People in and out of a bar

So, I am still in Alabama because of lack of electricity in Louisiana (although we got power back last night – YAY!). My wife convinced me to go out and hear this band since we are staying at my parents and they said they would watch the kids. In general, I am way too old and crotchety to go out – but it appears I had no choice. Overall, it was not too bad except for staying out too late. (the band was actually pretty good – I think they were called [Fly By Radio](http://www.fly-byradio.com/) and they played 80s musics) The one thing I thought about while in the bar was the long line of people waiting to go in. At some point, the number of people inside reaches its maximum capacity. People still come in because some people leave. Here is my rough sketch of this: (I call it a bar graph – get it?)

![bar graph](http://blog.dotphys.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/bar-graph.jpg)

My first idea was to think of the bar as a capacitor and maybe this works. Ok, now I made something positive out of my trip.

How long do you wait for a question to be answered?

I teach classes. I ask questions in class. I wait for answers. All faculty do this, so who cares. If you are in a class or teaching a class, how long do you wait for someone to answer your question? Well, I asked two questions of my class this week.
1. Estimate how long I wait when I ask you questions.
2. How long should you (ideally) wait in a class for someone to answer?
Here is the data I gathered: (and I will tell you how long I actually wait)

Continue reading “How long do you wait for a question to be answered?”

ARRRGGGGG RapidWeaver, why do you hate me?

Dear RapidWeaver,

What did I do to you? I like you, I really do – but this is why we broke up. It’s not you, it’s me. No wait, it’s you. I am looking back through my old dotphys posts and most of my introductions are GONE. I was starting to think I was crazy when I wrote these. Take for instance [My analysis of Kobe Bryant’s Jump](http://dotphys.net/files/kobe.html). Isn’t it odd how this starts? That is because it is MISSING the first paragraph. The only reason I know I am not insane is because of Apple’s Time Machine. I went back and looked and the older file has an intro. RapidWeaver, see how you are!