Mr. King's Digressions

Punk Rocker interviews about their High School chemistry experience

Quotes of the next moment:

"False views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for everyone takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness; and when this is done, one path towards error is closed and the road to truth is often at the same time opened". 
           Charles Darwin

Your knowledge of scientific biological transmogrification is only outmatched by your zest for kung-fu treachery.

From the movie Black Dynamite

Science is simply common sense at its best that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-95) English biologist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurred.

Sir William Osler (1849-1919) Canadian physician.

 

 

Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.

Albert Szent-Györgi (1893-1986) U. S. biochemist.

An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied. 
--Arnold Glasow

The weirder you're going to behave, the more normal you should look.  It works in reverse, too.  When I see a kid with three or four rings in his nose, I know there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about that person. 
--P.J. O'Rourke

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. 
--Benjamin Franklin

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.
-- Quote from 1971 interview and epitaph on headstone of actor John Wayne  (He requested his tombstone read "Feo, Fuerte y Formal", a Spanish epitaph meaning "ugly, strong and serious".)

"An atomic bomb also contains natural ingredients"
--Gary Lecomte

"Students today don't listen, so, just give them their assignment, watch their puzzled faces, and wait for them to ask a question.  When they do, you know they're listening." 
--Jim Elza

"Foolproof systems don't take into account the ingenuity of fools."
-Gene Brown

TV is chewing gum for the eyes.
-- Frank Lloyd Wright

Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, and a dark side, and it holds the universe together...
-- Carl Zwanzig

"Never cook bacon in the nude." Unexpected but wise words from Tim M.

"When?" I asked him.  "Fraterday the eleventeenth" he said--and who could argue with that.  -Joe C

Let's Make Gibberish the official international language of the Wee hours. The Wee hours will be defined as spanning from "Too late, it's early", until "Pre-coffee O'clock".  Proudly proclaim: Gibberish Spoken Here.

Beware of the great Grammar Wars being staged in building 4.

General Roberts is in charge of the English Grammar Forces

Generalissima Walters is in charge of the Spanish Grammar Forces

I graduated from the Speak Mo' Better School of Grammar Superiority and I am thinking that this is the classic Apples Vs. Potatoes scenario.

In the interest of gramaticalcification and cultural diversicallity (and gooder speaking), let's all just get along.  Whose wit me?

Squidmass --a secular holiday celebrating deep questions, especially while probing deeply into personal unexamined physical behaviors of fellow celebrants. 

It is also a celebration of eating seafood in all its myriad forms.  Calamari is a Must at Squidmass.

I am going to observe it for the first time this year.  I am so excited.  Rumor has it that the most sincere Squidmass celebration of the year is visited by the Great Squid who leaves an inky coating over all she surveys.

 Silent Dance Idea

Hey, wouldn't you like to go to a Silent Dance?

• Low cover charge--No band or DJ--Just your Ipods and MP3 players.  Blast out what you want to blast--in your own ears!
• Cool lights and effects: Fog, Lasers, Video Projections, Fans
• Glow necklaces, and refreshments.
• Batteries, and charging stations and duplex earphone jack to share your tunes with your BFF.
• Starting time, Stopping time and Dancing in between.

Nice concept, and the adults will think you are INSANE.

Thanks to you folks who participated in the International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  It was inspiring and all I can say is, "Shiver me Timbers!"

Let's do it again next year!!!!!!!!!!!!

International Talk Like A Pirate Day. (Sept. 19)

Star Wars
They have been recycling Star Wars for a long time and I think I have hit upon a winning combination: Star Wars with the cast of the Beverly Hillbillies.  Jethro--Luke Skywalker character, Elliemay--princess Leia, Uncle Jed--Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Granny of course, as Yoda.  This could be a winner. 

My Mullet
I recently had a chance to horrify my wife and family by making a feeble attempt at a mullet as the middle step in getting a short hair cut (yes, I was getting a bit shaggy).  I had strange urges to take my 13 year old daughter to McDonalds and cause a scene by sending her Happy Meal back while ranting that it wasn't "good enough for my Sweet Pea."  I did shave it off within three days and it now resides in a baggy for some future wall trophy. 

I looked up this on the web and I think I found the answer to my strange behavior those three days. Check this out:  

"To say that the mullet is a hairstyle barely even scratches the surface of the issue. The mullet is a way of life, it is a state of mind, it is every person who wears it. Physically it is characterized by short hair on the top, front, and sides of the head, followed by a long drape of hair on the back, reaching at least to the middle of the spine. Typical accessories to the mullet include moustaches, scraggly beards and/or goatees, and sunglasses. Research on the mullet phenomena, at this stage, is still in its infancy. However it is suggested by many top laboratories that the mullet, as it slowly reaches maturity, begins to grow tentacles into the brain of the victim, which affect several areas of the brain and fundamentally alter the candidate's actions and behavioral responses."

From http://www.ratemymullet.com/

2007  Ok, Halloween is over and I think we dodged a bullet by not having a zombie outbreak.  I know what your are thinking; "How can I be prepared  for the worst those zombies can throw at us?"

Well, here is your salvation:  Book   Zombie Survival guide     Video: The Ultimate Survival Guide, A Civil Defense Announcement...   Check it out

To Make Regular:
I heard on the radio that irregular verb tenses are evolving out of the english language.  Instead of saying "I knew you", you might say in the future; "I knowed you".  
We should have a day of Not Saying Irregular Verbs, which should probably be around the same time as the International Talk Like A Pirate Day. (Sept. 19)

Cafeteria Food:
Every day we have on the school menu "Fruit Choice".  Who chooses that? Is there a fruit chooser? What other powers do they wield?

What people say and what I hear:
How often have I heard someone say in science class; "Hey, this isn't math class." and all I hear is someone telling me they are not too bright or that they are very lazy.  It's strange how your ears fill in the blanks.

Math is Science:
Mathematics is a tool of science which means that the math department is really part of the science department whether they know it or not. (They tend to deny it.) We will certainly take credit for the improved science scores they have helped us achieve.

How the Science Department and the Math Department See Numbers: 
When you are studying math, numbers are wonderful beings of light. They possess infinite precision and glow with their own perfection as they dance their intricate patterns and perform amazing feats of beauty.  They sing pure sweet notes that harmonize with the music of the celestial spheres and provide a depth to all processes that they choose to focus their gaze upon.  
In Science, numbers crawl out from under rocks, smell of errors, and are chained to the crude instruments that generated them.  In science calculations, many of the numbers are insignificant and are cast aside as calculator vomit.  In science, numbers are not those pretty things; they work for a living and are often rough and approximate. If they do dance, they are often inelegant, step in puddles or on your feet, deny your hypothesis or make a mockery of your procedures. Science can be a dirty job and numbers can get really filthy.

Accent Classes:
Why don't we have French and Spanish accent classes.  Maybe even English accents.  How often have I wished to answer the phone in a contemptuous French accent and demand that they speak French.  I only took Spanish when I was in school.

Bling for Scientists:
A new fashion concept.
Grills with the periodic table across it, gold and diamond encrusted pocket protectors, zoot lab coats, Oh it's endless...

Words that you should not use in an english composition but might be ok to use during a lecture.

• sticktion: Another word for static friction.  Can also describe a motor that wants to turn but has too much sticktion to start. "Give that hard drive a quick twist Larry, I think it has a little bit of sticktion to overcome before it will spin up."  Explained to me by JC Rockwell while working on old computers.
• frictionatize: to make something have more friction.  "First you need to frictionatize your nose before you can hang a spoon on it."
• squarular: "If it is not circular then it might be squarular."
  (Quoteable quote from Ashleigh Cleek)
• Fraterday:  the day of the week to do EVERYTHING we don't really want to do!  "Yes dad, how about I mow the lawn on Fraterday?"
• regulartize, to make regular as in We must regulartize that irregular verb. 
• betterification, as in The Institute for the Betterification of America.  Strive to betterfy your existence.  It's kind of a noble word.
• smallify,  as in "Let us smallify this theory to something we can put in our pocket."  I had a professor use this word in class and I was very, very impressed.
• beatify, to beat, as in to mix drywall joint compound, or "mud". It could also be used in conjunction with eggs.  This one came from a building contractor I admire.  

More to Come as I Encounter Them

Cartoons...

• What happens when the Teletubbies get old?  Will Fox have a reality show about them?   
  Are they the cloned offspring of the Roswell Aliens?
  Why is TinkyWink carrying a Man-bag?
• I think that Boohbahs are actually quarks and some physicist is responsible for this mildly disturbing children's show.  You can even make them dance here.  I have a stuffed one.  (It's not really mine.)