And the Rains Finally Came

I walked outside on Thursday morning and it hit me. The air smelled so so good! The high humidity just before it started raining was making the trees exhale the most delicious flavor.

We hadn't smelled moist air like that in weeks. Since around Thanksgiving, aside from a quarter of an inch of rain in December, it had been cold and dry. On Tuesday morning I ran up the hill on the north side of the valley and looked down from a grassy slope thawing in the morning sun--down into the frosty foggy white valley bottom, as if looking into a pool of iced-over water. The golf course was as white as if a dusting of snow had fallen. The air in the valley bottom was thick with white fog and wispy smoke and when combined with the white ground, was a view unlike any I had ever seen. It contrasted sharply with the green trees and sunny thawed slopes above the inversion layer.

The morning that the rain finally came,

Weak Enforcement and Penalties Lead to Increased Violations of the Laws of Physics

Lately federal, state, and municipal budget cuts have led to lack of enforcement of the laws of physics. This sad situation has allowed perpetrators to go unpunished and has led to a cavalier attitude for many who now casually disregard the laws of physics. Below are a few of the more egregious examples.


Laws of Motion
These laws apply to moving objects, having to do with things like equal and opposite reactions and centrifugal force. If everyone on the planet took a step to the east at the same time, the earth would stop spinning. This would roast the sunny side of the Earth and freeze the dark side, pretty much ending life as we know it. Given the relatively large chances of this happening,