Month: October 2004

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.

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; 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.