A Physics Exam Question

Vivian McPhail — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:43:52 +0000

This photograph was taken at 02h51 NZDT from Princes Wharf, Auckland, New Zealand, on 22 October 2008. Suppose the shadow over the moon were caused by a 10 kilotonne plutonium nuclear discharge. Calculate the expected radiation exposure of the photographer in terms of number of γ-rays, their energies, and which elements and compounds in the body are most likely to be effected and how.

[Addendum, 24 November 2008]

Using Google Earth and an applet found on the internet I generated this picture:

Position of the moon at 02h56, 22 October 2008

Given the known position of the moon, the partial masking of the moon by the dark brown, opaque pair of clouds, the direction of the photograph, and a recent visit by a cruise ship to Auckland, it is possible that the cruise ship did not make it to port.

Psychology

Vivian McPhail — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:42:28 +0000

Much pioneering work in the justification of metapsychological justification failed. In general, recent work has upheld the earlier hypotheses. However, new approaches to the question (proposed by Quack, 1896; reviewed in Coup–Coup, 1997) of what psychologists are doing has produced remarkable findings. This model attempts to account for the curious pigeon–feeding behaviour of psychologists and is grounded in the assumption that psychologists are a pigeon’s way of making more pigeons. Isolation and characterisation of the allele scatterer, (scr) of the DogBell (DB) locus, putatively responsible for this behaviour, shows 97% homology with the gene controlling reflex flight direction preference in sheep.

Right-turning sheep were shown to carry the coriolois-n allele of the DrainingWater (DW) locus, whereas left-turning sheep carried the coriolis-s phenotype (Bollucks, 1852). Random samples of field populations of sheep tested for behaviour and genotype segregated according to this model without exception (Provaricateur, 1997), suggesting unequivocal predictive ability of this simple model. Similarly, the introduction of a pigeon into an entrained psychologist’s environment will trigger robotic bread-crumb scattering behaviour followed by frantic hypothesis juggling and systematic elimination of possibly correct versions. However, the assertion by Coup–Coup of a pleiotropic effect relating this behaviour to the equally puzzling aphasia seen in psychologists challenged to explain the benefit of their research remains unproven.

This important result provides an opportunity for the placement of Citizens in the growing field of Psychology. Cognitive research by Twisted et al. (1995) predicts that adoption of this plan will improve the System efficiency by 2.4 Orwells, mainly in the KeepingBusyAndAchievingNothing and SayingMuchAndMeaningLittle ISI (Intact Sanity Index) axes. Interestingly the intersection of these axes indicates the non-essentiality of querulousness of pigeons.

Finance views this draft as favourable, with a cost (1.2m SFA – Standardised Life Units) well below that of alternative UselessEndeavour schemes. We propose the new division be entitled PAINASS — paradigm for apigeonic inquiries into non-essential associative semantics — which precludes the requirements for validated RealScientists, thus lowering entry qualifications, and costs.

Little Musings

A Physics Exam Question

Psychology