FOR ONCE, A PERSONAL MESSAGE TO SHOW I AM MORE THAN A SCIENTIST
Fassbind Hotel Cornavin, Geneva. There hangs here the largest pendulum in the world, 30.2 meters.
It demonstrates that the earth is spinning. What happens is this, the bob (the end) swings to and fro in a fixed plane ( the same swing all the time).
This means that as the earth turns, the pendulum just keeps on swinging the same way.
The upshot is that the opposite is seen: The pendulum's swing rotates as the day goes by. It does 360 degrees in 24 hours.
Of course, it is not the pendulum that rotates, it is the earth.
Funny to see that when you go out in the morning, you can see it swinging, but when you return after work, it is swinging in another direction!
It is called the Foucault Pendulum, after the first guy to do it (he also tried to measure the speed of light).
Well, for a week I had a room booked there (about $200), and on my last night, on Friday, the bar was full of rich businessmen, in suits, some with Tuxes, a lot more with fat cigars, sipping cocktails in groups around the bar itself. Most being tall Americans.
And here's me, on the 8th floor, wishing I had some Stella Artois, as my fridge was devoid of the bottles.
This is what happened. I went downstairs to the bar in my tatty jeans, cropped T-shirt (no bra) and dirty sneakers. I was like a pimple on a perfectly smooth Asian face. So I waded my small frame in and out of the frowning suits, and approached the bowtied barman. Soon he would be tongue-tied as well.
Looking down his nose at me (combination of snootiness and my size).
"Yes, er, Madam?" after a curious look at my hips, and a frown at my chest.
"Trois Stella s'il vous plait pour ma salle."
"Don't you mean three Stella Artois for your room?" came the haughty reply.
He turned away, and returned with three full glasses of the required brew, ice cold, on a tray.
Then came my one-liner.
"You don't expect me to carry THIS all the way to the eighth floor, do you? How incongruous would that be?"
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Three Stellas Please
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4 comments:
I liked the Foucault Pendulum part, but otherwise find this tale the boringest tale you have told to date.
Neither have you have got it.
As a short reel cinematic piece I think I would find the blog hilarious, just as much as the classic short reels of the past. However, after reading the piece for the first and only time, until I returned earlier, I chose to point out what I liked and summed up any dislikes and objections into that one word, "boring", rather than offer up something deeper. I even dimissed cleverness from my thoughts since that would have led to deeper commentary.
Having said all this, "boring" puts her into great company, since I have often found Dickens boring, Shakespeare boring; even unintelligible for me, and even Edgar Allan Poe, a personal favorite can "bore" me at times. One could fall into far worse company than these masters I think.
This is why an extraordinary blog, such as this one, is at its best when there are comments by a wide variety of thoughtful and intelligent people, who are independent thinkers.
Let me for once point out here since I usually do not have the time, knowledge, or interest in "clever" and "subtle" bits enclosed in these blogs, which have their time and place in life, my reading is more straightforward surface reading, with all the wrong understandings that goes with that. I realize being "clever" and "subtle" rarely equates to intelligent, while almost always being meant for a "special" audience, with entry to that "special" audience if you are an outsider who happens to understand the "clever" and "subtle" bits. That's fine with me. Nothing like a writer with an active mind! Nor is that a criticism. It is an observation of where I am in relation to the blogs.
When I comment I am usually not the ideal person to be making a comment, although from time to time, I am asked to comment, which for me is an honor. I would encourage anyone who comes here to read and understand to the depths of their ability, for this is an educational blog. Comment as best you can. One day this blog could be the place that millions come to for understanding. Before this blog existed the author explained some things to me more clearly than a textbook I owned.
Now, I have a blog of my own to try to attend to. It is not even close to the level of this blog, nor does it have the readership this one does. So, everyone, keep coming back here whatever I may say. Thank you.
Eye sir render!!I confess I have been Ow Gored, but all I have is Black Flag, so don't shoot me. That's all she roach for today.
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