How to evacuate a building

Step 1: Take some solid fuel like paraffin with a low melting temperature and smoke point, and put it into the oven.

Step 2: Forget to check the temperature of the oven, and fail to notice it is set for 160 degrees C.

Step 3: Walk away.

Step 4: Notice that the entire lab fills up with smoke so thick that you cannot see from one end to the other.

Step 5: Attempt to put out smoke with fire extinguisher and watch helplessly as it continues to flare up.

Step 6: Call security.

Step 7: Evacuate building and watch as 11 fire engine trucks and one hazmat team arrives on site.

Step 8: Finally realize to pull fire alarm to evacuate remaining refugees in the building.

Step 9: Stand around and wait for fire rescue team to declare the building safe.

What is most embarrassing is that this entire incident was caused by negligence of a graduate student, not a (typically stupid) undergrad.

(not me, of course)

Menu for those who are sick

Porridge
Starting with a quart of chicken stock, add 1/2 cup of rice and bring to a simmer. Add 2-3 slices of ginger and a handful of dried scallops (rehydrated in hot water). Simmer below boiling for 1.5 hours.

Poached fish
Bring a big pot of water to boil. Add some coriander seeds, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, ginger and 3 garlic cloves, simmer for 30 minutes. Add fish filets and poach gently for 5 minutes.

Mix in 1 diced century egg to porridge before serving. Place 1 filet atop porridge, top with grated ginger, diced scallions and a drizzle of sesame oil.

Enjoy with happy tummy.

What God?

Are Scientists Playing God? It Depends on Your Religion

By JOHN TIERNEY

Published: November 20, 2007

There is an East-West divide over stem-cell research and genetic engineering.
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There is always a God. It is just whether it is the God in the bible. Or the Cai-shen who will bring in lots of $$$ into the country.

This brings hairgel to a whole new level

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j0DcqENG9L1Z3TnL94DJdaJuhXfA

hmph

Today morning,

Broji: Are you or Bibji coming home next year?
Fibji: I don't know. Wassup? You miss us?
Broji: Oh, I want to buy another book next year and it is cheaper to hand carry.
Fibji: .............................................................................................

Why UGs are annoying

I hope the ^&$%& UG who was hogging the seat at the cafe, pretending not to see people waiting for seats to have lunch, fail his test. Hmph.

Tortoise shapes evolved to avoid 'turning turtle'

* 28 October 2007
* NewScientist.com news service

FOR a tortoise, being upside down is at best ignominious and at worst fatal. So to avoid it, some species have evolved a quite brilliant trick - perfectly shaped self-righting shells.

Gabor Domokos and Peter Varkonyi at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary modelled the geometry of turtle and tortoise shells of differing dome heights. Those with very tall domes, such as the star tortoise, effectively have just one stable orientation, right side up. Put another way, a star tortoise placed on its back will automatically roll back onto its front, righting itself with little effort.

In geometric terms, this tortoise's shell is known as a monostatic object, one that has only one stable way of resting on a horizontal surface. Such shapes are incredibly rare in nature, the researchers say.

Other, flatter species, such as the Argentine snake-necked turtle, have two stable points - on their belly and their back - and must use their neck as a lever to flip themselves back over. Animals with medium height domes have the worst shape of all, say the researchers. They can come to rest at three distinct points, right side up and on either side of the shell, meaning they can get stuck halfway through a roll (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1188).
From issue 2627 of New Scientist magazine, 28 October 2007, page 22