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I Miss Feynman’s Wit

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I was reminded yesterday of one of my favorite quotes from Richard P. Feynman, the late Nobel prize winning physicist,bongo drum player, artist, and personal idol. It exposes the deep inner feeling of most physicists in a way that anyone can understand. Without further ado:

Physics is to mathematics what sex is to masturbation.
— Richard P. Feynman

Any dyed in the wool physicist will not only agree but cheer wildly for the aptness of the quote.

I was reminded of the quote because of an afterward on an Abstruse Goose cartoon that presented the quote and then supplied the rather tongue in cheek mathematicians answer – “And your point is ..?” Now anyone who has spent much time with me knows that two phrases that I use often are “Are you done blithering yet?” and “And your point is?” The cartoon struck me as great because it used a favorite quote from one of my heroes and poked at my own foibles. What more could one ask for from an afterward to a good cartoon?

I will leave you with a few other Feynman quotes that only get better with time:

  • Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.
  • I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong.
  • There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it’s only a hundred billion. It’s less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.
  • If you thought that science was certain – well, that is just an error on your part.
  • The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.

Richard P. Feynman
election, halloween

The Halloween That Was

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Like most things in my life for the past few weeks, this post is a bit late. It should have been posted on All Hallows Eve, but instead you get to enjoy it now. At least Pink Floyd’s Time is playing in the background to make sense of the utter disregard for chronology this blog shows. So play this as you read. {*grin*}

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but Halloween here was a bit lower key than normal just because of the day.  Since the merchants and the city and the nursing homes all ran their celebrations on Friday, there seems to have been less incentive for the little tricksters to be out and about on Sunday for the official event. Normally we see between 40-70 trick or treaters at the front door before we shut the lights off at ~8pm. This year we only had 31, somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the normal total.

There was also a discernible difference in the composition of the visitors. Most years we see a fair number of teens and tweens in groups of 4 or more interspersed with a lot of sibling groups of 1 or 2 under the age of 10. This year, it was almost all youngsters in various sized groups with the parents standing out at the street watching. When Molly the wonder dog and I would answer the door, it left a lot of them in shock. It took them a few moments to remember that they were supposed to say trick or treat. Some just wanted to pet the doggy, some just wanted to hide from the doggy, and some were heard to say “dad, he gave us snickers!” as they departed for the next house. At least I didn’t have to put this sign up to excuse Molly’s behavior this year:

The smaller crowd also means that I have several bags of candy left over. It should make L happy when she journeys home this weekend. I’m just happy that it is all in un-opened bags so that it doesn’t tempt me!

Time to go vote. Make sure you do too. Vote that is, not go.

fall, lchs, lilac, zucchini

The Wind …

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True fall has finally blown in. Yesterday, as L left for the mountains, it was turning cool and windy. In the mountains, it was snowing and blowing, which made the ski areas happy, but which didn’t overjoy L. {*grin*} Reports are that it continued snowing this morning in the mountains.

In any case, it finally (barely) frosted here last night. I see some blackened leaves on the lilac bush which is a pretty good indicator that it dropped below 32. I haven’t gotten over to the garden to see if the few remaining zucchini plants have turned black or not. (Zucchini are very sensitive to freezing. About the only thing known to man that stops a zucchini in its tracks.) Ye olde lilac as a two toned shivering bush:

Today the wind is howling outside like a banshee and the temperature is not going to reach much above 50. The wind is running a steady 25-35 mph with gusts above 50 mph. What more could one ask for to herald the arrival of true fall weather? After all, nothing says fall like cold and bluster. The forecast is for a hard freeze tonight, dropping into the 20s. Of course, in the tradition of this oddly long mild year, the temperatures are headed for the 70s later in the week.

Tonight I need to attend the city council meeting since the second reading and public hearing on the master contract to build the new humane society facility is on the docket. At long last, after more than 6 months of delay, we may finally be on the way to getting the building started. So I’d better get back to work.

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Weather?

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The weather here has certainly been odd this fall. We have yet to have a hard freeze. Most of the corn is already in the cribs and silos and it has yet to freeze. Many years the question is when the snows will come, but this year it is when will the freeze arrive.

The average date of first frost here abouts is Oct. 10. So far it looks like we may even make it into November before it freezes here. Odd.

I can still tell that it is fall in spite of the late season warmth. The angle of the sun has increased to the extend that what I call the “reflective” season is upon us. Everything in the midday sun has a white-ish sheen that makes some things darn near impossible. Finding errant golf balls for instance – not that I would ever know about that. {*grin*}

Another hint of fall is how fast it is getting dark. I dread the beginning of daylight savings time as it exacerbates the effect. It is already getting dark around 5pm, a world of difference from the 9pm or later in the heady days of summer. I hate the days of December when it is dark by 3:30pm. (Assisted a bit by the infamous “fall back” time change.)

Well, I should get prepared. I am serving as the moderator of a panel/discussion/forum tomorrow from 10am to 4pm. The Northeast Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition is hosting to let people get answers to their disability questions. That’s what I get for being a staunch supporter when I was mayor. {*grin*}

Lest I forget, mom’s birthday is tomorrow. Since I know she reads here (and thinks I forgot):

Happy Birthday Mom!
5K, fun, lchs

Poop Carrier

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Now that I have recovered somewhat from putting on the first annual Logan County Humane Society 5K Run and Pet Walk, maybe I’ll be able to post in a more timely basis. No promises, just a fond hope. {*grin*}

Oh,  are you wondering about the title? Well … last Saturday when I got the 5K runners on their way and then the Pet Walk people off and going, who should decide to poop within steps of the start? Yep, Molly the wonder dog, as walked by the ever beautiful L. So as I was getting ready to head across the park for the finish line, I heard L yell for me to come and take this.

This was a bag of Molly poop. L didn’t want to carry it for the next half mile to get rid of it, so I was pressed into duty as a poop carrier. You can now add poop carrier to my long list of titles. I think next year I am going to recruit some volunteers to line the course and be poop carriers. They’ll have to be young or they will be too wise to accept. Either that or they will have to be spouses of the Pet Walk participants. It’s amazing the things you will do when you are married!

Here are some pictures from the event. This is what the main site looked like early in the morning before we started setting up:

And here we are just about mid-way through decorating:

But now let’s skip over to the start of the 5K. The undistinguished future poop carrier in the green shirt is me explaining the rules and getting ready to start the 5K runners.

They’re off!  The young man in black led the 5K from start to finish with a time of 19:40. Probably not surprising he is on the high school cross country team. {*grin*}

But in the meantime, notice Molly stopping to leave the gift of poop in the middle of the walkers?
Yes, that is Molly pooping on the right edge of the picture.
In any case, a good time was had by all the runners and walkers. Here is Molly, L, and friends as they near the finish line:
Then it was time for the silent auction and fashion show. Note how the decorating added class to the pavilion.
I’ll close with a couple of pictures of the models strutting down the improvised runway.

Things Done Right