Answer to Tait
The mounted disk of ebonite
Has whirled before, nor whirled in vain;
Rowland of Troy, that doughty knight,
Convection currents did obtain
In such a disk, of power to wheedle,
From its loved North the subtle needle.
’Twas when Sir Rowland, as a stage
From Troy to Baltimore, took rest
In Berlin, there old Archimage,
Armed him to follow up this quest;
Right glad to find himself possessor
Of the irrepressible Professor.
But wouldst thou twirl that disk once more,
Then follow in Childe Rowland’s train,
To where in busy Baltimore
He brews the bantlings of his brain;
As he may do who still prefers
One Rowland to two Olivers.
But Rowland,—no, nor Oliver,-—
Could get electromotive force,
Which fact and reason both aver,
Has change of some kind as its source,
Out of a disk in swift rotation
Without the least acceleration.
But with your splendid roundabout
Of mighty power, new-hung and greasy,
With galvanometer so stout,
A new research would be as easy;
A test which might perchance disclose,
Which way the electric current flows.
Take then a coil of copper pure,
And fix it on your whirling table;
Place the electrodes firm and sure
As near the axis as you’re able,
And soon you’ll learn the way to work it,
With galvanometer in circuit.
Not while the coil in spinning sleeps,
On her smooth axle swift and steady;
But when against the stops she sweeps,
To watch the light-spot then be ready,
That you may learn from its deflexion
The electric current’s true direction.
It may be that it does not move,
Or moves but for some other reason;
Then let it be your boast to prove
(Though some may think it out of season,
And worthy of a fossil Druid),
That there is no Electric Fluid.
poem by James Clerk Maxwell
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I'm just steadily building myself up as Kelly Rowland, not just Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child, which is a blessing to be able to do that.
quote by Kelly Rowland
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Professor Tait, Loquitur
Will mounted ebonite disk
On smooth unyielding bearing,,
When turned about with notion brisk
(Nor excitation sparing),
Affect the primitive repose,
Of + and — in a wire,
So that while either downward flows,
The other upwards shall aspire?
Describe the form and size of coil,
And other things that we may need,
Think not about increase of toil
Involved in work at double speed.
I can no more, my pen is bad,
It catches in the roughened page-—
But answer us and make us glad,
THOU ANTI-DISTANCE-ACTION SAGE!
Yet have I still a thousand things to say
But work of other kinds is pressing—
So your petitioner will ever pray
That your defence be triple messing.
poem by James Clerk Maxwell
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On The Death Of Sir Rowland Cotton Seconding That Of Sir Robert
More Cottons yet? O let not envious Fate
Attempt the Ruine of our growing State.
O had it spar'd Sir Rowland, then might wee
Have almost spar'd Sir Robert's Library.
His Life and th' others bookes taught but the same;
Death kils us twice in blotting twice one Name.
Give Him, and take those Reliques with consent;
Sir Rowland was a Living Monument.
poem by William Strode
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My favorite laser disk ever was the laser disk for The Graduate, which had a commentary track that wasn't even the filmmakers, it was a professor, some film criticism guy who just happen to be this amazing commentator who went off into the whole theory of comedy.
There's so much saint in the worst of them, and so much devil in the best of them, that a woman who's married to one of them, has nothing to learn of the rest of them.
quote by Helen Rowland
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Love, the quest; marriage, the conquest; divorce, the inquest.
quote by Helen Rowland
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Electric Eye
Up here in space
I'm looking down on you.
My lasers trace
Everything you do.
You think you've private lives
Think nothing of the kind.
There is no true escape
I'm watching all the time.
I'm made of metal
My circuits gleam.
I am perpetual
I keep the country clean.
I'm elected electric spy
I protected electric eye.
Always in focus
You can't feel my stare.
I zoom into you
You don't know I'm there.
I take a pride in probing all your secret moves
My tearless retina takes pictures that can prove.
Electric eye, in the sky
Feel my stare, always there
There's nothing you can do about it.
Develop and expose
I feed upon your every thought
And so my power grows.
Protected. Detective. Electric eye.
song performed by by Helloween
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Against Current
I like to move against current
I want to play more around
I don’t like to just follow order
I like to place myself against current
I want to challenge how far I could go on
I don’t like to be lead without having any power
I like to be against current
I want to see the faces who passing me by
Even I should turn so far, even I should wait a little more time
I want to be free to do what I want, to follow my heart’s tell
Maybe I’m not always against current
Maybe it’s good and the right one
But I will never know what’s outside the flow
If I only let myself swept by current
poem by Maria Sudibyo
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Wedding: the point at which a man stops toasting a woman and begins roasting her.
quote by Helen Rowland
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The tenderest spot in a man's make-up is sometimes the bald spot on top of his head.
quote by Helen Rowland
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The hardest task in a girl's life is to prove to a man that his intentions are serious.
quote by Helen Rowland
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Electric Eye
Up here in space
Im looking down on you
My lasers trace
Everything you do
You think youve private lives
Think nothing of the kind
There is no true escape
Im watching all the time
Im made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country clean
Im elected electric spy
Im protected electric eye
Always in focus
You cant feel my stare
I zoom into you
You dont know Im there
I take a pride in probing all your secret moves
My tearless retina takes pictures that can prove
Im made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country clean
Im elected electric spy
Im protected electric eye
Electric eye, in the sky
Feel my stare, always there
Theres nothing you can do about it
Develop and expose
I feed upon your every thought
And so my power grows
Im made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country clean
Im elected electric spy
Im protected electric eye
Protected. detective. electric eye
song performed by by Judas Priest
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When you see what some women marry, you realize how they must hate to work for a living.
quote by Helen Rowland
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Marriage is like twirling a baton, turning hand springs or eating with chopsticks. It looks easy until you try it.
quote by Helen Rowland
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You will never win if you never begin.
quote by Helen Rowland
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We must do the best we can with what we have.
quote by Edward Rowland Sill
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A man snatches the first kiss, pleads for the second, demands the third, takes the fourth, accepts the fifth - and endures all the rest.
quote by Helen Rowland
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In love, somehow, a man's heart is always either exceeding the speed limit, or getting parked in the wrong place.
quote by Helen Rowland
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Bringing Triumph To The Brain
Advances in research depend
on unexpected brilliant breaks
the gods fortuitously send
not triumphs born of our mistakes.
Gruesome often is the fate
emerging from a triumph, but
mistakes will often impregnate
a barren mind that had been shut.
Although by blind spots we’re deceived,
and inspiration tends to wane,
errors that we have conceived
may bring triumph to our brain.
Inspired by Owen Gingerich’s review of Ingrid D. Rowland’s book “Giordano Bruno” (The Long Road to Infinity, ” WSJ, December 19,2008) :
Part of her purpose, she says, is to portray Bruno as a literary figure: “He was perhaps, more a poet than an empirical observer. Yet his intellectual contradictions, his blind spots and his insights serve as a reminder that scientific investigation has always depended on inspiration as well as investigation, on mistakes as well as triumphs.”..Ms. Rowland’s gripping chronicle gives a clear picture of his pilgrimage and a vivid, horrifying account of his trial and gruesome fate––in Rome’s public square.
12/19/08
poem by Gershon Hepner
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