Tales of the Lost and Found in the RLM @ UT Austin

Byron came to our office this afternoon to help us figure out why jgar5 couldn't print PDF files. It was some pretty obscure thing that I would never have figured out, so we're glad we have Byron to help. When he left, he found a cell phone in the hallway and gave it to jgar5 who promptly called back a couple of the people who had recently called that phone in hopes of getting some clue as to who owns it.

Half and hour or so later, a very loud "DA DA DADA DA DADA DA DADAAAA DA DADA DADADADADADA" spewed forth from jgar's desk. "Jesse, be quiet -- there's someone taking a linear algebra test in the conference room!" (I thought the noise was coming from his computer.) When I looked up I saw that he had picked up the found cell phone (still blaring "DA DA DADA DA DADA DA DADA") and was trying to figure out how to answer the darn thing. (which is playing "Mexican Hat Dance" in case you weren't able to recognize my dada da's.)

"Hello? Yes, I called your number because someone lost this phone, and we're calling people this person recently called to help us find the owner of the phone. Do you know who this number belongs to? Uh, you're calling from India? O.K., O.K. Can you spell that name? D - I - V - Y - A. O.K. OK., So, you'll send her an e-mail to tell her we have her phone? We're in RLM 4.101. Well, ok, then, thank you!"

After everyone left the office this afternoon, I was trying to tidy up the detritus of our last freshmen orientation when the phone started blaring its DA DA DADA again. I rushed over to jgar5's desk, picked up the phone, tried to flip it open, but it wasn't a flipable phone (hey, the light was off in that office, and the phone was still making that thor-awful noise), but by the time I figured it out, whoever had called had disconnected.

So, Divya shall have to wait until tomorrow to get her phone back.

(We also get a lot of phones back to their rightful owners when they think to call their own number.)

UPDATE: Divya came to the office to claim her phone. We usually ask for some sort of I.D. before we give lost & found stuff back, and she said, "Oh, just a minute, I've left my purse in the library!" Um, what is WRONG with that sentence?! I don't even leave my handbag with S. to watch. Stuff can disappear from this place in a blink of an eye.

Lady Murasaki is so Inscrutable

This is our girl cat, Lady Murasaki. She is very shy around anyone other than us -- probably because she & Genji were barn kitties who have never really been around other humans.

She seems to be the smartest of the 3 cats, although the boys seem to have an edge on figuring out technology (door handles!)

Genji and Saki are siblings -- Yuki is a latecoming interloper, at least according to Saki. More on the relationship between the cats when I post Yuki's picture.

Genji Cat Sleepathon

(click on Little Genji to see a picture of Big Genji)

Genji stayed in this postition for about 6 hours straight Sunday -- well, he flopped from side to side a couple of times -- but for the most part, he looked just like this. (And be easy on the big guy -- he thinks the camera adds 5 pounds.)

You're a Little Late to be Asking about the Asteroid

1:30 p.m. CDT
I answer the phone at work, "Mathematics, Physics & Astronomy Advising Center."

A voice a bit older than most of my students says, "Uh, I heard there was an asteroid heading toward earth today."

Me: "This is the undergraduate advising office, let me get you the Astronomy Department."

but then I thought: "Oh, I read about that at lunch -- the asteroid has already passed by."

Man: "I need to know whether I need to be packing things up, you know."

Me: "The asteroid already passed by -- it didn't even come as close as the moon. I read it online a while ago. (looking it up) . . . ah, here, 'Large Asteroid Zips Past Earth' -- 'A huge asteroid whizzed by Earth early Monday, passing about 269,000 miles from the planet's surface -- slightly farther away than the moon.' "

Man: (still unsure that he is safe) "But this is Monday."

Me: "Yes, but it said it passed by EARLY Monday -- this is the afternoon."

Man: "O.K."

Me: "Bye now."

I would have put the BBC as the title link above, but they hadn't updated their article -- it just said it was due to pass near earth -- closest to the west coast of North America around 0444 GMT.

We get calls like this from time to time -- how to work math problems, grand unification theories, etc. Some of the stuff we'll try to help with, but I always send the grand unification theories upstairs!

What S Said the other Morning

The other morning, as I was waking up, Scott said to me, "Do you want some Diet Coke to wash down those Mentos?"

Is he trying to explode my stomach or something??!!!

(and if you are like the people in my office who didn't know about Diet Coke & Mentos, click on the title above.)

This is even better than "Peeps in the microwave" -- a favorite activity of one of our physics majors. Not our office microwave, please!

Buddhabrots

I've been fascinated with fractals for years, and I've recently discovered a particularly beautiful form of the Mandelbrot Set -- the Buddhabrots. This one is from a Wikipedia contributor, Evercat, who has kindly released this image into the public domain.

Happy Solstice from my Cat

Well, he really didn't say "Happy Solstice", but he sure was talking this morning, and much too early at that. meow meow meow meow. meow meow meow meow meow!

he can only say a few things:

*give me food
*open the door
*i want soft food
*let me out
*i'm very concerned about the food situation
*sit down and give me a lap
*did I tell you i was hungry?
*open all the doors -- i hate closed doors!

sorry but he doesn't know how to celebrate a Solstice, so that greeting has to come from me!

Mmmm, Chocolate (click here for chocolate)

I lived in Germany from '83 to '86 when it was hard to find Leonidas chocolates anywhere but Belgium. Several times friends of mine travelled to Belgium and brought back a small box of these yummy, yummy chocolates. As my friend Kellee said -- you have to ration them wisely and force yourself to eat 2 a day because they only last a week or so because of the fresh ingredients. But oh, one or 2 Leonidas were worth a pound of any other chocolates.

One of the women who are helping Scott's family in Ft. Worth just returned from visiting relatives in Europe, and she brought back the perfect gift -- pretty, pretty boxes of Leonidas. Scott was sweet and gave me half of his box, and I will love Sondra forever! (You can get Leonidas in the states now, but it's great to get some from the source!)

After Time, I'll Be Unstuck in Time

After you die... Unstuck in Time After death, you will become unstuck in time, and re-live various moments of your life. Time will cease to exist. One moment you will be learning to catch butterflies, the next you will be using your walker to go to the bathroom. You will live on forever in this way, constantly reliving the sweetest and not so sweetest of moments.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Need a Funny Today?

Click on the title for today's funny!

Next post (when I have some time) will be how Scott and I "outed" ourselves (as non-believers) during our recent trip to visit family in Colorado. (Guys, you would have known a lot sooner if you'd just paid attention, or even asked -- it wasn't like we were hiding anything. sheeesh!)