Science!

Years ago, an ex-girlfriend of mine always made ice cubes using warm water. When I asked her about it, she said that her mother told her that hot water makes ice faster than cold water does. At the time, I thought that there must be something to it because the universe often works that way. I didn't test the theory or anything, but now that I'm back to making ice cubes, it comes to mind on a regular basis. Well, the answer is, "under certain conditions". What is called the Mpemba effect seems to make it one of those laws of opposite that drive people like me crazy. What's crazier is that, although the theory was tested by Aristotle, Descartes and Bacon, the effect was named after a Tanzanian high school science student in 1969. Besides that, it isn't really understood why it works, so let's move on.

I've discovered in the past few mornings that the coffee doesn't take so long perk. In fact, the first time the coffee pot quit all of its little noises in the kitchen, I was afraid that it had bitten the dust, which is a big deal in our home. The only thing I can attribute the quick-perk effect to is that I've been putting hot water in it when I make the coffee, because I already have the tap running from washing the "guts". Being the nerd that I am, I decided to do a little web research and, sure enough, hot water boils faster that cold. That's a big duh, but I thought that maybe there was an effect that was related to the Mpemba effect, and I had to know. Turns out it has to do with evaporation and other factors that are too much for this first cuppa joe.

Now, wasn't that interesting?

It has been windy here, which isn't news since it's Oklahoma, but in our new house the wind is a much nicer thing than it was on the top floor of our previous residence. The only thing we worry about is the dry old limbs on the ancient oak that hangs over the driveway. But the wind chimes on the porch sound nice. I really hate wind, but this isn't so bad, unless you're Nettl and you are plagued with allergies. So far, the old eye irritation hasn't bothered me. So far, so good.

I may have a publisher interested for Night Music. That came out of the blue last night when I received an email. We'll see. I've learned not to hang my hat on anything where that book is concerned, but it seems kind of coincidental that I began some rewrites on it a couple of weeks ago.

Have a good Thursday. One more day until the weekend!