The Calorific Method: Drop the barometer from the roof into a container of water covered with a
narrow slit to minimize splashing. The rise in temperature of the water is an analog of the energy that
the barometer had on impact, and hence the height it fell from.
And you thought questions like this only came up in algebra problems!
Further Reading
If you have enjoyed this book you might also enjoy the text Bartholomew and the Oobleck, by Dr.
Seuss, ( New York, Random House, 1973). As Dr. Seuss explains, Oobleck "squiggles around in your
fist like a slippery potato dumpling made of rubber." He doesn't tell you how to make it, so I will here.
How to make Oobleck
- Take one cup of cornstarch.
- Add some drops of green food coloring; Oobleck should always be green in color.
- Slowly knead in up to half a cup of water.
Oobleck has some extremely strange, non-Newtonian properties. It flows like water through your
fingers, except when you work it like dough—then it immediately assumes a solid consistency. Except
when you stop kneading it, it turns back to liquid. If you strike it quickly with something hard, you
can shatter it!
Like all Dr. Seuss books, Bartholomew and the Oobleck can be read and enjoyed on several levels.
For example, One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish can be deconstructed as a searing indictment of
the narrow-minded binary counting system. Software engineers can benefit from a sophisticated
reading of Bartholomew and the Oobleck.
The world would be a better place if every programmer would just play with Oobleck occasionally.
The good programmers would be more rested and refreshed and the bad programmers would probably
get their heads stuck to the table. But always remember, no matter how lowly or exalted a hacker you
are, you are a child process of the universe, no less than the disk controller, or the stack frame
mechanism (explained at such length in Chapter 6).
They say that when you stare deeply into an abyss, the abyss also stares into you. But if you stare
deeply into this book, well, it's rude to stare, plus you might get a headache or something.
I can't think of a job I'd rather do than computer programming. All day, you create patterns and
structure out of the formless void, and you solve dozens of smaller puzzles along the way. The wit and
ingenuity of the human brain is pitted against the remorseless speed and accuracy of the electronic one.
Thus has it ever been. Humanity's higher purpose is to strive, to seek, to create. Each and every
computer programmer should seek out and grasp opportunities to—whoa! That's your 75,000 words
already—