3 Stations East

Dear SFans,

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:19:53 -0600

45 degrees is not cold. In fact, that is warm for winter.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Today's Science Experiment: The Thaw

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:19:21 -0600

Yesterday I left a bottle of water in our car, which naturally froze overnight. We made it all the way down to 0 or so last night and thus, it was really really frozen.

So for your entertainment and mine, today's science experiment: How long will it take this bottle of water to completely thaw?

The definition of "completely thaw", for my purpose, is such that when the bottle is shaken, no sounds are made. In addition the bottle will not be jostled or moved unless absolutely necessary. The temperature on my desk clock reads 72.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

Progress

45 minutes: 45 minutes since the bottle arrived on my desk, it has made it to large iceberg status. Thus, there is now fluid around a core of ice. Stay tuned.

2.5 hours: The iceberg is getting smaller and is now floating at the top of the bottle, leaving roughly 1" of pure pure water at the bottom. We're at medium iceberg status. Woo!

3.5 hours: We're making more progress. The iceberg is getting smaller but still takes up a good amount of the bottle. Medium iceberg still, but... getting there!

4.5 hours: We're now down to small iceberg. The core of ice is less than half of the bottle now. Ryan had predicted six hours as being the amount of time necessary and I think that's a pretty good bet.

4.75 hours: The bottle has now contracted, narrower than its original shape.

This here is quality web content, I tell ya!

5.25 hours: We're now at medium icicle status. The core is now in the shape of a... well, yeah, an icicle... and has decreased in size quite a bit. Also of note, my thermometer is now reading 73.6 degrees.

5.5 hours: Oh, we're kicking it into high gear now. Now the ice is just a large icecube!

5.67 hours: Down to medium icecube. Ryan's prediction is looking very very good.

5.70 hours: Small icecube. No idea why I'm spelling "ice cube" as "icecube". (That's another post.)

5.75 hours: Ice sliver! Should be ready for consumption very soon. Also, no idea why I'm using decimal to denote time.

5 hours 50 minutes: We're done. The ice has completely melted.

The conclusion then, is that when presented with a situation that is exactly identical to mine a completely frozen bottle of water will melt in 5 hours 50 minutes - or, roughly 6 hours.

Now I'm going to drink the thing, because I'm thirsty and it's ice cold! Just like Vanilla Ice!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Near iDeath Experience

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:41:39 -0600

Yesterday I got on the train and decided to listen to some music. I took my iPod out my bag, flipped the hold switch to off, and pressed the center button.

Nothing.

Slightly befuddled I reflipped the hold switch, and pressed "menu". This time I got an Apple logo screen for just a moment, then nothing.

I was starting to sweat a little. I did the little hold switch thing again and pressed "menu" and "play" simultaneously. Apple logo screen, nothing, and then something pretty awful for an electronic device: the logo screen came back but started fading from the LCD. It was really bizarre! I couldn't hear the hard drive starting up or spinning, so I feared that the drive had died.

Visions of having to replace a 14-month old iPod danced in my head. I wasn't excited by the idea and heck, it was working fine in the morning. Just fine. I even got 92/100 on the Music Quiz game.

When I arrived home last night I plugged the iPod into my iMac and hoped it would work. The screen came up: "Very low battery. Please wait." The battery?!

I let it charge per usual overnight and it's been fine today.

The only thing that could have caused this was the cold weather. It's been cold here for a good week or two, though, so I'm not sure why the weather would have killed the battery yesterday of all days.

Cold battery or not, I'm just glad the thing isn't broken.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

5

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 15:03:51 -0600

It is cold outside. But that's not the bad part: the wind is what makes it feel really, really cold.

Temperature: 5. Wind chill: -16.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend