My mom told me this story once. She was in an English class, Lit class, something like that - high school or college - and the teacher was talking about that "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" poem. Dreck, he said. Or didn't, probably; I don't remember Mom's words, and she might not remember his. Hers? I think his. Anyway, he went along ( Read more... )

When you're studying something, there will often be tedious bits. Sometimes those tedious bits are bits you need to learn. Sometimes they aren't. And when they aren't, if you have a legitimate means of avoiding them, you should take it.

Specific example: my variational methods class. The variational methods I am learning involve much algebra. I ( Read more... )

From Making Light, a post by Jim Macdonald, EMT:
Do you know how we can tell the difference between people who were wearing their seatbelts and those who weren’t, at the scene of an automobile accident? The ones who were wearing their seatbelts are standing around saying “This really sucks,” and the ones who weren’t are kinda just lying there.
Read ( Read more... )

You know those Gillette Mach 3® razors? You know how the blades get clogged with hairs sometimes, and it's hard to get them to come out? Today, I accidentally figured it out. If you have a few inches of water in the sink, and you swish the razor parallel to the head (in line with the blades), the hairs come right out. Darnedest thing ( Read more... )

A late post - I'll be making this quick, since it's night and I'm leaving early to go hiking tomorrow ( Read more... )

From ^z - a sampling:

1. Engineering is done with numbers. Analysis without numbers is only an opinion ( Read more... )

Making Light is one of the best blogs out there, with excellent writing and a community of intelligent commenters. Today a post on hypothermia appeared. Very good advice, and well-written.

I, of course, linked it purely so I could quote this paragraph:
The buddy system isn’t just for Girl Scouts. If you go into the woods, take a friend. When his ( Read more... )