This part of the wiki is for Tom's Rants and whatnot. Feel free to give feedback / comments on the talk pages.
Current RanTom Thought
 They're swarming the planet by the BILLIONS! They've been burrowing unnoticed beneath our feet for YEARS! It's the Invasion of Brood XIII and they only have MATING on their minds. Can humanity survive the invasion?!? Coming soon to a webpage near you. This morning was another one of those magical overcast days like I talked about last time. However, this time, the nymphs I'm seeing aren't mosquitoes, but cicadas.
I've long been fascinated by cicadas. I first experienced an emergence in Oklahoma when I was a kid in first grade, (Brood IV in 1981). It's certainly an interesting survival mechanism they have evolved -- overwhelm your predators all at once and most of you will survive. Also, the absolute predictability of the emergence is astounding each time I experience it. In the past, I was impressed by the predictability of the year and month, now there's even a formula to predict the exact date.
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-- Tometheus (talk) 11:21, 25 May 2007 (CDT)
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Recent RanTom Thoughts
 Tiptoe through the tulips with me! Winter has finally decided to concede to Spring.
Today's Thought is not so much of a Rant as a Ramble. I'm just excited that Spring is here and everything's turning green, and I can take off my jacket, and the breasts are in bloom and... um... where was I?
Green is an interesting color. There's something magical about when the woods start turning green. It's no wonder Spring is so important to so many of the (earth) magic traditions in the world. On an slightly overcast day, with everything coming alive around you, there is sort of a mystical feel and one can almost believe in fairies.
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-- Tometheus (talk) 11:35, 2 May 2007 (CDT)
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Winter has decided that Spring was being presumptuous.
There are some days when you step out your door and the wind striking ice crystals against your jacket sounds like Rice Crispies on speed. On days like that you really want to forgo the rest of the day and just turn around, go back inside, curl up next to the <insert heat source here> and just read a book. Today is one of those days.
Now for the rant part. (And so it begins)
I'm really tired of Hollywood over-pimping the whole Green Agenda. [edit: I'm specifically addressing Global Warming in this article, not the whole "Green Agenda". Perhaps some day in the future I'll comment on a couple of other issues.]
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-- Tometheus (talk) 10:26, 11 April 2007 (CDT)
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This is for all my Adventist friends out there... Other people may not be interested in reading it, since it deals with Ellen White, which really has no meaning for people who never grew up in the Adventist church.
[quote in extended version]
So basically, this direct vision from GOD said that telling other people to abstain from pork was Satanic.
Apparently when 1T was written, God didn't know what he was going to show EGW 5 years into the future... Specifically calling this an "Error in Diet".
So, what is the test... that God will reveal the policy on swine to the entire church, not to two or three. So what changed the policy, creating the Adventist prohibition on pork? ONE person's vision! You may tell me "oh, but Ellen White was human, she makes mistakes", but remember, this is claimed to be a direct vision from God himself.
Talk about someone on a power trip. When someone else comes up with an idea, it's evil, but when she comes up with it later, it's DIVINE LAW.
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-- Tometheus (talk) 05:59, 25 February 2006 (UTC)
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I took my Physics GRE Subject Test yesterday. Reviewing classes you took over a decade ago is not a fun task, so I took a few weeks off of work to prepare. Last time I took the test I had just come out to Chicago, so I didn't have any of my textbooks, all I had was GRE Physics - The Best Test Preparation for the Graduate Record Examination Subject Test by REA. This time I bought a new copy of the book to see if they corrected the two mistakes I found last time.
After the test, I discuss my adventures in Chicagoland on a CTA day pass, including such wonders as the Lucky Platter, and the Bahá'í House of Worship.
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-- Tometheus (talk) 00:08, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
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 Paul Raptis (our section manager) with the belly dancer :D Last night I went to Sasan's wedding reception at Reza's. (Sasan is my immediate supervisor at Argonne.) Reza's specializes in Persian food. Since Sasan and Shiva are both from Iran, it makes sense :). Most of the guests were family members and co-workers from our section. And yes, even the scientists (including yours truly) were out there dancing and having fun.
I realized that this was the first reception I had ever been to that involved alcohol and dancing. Growing up as an Adventist, with primarily Adventist friends, every wedding I had been to were Adventist affairs. It is definitely a stark contrast. Wine and dancing make it a party, celebrating the love and joy and LIFE that marriage is supposed to entail. Adventist wedding receptions are boring as hell.
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-- Tometheus (talk) 23:27, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
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(hrmn.. just not the same as 'rocks')
Let's see, I could rant about not being able to go to the Nevada Test Site for my project due to not getting clearance, but I won't. Today's entry isn't going to be a rant at all *gasp*.
This weekend at Ravinia, Van Cliburn was going to be back, 30 years since his last appearance there. Alas, I was going to miss it due to this project in Nevada. However, when my clearance didn't come through, I was finally able to make it. I have to say, it more than made up for the disappointment of not being able to go to the Nevada Test Site.
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-- Tometheus (talk) 19:17, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
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So, this is 2005, the so-called World year of Physics because it it the 100th anniversary of Einstein's "miracle year". All-well-and-good, as a physicist I should be happy right? Well, I'm not, so where does my rant today come from? What could possibly be wrong about all of the press that physics has been getting this year? Why would a physicist be Ranting and raving about the good publicity? I'll tell you in one word: Relativity.
"What's wrong with relativity?", you ask. Nothing as such, but the problem is that people are being misled as to what makes 1905 important for Einstein. In 1905 Einstein wrote 3 papers. One on Brownian Motion, one on Special Relativity, and one on the Photoelectric Effect.
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-- Tometheus (talk) 10:54, 30 March 2005 (UTC)
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Links to Recent RanTom Thoughts
