Leap Day
Well, today is our bonus day of the current quadrennial. I am at school, and got back results of a quiz which I thought I got a 92 on, but I was mistaken, I got a 96. That was a piece of positive news.
We tend to think that our year is neatly 365 1/4 days, but that's not really the case. We have a leap second or two added virtually every year at the changing of the year. The existence of atomic clocks have made correcting even these very minor errors noticable.
Several things have struck me as I've observed my fellow students on campus:
1) an awful lot of them use the automatic doors for the handicapped, hitting the button to avoid having to open the door themselves. I notice an awful lot of cold getting into the buildings as these doors stay open longer than normal.
2) It seems like a lot smoke. I don't know if it's the socioeconomic background of them (it's a state school), or otherwise, but given what's known about the health effects of smoking, it seems like our anti-smoking efforts are failing in a big way.
3) I seem to fit in better with the foreign and/or older students. I guess it makes sense for two reasons: a) I grew up in a different culture (America 30 years before them) and b) Like many of these foreign students, I'm motivated to really learn. They wouldn't be here if they didn't care.
We tend to think that our year is neatly 365 1/4 days, but that's not really the case. We have a leap second or two added virtually every year at the changing of the year. The existence of atomic clocks have made correcting even these very minor errors noticable.
Several things have struck me as I've observed my fellow students on campus:
1) an awful lot of them use the automatic doors for the handicapped, hitting the button to avoid having to open the door themselves. I notice an awful lot of cold getting into the buildings as these doors stay open longer than normal.
2) It seems like a lot smoke. I don't know if it's the socioeconomic background of them (it's a state school), or otherwise, but given what's known about the health effects of smoking, it seems like our anti-smoking efforts are failing in a big way.
3) I seem to fit in better with the foreign and/or older students. I guess it makes sense for two reasons: a) I grew up in a different culture (America 30 years before them) and b) Like many of these foreign students, I'm motivated to really learn. They wouldn't be here if they didn't care.
posted by Scooter at 12:51 PM
1 Comments:
You said, "an awful lot of them use the automatic doors for the handicapped, hitting the button to avoid having to open the door themselves." Sad commentary about how lazy our culture has become. I remember watching old movies where you would have and "elevator operator" to ask you what floor you wanted, push the button for your floor, then announce you arrived at your floor. Whatever happen to that cushy job???
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