Monday 29 April 2013

Not Rocket-Science, but someone has to do it


The big question we all ask ourselves: What is Brismod going to do after she has finished watching the last coat of paint dry that Jason has applied to the walls of The Sow's Ear?

Well, just down the road from her at the University of Queensland, an amazing event is about to occur. A drop of pitch is about to break away from it's main body and land in a receptacle below (for the ninth time since 1927, when the 'experiment' was first set up) sometime during the next year or two.  She'll have to concentrate though, because when it does break away, the event will only take one-tenth of a second.

Bris is lucky because she lives in Queensland, but the rest of us who are either in different provinces or even on the other side of the world, will have to make do with logging on to the webcam which refreshes itself every 10 seconds. I really hope that fate decrees that the tenth of a second that it takes to fall will be captured by the camera, but that is probably too much to hope for.

The last time a drop fell off, the professor in charge (probably not the 1927 original) happened to be in London. He was not too bothered about missing it though, because they had a digital camera set up to record it, and he knew he could return to Oz and see it on screen.

Sadly, the camera broke down and the image was never recorded, so he has been staring at the glass rhubarb-forcer and it's contents for the last 11 years. It looks as though his patience is about to pay off. Let's hope he doesn't blink when it happens.

20 comments:

  1. Humph - I even had to look "Brismod" up - found her (and Jason) on Twitter - but am no wiser... Seems maybe I live under a glass rhubarb-forcer too.

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    1. Look up 'Fun and VJs' on Blogspot - you won't regret it!

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  2. As my daughter works at the university, I shall take particular notice. What was it again; tar dropping?

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  3. It's wild eh? That piece of pitch. I've been keeping an eye on it too but I know when it happens, I'll be picking my nose, changing a light globe ...
    Must say, I kind of admire and respect the man's life-long obsession with a single drop of pitch.

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  4. Do I live on another planet Tom? Not a single word of this post makes sense to me.

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    1. Not much of it makes sense to me either, Weave.

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    1. (To be read in a Robert De Niro accent) You changing the subject by going into a philosophy-based, Arts (not science) general question, or are you talking to me? Fuckin' Druids! Sheesh!

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    2. That's what I admire about you, your clarity of thought is so amazingly dire :)

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    3. Ah - the Winnie The Pooh school of thought...

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  6. What if he accidentally knocked the apparatus while dusting?

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    1. Did somebody say "men" and "dusting" in the same sentence?

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    2. YES they did, Iris. I am wondering if the laboratory has taken into consideration the hot summers generally experienced down under, and the effect that might have on the viscosity of the pitch - or am I being obvious?

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  7. How is that you know about these strange goings-on in my part of the world? You have your finger on the pulse. I suppose when Jason finishes painting I'll ask him to start at the beginning again. The front entry is looking shabby. Ha!

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    1. Oh no - your are now begging for a post on the shabbiness of your front entrance... (must control myself must control myself must control myself)

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  8. Might go visit that jar too...its the same vintage as the house. x

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