You can ignore the gushy science-groupie parts of this post (it just makes me blush, and wonder where all these girls were when I was single*), but the movie—which is on a completely different topic altogether—but the imbedded movie is hilarious.
*It was so long ago, they probably hadn't even been conceived yet, I know. It's OK, though, I found my science groupie, and I only really needed one.
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Paul...you're kidding me...she said she has a "girl-hard-on" for you. These kids are great, aren't they? Can you imagine your daughter posting the same thing about some other middle aged prof like us?
Hee. I was a judge this spring at a science fair in which two middle-school boys did the mentos thing, with the experiment being different kinds of sodas. They would set one off every 10 minutes or so in a kiddie pool, to a very Old Faithful effect. Better yet, although they weren't related, they were both tall, lanky, and had shockingly red hair, and immediately brought to mind the Weasley twins.
We she-geeks are out there. I met my fellow geek husband on the moderated Babylon 5 newsgroup almost 10 years ago. It just doesn't get any dorkier than that, does it? ;^)
By the way, we tried to see if biting into Altoids really does cause a spark a few years ago and our results were inconclusive. Do we at least get points for trying? There's also the CD in the microwave thing. Not good, very smelly.
I think it has to be LifeSavers Wintergreen mints - something about the flavor crystals. There was an amusing exchange on NPR with Ira Flatow and Linda Wertheimer (or maybe Nina Totenberg?) in a closet doing that experiment. Unfortunately, I can't find it in the NPR archives, but I swear I'm not making it up.
Here in the SF bay area, the local park docents know their geeky clientele. We went for a docent-guided evening/night hike up on the ridge of the peninsula (a large spectacular region often compared to classical Chinese landscapes). As twilight fell, the docents guided our gaze to a particular point in the sky (using their green laser pointers) - to see the momentary flash of the Intn'l Space Station reflecting the sun, which turns out to be both predictable and popular.
And as night fell, they gathered the group into an inward-facing circle and distributed treats: Wintergreen Lifesavers. Sparks flew!