How well does college prepare you for the real world?

Nature abhors a vacuum

Objects floating in water experience buoyancy. Buoyancy is the name of the force opposing a boat's will to sink. When an object is immersed in water, it displaces water. If the weight of the water is more than the weight of the object, the object will be forced upward. This force is buoyancy.

If a wine cork were completely submerged under water, it would float back to the top of the water to a point of equilibrium--between the water and the air. Corks are able, because of their material, to displace their weight in water with just a portion of their volume. The remaining part of the cork stays above the water level. If you added weight to the cork, it would float lower in the water.



Balloons float in the air because of buoyancy. They displace air. If the weight of the air that they are displacing is heavier than the weight of the balloon, the balloon will rise to a level of equilibrium (where the weight of air displaced is EQUAL to the weight of the balloon.)

Some balloons are filled with helium gas. They float because the atoms of helium are lighter than the atoms of air (Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon dioxide, etc.). Some balloons are filled with hot air. Hot air molecules move faster and take up more space than cold air molecules (a lighter amount of air can take up the same amount of space as a heavier amount of air) so the hot air balloon is forced upwards.

Hot air balloon beside a helium balloon


With this in mind, I would like to propose...The Vacuum Balloon. This would be a balloon shape filled with nothing...no helium, no hot-air. The only weight would be the skin of the balloon.

The problem I'm finding is that if the air is pumped out of an object, outside air pressure forces the object to collapse! Any ideas?

Snow!

My college Weather ("Atmospheric Environment") teacher used to rave that we are on the verge of a new ice age. Prof. Quinn told us about Milankovitch cycles that predicted we are about a hundred years overdue for a Glacial period.

It hasn't happened, some think, because 'global warming' is combating it. However, heating up the earth might serve to send us into intense climate change--according to Prof. Quinn. Not like "The Day After Tomorrow" would have you thinking, but following the same principles (and much more slowly).
:>)
Here's a picture of us out sledding around Spokane on Dec. 18th (record snowfall!).

Oh my gosh!

There is a workshop with one of my ceramics heros, Beth Cavendish Stichter. I met her and found out about the workshop about 6 months ago. Unfortunately, I was expecting it would cost a lot less. I cannot afford the $800 to go. SIGH.

Tea Names

A few years ago Amanda and I compiled a list of catchy names for exotic tea blends on our refrigerator. It's tea weather outside so with no further ado...

TEA NAMES:

Feminini-tea

Masculini-tea

Frivoli-tea

Orangutanga-tea

Personali-tea

Aargh-Me-May-Tea (for pirates)

Muss-tea

Fuss-tea

Min-tea

Pleasan-tea

Duss-tea

Gus-tea (cures flatulence)

Circulari-tea

Circulatori-tea

Thirs-tea

Angulari-tea

Feis-tea

Nice-i-tea

Reali-tea (bring you back down to earth)

Hipocri-tea

Anti-cavi-tea

Discontinui-tea

Naked Singulari-tea

Reverse Polari-tea

Populari-tea vs Ignomini-tea

Punctuali-tea

Ameni-tea

Hilari-tea

Truss-tea (just a truth serum)

Sani-tea

Insani-tea

Humpty Dump-tea

Nas-tea (it's GOOD for you)

Amnes-tea

Solidari-tea

Go-tea (grows hair on your chin)

Guaran-tea

Ampu-tea

2-tea Fru-tea

Saul-tea (salt-water brewed tea)

Abili-tea

Affini-tea

anti-sterili-tea

Utili-tea

Fragili-tea

Tranquili-tea

Versatili-tea

Docili-tea

Prehensili-tea

Believa-bili-tea

Duali-tea

Ameabili-tea (tea brewed with vodka instead of water)

Inevita-bili-tea

Get Dir-tea

Be Flir-tea

Devo-tea

Spontinai-tea

Authori-tea

Kinda Feis-tea

Self Pit-tea

Jimmy Duran-tea (helps dexteri-tea)

High Quali-tea

Sitting Prit-tea

Byoo-tea or Be-you-tea*

Frail-tea

Horn of Plen-tea

Down and Dir-tea

Vivaci-tea

Alacri-tea

Shades of Hypocri-tea

Tone-up-your-uterus Tea

Peppermin-tea

Inferiori-tea

Fertili-tea

God-All-my-Tea

Minori-tea

Virgini-tea


Happy Brewing.

Christ is Love

Memes are units of culture passed on from one person to the other. They are symbols, rules, ways of acting that make us who we are. Memes are the software that works on our human hardware. Example: kids will mimic behavior that strikes them as funny or interesting. This is the passing of a meme.

Sometimes memes are of a scope much larger than any one person could convey. Religions are a form of meme that has outgrown the individual. Since its inception, Christianity has been adapted and changed to maintain itself in the human consciousness (as have all other successful religions). It's current inception holds this basic belief worldwide: Christ is Love. Not the romantic kind, or just between friends, where the mutual benefits are obvious. This love transcends differences, and is between yourself and others whom you may or may not know.

I am not a big fan of the old testament as a way in which to live your life, nor much into prophecy. But the idea of 'love' overcoming all boundaries has practical applications in the modern world.

Discuss.

On the Properties of Breakfast Cereal

Breakfast cereal was one of my childhood cornerstones.  I was raised on raisin bran!  Sprinkled spoonsful of sugar on my frosted flakes.  My brother and I ate chex like it was going out of style.  Cereal was our meal of choice watching cartoons on Saturday morning.  We ate tons of the stuff just to get to the toy prize at the bottom of the box. 

So I consider myself an aficionado when it comes to the qualities that make a good cereal experience.  One element that remains key to thoroughly enjoying a bowl of cereal is minimizing the splash.  That moment after you've chosen your bowl and spoon, poured the right amount of cereal to just  match the three-serving picture on the box, and gotten out the milk.  Suddenly a feeling of trepidation;  is the milk going to splash out of the bowl?  

Here's a quick ranking of cereals from greatest splash factor to least:

Corn Flakes (or any flake cereals), Frosted Mini Wheats (or Life), Raisin Bran, Cookie Crisp, Honeycomb, Lucky Charms (I swear it's because of the marshmallows), Kix, Cheerios, Rice Crispies (or , Grape Nuts), and finally Chex (surprisingly).

My research (and the frequent presence of near-empty boxes of cereal) led me to blending my cereal mixes.  During commercial breaks on Saturday morning I would race to the kitchen.  Generally I would blend various cereals for their texture (making sure not to put floating cereals like Cheerios or Kix at the bottom of the bowl--of course) layer upon layer, and finish with a non-splashing cereal like Kix or Chex.  (NOTE:  Rice Crispies at the top tended to get everywhere, and meant I couldn't fit as large a quantity of cereal.)

Here are a few of the most intriguing cereal combinations:

TOP:            Corn Chex  

MIDDLE:    Rice Crispies

BOTTOM:   Frosted Mini Wheats

TOP:            Honey Nut Cheerios

MIDDLE:    Raisin Bran (too splashy to be on top!)

BOTTOM:   Grape Nuts

T+M+B:   Quaker "Crunchy" Corn Bran   (It's actually my favorite)

Least Favorites:  

#3 Cap'n Crunch (because it shreds the inside of my mouth!)

#2 Life Cereal (i.e. sweetened wood shavings) followed by 

#1 The the worst cereal experience is pouring out the last of a box of cheerios and getting a large mass of crushed+powdered cheerios on top of your happiness.  

...but I digress.... since it seems I am not the only person who knows about mixing breakfast cereal.  Instead I propose a challenge. The Splash is a function of height, surface tension of the milk, and cereal shape. There must be a use for such exhaustive research on cereal Splash!  Somebody here had better come up with a good application. Discuss.