Author Topic: EP275: Schrödinger’s Cat Lady  (Read 32458 times)

Unblinking

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Reply #50 on: January 27, 2011, 03:01:50 PM
I could recommend this story to all of my physicist friends, but I won't. If you've ever watched a movie with one, you know what I mean.

Ha!  My brother's a physicist, and he's very hard to watch a movie with.  I hadn't considered that the two might be related.  :P 



veganvampire

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Reply #51 on: January 29, 2011, 03:13:38 AM
I did love the story!  It made me smile and generally enjoy myself, even as I suspected others were being driven crazy by how physics were being presented.  But all I really expect out of a story like this is sillyness and insanity, which were both there in abundance.

It inspired me to make a bumper sticker, and I'm not sure if I can insert it here or not.  I'll try.



veganvampire

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Reply #52 on: January 29, 2011, 03:15:49 AM
Okay, and so I don't get in trouble, the cat pictures were from Ilkerender and Rusty Boxcars from Flikr; used in accordance with the licence.



iamafish

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Reply #53 on: January 29, 2011, 07:10:59 AM
I could recommend this story to all of my physicist friends, but I won't. If you've ever watched a movie with one, you know what I mean.

Ha!  My brother's a physicist, and he's very hard to watch a movie with.  I hadn't considered that the two might be related.  :P 

My experience with physicists is that suspension of disbelief is a difficult concept for them to grasp. I find the same with Economists


Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #54 on: January 29, 2011, 05:20:45 PM
I could recommend this story to all of my physicist friends, but I won't. If you've ever watched a movie with one, you know what I mean.

Ha!  My brother's a physicist, and he's very hard to watch a movie with.  I hadn't considered that the two might be related.  :P 

My experience with physicists is that suspension of disbelief is a difficult concept for them to grasp. I find the same with Economists
Have you ever watched an action movie with a soldier? Not fun.

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Reply #55 on: January 29, 2011, 05:32:25 PM
I could recommend this story to all of my physicist friends, but I won't. If you've ever watched a movie with one, you know what I mean.

Ha!  My brother's a physicist, and he's very hard to watch a movie with.  I hadn't considered that the two might be related.  :P 

My experience with physicists is that suspension of disbelief is a difficult concept for them to grasp. I find the same with Economists
Have you ever watched an action movie with a soldier? Not fun.

You know what's really obnoxious? Watching a fantasy movie with an elf. Those guys can be jerks.

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Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #56 on: January 29, 2011, 09:57:22 PM
I could recommend this story to all of my physicist friends, but I won't. If you've ever watched a movie with one, you know what I mean.

Ha!  My brother's a physicist, and he's very hard to watch a movie with.  I hadn't considered that the two might be related.  :P 

My experience with physicists is that suspension of disbelief is a difficult concept for them to grasp. I find the same with Economists
Have you ever watched an action movie with a soldier? Not fun.

You know what's really obnoxious? Watching a fantasy movie with an elf. Those guys can be jerks.

Elves at least stay down when you punch 'em. Never try punching a troll...

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iamafish

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Reply #57 on: January 30, 2011, 12:12:03 AM
watching sci fi with aliens is pretty annoying as well, although that's nothing on watching Twilight with a real vampire. To this day I don't know how I survived that.


Talia

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Reply #58 on: January 30, 2011, 01:48:58 AM
watching sci fi with aliens is pretty annoying as well, although that's nothing on watching Twilight with a real vampire. To this day I don't know how I survived that.

That must have sucked.



Dem

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Reply #59 on: January 30, 2011, 01:02:26 PM
I loved this.
Mur (and Marjorie, I suppose) had me at "some even seemed to come straight out of the walls."
Of course, that was when I knew exactly where this story was coming from and where it was going (but not how fast). Now it's just a matter of how silly it will get.
And it was perfect. Not too silly to completely reduce the quality of the writing, but just silly enough to make the nascent physicist in me gasp in mock horror. I loved seeing all the effects of quantum mechanics on a macro scale. Quantum tunneling, the uncertainty principle, even quantum entanglement!
And I especially like the idea of our thoughts having real power, and manifesting real objects. Did this story take place on the Discworld?
Although, my favorite part was the multiverse effect of infinite Schrödingers evoking infinite thought experiments with different animals.
"See? Let's take a box. And in the box we'll put a Loch Ness monster. (It's a really big box). Now nothing can enter the box or escape from it. In the box we put a jar of poison that will be released when a certain amount of a radioactive material decays. Now the thing is, we won't know if Nessy is dead until we open the box. But until we do, Nessy is both alive and dead at the same time."
Deal with that Mrs. S.
Also I liked how there are more around the end of the semester because the students all need to study....
It's funny for me because I'm a student and I have exams now.
Perfect! What Max said  ;D

Science is what you do when the funding panel thinks you know what you're doing. Fiction is the same only without the funding.


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Reply #60 on: January 30, 2011, 04:18:40 PM
Screw that, Max has just tried to kill Mrs S!



ajames

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Reply #61 on: February 09, 2011, 10:47:08 AM
I did enjoy this one, mostly cute and funny as others have said. Not anywhere near the Trouble with Death Traps in my opinion, but those are tough stories to match.

One thing did jar me from the story, though. Dogs trained to fight CAN be rehabilitated. Since Vick has been mentioned already - almost all if not all of his dogs have been rehabilitated and are alive and well today. I suppose making it necessary to kill the dogs was the author's way to make the subsequent murders something the reader might get behind (although even this didn't do it for many EP readers) - but it struck me instead as poorly researched. But I suppose the story was just a thought experiment, after all.



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Reply #62 on: February 09, 2011, 02:57:19 PM
It can be nearly impossible to find homes for them, though, even the ones who can be rehabilitated.  Plus, even rehabilitated fighting dogs often are difficult pets, in the same way that children who have trauma in the early years often act out in terrible ways later in life.  It's not unheard of for such animals to be killed.



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Reply #63 on: February 09, 2011, 04:25:09 PM
It can be nearly impossible to find homes for them, though, even the ones who can be rehabilitated.  Plus, even rehabilitated fighting dogs often are difficult pets, in the same way that children who have trauma in the early years often act out in terrible ways later in life.  It's not unheard of for such animals to be killed.

I'd second this, I have friends that work for shelters, and Pit Bulls and Rottweilers are very difficult to find homes for, and if they have scars, doubly so, because people assume that they will be vicious, when in fact, they are often very very loving towards their owners.  Many adopted dogs have some sort of trauma in their early life that can manifest for the rest of their life.  I adopted a dog that was terrified of bathrooms anything stick-like, such as brooms, mops, or even if you picked up a chair.  Turns out, she had a bladder problem and had many accidents.  Her previous owner would beat her with the mop when they were cleaning, and throw her in the bathroom for hours.

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Reply #64 on: February 09, 2011, 05:59:29 PM
It can be nearly impossible to find homes for them, though, even the ones who can be rehabilitated.  Plus, even rehabilitated fighting dogs often are difficult pets, in the same way that children who have trauma in the early years often act out in terrible ways later in life.  It's not unheard of for such animals to be killed.

I'd second this, I have friends that work for shelters, and Pit Bulls and Rottweilers are very difficult to find homes for, and if they have scars, doubly so, because people assume that they will be vicious, when in fact, they are often very very loving towards their owners.  Many adopted dogs have some sort of trauma in their early life that can manifest for the rest of their life.
As the owner of a pit-rott cross from a shelter and a prior bad home, I agree. My baby was on death row until I saved and rehabbed her- she is as vicious as a piece of banana but everyone thinks she must be agressive.....

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Reply #65 on: February 09, 2011, 06:54:45 PM
Not really to the point, but I think Rottweiler puppies are the cutest variety of dog on earth.

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kibitzer

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Reply #66 on: February 10, 2011, 01:43:40 AM
...she is as vicious as a piece of banana but everyone thinks she must be agressive.....

Speaking personally, I always avoid bananas. Can't forget the time I was nearly trampled to death by a stampeding herd of bananas.


ajames

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Reply #67 on: February 11, 2011, 02:24:33 AM
Looks like I was the one who didn't do enough research on rehabilitation of fighting dogs - Vick's dogs are more the exception than the rule (http://www.npr.org/tablet/#story/?storyId=129989424. My apologies to the author!

And I agree, rehabilitating is one thing, finding homes another. Our local shelters are 80-90% pit bulls and not all of them find homes. Very sad.



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Reply #68 on: February 14, 2011, 05:33:44 AM
I just wanted to thank everyone for a truly enjoyable and eclectic thread!! At last, I am rewarded for coming late to the party!

Oh, and regarding the story, I thoroughly enjoyed this fun piece of fluff.



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Reply #69 on: February 14, 2011, 05:33:23 PM
One of my co-workers has a pair of pit bulls that will viciously attempt to drown you in saliva.  She's a member of Rotta Love, an organization that exists to help Rottweilers and Pit Bulls and other traditional fighting breeds to find homes, and to help people understand that they're misunderstood breeds.  She's pointed out media misconceptions of them, particularly when there was a local "pit bull attack" as reported by the news that turned out not to be a pit bull, the media just guessed at the breed to make it more sensational.



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Reply #70 on: March 17, 2011, 06:51:04 PM
Oh, I was grinning throughout this entire story. Schrodinger cat lady! What a beautiful concept! And Mur's narration was priceless. It made me want to stop over for tea myself, just to watch all the cats antics...and since they don't exist, my allergies won't act up either!

I would admit I had to play the ending back a second time because I was startled by its dark turn. Dang. Don't you dare mess with the Schrodinger Cat Lady or else she'll mess you up. Probably. I mean...you never can tell...

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Reply #71 on: March 18, 2011, 11:38:17 AM
Awesome story.  It didn't tick any of my usual boxes for a sci fi story, but was clever and funny.  The humour caught me right away and kept me right to the end.  As has been said, Mur's narration was top notch.


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Reply #72 on: December 16, 2012, 08:37:17 AM
this story made me happy and i like being happy, somewhat.



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Reply #73 on: December 17, 2012, 03:03:55 PM
this story made me happy and i like being happy, somewhat.

It's fun to read your comments, even when they're brief.  I kind of want to put this one on a t-shirt.



luka datas

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Reply #74 on: December 20, 2012, 01:44:41 PM
sure thing, if you like. I have been writing short messages because I stood on my keyboard and i've had to type out my comments into the onscreen keyboard with my mouse. the strain is tremendous.