Clothing's destiny?

If you ran a shirt through the dryer sufficiently many times, would it eventually turn completely into lint?

The Computer Scientific Method

I was sent a presentation called How to Have a Bad Career in Research/Academia by David A. Patterson.

The best slide concerns the "Computer Scientific Method;" funny because it's true...

Physics Question: Leaky Inflatable Chair

At OSCON 2006, some O'Reilly developers and I were lounging in the expansive round upper-level of the Oregon Convention Center. It turns out that the someone had spread around a bunch of inflatable chairs which were molded after an overstuffed cushy easy chair.

Ryan Grimm had claimed a partially-deflated one. As I eyed it, I posed the following question:

Suppose that the air-filled chair had a pinhole leak on the side. Could it deflate faster depending on how you sat on it? In other words, would the air leave faster, slower or at the same rate if you spread your weight out as evenly as possibly in a wide slouch compared to if you stood on one foot and put all your weight on a few square inches?

I posed this to a handful of people, and none of them ever agreed with my answer. Maybe we can put this to rest now. What do you think and why?


Update with Legal Fine Print
All your weight is on the chair. You're not blocking the pinhole. In both scenarios, your weight is the same. The question is about over how wide of a space your weight is distributed.


Updated Example
You could rephrases this problem as something like:
"Will your inflatable mattress retain its pressure longer if you curl up in a cannonball or if you spread out like a pancake?"

Cookie Recipe

This recipe has served me well for the last 15 years.

3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips

• The butter must be softened, but not melted. Melting it was a disastrous mistake I made a number of times.


• The line suggesting 1 teaspoon baking soda is a pack of lies. You must use at least 2.5 teaspoons.


• Don't overbake. I would tell you how long, but ovens vary so you will have to eyeball it.