Last Blogger

I like to sit and watch a lot. I find it difficult to sit still long enough to do that, but when I do, I find that I notice things that intrigue me. Take this evening for example. As I sat near the entrance of the computer science building waiting for my wife, I watched as people hurried about outdoors, rushing to get where they were going in the -30ish Celsius weather.

It brought my mind back to a day many years ago when I was walking down University Avenue on a day with a smog warning. It was absurdly hot and there was definitely a touch of smog. As I looked around, I noticed that everyone on foot had basically slowed to about half speed. every person, including myself just couldn’t walk any faster. Half speed was more than enough.

Contrasting the very slow speeds we seem to collectively walk in the severe heat and the very quick speeds in the severe cold, I can’t help but wonder what the relationship is. Is it a progressive change or does it plateau? I suppose a more intriguing question is does anyone really care?

I think I’m getting into a questioning frame of mind as I ramp up work on my thesis. I’ll try and get some more factual posts rather than the aimless questions I’m asking myself.