blog.

Watching Grass Grow in a High Voltage Environment

% Well, as promised in a previous post, I now have a microwave. So far it has managed to last more than 24 hours undamaged. This is assuming that my landlord/housemate has managed not to break it in the time that I've been away. Please continue to cheer on the little microwave as it endeavors to survive in such a perilous environment.

% In other news, the streetlight that I discussed in this post was acting strangely again on Thursday. This time, instead of going out as I walked under it, it turned on, then brightened. It may seem odd to record the goings-on of a light bulb, but I have precedent to back me up:

World's Longest Lasting Light Bulb (Centennial Light) <- Click on the picture to see the webcam
World's Longest Lasting Lab Experiment (Pitch Drop Experiment) <- Link near the bottom allows you to see it live, though you'll have to have Windows Media Player to view it


% At least I'm not linking to a webcam of my streetlight. Mostly because I do not happen to own a webcam, but also because I think people would object to me running a cord that long down the street. Oh, and someone might steal the webcam. That's also a good reason.

% Buried right here, near the bottom, is a notice that Theophilus has started another blog, which will likely be updated on a close to yearly basis. The link to it will be added here, once I know what that link is. %

Sabius

EDIT: Theophilus' project can be found at http://creedproject.blogspot.com/.

Yarrr!

% Ahoy! T'day be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and if ye don't know what that means, I suggest ye go visit the UK Headquarters at www.yarr.org.uk. It be fun for the whole family / dorm / class / workplace / construction site / asylum / coven / brother/sisterhood / hive. Aye, I know that the list there ain't very piratey, but ye haveta make allowances for the landlubbers.


% It is somewhat difficult to use pirate talk for conversation that doesn't involve at least a few vaguely nautical terms. I'm unused to it, and want to get this posted tonight. So we're switching to normal speech.

% As I was walking home tonight, the street light right above me went out. While rare, it is not so impossible as to be worrisome, though it is always creepy to have the light right above you go out for no apparent reason. Still, no cause for alarm, really.

% Except that the exact same thing happened last night, at the same street light. And it isn't that the street light broke once and hadn't been fixed - it actually went out, while I was under it, two time in a row.

% If I don't post tomorrow, you might want to send a search party after me, preferably armed for battle against ghoulies and ghosties of various sorts and descriptions.

% Or you could assume that I'm being my normal self, and that another post will occur in several months at the latest.

% Yarr, that be it for tonight. Avast, me hearties!%

Sabius

To My Ashke

When we started, three years seemed like a long time. Maybe not forever, but it was definitely in the "unforeseeable future" category.

Now three years have passed. There have been some rough times, and it hasn't passed "like no time at all", but it has also been wonderful and a joy to spend this time with you. I feel privileged to know you, and honoured that you enjoy spending time with me.

Though we spend so much time apart, it is wonderful to know that we are there for each other, if only in spirit.

For making my life a joy to live, I thank you.

May we be laughing together this time next year.

Love,

Your Tinkerer

Careful what you wish for

@My landlord/housemate wants me to get her a microwave. Specifically, a nice red microwave that can be found for $50 at Walmart (we will ignore for a second that I am boycotting Walmart) which will go really well with the decor in the house.

Unwise Microwave Oven Experiments

I think I agree with her. I'll pick one up next weekend.@

FooL

Can you tell I'm procrastinating?

@ OK, quick update before the main point of this post. Basically, it was decided that April was going to be a continuous "FooL's day". This was decided back on April 1st, but it's turned out that April was a lot more hectic (heck, life has turned out to be a lot more hectic) than planned. Thus, there haven't been many posts.

@ One of the things that have been making my life hectic is that I had to go for an IQ test. The results finally came back, and the good news is that they're negative. The bad news is that apparently they want to do more testing.

@ Anyway, the thing that inspired this post was the following thought: What would it be like to be a telemarketer and call up someone like Mother Theresa? Or Ghandi, or St. Francis? Someone who is famous for giving up most of the stuff in their lives. Here you are, trying to sell encyclopedias or accordions, and they don't even have a second shirt. What would you do? How would you react? How would they react? Would they just say "No, thanks. I'm too busy taking care of the poor to learn to play the accordion" "I don't think your encyclopedias would fit in my house, and they would probably fall apart pretty quickly due to the conditions here" "I don't believe we have any ducts. We don't even have heated water."? Or would they try and convert the telemarketer to their way of life? Would they say "Accordions are the instrument of the devil! Sell harps instead!"? (Somehow I doubt it...) In some ways, I guess the question I'm asking is: How does one act in love towards a telemarketer, who in some ways plays the role of a leper in modern day society?

@ To my friends out there who read this and happen to be atheist or agnostic, I ask you to pardon the fact that a large number of the posts here end up, in one way or another, coming back to God, religion, or similar topics, even when it's a light hearted, random post. It's something that's been on my mind a fair amount, and tends to be important to me, so I won't apologize. Feel free to ask questions or comment about it - helps me to think more clearly about these subjects, rather than run around in circles over the same topics. <- This is probably the most serious you will ever see me... ooh look, shiny fish! @

FooL