2007 Dragon*Con Impressions

Ellen Muth was smokin' hot. Claudia Black was sexy in an eight-month-pregant sort of way. Lori Petty was all about the love: "That's the way I roll." The Farscape crew sparkled.

At Ellen's talk, there were 2 seats between me and another fan. A woman asked if they were taken, we said no, and she sat down. I offered to move over and make more room for her. At first she declined, then decided the extra space would be good.

"That was nice of you," she said.

"It's a nice con," I replied.

"For the most part."

"What parts aren't?"

"Crabby people."

I let it drop. After the talk, I snacked before heading to Claudia's room. The woman also remained seated, flipping through the program. She asked me if I could direct her to the Montreal room. I've kinda figured out the Hyatt's room-naming scheme over the years, so I directed her down the nearby escalator, knowing that would get her to the right area.

She thanked me and offered me a muffin. Fortunately, I had my snack, so I could politely refuse food of unknown origin.

As if reading my mind, she said, "I don't like taking food from stangers, either. Someone gave me this muffin, and I don't really want it."

That offer was wrong on so many levels, I can't even begin to enumerate them.

back -- DragonCon

In the first episode of Kieslowski's Dekalog, a boy uses a computer to solve an algebra problem (time, rate, distance) posed by his father. His answer didn't sound quite right to me, so I took a closer look at his formulas displayed on the screen: the subscript for one of his variables is incorrect.

Later in the episode, the father uses the computer to determine whether the ice is thick enough for his son to skate on safely.

How many atoms are there in a person? Since we're mostly organic molecules and water, we're mostly carbon and oxygen, giving us an atomic weight somewhere between 12 and 16. Let's be conservative (and simplify the math) and say 18.

That is, for every 18 grams of us, there are over 6 x 10^23 atoms; for every 3 grams, over 10^23 atoms.

For every 3 kilograms, 10^26 atoms; so, whether you weigh yourself in kilos or pounds, you have over 10^27 atoms in you.

How big is 10^27? If you subtract the billions and billions of stars and planets in the universe from 10^27, you still have 10^27 -- that's how big.

Even if you change the billions to trillions, you still haven't made a dent in 10^27.

QED: There's a universe in each of us.

Last modified: 9/14/2007