We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day

Last year, physicists discovered that red wine can turn certain materials into superconductors. Now they’ve found that Beaujolais works best and think they know why.

The Physics arXiv Blog (with thanks to the ever alert Instapundit – how does he keep doing it?)

RedWineSuperconductivity.png

20 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • Antoine Clarke

    Chateauneuf du Pape 2000 works on my brain…

  • Hmm

    That’s why the wine glass keep raising itself up to my lips – natural maglev! :p

  • pst314

    I hear that Pinot Grand Fenwick(Link) has amazing properties.

  • the other rob

    Chateauneuf du Pape 2000 works on my brain…

    SWMBO and I had a passable 2004, on St. Valentine’s day, but what I’m really partial to are the white Chateauneuf du Papes.

    Sadly, they are hard to find in the New World and impossible to find in flyover country.

  • The scene. You or your lab technicians are about to boil the super-conductors in water, the usual procedures.

    What prompts you to use wine instead of water? Drunk?

  • Alisa

    Andrew: no one said that it has to be good wine. For all I know, they had a few half-bottles of leftovers.

  • Physicists with wine left over Alisa?

    They must have changed a lot since I got out of the game 😉

  • Alisa

    Nick, I repeat: it doesn’t have to be good wine – or are you saying that physicists are so drunk that they can’t tell good wine from bad? Andrew does have a point then…:-)

  • It’s one of the basic rules of hosting a party, isn’t it? You don’t stop serving wine to those guests who are still there and awake at 3am, but you don’t precisely serve them the good stuff.

    Most physicists I knew when I was in that game seemed to be beer drinkers. Although the two best physicists I know were serious oenophlles, so perhaps that’s not true. f

    More importantly though, never start drinking vodka with Russian physicists.

  • Alisa

    …or with Russians in general?

  • Of course, Russian astronomers who work at high altitude telescopes have been known to prescribe vodka as a cure for altitude sickness to non-Russian astronomers of my acquaintance. (The symptoms of altitude sickness resemble a bad hangover, so my assumption is that those who live to the next morning really feel mindblowingly awful).

  • Alisa

    Well, it used to be that all Russians used to prescribe vodka for any kind of sickness – but things may have changed…

  • Antoine Clarke

    Andrew asks: “What prompts you to use wine instead of water? Drunk?”

    Perhaps Jesus dropped into the lab.

    “Alms for an ex-leper!”

  • “…never start drinking vodka with Russian physicists.”

    Never start anything with Russian Physicists. I almost did. I was a post-grad and doing some marking and I almost got lamped one by one once… I went to his office because there was something dubious on the model answer sheet. Due to my youthful good looks (or acne) he just assumed I was an UG who’d somehow got hold of this paper gold and was taking ze piss. I had to hurriedly explain I was the the PG doing the marking and needed a bit more elucidation on a certain point. After a tense couple of minutes he bought that, lowered his fisticuffs and brightened all-over and said, “Ah, but you are the Nick!”. Well, yes, I was. I am rarely embraced by men but like I said I was a bit scared… Anyway, we had a chat and the ambiguity was sorted and I marked it fine so problem solved for everyone I guess, eventually.

    “More importantly though, never start drinking vodka with Russian physicists.”

    Or Poles of any occupation. I have Polish rellies and I always enjoy it – at the time. I have been drunk and I have been drunk Silesian. That is crawling up the on the floor to bed thinking that surface has become vertical pissed. Thank God for Wizz Air!

  • Mike James

    “Now they’ve found that Beaujolais works best and think they know why.”

    Because the lighter Beaujolais are the only red wines which complement electrons. I learned that when I was a boy, and the grandparents on Mom’s side were visiting. They’d been able to travel around Europe after the war. The older kids were allowed a glass of wine with dinner, mixed half with one-twenty household current. Made me feel real grown up and electrocuted.

  • 'Nuke' Gray

    How insidious! The government will now nationalise the Wine industry, in the name of security! We need superconductors, dammit!

  • Regional

    Heron of Alexandria knew this

  • The Nick: I am going to Silesia tomorrow, so I shall be careful. I have been drunk Silesian before, too, so I know to watch out.

    And that time when I drank vodka with Vietnamese people at lunchtime and went to a boozy Australian style wedding in the evening. Must not do that again.

  • Antoine Clarke

    “Mein Fuehrer! We must not allow France to develop a Beaujolais Gap!” (with apologies to Dr Strangelove)