An efficiency expert concluded his lecture with a note of caution. “You don’t want to try these techniques at home.”
“Why not?” asked somebody from the audience.
“I watched my wife’s routine at breakfast for years,” the expert explained. “She made lots of trips between the refrigerator, stove, table and cabinets, often carrying a single item at a time. One day I told her, ‘Hon, why don’t you try carrying several things at once?'”
“Did it save time?” the person in the audience asked.
“Actually, yes,” replied the expert. “It used to take her 20 minutes to make breakfast. Now I do it in seven.”
Explanation: What is happening inside this unusual nebula? Planetary nebulaTc 1, captured here in exquisite detail by the James Webb Space Telescope, is the celestial site where buckyballs were first identified in 2010. Buckminsterfullerene — as buckyballs are officially called — is a molecule with 60 carbon atoms (C60) arranged in the shape of a soccer ball. The molecule is named for architect Buckminster Fuller because of its resemblance to the geodesic dome he helped popularize. Webb’s new data reveal where the C60 molecules live in this nebula, and the geometry is striking: they populate a thin spherical shell around the central star, visible here as the bright edge of the nebula’s glowing orange central region. Look closely near the nebula’s heart and a more perplexing feature emerges: a delicate structure shaped uncannily like an upside-down question mark, fitting punctuation for the many questions this nebula still poses.
Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian adventurer. Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 5,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean in a hand-built raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. The expedition was designed to demonstrate that ancient people could have made long sea voyages, creating contacts between societies.
I do not wish to appear more intelligent than I am because my readers love me for being simple minded. So I confess, I do not recall having ever heard of Thor Heyerdahl in my entire life.
I am sure of this one fact. If anyone had made a statue of Thor, in America, it would have been defaced with spray paint, beheaded and tossed into the ocean. Simply because, being from Norway, Thor would have matched the lighter colors on the Sherwin Williams paint chart, if you know what I mean. (wink, nod)
The only reason I stumbled across Thor Heyerdahl’s name is because I read a quote from him that I appreciate.
“Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.” -Thor Heyerdahl-
The reason I appreciate Thor’s words of wisdom is because I have one of the new and improved, agitator-free washing machines. They use less water. I like that….I am a Conservative, you know.
On the down side, I must Wash my Washing Machine occasionally or it will smell as if “it used less water when washing my clothes.” My manual recommends Tide cleaner, so I use any brand other than Tide because I like to spread the wealth around.
My dishwasher also requires a special Dishwasher Cleaner now.
All this, in the name of progress. As my newfound friend, Thor Heyerdahl pointed out:
Let’s complicate simplicity.
( I am considering buying a new vacuum cleaner, but I will keep the old one just in case I have to…..