Alternate Universes: plus ça change

[gominokouhai]

I never really understood the Higgs Boson. It's supposed to give mass to other particles by dint of its very proximity, in the same manner, it was explained to me once, as you get a cluster of people surrounding Maggie Thatcher at a cocktail party^[0]. But if the Higgs Boson is a boson, then it's a particle with mass, and nobody could ever explain to me where it gets its mass.

(Another thing I never got was the Hubble Constant. Galaxies are expanding faster the farther away from us they are, it is true, but due to the distances involved we're seeing those galaxies farther back in the past. So all it shows you is that the rate of expansion of the Universe is slowing, as one might expect. If anything, it should be called the Hubble Variable.)

Nonetheless, reports are pouring in from all corners of the Empire about the weird alternate universe in which we now live. clanwilliam turned into a beard-toting evil mastermind, but perhaps fortunately, one who couldn't get out of bed; and verdandiweaves missed Christmas.

For myself, the landlord turned up today and actually fixed things. Apparently the long-running problem we'd been having with the plumbing was the result of cast-iron pipes, which had filled with a hundred years of rust. That's why I've had no hot water for the last year. Who has cast-iron pipes? What's the one material most likely to cause problems on contact with water?^[1]

In further news: after a shaky start, work is actually going well, I've fixed all the problems, and $BOSS_1 seems quite calm. I think this new universe and I are going to get on well.

That said, when I get home tonight I'm firing up Rome: Total War and crushing the Gauls under my iron sandal. They've earned it.

--
[0] Presumably, these days it's a crowd of people saying very loud and slowly, Would you like another blanket? No, I'm not your son.

[1] Francium, theoretically, but I don't think they make pipes out of that. The half-life would be an issue. That said, the half-life of a water pipe made of cast iron isn't particularly high, either.

Comments

[calcinations.livejournal.com]

Mild steel wouldn't have lasted 100 years. Cast irons actually pretty good, for Victorian and Edwardian times. And you can recycle it.

[gominokouhai]

But I don't live in Victorian or Edwardian times. If I did, I'd be allowed to smoke indoors, subjugate Asia, and bugger the scullery maid whenever I felt like it.

I live now, and as a result I want plastics. Plastics, dammit!