thankful

things i'm thankful for this holiday season (albeit a little late)

dopamine. without this little gem i would feel like complete crap, ALL THE TIME (instead of just most of the time). supposed feelings of love or enjoyment would be non-existent and therefore no intrinsic motivations for self improvement. so thank you to dopamine for making me a happier/better person.

dielectric heating. i am convinced that without dielectric heating i wouldn't have been able to enjoy even half of the bagel bites, pizza rolls, or pizza pockets i've consumed to date. not to mention quickly reheated pizza, chinese food, or thanksgiving leftovers all of which have contributed a significant amount to my quality of life.

newton's laws of motion. i once saw an episode of 'junkyard wars' that pitted nasa physicists (stereotypically nerdy looking) against boaters/sailors (very manly and brawny) to build a boat that could get them from one side of a body of water to the other the quickest. the guys from nasa created a propulsion system similar to that used in jet skis and blew the sailors away(though if i remember correctly their boat may have fallen apart due to not being able to handle the speed and turbulence of the water). taking advantage of the laws of physics is something i am very thankful for. brains over brawn is an underdog story that i'm a sucker for every time.

moore's law. this is more of a love/hate relationship. i love it because it proves that you indeed CAN dictate innovation, but that's also the reason i hate it. gordon moore described a trend that he was seeing while working for intel (which he also co-founded). in describing this trend he set forth a precedent that scientists felt they had to stick to even though they could technically innovate faster than the "law" dictated. i hate this. i hate it because as consumers and as a society we could have benefited from faster computers and processors earlier than they were given to us simply because of this so called law. fuck you moore's law! we could have had a cure for cancer by now and possibly ended world hunger but you screwed it all up! ok, i change my mind, this is a hate/hate relationship. i hope you burn. (ok, not really. also, i realize it's not entirely due to moore's law that we didn't get faster processors sooner. economics and smart business practices probably played a larger role in the MHz distribution plan.)

this list could go on forever but i'll keep it to these 4 for now. tune in next year for the enthralling sequel!