An evening of semi-failed but mildly entertaining attempts..

First: Match head rockets! I suggested this to Bryan, he agreed, I took some supplies down to his room. We made a few with varying degrees of success, then adjourned to the patio because they make a fair amount of smoke; we then made lots and lots more, experiementing with amounts of match heads and foil and styles of folding. Justin didn't join us, but Nick eventually did and started making specialty rockets--huge bundles of match heads and a pile of burning matchsticks to light them--one of them even worked properly, firing off into the lawn, and then burning for a few seconds more.. Justin eventually joined us. Nothing very spectacular, decidedly unpredictable trajectories, but fun--and from a kids science toys site, no less! :)

Then, we turned to the remaining butane canister from the grill lighter we disassembled earlier for the spud gun igniter. It had a couple cc of liquid butane in it, and we wanted to see what would happen if it was burned--we figured that it would melt the plastic, release the butane, and create a huge fireball. Bryan went off to fetch supplies, and returned with a shallow dish constructed from aluminum foil, a bottle of charcoal lighter (which we knew didn't work very well) and matches. We decided to light this fire in the corral that was the swimming pool; so we hopped in, set the dish in the middle, filled it with fluid, set the butane canister in the middle, lit a couple matches, and tried to light it. The first one went out in the fluid, the other caught a small bit of dry grass nearby on fire--time to run! So we vaulted out of the corral and ran back for the house to see from higher up; a minute later the butane went up with a "ffft!"--i.e., no big bang, just a ffft. However, there was now a small grass fire in the middle of the corral, which we then ran back down to fetch a hose and put out. That done, a bucket was inverted over the dish of burning fluid to put it out.

So, we were again disappointed. Needing something to blow up, we fetched a small empty soda bottle, dumped in some baking soda, poured in some vinegar, capped it, shook it, and tossed it in the corral. A minute passed, then two, nothing. A dud there, to our further disappointment. We then went back in to fetch food, and I tried my hand at making popcorn on the stovetop. Having never done this before, I did an okay job--but had I used more oil, it probably would've come out better; and, melting the margarine before trying to mix it in probably would've worked better. Ate some of that, pitched the rest. Then Bryan, Justin, Jen and I went our merry ways.

I just don't get it..

How can China keep up this facade?

Taiwan: We're independent, and we're not going to obey your rules. That makes us independent, by definition, see? We would like to get along with you, though, if you'd just admit this.
Mainland China: No, you're not. Stop saying that or you'll get hurt.

Taiwan is independent, whether the mainland wants to admit it or not.

Accomplishments and related activities

First accomplishment today: Called up the M&AE grad office, verified that Karen would be in, and finally (finally!) submitted my MEng report and abstract! Yay! Then we chatted a bit about the logistics of my move, and what I was doing, etc. Nice!
Second accomplishement: Stopped by SMC, talked with Jackie, learned that the new large trash can liners for the house would indeed be delivered today; if that hadn't been the case, I would've driven down to B&W Restaurant Supply later to pick it up myself--the house is entirely out, and really needs them.

Third item, accomplishment-related: Got to open my graduation gift from Laurel, which was given to me and held by Jen for safe-keeping until I turned in my report; it's a copy of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Rand had come up in discussion some time ago, and I've never read any, so she remembered this and got me some. Will read it eventually--it's 1069 pages of small print, with a very self-important back cover and intro page.

Fourth item, also accomplishment-related: Got a call from my mother, explaining that she'd thought to check the NoVA yellow pages and found many pages of listings for Mechanical Engineering companies, and Automation and Control Systems companies--she's going to have my dad scan them and email them to me so I can take a look / some action.

Ok, this is really funny.

If you've ever heard Drowning Pool's "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor", you might appreciate Kimbo's "Let the Bodies Hit the Flo", featuring Flo, Tubcat, MegaMan, Domokuns, and assorted other characters in an interesting interpretation of the song's lyrics. Some of this other Flash animations are pretty entertaining, too, including "CrackMan", the audio of which seems to show up in the middle of a Bloodhound Gang song. :)

Courtesy of Mitchell

Yes & No: A Dyseducational Road Movie

Oooh..

I do believe my tarantula is molting. :)

An evening of minor disappointments

First, I decided to run out to Sears at about 8:40 (they close at 9) to find 3/16" staples to affix the replacement motorcycle seat cover to my seat. Jen accepted my invitation to join me, even though she dislikes Sears--all that crap with a major runaround and no hiring--and off we went. Got to Sears around 8:50 to find they had nothing shorter than 1/4", so we left--to Bishop's tomorrow, I suppose.

Then, on the way out of the mall, I suggested Friendly's for ice cream, right across the street. We went inside because all they had outside were the Classic Sundaes and I wanted some of the Double Deluxe (or whatever)--specifically Reeses Pieces or PB cups. I ordered a PB cup sundae, Jen ordered the Caramel Fudge sundae. Mine arrived sporting Reeses Pieces and caramel sauce instead of PB cups and PB sauce, but I didn't feel like complaining. However, it would've been better with PB sauce, as I'm not terribly fond of caramel on my ice cream. :P

Finally, we (Justin, Nick, Bryan, Jen, and I) decided to test out our spiffy new Spud Gun. After much trepidation, we loaded in a damp rag, fired in some propane, capped it, and sparked it--nothing. Again? Nothing. Wouldn't light with the back open, either. Hmm.. new fuel? Fired in some Carb Cleaner spray--it lit! Woo! Capped it, sparked--nothing. Removed the back, lit it--torch! More oxygen there.. Dry-fired (no rag), got a jet of flame--success, sort of. Still wouldn't go when closed and carrying a projectile. Consistently flared out the back when the back was open. Finally, tried propane and carb cleaner, with no luck. We figure the problem is insufficient spark--though we also increased the spark gap during this testing--and hope to correct it by getting an electric grill lighter (the kind used in full-size grills) from Bishop's tomorrow.