Jump to content

Why? Why are you awake?


Randomguy

Recommended Posts

I'm awake because I have a diabetic blood test scheduled for 7:45 am.  I have an alarm set for 6:45 am but woke up a 4:45 am and figured I might as well stay up.

A college story:

When I went to graduate school at IIT and moved into the Graduate Dorm, there was a Physics grad student named Willie who had also moved into a room on same floor as me. He was from Boston with a Southie accent and said things like, "We'd go down to Hahvahd Yahd to have a beeh with the boys."

He attracted everyone's attention because he'd walk down the hall, holding his hands close together in front of his face, with his index fingers furiously stabbing at the air in various directions. Everyone was afraid to ask him why he was doing that, but after a few days I couldn't resist. He replied. "I'm trying to see four physical dimensions."

We all recognize three physical dimensions and chart them with x, y, and z axes, but mathematics predicts there are many more, though some say that's an artifact of applied mathematics and not real.

But if it is real, think of what discovering a 4th physical dimension would mean.  Compare it to a society that can see two dimensions: left-right, backward-forwards, but no up and down.  They wouldn't have to build a bank wall, just a bank line.  You and me, knowing about up and down, could rob the bank by simply stepping over the line.

A ceiling might just be a few feet above your head but the 2-dimension-seeing being would see it in the distance - along the floor, wall, and ceiling would all be in the same direction, perhaps 20 feet away.

So traveling to other continents, planets, etc. might be a much shorter trip if we could see and use a 4th physical dimension.

Willie was working hard at it, bumping into people as he walked down the hall, missing key laughs when we all watch "Mash," etc. in the room of the one guy who had a color TV!  Otherwise, he was a usually a fairly normal guy.  When I graduated, I asked Willie, "How's the 4th dimension going?" and he replied, "I think I've almost got it."

That was the last I ever saw or heard of Willie, but when I used to tell this story to my Physics students I'd lie and say that a few years after I left Chicago and IIT, Willie disappeared. I'd tell them that maybe Willie found the 4th dimension, traveled somewhere through it, and can't get back.  Maybe one day astronauts will find his desiccated body on Mars - with his hands crossed in front of his face in a futile effort to get back to Earth.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The oldest college story I have is between Christmas 1975 and New Years my wife and I were staying in the dorms at Mount Saint Mary’s college in Emitsburg, Md. with a few hundred high school students. We were youth counselors for an event called Holliday Happening. Several days into the event my wife started having severe abdominal pain. I drove her to the emergency room at Annie Warner hospital in Gettysburg, Pa. the nearest hospital. They examined her and said she had an abdominal flu that was going around and sent her away. At 6am someone is pounding on my dorm room door telling me they just called an ambulance for my wife. They rushed her back to the same hospital we had just left. This time a different doctor was going to order an x-ray and my wife said she might be pregnant. The doctor got a fearful look on his face and ordered her moved into surgery. She had an ectopic pregnancy and it had ruptured and she almost bled to death. Ten days in ICU and many pints of blood later I brought her home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, MickinMD said:

I'm awake because I have a diabetic blood test scheduled for 7:45 am.  I have an alarm set for 6:45 am but woke up a 4:45 am and figured I might as well stay up.

A college story:

When I went to graduate school at IIT and moved into the Graduate Dorm, there was a Physics grad student named Willie who had also moved into a room on same floor as me. He was from Boston with a Southie accent and said things like, "We'd go down to Hahvahd Yahd to have a beeh with the boys."

He attracted everyone's attention because he'd walk down the hall, holding his hands close together in front of his face, with his index fingers furiously stabbing at the air in various directions. Everyone was afraid to ask him why he was doing that, but after a few days I couldn't resist. He replied. "I'm trying to see four physical dimensions."

We all recognize three physical dimensions and chart them with x, y, and z axes, but mathematics predicts there are many more, though some say that's an artifact of applied mathematics and not real.

But if it is real, think of what discovering a 4th physical dimension would mean.  Compare it to a society that can see two dimensions: left-right, backward-forwards, but no up and down.  They wouldn't have to build a bank wall, just a bank line.  You and me, knowing about up and down, could rob the bank by simply stepping over the line.

A ceiling might just be a few feet above your head but the 2-dimension-seeing being would see it in the distance - along the floor, wall, and ceiling would all be in the same direction, perhaps 20 feet away.

So traveling to other continents, planets, etc. might be a much shorter trip if we could see and use a 4th physical dimension.

Willie was working hard at it, bumping into people as he walked down the hall, missing key laughs when we all watch "Mash," etc. in the room of the one guy who had a color TV!  Otherwise, he was a usually a fairly normal guy.  When I graduated, I asked Willie, "How's the 4th dimension going?" and he replied, "I think I've almost got it."

That was the last I ever saw or heard of Willie, but when I used to tell this story to my Physics students I'd lie and say that a few years after I left Chicago and IIT, Willie disappeared. I'd tell them that maybe Willie found the 4th dimension, traveled somewhere through it, and can't get back.  Maybe one day astronauts will find his desiccated body on Mars - with his hands crossed in front of his face in a futile effort to get back to Earth.

 

There's a SciFi short story about a guy who builds a house in 4 dimensions.

IIRC you would go though a doorway into a room but if you went back through it you wouldn't be in the original room. Kinda a fun story.

It ended, again IIRC, with a rumble and the house collapsed into itself & disappeared.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

college story: I was walking between two buildings on a covered walkway.  Every 10 foot or so there were steel posts on each side to hold up the cover. Anywho, I was walking along and a chick was walking the other way. Quick hi, :) and kept walking. I turned around to check out her ass, and I started to drift off course. When I turned my head back around I was 1 step away from running into one of the posts ?. You may get a chuckle out of this .

  • Heart 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...