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Tag: questions

Relativistic Physics for 7 year olds

This morning was interesting.  I poured my 7 1/2 year old son a bowl of cereal for breakfast while I was finishing making lunches.  He sat and ate for a few minutes and then he asked, “Dad, if someone from the future takes someone from the past on a time machine to the future, are they the same age or is one really old?”  Yea, ponder that for a minute.

English: Relativistic formula

English: Relativistic formula (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I sat there for a minute or two and finally said “Yes, to both questions.”  Needless to say he was confused.  So here I am trying to figure out how to explain relativity and time travel to a 7 year old so he can understand it.  Yea, his brain is unique.

I started with a bit of relativity, glossing over the theoretical science and math and got to “If you are on an airplane you don’t notice you are moving unless to look out at the ground, but if you are standing on the corner watching the plane it is going fast.  It is all how you are looking at the same thing.”  Confused look for a minute and then, “Oh, so it is like watching a car go by on the road.”  Bah, bested by a 7 year old.

“Yes,” I said, “it is like that.”  And then we get into what happens with time travel and people.  I hold 2 fingers up, one on each hand.  “OK, these are people and they are both 10 years old and they were born 100 years apart.  In normal time they would move at the same rate.”  As i move my fingers at the same time, “each gets older the same but they will never meet.  When the guy in the future goes to the past, he is getting older to himself, but hasn’t even been born yet to the past guy!”  Eyes began to glaze a bit but he stuck with it.

“Ok, if they both jump back to the future, the future guy is still 10 to himself and 10 in his world.  the past guy is 10 in his body, but 110 by his birthday?  Make sense?”  He looked for a minute and said, “So if they guy from the past goes to the future he is still 10.  Got it.”

Yea sure Tristan, you got it.  I am still waiting for a call from the school, either from his teacher, “What are you teaching this kid?”  or from the principal, “Your son got in a fight about time travel and how old he will be in 103 years.”  We will see what happens.

-Justin

Poetry Tuesday: Confusion

Saturday with Friends and Family  028

Image by -DjD- via Flickr

Hello again folks.  Well I was digging again into some old papers and not only did I come across this little gem that you will shortly enjoy, but I found something like 6 copies of a story that I have been working on in parts since high school.

All of these starts were basically the same but all written on different scraps of paper at different times.  I need to collate and get that story written.  It is part 5 of a series that is probably my favorite thing I have ever written.  Maybe I will rewrite the whole thing from the start and put it up for fiction Saturday.  I am thinking of restarting that.

If anyone has been reading fiction saturday and remembers the Man In The Hazy Suit, you will remember that it isn’t finished.  I am going to rectify that and if you would like to read the ending, send me an email justin@catharsisofthebogue.com and I will send you the completed story for free!  No opt in, no joining my list (although that would be nice too), just free for the asking.  It will be finished before Valentines Day.

For now, here is some poetry!  I would still like to hear from you with any comments or questions or criticism or anything else.  Let’s talk!

Continue reading

Moving Forward In The Third Month

Today I did more than just talk.  I actually started putting together my first ebook that will be for sale!  It needs some major rewrite and some edit to avoid copyright infringement but it is not going to be bad.

Sneak, Sneak preview for loyal readers, It is a beginners guide to Fly Fishing.  I should write something about how to type on a keyboard that only half works.  I digress yet again, soon I will have an ebook for sale.

I have a good feeling about starting this part of the adventure.  I am also going to edit my Saturday fiction into saleable ebooks as well.  Now I have to keep pumping out content and getting people over here to read!

If anyone has any ideas or feedback I am listening.  I have been watching James get ready to monetize his blog and, since that is one of my goals as well, I figured I would start a product out and go from there.  Will it be successful?  I sure hope so.  Will it be worth it?  Definitley.  Will I get a keyboard that has a working shift, m, y, v and q key?  I hope so but it takes a while to get from Hong Kong.

This post is not very long, I am getting worn out redoing our basement.  At least it will look good when it is done.  I hope my blog can look good and just be “done” except for posts for a while at least.  In that vein, I am going to beg for feedback.  Is there anything on my site that is just annoying?  Is it hard to read?  How is navigation?  Too much stuff, not enough stuff?  Looks ok as 2 month old blogs go, it will grow out of the baby fat?

How is Saturday fiction?  Too long?  To short?  A waste of your time to read?  Can’t wait for the ebook to come out?  (tip anyone on my mailing list will get advance notice when I release the ebooks.  so far I only have 1 subscriber.  And it is me to keep track of how it works!  That sounds really pathetic.  It is times like this when I remind myself that my blog is only 2 months old.  And this rambling makes me realize that I need to go to bed.

Funny how a short post still managed to hit almost 400 words.  I am getting better.

Thanks for indulging me, Please leave your comments if the mood strikes!

Thanks, Justin