It's a Mixed Bag Today

Fashion
I try to be helpful. I’m constantly scouring the web looking for products that can make our life better. Private islands, esoteric computer configurations, expensive watches, extreme grill modifications, I've got all the bases covered. I thought I had found an invention that Dawn would fully endorse, the pillowig, but its reception was pretty cold. I think the problem is the model, she’s kind of frumpy. Dawn must remember she looks cute in all hats and she could totally rock this. This could be her sleepy hat.

Science
Has anyone else been following the Steorn “free energy device” debacle? The short of it is there is an Irish company that claims to have invented a perpetual motion device that can generate energy. Scientist and engineers don’t usually take kindly to claims of 485% efficiency. The company arranged a demo of the device recently….except the device didn’t work (surprise!) What I think is interesting is in each of the couple of stories I’ve read about the company and the CEO, the interviewers have said after-the-fact that they don’t think that the CEO is lying or is a snake-oil salesman. What he claims is impossible, but he’s going about trying to prove it in an open and honest way. They’ve mostly concluded that the company must be delusional and they really believe they have invented free energy.

A Long Setup for a Semi-Humorous Moment in Class.
A question on set theory derails a two hour class for an hour and a half. The discussion ranges far and wide. At one point, a student, who incorrectly assumes that the names of the symbols in a system have any real meaning to the system, asserts that “it won’t work, the relationships aren’t the same. You can’t say there is any relationship between a dog, a cat, and a pickle.” One of the professors bristles and counters that there can indeed be relationships between a dog, a pickle, and a cat. A student that sits to the left of me, and hardly ever says anything, adds “yeah, they can damn near pickle anything.”