The Law of Physicists

The physicists I have known well (three in as many years) tend to function as if there were a limited amount of energy in the universe. Hence, they always tended to conserve whatever energy stores they had, much as a farmer stores fodder for the coming winter.

This is one major reason our relationships did not last long. I tend to live life as if there's a forever renewable source of energy for doing what i love to do: connecting with people, thinking up new ideas, finding people with new ideas, and destroying old ideas.

I also found, in my brief but deep encounters with physicists (all certified Ph.D. s), that all operated on the premise that sometime in our lives a natural disaster would occur. This is because, I presume, that the laws of physics predict that things can go terribly awry if certain conditions -- such as the lack of sophisticated telecom systems and major subterranean earthquakes -- occur simultaneously. Oblivious to the aeons' old horror show that nature has played, I ignore such scenarios and this leads to the inevitable conflict of whether condoms are to be used (physicists always say yes) or not (there are other ways to suppress population growth, thank you, Carl Djerassi).

All this came to mind this morning when a housing appraiser toured my in-law apartment with my landlord, who is applying for a second mortgage on her house. The landlord pointed out that the cubby in which I sleep isn't really coded for habitation because the ceiling is too low, and the appraiser said one needed several feet between one floor and the next (I live on the ground) to qualify the space as habitable.

I chuckled as I listened to this talk because physicist no. 3, a geophysicist, had cautioned me after I had emailed him goodbye (email is a perfect way to break up... this is the subject of a later blog), that I could die in my bed should an earthquake happen. And since I live a few hundred feet from the Hayward fault --  he pointed out the very spot to me -- and an earthquake is due within 30 years -- I shall die.

I hope so, and I hope it's with a non-physicist.