Rules

1. Minimum of yes or no questions.

2. End it first.

3. Cut it off when it's good.

4. Talk about them.

5. One savory compliment.

Physics

So, I've said it before, but at some point in my life, I want to be a physics teacher.

Physics is probably the branch of science (or probably of any subject) that I can explain best to people. And I love explaining things anyway, so it seems like a good combination, to do something that I love and that I'm also very good at.

Today I was brooding over what my class would actually be like, but the most prominent part of the class that I'd want to have is "play time." This would be a semester long project (for elementary to graduate students) to spend 15 minutes of every class with a partner, just playing with stuff and trying to get weird/funny/entertaining stuff to happen using physics. They could design a game, a gadget, a weird cannon or something, but it would have to be inherently silly in process and execution.

Physics for me is very visual and experiential. I can play things out in my mind and twist them around to make sense of them from most angles, and I think that's largely because so much of my (and other's) childhoods involve using physics to do some weird stuff.

For instance, my friend had a treehouse on a dusty dirt hill growing up. The dirt, when thrown, would make huge dust clouds (much to the annoyance of the neighbors) and just look really cool. So we set up this system where a giant (to a 9 year old) rock was set teetering about 15 feet off the ground, and on it's way down, it would smack a series of catapults launching thus dusty dirt all over the place, and it would end up looking like a collapsing building. Aside from looking really awesome, an array of interesting (and complicated) problems needed to be solved using intuitive physics and trial and error.

Obviously you can't go launching dirt all over the place, but intertwining fun with creativity can act as a sort of rocket fuel for solving difficult, nuanced problems.

"I had to do something with my hands. It's a big amorphous unknown -- what's going to happen to our economy. And the shed is solid, measurable. I can see it, I can touch it. It's going to be around for the next 30 years. It's the opposite of amorphous."

Awake

I'm almost positive no one reads this anymore, but that's ok!

I made a new piece tonight.

I have these little desk lamps I got for $2.50 at Stop&Shop. I bought 5 or 6 of them. Who knows when you need a lamp.

Anyway, these lamps sport the energy saving light bulbs that satisfy my green-guilt. I have them strategically positioned all over my room to provide versatile and comforting lighting.

My desk is right on the window that gets the best sunlight, so that's where my plants go. And, incidentally, where my main lamp goes at night.

The other day, though, I bought some herbs plants (rosemary, bay and thyme) in little pots. I put them on my desk so they can get the light they need, but the lamp took up too much space. So, I figured I could stamp the lamp to the wall above the plants so I can get the same illumination at night without robbing the plants of precious desk real estate. I used regular thumb tacks to post the plastic base to the window frame. All was well.

Then I thought, these lamps have little trays for loose change and pencils and other odds and ends. Flipping this tray 90 degrees vertically makes this tray useless. So, I glued some loose change, thumb tacks, other odds and ends to the base as if I'd just tossed them there in a hurry. Only the objects are defying gravity. Weee!

I'm waiting for the glue to dry. I'll post pictures on facebook when it's up.