Intemperate equilibrium

[plonq]

I plugged in my car for the first time this year. I probably should have plugged it in a few times earlier this winter, but now that we've hit -40, I no longer consider it optional. Cars do not like temperatures this low -- in part because they are usually designed in places where they scream and run for cover when it dips to a frigid +15F.

Here are some things that you can expect if you are going to go for a drive when it is -40.

• If you haven't plugged it in, there is a good chance your car will not start.


• Even if you have plugged it in, you may have to fiddle with the key for a bit as the ignition switch sometimes freezes.


• Wear gloves to prevent your fingers from freezing instantly to any plastic or metal surfaces.


• If you are driving a standard, good luck shifting, as your transmission fluid has turned to the consistency of taffy. "Uuuungh! Go into first, damn you!"


• You may experience a few bumps for the first while when you pull out because your tires are frozen flat on one side.


• Your shocks are frozen too, so don't expect much comfort for the first few minutes of ride.


• Your windows will begin to ice over on the inside of your car the moment you climb in. This is bad, because there is a reasonable chance that your defroster fan is frozen as well.


• Your heater will only blow warm air as long as you keep your engine revs around 2k. When they drop below that, your engine won't generate enough heat to keep up.


• You will be blinded at every intersection as you and the cars around you throw up a wall of ice fog as soon as the light turns green. Visibility = 0.


• Did I mention that your fan belt is frozen as well? Expect your engine to scream and howl in protest for the first minute or two.

It isn't just your car that is affected by the cold, mind you. There are other things that you will notice.

• Air that cold doesn't hold a lot of moisture. You will be amazed at how many things can hold and release a static charge. Your cats turn into walking Van de Graaff Generators.


• Sound travels slower - enough that the world around you sounds subtly different.


• If there is even a whisper of wind, exposed flesh will begin to hurt a lot almost instantly, and if you are not careful, it will freeze within a minute or two.


• When you walk through snow it doesn't crunch, it squeaks loudly.


• When you aren't walking in snow your shoes clomp like wooden clogs because the soles will freeze.


• If you are outside for more than a minute, your glasses will ice over when you step indoors.


• If you have beard and/or moustache, a muzzle of ice will form around your mouth and nose after a minute or two (I've had 1/2" icicles hanging from my moustache at times). Ice will also form around the hood of your parka.


• You do not touch anything metal if you are not wearing gloves - that includes your car keys. atara learned a painful less about that her first winter here.


• This also includes the inside doorknob to your front or back doors.


• It will not be warm on the bus. The floor and the wheel wells will be frozen over. The windows will be frozen over. Depending on the age of the bus, you may be able to see your breath if you are not sitting near a heater (the newer buses are a bit better).


• Two words: Ice fog.


• Also: Sun Dogs.


• I you toss a pan of warm water into the air, it will explode into a cloud of frozen pellets and fog before it hits the ground.


• Your boogers freeze.


• Mind you, the cold can cause some very beautiful effects as well.

I was playing with the camera and (more significantly) some photo editing software last weekend and got some interesting results. I have always been a fan of black & white photography, but the more I play with it, the more I like it. It lends a subtlety to photographs that you cannot get with colour. I got a very good shot of fetlock at a coffee meet a couple of weekends back (behind the cut tag), and then did some cropping and tweaking to (what I think is) good effect. I got some more good pictures at our meet this weekend past -- including a couple of interesting HDR shots that I may post another day.





I was shown a video over the weekend that geeked me out in a lot of good ways.

Watch on YouTube

The Pi Song
When ink and pen in hands of men
Inscribe your form, bipedal P
They draw an altar on which
God has slaughtered all stability
No eyes could ever soak in all the places you anoint
And yet to see you all at once we only need the ·
Flirting with infinity, your geometric progeny
That fit inside you oh so tight
With triangles that feel so right

(3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459)

Your ever-constant homily says flaw is discipline
The patron saint of imperfection frees us from our sin
And if our transcendental lift shall find a final floor
Then Man will know the death of God where wonder was before
(rap section)
Yeah, I know this Pi shiat backwards and forwards
Check it out

I did three chicks then I pointed at the door
A girl entered in so that made it four
I snapped one time in came another five
Add 'em all up and that makes nine
The average age 26.5
Now that's what I call gettin' some pi
Five of the chicks wore 6-inch heels
Two of the nine squealed like seals
514 was the area code
Quebec, Canada my winter abode
And my 1.3 million dollar chalet
Pi backwards, pi forwards, all night and all day

3. 1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679
82148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284502(fade out)