Something Interesting Almost Happened Today

I thought that I had eaten actual whipped cream (as opposed to the Cool-Whip I was raised on while growing up in South Compton-the worst part of Compton) for about 5 hours today until I shared that with someone only to have my hopes of expanding culinary borders dashed. Turns out I have eaten it before at home as a part of some other food. Technically it's still the first time I've ever eaten whipped cream outside of my house, and that alone is enough reason to celebrate in my mind.

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Physics is Garbage Collecting, Basically

I again spent all day studying for my Physics test tomorrow and can say with certainty that it was still better than studying Bio for even an hour. Delta's and psi's and phi's, oh my!

Sorry about that, I'm slowly going insane from the heat. Oh yeah, it was just as hot out today as it was yesterday. The only difference is that today I actually had to walk places. In short:


One thing that did catch my attention, though, was something someone said at the review session for the test earlier tonight. Random people were walking by with boxes of stuff and, in an attempt to get some of it, he said "We're Physics majors, we'll take anything we can get," which is true enough (although who doesn't like free crap?), but he continued "and never throw it away."



What?

-Dave

How I Survived the Heat by Killing Myself

IT WAS 87 DEGREES OUTSIDE TODAY. It's almost midnight and it's still 70 degrees outside. You guys, I think I might have moved to Arizona accidentally because New York is not supposed to get like this. It should always be cold, rainy, and filled with people that have silly overly dramatic accents.

I woke up sweaty at 8 AM and then woke up repeatedly between 9 and 12:30 when I finally got up because I couldn't stand to lay still anymore. Did I enjoy the sunny day? No, I hate hot weather and was studying for a Physics test on Monday while sitting in front of my fan on high today. Oh yeah, and my allergies started acting up. Indeed, it was just as soul-crushingly miserable as it sounds (well, at least it wasn't Biology I guess). Anyways, I've got more studying to do tomorrow, so I'll just leave you with this:



My goodness they went downhill after Barely Legal. That album got me through today for sure. It is amazingly catchy and energetic, and it's really the only CD of theirs you need to bother with.

-Dave

Home Depot is Serious BusinessNine Eleven

I was filling out a job application for Home Depot online today (indeed a fitting job for a physicist-shut up hippie), when I suddenly encountered what appeared to be a complex series of questions meant to test my comprehension of the English language. Do I have a screenshot? Of course I do, kiddos. The directions for this particular section were to arrange the choices in alphabetical order:



Holy crap. I think I got that first one wrong because there was no system set up which I could use to prioritize the numbers after the dash in relation to the numbers before it. How would you answer that question? Honestly, I don't think that it's possible to correctly answer without some kind of further instructions. My Anglish are well.

This reminds me of a story that my current Physics professor told my class about our former Physics professor, easily one of the smartest individuals I have ever met. Our current professor was in a department meeting with the rest of the Physics department and asked them one of our homework questions involving a circuit in which was partially contained within a changing magnetic field (Farady's Law, blah blah blah). Two or three got it right, 10 or so missed it, and former professor abstained. His reason? The problem did not specify that the circuit was in a plane.

This blog is not in a plane (aero or otherwise).

-Dave

This Guy is a Total Biolojerk

You know what? Screw you guys. You fail to recognize my genius. I called Atticus a biolojerk in a conversation we were having today comparing physics to biology (more like, boringology, am I right?) and got nothing in return (except for my test in it tomorrow). In an attempt to show just how original this remark was, I would like to include a slightly modified picture which came up in the Google Image search for "biolojerk":



Dare ya to eat with it.

-Dave

If I Survive this Test, it Probably Won't be Funny Even in Retrospect

Physics test tomorrow as I mentioned yesterday, so this is going to be brief. Let's play a little game to cheer me up. It goes like this: every time George Carlin says a name derogatorily, replace it with "Maxwell", "Faraday", or "Ampere".



Yeah, screw those guys!

-Dave

This is College

Two things showed me the essence of what college is really about today. The first is that I spent all day watching online lectures from the MIT OpenCourseWare Project for Electricty and Magnetism, which is basically the same as the physics class I'm currently in. They are pretty entertaining and surprisingly informative considering that they're free, and I seriously recommend you watch some of them if you're interested in physics.

But wait, this isn't The Serious Collective. Or is it? No, it definitely isn't. The other side of college, the one in which I do not participate, is the social side. Drinking, dancing, random hookups; you know, the kind of stuff that makes you think "Hey, that person must be working towards a degree of some sort." While reading F My Life, a site which is basically an internet documentary of this side of college, I happened upon this gem:

Today, when my crush dropped me off after a night of partying and hooking up, I realized I wasn't wearing my thong. Suddenly, I had a vivid flashback from the night before of major explosive diarrhea...with no toilet paper at the frat house. I'd left my dirty thong there. He won't text me back.

How much was tuition, again?

-Dave

Some People Have a Problem with Physics

And they express it with funny pictures:



-Dave

School Beckons

This blog has become a lonely place recently, but I assure you that I shall once again inhabit the island of Blogai'i once I'm done with the stupid Bio test tomorrow. They don't allow biology on the island because it's a sin.

I now leave you with the Lagrangian of the Standard Model (after electroweak symmetry breaking, with no explicit Higgs boson of course):


My goodness this is a smart blog. Normal coverage of weird fish and my ignorance of popular culture will resume shortly.

-Dave

There aren't Enough Lolcat Pictures Related to Physics

It is 11:56 PM, and I just got back to my room. I was on campus for class at 9 AM. That crime against memanity aside, today was pretty good until the end. I was finishing up some physics homework and got to one of the most horrendous derivatives I have ever seen in my entire life. Now, normally derivatives are ridiculously easy for me, since I've been doing them for 4 years now. But this one was a beast, and I was Gandalf standing in front of it with my piddly little staff yelling about passing kidney stones. Wait. Maybe I don't remember that movie as well as I thought I did. Did Gandalf have kidney stones? What was I blogging about?

OH RIGHT, the derivative. Well, here's the thing guys: it was actually two partial derivatives that came about because the problem required the use of the gradient (yeah, the symbol makes you feel super smart when you write it, I know). It wouldn't have been as bad if both variables hadn't been in both terms under negative radicals and both been involved in an expandable phrase (they call it that in music, and I figure physics and music are basically the same thing). Yeah, it got pretty hairy. Then there were 2 more problems to do.

Basically, this was all I did for 15 hours:

(I'm too tired to bother put it into the Photobucket and too tired to put up a direct link. Maybe I'll fix it tomorrow, but don't count on it. Count on not-it.)

-Dave