Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 09:57:40 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Another instalment in the continuing saga...

Okay, today we're going to start with some non-country dependent trivia.
Did you know that the SI (system international (see that, I did the french
translation for you :) = metric for you non science types) prefixs for
1E24 is yotta (Y), for 1E21 is zetta (Z), for 1E-21 is zepto (z) and for
1E-24 is yocto (y).  I did not know these (or had totally forgotten them).
Did you also know that 1/1440 of an inch is called a twip (20 twips to the
point).

Onto more Swiss related things.  I was shopping the other day and saw
something that I do not know why I do not already own.  Considering my
collection of random and interesting science related stuff, this was
definitely something that was missing and considering it was only 6 SFr
how could I resist enlarging my collection.  I bought myself a piece of
calcite.  Why would anyone want a piece of calcite.  Well, in general, the
answer is they would not, but then again, I'm not your general anyone.  I
am not going to spoil it for you.  Go look it up :)

Gary mentioned to me the other day that he may send me a letter or
something because he had never actually mailed anything to Europe before.
(If anyone else cares to, although I wouldn't expect anyone with email to
do so, but in case you go somewhere cool and want to send postcards (yeah,
like anywhere you are going to go is cool compared to Switzerland :) My
address is:  Aaron Sanderson; C/O M. et Mme Wyss; Rugin 2; 2034 - Peseux;
Switzerland) I have come up with an even better and more interesting idea.
Anyone can send letters to Europe anytime, but how often do you get the
opportunity to deposit money in a Swiss bank account?  Now if this isn't
the pinnacle of excitement I'm not sure what is.  So, for all of those who
are interested, just make large deposits to the Swiss Banking Corporation
account #F2-805.254 (and yes, that is really my account number).  You
know, for a country that is the worlds banking capital, their bank system
is kinda lame.  I can't even use my bank card in other bank's machines.
One cool thing is that I can change my bank code any time I want to - it's
a regular item on the menu.  

The mail personal here have these cool cart things.  They are about 2m
long, and about 1.5m square and have a pull handle thing like a wagon.
They have an electric motor in them that is activated by lifting the
handle.  This allows a mail deliverer to tote around huge piles of mail up
and down the ridiculously steep hills here without having to actually have
a full fledged mail truck.  The have a knob to set the speed, but I'm not
sure how fast you can make them go --> Mail Cart Races :)

I'm not sure if I look like Mr. Information or what, but since I have been
here, twice I have had cars pull up beside me to ask me questions, twice
people on the street have asked me things, and today, someone stuck their
head into my office to ask me something.  It has been amazing though, 4
out of the 5 times I have known the answer, or so it would seem anyway.
The odd thing is that the answer was the same every time: "Je ne parle pas
francais."  The fifth time (in my office) the guy spoke english, and
suprisingly, the one time I get asked something in my native language, I
did not know the answer.

I think I have been here too long already.  I was reading a particle
physics text today and thought this line was funny enough to put in here,
"It is enjoying self-interaction".  Okay, so the rest of the sentence was
"with its own electromagnetic field." and it was about an electron, but I
still think the writer put it there on purpose as a sexual inuendo.  Like
I said, maybe I've been here too long :)

I actually had a few other things to say, but in an effort to reduce the
length of these informative documentaries, I will save them for my next
babble session.

Salut,
Aaron