I discovered the following find today. I don't know how old it is, and you probably might have seen it before - but I like it and want to share it If you are interested about that urban legends background, have a look here.

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question of the mid-term exam: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 1. if Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, and then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my freshman year that "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is, therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being, which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A"

Posted by Jürgen Hösch in Lost and Found at 16:08 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Guess that cycle of celebrations started sometime back in 1975, when my parents got married, later siblings of my parents married, then the first children where born, and the whole clan met for their christening. Being Lutheran, some 14 years after the christening we could celebrate the confirmation. Meanwhile all descendants have been through this celebrations, and the next big round of celebrations are the 50th birthdays. With my godfather in January and my great-uncle Günther last weektwo of these get together parties took already place this year.

I did already provide some pictures through my image gallery, but I think a short write-up about those events will be nice for my personal memories. My godfather celebrated his birthday in “town hall” in Neustädtlein. This is more or less a restaurant which can be rented to run it on yourself for your party. This gave the whole event a really familiar touch. My cousins where serving the guests drinks (my cousin Tim works for the Maisel brewery in Bayreuth), the dinner was a buffet, and you could get dumplings! The later layer cake buffet contained home made layer cakes. Of course the party was accompanied by an obligatory solo entertainer. And it was natural, that he did not only play music, but also animated the people to enjoy themselves by taking part in some party games.. Well, this is the place where some sort of generation gap takes place. Where I actually had fun dancing foxtrot with my godmother, or listening to some traditional Franconian dancing music, it was a rather odd to watch a game where a rolling pin had to be passed from person to person. Overall I enjoyed that evening – continuation desired. (Of course I got an almost obligatory, cutting remark, why my younger brother could bring his girlfriend, where I had no one to show..)

Last weeks birthday hat a different setting, the venue was a restaurant in Schönfeld, there where more people invited, and less people I knew. The atmosphere was less easy going than on the previously described party. Somehow I felt a little uncomfy in that environment. Of course I had some nice discussions with my brother, and my uncle (who described all his late computer problems), but I wouldn’t reach a decent celebration mood. The solo entertainer had a great part in this situation. He managed to start and end each of his entertainment efforts with some in my opinion annoying phrases. Well, other party guests liked them.. be invited to check the video and make your own judgment.

Posted by Jürgen Hösch in Daily Life at 15:03 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Tomorrow the online browser game Astrowars will start in it’s next round. This time I’ve decided to follow a few of my friends I was playing together with through the last rounds and join the AF alliance. This will be my first time in one of the real big alliances, and I’m quite curious how it will turn out to play in such an environment. Since the biggest challenge of that game is the interaction with your fellow team mates and other players around you, the environment you are playing with is very important. For me mastering this interactions is the most interesting part in playing Astrowars.

Posted by Jürgen Hösch in Daily Life at 19:12 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Seems like i don't have too much luck with bicycles in Bamberg. Two of my bikes got already stolen - now, two weeks ago the bike I borrowed from Katrin was dumped into a excavation pit, while I was visiting the Stilbruch pub downtown Bamberg. Luckily only the front fender was bent. But I wonder why people do such things. Were they just bored? Or unlucky, that the bike was locked?

Posted by Jürgen Hösch in Daily Life, LS Bamberg at 18:33 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)