The 10 Weirdest Physics Facts

Many years ago when I took chemistry in high school our teacher (Mr. Kessler, also known secretly as silky based on his sharing a name with a brand of blended whiskey) asked me if I planned to take physics the next year. When I answered "no" he responded "good". In recent years I have been intrigued by what I read about quantum physics and I often wonder what, if anything, my rejected high school physics class could have done to prepare my brain to understand it. Nothing, I suspect. Still, whenever I read about physics I think about that chemistry class, where everyone in the first three rows was copying off each other's tests and wonder if I missed something important.

The 10 weirdest physics facts, from relativity to quantum physics - Telegraph

real big fish somebody hates me

I ran across this on a podcast yesterday and had to share it!

Ma Vie Quotidienne

I've been busy most of the time lately but nothing I am doing seems to be blogworthy unless one wants to read about the most daily and ordinary sort of things. Christmas knitting proceeds at a snail's pace, work is still work, blah blah blah.

This week I cooked dinner twice (alert the media) for both of us. First dinner was some lingue de soucera (mother in law tongue pasta) with roasted vegetables, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. I added some nice olives to my portion. It was a beautiful dish, so of course I did not take any pictures. Second dish was a pizza with roasted vegetables. That was just yummy. I used the spicy peppers in this dish. They were really needed because the sweetness of the caramelized veggies and the creamy cheeses needed that peppery bite. The third dinner I had this week with roasted vegetables was toast with hummus and roasted vegetables, one of my more boring favorites. We still have a ton of the veggies around which will be hitting the freezer in portions for future use. Shana is enjoying the vegetarian dishes, but she is not as willing to eat the same thing day after day. I can and do eat like the dog. She did still grill up some hamburger patties for her own use, but I don't think she ended up eating many of them.

Samantha and I went shopping yesterday for some clothing for her. I arrived early and she arrived late - pretty much par for the course for us. While I was waiting for her I pulled out several things for her to try on, without much hope that she would try any of it on. Surprise - she tried on everything I picked out, and we bought the items I had selected. We agreed on which things were flattering and appropriate except for a pair of jeans. This is big progress. This time we shopped at Burlington Coat Factory, which is a pretty mixed bag. It's a consistently great place to shop for luggage but the clothing is wildly assorted. Prices are great, but you've got to dig around because they have some really nice stuff and some total junk. Even for casual or trendy items I like to look for things for her that will hold up to some heavy wear and careless laundering. We might try Name Brand Clothing for our next trip now that she's showing herself to be agreeable. Prices are always excellent there, but you earn it with the digging. If she could trust me to do the digging in advance and she could select her favorites from my choices we might be able to get her some really nice garments for very little money.

November Is in Full Swing

We're nearly halfway through November and there has barely been a frost. I'm still in the awkward dressing phase of Oklahoma fall, where the morning temperatures are in the low 40s, afternoon nearly 70, and indoor temperatures at the office alternating between 50 and 500 (often in the sale day). Nothing I wear is quite right, and my northern Ohio childhood tells me I should be breaking out the sweaters. By this time next year I will be enjoying the marine climate of Massachusetts, and again I will be uncertain as to what to wear.

Stitch and Bitch is back in full swing. The summer faithful are still coming, and now that cooler weather and Christmas knitting are upon us our group has grown enormously. Thursday night felt like a big party and I can't wait to see everyone again. I've got a couple of projects on the needles and several more that will need to be done before Christmas. I will need that extra knitting time and motivation to keep up, not to mention the fellowship of our group. Our group is
pretty varied in age and life experience, so it's very grounding and educational for me to spend an evening with them. Working as I do with essentially the same group of women for fourteen years I almost never am surprised by anything. Life goes on and things happen to all of us, but no one has really changed their minds about anything of substance and I can guess their opinion of most things. I am occasionally startled at Stitch & bitch and always learn something.

Although we've had the occasional warm afternoon (before dark!) I have not been cycling. One of my more diligent friends has been working the "couch to 5K" plan and has had great results. She has been able to surpass her original goal and move on to more challenges in spite of having some significant health challenges. I'm going to give it a whirl myself. I'll have to see what my wonky and wobbly knees think of the program.

I met Samantha and Vivian for lunch Friday, and will probably be meeting up with them for a little shopping next Friday. After that Thanksgiving - and I am cooking this year. This is something I have not done for many years in my own kitchen. It's odd how hard it is to delegate any of this rather simple meal.

Oklahoma Sunrise & Gratitude

Oklahoma Sunrise, originally uploaded by cinderellenk.

I was surfing about today and ran across some lovely pictures of the British Lake District over at Backwards in High Heels. I was overcome with churlish envy for her having seen this lovely spot I have never visited and may actually never visit, European vacations being very rare in my life.

Instead of this negative reaction this is what I should be considering:

I have access to high speed Internet and therefore beautiful pictures of places all over the globe I might never have other wise known anything about.

I have had the great pleasure of seeing many places that many Europeans may like to see but have not: The Grand Canyon (from both sides), Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Parks, Canyon de Chelly, Maine, and the daily wonder of Oklahoma sunrises and sunsets. I am naming only a very few of the wonderful things it has been my joy to see, with more to come.

In my daily life I am quicker to see aggro than the joy and privilege I should actually be noticing. It's time to change that, I think.

Spooky Spooks

This weekend I had lots of company in costume, but not many trick or treaters. I had three groups of them in all - not much compared to the 100 or so I used to have in Bethany. It was lucky though because The Evil Wild Dog of the Prairie got my treat bowl and ate all of the Almond Joy and either ate or spoiled about half of my Mike & Ike and Hot Tamales. Such a bad dog, and so resourceful.

Samantha had taken Vivian out to the local mall for a holiday event, then came over here with the idea of trick or treating on my neighborhood. Sadly, there were almost no houses with their lights on. They were so few and far between that it was not worth dragging a three year old down the street to visit the few available stops. We just went back to my house and played around for a while until Sam had to take Vivian back to Daddy. Sam went on to meet up with some friends at a club.

I stayed up past midnight to make sure the Sooners did not choke while I slept.

Aunt Rita went to church with me, then back to the house for a treat of fast food and a laundry session. We watched Iron Man 2 on Pay Per View and hung out. I'm sure glad I did not pay to see that.

Rally on the Mall

I can hardly believe I missed the news coverage of this rally all day. I think maybe I missed the greatest party of the year. Here's a little clip to whet your appetite (don't worry, the add is short):