Prom and goodies
I went to prom last night. I went out to dinner with some other teachers beforehand. We went to the Columbus Brewing Company, which was just a big tease because we weren't drinking before the dance. Unlike some of our students (70 or so) who got busted when they pulled up in front of the dance and their limo drivers narced on them for having alcohol. That's rough. So they weren't allowed in the dance. A guidance counselor apparantly overheard a parent say that they were going to sue the limo company. That's a great message to send to your kids about responsibility.
The dance itself was not as fun as last year, as I was stuck with a more demanding job than last year. But I will say that the coat check table was run with near-German efficiency. I'm actually glad not to have brought a date, because she just would have been put to work at that point, and I don't think that would have been polite.
Super Mario Striptease
Hamster Shredder
The Answer to Little Dogs Humping Your Leg
So there's this mysterious phenomenon occurring at the north pole of Saturn. Last month astronomers released pictures of a stable hexagon formed in the clouds above the pole. This interests me both as a nerd and as a geometry teacher. It's pretty wild to see this occurring naturally. I also read that a similar effect has been achieved in a lab in Denmark by rapidly rotating the base of a stationary fluid-filled cylinder. Initially, the water recedes radially from the central axis, but "the shape of the free surface can spontaneously break the axial symmetry and assume the form of a polygon rotating rigidly with a speed different from that of the plate." They've seen this form into triangles, squares, pentagons, and even hexagons.
A columnist for the New York Times had a contest to see who could come up with the most creative explanation for Saturn's hexagonal formation. There were quite a few amusing entries. The winner(s) can be found here.