just john

A spent the last couple hours thinking about rocket science and what a terrible sham it is. Sure, it spawned a great expression, though inaccurate, and provides a useful way of demonstrating how grossly simple some things in life can be. You see, rocket science isn't really a science at all. It's a field of engineering. Scientists do not build things, nor should they. I'm patiently waiting for Steve Hawking to decide whether or not time travel is possible because he's bright enough in his area to maybe figure it out. Would I let him change my brakes? No. Would I let a rocket scientist change my brakes? It"s a trick question. The guys who design and build rockets are engineers using applied science. They would aptly be called rocket engineers. Them, I'd let fix my brakes. Said car would stop even if the primary and secondary brakes failed and the car was hit by a meteor small enough not to demolish the car. The brake job would also cost three million dollars and require a ground-based crew to monitor it.

So what"s the scam then? Rocket engineering really isn't that hard, just an applied science like any other that uses things a lot  of us supposedly learned in school. Very, very telling is that a lot of those NASA folks don't get paid any more than the rest of us who use rocket science for mundane things like keeping yhe house cool, your hand from getting burned by a pan, or reverse catalyzing oxygen ions to produce a voltage rather than oyxgen. That last is my personal favorite because it's my job. Not too terribly many of them use more than newtonian physics, which is regarded by most as a dead science. nothing new to discover there. Einstein's work has yet to be applied and high energy physics, the real action, has one application I'm aware of (ion drive). So, I was on this particular train of thought because I bought a new barbecue grill. I needed an excuse to get one and so I invited Frank and Kara over for that very reason.

I went to school for a number of reasons. Better myself, learn, spend time reading and get to call it higher education, blah and blah and blah. Mainly, I went to study literature and a acquire a piece of paper that would allow me to work in another interesting, yet non-literary, field that would support my hobbies. (No, not filing for divorces). Where am I going with this...some things are not my hobbies and they aren't for good reason, I don't enjoy them.

Here's a mystery picture to ponder:

Random junk I picked up on yellow sack day? No. A new RC car? No, putting one of those together as divorce therapy was interesting. Leftover parts from the V12 I rebuilt? Again no, I didn't have any leftovers and actually enjoyed that as well. This, dear friends, is my new grill and a defining moment in explaining why I went to school. Anywhere but 18 months left in Germany and I would have bought one more fully assembled. After a dinner consisting of sauteed mushrooms, red peppers, turkey, a big salad, and a couple of glasses of wine later I ended up with what I had originally intended.

Complete with oddly shaped propane tank. See the dangling hose? For some inexplicable happenstance of life, it turns out I have never actually bought an entire grill from scratch before. You might think, while I was standing in the store with my grill and propane tank, the day before a national holiday when everything but restaurants and a couple of gas stations are closed, the salesperson might have the foresight to suggest I perhaps need a regulator as it does not come with the grill. Alas, I did not pick the salesperson with foresight. We will be oven grilling tomorrow.

Also tonight, I cut into my avacado too early and it was not soft and delicious as planned. now I have to start over with another one.

Finally, I seem to be missing a beer bottle. I paid for it and there's one more spot in the plastic tote for it but it does not want to be found. I bought a new case of Hefeweisen Kristall for tomorrow and the old case was regular. There were only kristall bottles in the refrigerator. Realistically, I can weather the financial loss of the deposit on one beer bottle but I really have to wonder....

I ran out of wine with dinner and resorted to one of the new beers. It is delicious as planned.