Engineers make Horrible Jokes

The integration jokes are the worst--trust me--but this comes close. Consider the following excerpt from my Fluid Mechanics textbook, which is talking about pressure waves in compressible fluids:

"These pressure disturbances travel a considerable distance ahead of the airfoil before being attenuated by the viscosity of the fluid, and they 'warn' the upstream fluid that the airfoil is coming (the Paul Reveres of fluid flow!)."

I didn't even add the exclamation point. It's that bad already.

Pendulous

Nothin'. I just like the word.

Fallen in Love

I love libraries. They smell nice and they're very quiet. Who wouldn't want to spend a whole day of their Thanksgiving Break here? Where else can you find an 8 volume, 85 pound, red-leather-bound set of books on the History and Literature of France--in French? I can find books on Milton and the Literary Satan just a few dozen yards away from Aristotle's Politics and John Stuart Mill's On Liberty and Control. Walking down the aisles I can learn that Cowboy Poetry Matters. I can find out about the Practical Uses of Dyes in Biology. I don't know what Blonde is about, but I could find out. Isn't it fantastic? I am amazed at my own self-control as I sit, ready to leave, taking only 13 of these literary gems with me.

Glory of Exhaustion

"Exhaustion means that the vital forces are worn right out. Spiritual exhaustion never comes through sin but only through service, and whether or not you are exhausted will depend upon where you get your supplies. Jesus said to Peter--"Feed my sheep," but He gave him nothing to feed them with. The process of being made broken bread and poured out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God. They must drain you to the dregs. Be careful that you get your supply, or before long you will be utterly exhausted. Before other souls learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus direct, they have to draw on it through you; you have to be literally "sucked," until they learn to take their nourishment from God. We owe it to God to be our best for His lambs and His sheep as well as for Himself.

Has the way in which you have been serving God betrayed you into exhaustion? If so, then rally your affections. Where did you start the service from? From your own sympathy or from the basis of the Redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually go back to the foundation of your affections and recollect where the source of power is. You have no right to say--"O Lord, I am so exhausted." He saved and sanctified you in order to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that your supply comes from Him. "All my fresh springs shall be in Thee." "

--Oswald Chambers

Just Plain Suffering...

Laurel is now laying on our puffy green couch with her leg elevated. She really wants to post pictures of her recent crafting expeditions but that will have to happen when she can stay awake for more than fifteen minutes. This week should provide ample time as she recovers. Her knee surgery went well, but she will have to be on cruches for the next six weeks. Right now she is going to drag herself outside to watch our brother's firework's show in the street. Pray for her.

Suffering for something Else

Too much science! Too much of my concrete lab! Too many photos of things too small to see! The rest of myself is crying out for some attention, manifested by my intense desire to do something crafty and make something beautiful. I want to make purses, and paint my room, and get new curtains, and choose a new accent color, and sew and stamp and paint--even though I can't really paint. I think I will.

Things that I look at a lot, which you probably Never wanted to see

These are my titanium/PVP nanowires. Aren't they be-a-utiful?



This is a different sample, at 20x instead of 100x.



Yet another sample--did I mention that I was up to 84? At ten photos per sample, I'm only about a quarter of the way through the photographing/contact angle analysis. But the monotony does lead to some interesting data.