Seven Quick Takes

Visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more quick takes!

1.

“So,” the medical secretary said through the phone, “then finally I need to know your BMI and drug history… What are your height and weight?”
This is going to be fun, I thought, and stated my measurements.
“That means your BMI is just within normal range, that’s good. You might be rather tall, though.”

Oh no! Gotta have that checked – the suspense is killing me!

(Actually, she was a very nice lady and sounded not at all flapped by the numbers. I just thought the formulation was very funny.)

2.

My sister was trying to explain to me how she Does Math (she’s doing a Masters in linguistics, which always makes people forget she already has one in mathematics) in an attempt to show Why She Does Not Like Irrational Integration.

“See, I have this curve, you know, and [...] curves [...] curve [...] tangent line… and then in the complex plane it…”
“Yes, rub it in,” I said. “You have curves. I don’t. WE KNOW THIS!”

Instead of profusely apologising, as one is entitled to expect, she went thoughtful: “That might actually make a great female pick-up line. In the right company, that is. ’Would you like to integrate my curves?’ Think that would work?”

(If you are a practising Catholic male, un{married/vowed/ordained}, a geek, and not opposed to lush black curls and enthralling brown eyes, I need to introduce you to someone.)

3.

My sandals died. My father thought having the soles fixed might pull them through until too-cold-for-sandals-weather, but the shoe repair man just shook his head and told me to buy new ones. So I’ll be shopping next Tuesday.

Unfortunately, I have had these for two years, and they were the last batch of an old model. I will have to update to the more padded new model. That will mean blisters. Whinge.

(You might be able to tell that I’m not the kind of girl who gets excited about footwear shopping.)

4.

When wine-tasting, or anything-tasting, people get palate cleansers, right? A bit of water or a piece of bread, to clean out the taste buds and prepare for the next sip/bite.

We might need to invent something like that for physics students.

Most physicists only work in one specific field, with a mathematical notation they are used to. Most people in the field would share the same notation in books, papers, and classes.

Physics students, on the other hand, might rummage in up to four different fields on any given day. I can now tell you that statistical physics gets rather interesting when you think that the T and V in Λ(T,V) (that’s a Lambda, the greek L) are in any way related to the T and V in L(T,V), the Lagrangian you encountered half an hour ago in the history of classical mechanics book you’re reading for fun. In the first case, the T is temperature and the V volume. In the second, they’re kinetic and potential energy.

It becomes extra problematic when the professor only refers to “T” and “V”, not the full words, and keeps saying stuff that would almost make sense when you’re talking about the energies.

5.

While we’re talking mixing fields, I would like to share this webcomic with all my fellow Catholic physicists.

…who already knew of it way before I did, I’m sure.

6.

I went to see Inglourious Basterds with Guy #1, and had a great time. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, unless you SPOILER WARNING loved Amelie and also like gratitious use of the ketchup bottle. END SPOILER

You hardly notice it while watching, but man, that thing is long!

Also, my new favourite actor, Christoph Waltz, looks exactly like one of my favourite writers.

Christoph Waltz (photo imdb)

Arthur Japin (photo Thom Hoffman)

Like. :)

7.

One of my friends is temporarily moving into my brother’s old room (above mine, I hope he’s not going to keep up his start-at-6.30 morning routine on days I don’t have class until 11…). I have heard from various sources that the stupidest thing you can do is make a housemate out of a friend (a friend out of a housemate is a much better idea, or so I’m told). But as he doesn’t want to be in this very province, we probably don’t have the time to work up a good long small irritations-induced eternal fight. And I have another lab rat person to eat my cooking. I say win-win :)