What I've Learned!

Now to share some cool things I've learned so far!

Did you know that an argument can be valid, but not sound and vice versa? Take for example the following argument: "If it is raining, the street is wet. It is raining, therefore the street is wet." This is perfectly valid. It is logically consistent. However, it is not sound since if I look out my window, it is not raining. Soundness requires the premises to be tested to be true and for the conclusion to be true. In the same token, "I am male, I am right-handed, therefore I can type" is invalid, but every statement is true. Fun.

Did you know that you shouldn't inhale the fumes from soldering? Even though the new modern solder has to be lead-free by the lovely new laws in place, there's a very high chance that giant roll of solder you're using still has lead in it. Granted it's pretty inert in the solder, and it has wonderful electrical and mechanical properties, but people freaked about lead in anything and so we've had to remove it. Stupid politicians. But yeah, it also smells really bad.

Did you know that the way we do secure communication on the internet is through encryption? One half of the encryption key is a public key that you broadcast. The second half is then created and sent specifically for your transaction. One the key is setup, you then have to encode and decode your messages, which can take quite a bit of processing power. So, people have figured out algorithms to help try and make this process faster.

Did you know that there is a non-zero chance for a tied electoral college this election year? What would happen is that the house would vote, 1 vote per state. Yay politics!

Did you know that East currently has no TV mounted on the wall? After the renovations, which got cut short because the contractors took too long, the mounting hooks were not replaced on the wall. Initial theory was that they were buried inside the wall, since to upgrade the dorm for the earthquake code the walls got thicker. However, searching for them with magnets has come up empty, so we're guessing they simply haven't bee put back in the wall.

Did you know that this year's Frosh are especially competent at showering people? Here's some pictures from our first dorm meeting to illustrate!






So, here we have people getting showered, and the requisite hug afterward. And finally, DONUTS! After each dorm meeting, we get donuts. Showerers and showerees get first dibs.

Anyways, that's it for this week. Clinic goes and eats more souls now.