You can take the girl out of mathematics…
I’m in the process of building up a stock of crushed ice which can be more aptly described as powdered ice. The Vita-Mix has a variable setting with a speed control that goes from 1 – 10. After you reach 10, you switch it from variable to high–or “crank it to 11″ as I say. The 1-speed rotates at 11mph and the high speed at 240mph. I’ve been using at max variable 2 to crush my ice. On one batch, I was paying more attention to what Ada was getting into rather than my ice, and I mixed it at variable 4. It turned it into snow which Mac did nod that he liked–no scratchy hunks of ice, but rather nicely melting snow to keep his throat cold. I was thinking with my last batch that I wondered what it would do if I turned it even higher. Then I got excited thinking I could the energy of the blender to change the ice into its next phase of matter. Wow! I could turn it into … *blink* water. That can only come from the mind of a mathematician*.
I added a little water to one mixture. That helps it pack pretty well. Locating a person as a target for my “July Snowball of Surprise!” is next in this snow making experiment.
*This comes from an old boiling water joke. A mathematician and an engineer are in a room with a stove and a table. Someone brings in two pots of water, and puts them on the table with the instructions “boil the water.” Both the engineer and the mathematician pick up a pot of water, put it on the stove, turn on the burner and boil the water. Next two pots of water are placed on the floor with the instructions “boil the water.” The engineer picks the pot off the floor, puts it on the stove, turns on the burner and boils the water. The mathematician picks the pot off the floor, puts it on the table, picks it up off the table, puts it on the stove, turns on the burner and boils the water**.
**I said it was an old joke not a funny joke–except maybe to engineers and mathematicians.
FWIW, Fisherman’s Friend contains 10mg menthol per “drop”. Menthol is known to aid sore throats through numbing. Perhaps this might be a good excuse to make a Mint Julep.
Ah, the variation I heard on that joke was the mathematician pickes up the pot from the floor puts it on the table and says “Remainder of theory already proven…” or somesuch. It works either way.
I can’t say I’ve ever heard that one before, and I’ve heard a lot of engineer jokes. However, we engineers are not known for our strong sense of humor, so the joke was might appropriate.
My artsy fartsy psycho-social self *still* doesn’t get this!
I think it’s that in mathematical proofs, if a = b and b = c, you can “skip ahead” and just say that a = c. That’s what the engineer would do. The mathematician, on the other hand, is fond of “showing
hisher work”. So, the (unnecessary) step of putting it on the table is introduced. Does that help?The answer is in Paul’s comment, not in M’s.
heh heh…maybe that’s why I just went into the stats and research geek part of math!
I don’t make them do any funny things…just tell the stories of people!