A friend of mine recently sent me the following forward. I had seen it before but like it enough that it deserves to be shared. Snopes has their take on it too.

The following is an actual question given on a University of Florida chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so profound that the professor shared it with his colleagues via the internet, which is, of course, why we have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question: Is hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant of that law. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate that the souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one religions, and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls will go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change in the volume of Hell because Boyles law states that in order for the temperature and pressure of Hell to stay the same, the volume in Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1.If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than that rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all hell breaks
loose.

2.Of course, if hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my freshman year, “That it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.”, and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then number 2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze.

The student received the only “A” given.

With the American elections coming up next week there has been a lot of talk lately about the upcoming Alberta Provincial election. The discussions can get pretty heated. If you live in Alberta you should check out this site about Ralph Klein and learn a little bit about his track record.

My mom is a teacher and I know she’s really not a fan of the Klein Government.

I noticed Google has a link to its new Google Desktop Search software on their page today. I’m strongly thinking about downloading this, but before I do I’m wondering if it’s really worth it. I realize Google is very good about having uninstalls and whatnot but nevertheless I’m hoping someone that has tried it will write a comment here and say whether or not they like it.

Update: I’ve installed Google Desktop and I LOVE it. I don’t know how I found anything on my computer without it. Actually most of the time I had a hard time finding stuff…

Isn’t she cute?

I can’t believe it! This morning I sent in a link for BoingBoing to publish and now they have a thank-you link pointing back to this page. I’m extremely thrilled! Welcome BoingBoingers to my little place on the web.

Yesterday Anna-Maria, my mom and dad, and some of our friends went to the Stampede grounds to see Kalan Porter’s welcome home ceremony. We were really late getting there—apparently some people had slept out over night in anticipation of big crowds. We got there about 15 minutes before it ended. It was perfect timing, Kalan started to sing about 5 minutes after we got there. We heard his 5 songs and then went home. Anna-Maria and my dad both thought he was more feminine in person. I think he’s just the same… which I suppose isn’t saying much.

My mom was happy because one of the people introducing Kalan told one of my mom’s stories to the crowd. The story goes like this:

Recently a couple of girls in my mom’s kindergarten class asked her if it was true that she had taught Kalan Porter in kindergarten. My mom replied, “yes that’s true.” Then they asked, “Do you think Kalan Porter is good?” Without hesitation my mother stated, “Yes, I think he’s very good.” Then one of the little girls asked, “Who do you think is better, God or Kalan?”

Unfortunately for Kalan, my mom felt obligated to go with God.

Metafilter linked to my backmasking Page. As soon as BoingBoing does, then I’ll feel complete.

I have been so busy lately, it’s insane! It’s also really great because when I am busy I’m way more effective with my time and am able to get a lot of things done. So to recap what I’ve been up to I’m going to post a handful of entries to catch up for the week.

Anna-Maria and I have been painting. Ideally it would be great to paint the whole house but we’re trying to be smart and realistic by doing one bedroom at a time. Last spring we painted the awful pink room into a nice light shade of yellow. This time we’ve hit the master bedroom with a nice light green. It’s so much nicer than the flower wallpaper and bold teal colour that the previous owners had gracing the walls. The house is getting very nice—I’d almost ready to admit I’m proud of it.

Lifeguarding is the same old; same old. I’m guarding once a week at the Fritz and I’m also teaching adult lessons as well that night. The two ladies that I am instructing have come so far in just a few lessons.

I do have a new job though! Two actually, one as a Teacher’s Assistant (TA) in the New Media 3D Modeling and Animation class; one as a tutor for first year students. It’s excellent to have some extra income. It’s also excellent to have the University as an employer—it looks great on my resume.

I’ve watched a lot of movies lately, some on my own but most in my Film Studies class. In keeping with tradition, I’ll give you a quick review:

Fast Times at Ridgemont High - The original teen movie. I liked it, though it is getting a bit dated.
Back to the Future - This timeless classic is great no matter how many times I see it.
Blue Velvet - Thumbs way down - don’t even ask.
BladeRunner - I probably wouldn’t recommend this. It’s ok, but REALLY slow pacing almost put me to sleep a couple of times.
Spiderman 2 - Excellent show. Way better than the first one. I really liked the fact that this story was a lot more character / story motivated whereas the first one was really just special effects driven.

In other news the TV show Everwood, that plays on the WB, was scouting for locations to shoot down in Utah. They were very interested in Anna-Maria’s parents new house. The director even came and talked with them, but in the end it was decided that the house was too big because the character they were going to have “live there” is a batchelor, and will probably live in something a little more modest.

They are going to keep the house in mind for other shows or whatever, but what’s really interesting, to me anyway, is that Anna’s mother asked what the chances of getting Anna in the show as an extra would be. They said to send in headshots because they are always looking for extras. I guess if they had wanted to use the house that would have given her a lot more leverage but there’s still a chance she could get on the show. I think that would be really cool.

Swimming is great, I feel tired a lot but my body is getting into great shape. I am really aiming for CI’s this year and Andy thinks I have a pretty good shot. It will be excellent to compete against Canada’s best. Probably about a third of our Olympic team will be there.

Tonight I’m off to Medicine Hat for my friends’ wedding reception. Tomorrow I’m going to swim with AMAC (Medicine Hat’s Winter Club). They are having a little time trial meet which I’m hoping will boast my confidence towards achieving a CI qualifying time. After that, I’m going to spend the rest of the long weekend with my family. For those of you not from Canada reading this, this weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. Being as busy as I am, I must say I’m so thankful for long weekends.

I’ve been pretty busy lately with swimming and school, oh and work, oh and trying to fit painting my room in there too; not to mention lifting weights, yoga, and core strenth training.

Yesterday for a break I decided to work on some graphics for a video game I am making. Here is a sample of an elf I created. I’m not sure if I will make him the main character or not, yet.

I need to work on the animations still, right now they are just two frames consisting of slightly modified mirrors of themselves. The game will also have them bob up and down as they walk.