On Stars and Foxes
My sister once called me a ’stone-cold fox.’ I’m not sure where that came from, but I took it as a compliment, and got sort of attatched to the idea of being foxy (which means cunning first, and attractive second according to Webster’s Dictionary). Clever, is my favorite adjective, and everyone knows that foxes are clever. During my freshman year of college I switched from being an english major, to an astronomy major, hence the affinity for stars. So that’s where the name comes from, the rest of what I say is my own opinion of myself and may not be strictly objective.
I’m the cutest person to walk the face of this earth. I’m smart and talented, and everyone likes me. (hahahahah, I’m so funny too!)
Okay, seriously now: I’d like to call myself a scientist, but I don’t think I’d feel comfortable doing that unless I have a PhD first. I do love physics, astronomy, and mathematics (calculus, not discrete math), and plan on going to school until the day I die. I chose astronomy first because it sounded like it would be hard. I like being able to do things that are difficult.
In person I’m soft-spoken to a fault. I get really shy and talk really quietly. It drives the hard of hearing nuts.
I come dangerously close to subscribing to the notion that “It’s not mean if it’s hilarious.”
I hate nothing more than people who are patronizing. Maybe it’s because I’m the youngest in my family and have been talked down to more often than is probably healthy. If you ever feel like I’m patronizing you, tell me and I shall repent posthaste. If you patronize me, don’t be suprised if I loose my temper.
The one thing that terrifies me more than anything is the idea of losing the ones I love. Thinking about it reduces me to tears every time.
I love when anything works out nicely. I love when a math problem works out to be 4 instead of 12.3E-22. I love when all the characters in the movie get what they should (be it a boyfriend, or jailtime). And I love when the kitchen is perfectly clean before I go to bed. It’s too bad that it rarely happens.
Questions, if any, may be submitted below. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
March 25th, 2006 17:08
: Um, he’s sick. My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with a girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it’s pretty serious . . . and speaking of serious. . . . best of luck to you all on your new endeavor. It’s looking pretty good so far!
March 25th, 2006 21:59
What? Uh, hang on a sec. I need to turn my hearing aids up.
I just gave my kitchen the before bed once-over. I *heart* waking up to a clean start in the morning, particulary on sunday. It’s like giving me-in-the-morning a present from me-in-the-evening.
Here’s a question: just how much, in like regular decimal-type numbers is 12.3E-22??? I remember using E to compute continuously compounded ineterest, and I think it has something to do with imaginary numbers (maybe that’s another letter)…
I just asked Rob “Which do you like more Calculus or Discrete Math?”
He says “Oooh, they’re both so fun…Um, Calculus is so smooth; it’s so pettable. Disco’s more like a game. Like a puzzle.” (He’s the only person I know who took discrete math.)
Oh, hey, here’s another one. Can you recommend a good, basic, learn-some-constellations and basic astronomy book that I could adapt to use with my 7-year-old daughter?
March 26th, 2006 08:14
12.3E-22? That should be 1.23E-21, which would be 0.0000000000000000000000123 (IOW, it’s very small). It’s scientific notation where “E” means “10^,” and is how calculators express numbers too large or too small to show on their displays.
HTH
March 26th, 2006 08:39
Naiah, the ‘e’ you are thinking of is (or should be) only represented in lower case, it is roughly worth 2.71, but it goes on and on. Like Blain said the ‘E’ I used is a short hand notation for “10^” and is called scientific notation. It comes in handy for those times when you need to write how far away the sun is in centimeters.
Imaginary numbers are a whole other ball game, they are normally represented by an ‘i’ or a ‘j’ (i for physical scientists, j for computer scientists).
My husband has a deep love for discrete math, mostly because he thinks it’s like a puzzle too. He hates calc.
A good astronomy book for a seven year old would be either “The Stars” or “Find the Constellations” both by H.A. Rey. (Yes, that H.A. Rey) They don’t need any adaptation for kids, and are very informative.
March 26th, 2006 14:34
That is a neat story on the name. What about catastrophe theory and topology?
March 26th, 2006 15:47
Stephen M.:”What about catastrophe theory and topology?”
Are you asking if those are things I like too? I’d have to say no, or at least not as much as Ast. Physics and Math. My dad worked in a surverying-heavy line of work and had some really cool topo maps of the local regional forests though. And I’ll be honest that I’m not really sure what Catastrophe theory is, but it sounds cool so I’m going to look it up in a few minutes.
Thanks for the comments everyone!
March 26th, 2006 15:54
Stone cold fox is an expression from the 70’s (my generation), not sure of the origin, but likely related to Foxey Lady, a Jimi Hendrix classic. Rendered in today’s vernacular: “A HOT babe”.
I completely and whole-heartedly second SF’s pick for intro astronomy books. The Stars was the book that really hooked me as a kid (but adults love it too; it’s been popularly in print since the 1950’s). Cute illustrations, helpful explanations, it’s an absolute classic, and I have yet to find anything that comes close. Even Einstein recommended it (I’m serious!).
March 27th, 2006 17:39
Nice to meet another lover of the cosmos… My father taught some undergrad astronomy classes at ISU and I hung out at his office in the Physics department a lot.
Tell us when you get that PhD so we can call you Dr. Starfoxy!
March 27th, 2006 20:53
The PhD is years away sadly. I may end up trading it in for a couple more bachelors degrees in other things that happen to interest me. Hard to tell. Right now, however I’m in mommy land.
Rich, I didn’t know about Einstein recommending them, pretty neat though. I just saw them after my MIL checked them out from the library to ask what I thought of them. I rather liked them.