[ExI] a very silly story

[Anders Sandberg]

Fun story!

spike wrote:
> Sure but a geek would hafta love any story which contained the comment:
> "I tried not to stare at the Bessel function graphs dancing on his naked
> skull."
>   
Bessel function of the first or second kind, or both? Can be important - 
you don't want look like you are in the wrong orthogonal function gang.

As for thermite, my standard ignition method was always a 
magnesium-oxidizer mixture. Of course, I often added a bit extra to get 
some aluminium to lift into the air and burn freely - made such a lovely 
infrared pulse, and tended to evaporate the soda cans I put the mixture in.

Tonight at the pub, after discovering that all academics around the 
table had a background of ill-adviced teenage pyrotechnics, we came up 
with the idea that all politicians should be given a course in 
explosives chemistry. Both to make them really  understand the 
challenges involved in doing terrorism, see that kids need to be allowed 
to mix chemicals, and of course weeding out the too overconfident.

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University