April Fools
And I'm racking my brain for some sort of April Fools prank to play. Something good, I could always call the restaurant and feign an undesirable ethnic accent, try to make a reservation for 30 people, separate checks and high chairs, but that lacks the excitement. Although it would wind everyone up. And so I'll keep thinking...
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- Category: Miscellany
August Kekule's Benzene Dream
And while I'm narrating other people's dreams, a nod to August Kekule's Benzene Dream - the problem of how the hydrocarbon chain that formed benzene was structured having bothered Kekule (and other Chemists) of the time, the answer came to him when he dreamed of snakes biting their tail, and realized that the structure of the benzene molecule would work if it were a ring...
That, at least, is as the tale goes. The facts (bare bones wiki) can be found here, a slightly less enthusiastic take can be found here. In any event the dream has so entrenched itself into the collective unconscious as a testimony to the power of the subconscious mind, it hardly matters whether Kekule ever had the dream or not. The moral is: Some people have useful dreams....
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- Category: Dreams
Fractal Lab - Interactive WebGL
Surface detail from subBlue on Vimeo.
Link: A cool site that allows you to generate & render 2D & 3D fractals in your browser. - Fractal.IO
Note: In the event your browser doesn't support WebGL (doesn't render the fractals properly), check out this site for advice on how to enable it in your browser, or do a Google Search for more precise instructions.
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- Category: Link of the day
The Owner's Friends
Now these are the worst customers.
By which, to explain briefly, all the customers are his friends. But some are old friends, long standing, they have connections outside of the restaurant. And the closer they are, the closer they imagine they are, the worse they are as customers.
Older, middle aged men, between 55 and 60 years old. Single, divorced perhaps once or twice. They walk into the restaurant, don't speak to me or G or the bosses' nephew, they demand the boss, want to know if he's in (he's always in if we're open), help themselves to a table, stay late, too late, presume upon his hospitality, and even more amusing...
...as long as you're not a waitress....
....is the scene where the owner introduces them to the new waitress(es), offers them the chance to "date" them - (he would, only he's married), and then the waitress is left to fend for herself...
and the friends, they never get this skit, coming in again and again to try their luck with a girl (or girls) 30, 35 years their junior, promising them great jobs and houses and spending allowances if only they'd.....
It's slimy and appalling and a little like watching a train wreck. Nonetheless, for all of their money most of these men aren't especially socially skilled and come back again and again, ostensibly to visit the owner but really to check on the new prospects the owner has (laughingly) lined up for them. It's sad. They stay late, waiting for the waitress to get off work, tip badly, are rude to staff (the staff they're not interested in). They are the worst customers.
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- Category: People
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