Geeky T-shirts

I think of all my geeky t-shirts, this one is my favorite. For me these eight little words are not just chuckle-worthy, they say so much more than what is apparent.



What is entropy? Without going into a thermodynamic treatise on usable and unusable energy, I will say that entropy is simply the disorder or randomness in a system. The higher the entropy the more disorder there is. Without adding anymore energy, the entropy of a system will increase but not decrease. For example, if I knock over a glass and it shatters on the floor, the entropy has increased. The glass is very disordered laying on the floor in a bunch of pieces. The glass will never spontaneously reassemble. That would require a decrease in entropy. The only way to decrease the entropy of the glass is to add energy: the energy required to collect all the pieces and glue the glass back together.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states the entropy of the universe is increasing. As time goes on, the universe is becoming more and more disordered. Hence the "Entropy. It ain't what it used to be."

But entropy has theological implications. If the universe is becoming more disordered, then at some point, in the beginning, it was infinitely ordered. In the beginning. Perfect order. I don't know about you, but to me that screams, "Creator!"

Dr. Robert Jastrow, in his book God and the Astronomers, wrote:

"Theologians generally are delighted with the proof that the universe had a beginning, but astronomers are curiously upset.... For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."

I got this one for all the ladies that come over to my house for tutoring and are in a emotional panic over their chemistry class. (Have you noticed the camera on my smart phone is scratched? I got my hubby's cast-off with the jacked up lens. At least it is a phone, and it's smart.)



From girls, to teenagers to grown women, I have seen more tears shed over chemistry than any other subject. And if there is one thing that will guarantee failure in chemistry is panic; the outward sign of that panic is tears. So if you want my help, the tears have to cease. Otherwise, learning cannot continue. Tears = total brain shut down.

Faced with a difficult multi-step problem, males and females attempt to solve said problem with divergent styles.  A male will skim the problem and immediately start furiously writing, almost as if it is a race. He then circles his answer and looks at me with a proud look on his face. At this point, I burst his bubble and tell him his answer is wrong.  It is wrong because he did not read the question carefully and so instead has the right answer for a different question entirely.  (I believe this mental process is the same one that causes men to be reluctant to read directions or consult a map.)

A female will read the question carefully, consider it, and consider it.  She knows exactly what the question is asking.  She can usually see the first step in her head, but after that she does not know where to go next.  Since she cannot easily see the destination, she begins to panic.  Her lip starts to quiver and her eyes begin to tear up.  The problem never gets solved and all she has for her trouble is a blank piece of paper with a tear-stain on it. (I have experienced this phenomenon more times than I would like to admit so I immediately spot it in those women I work with.)

If I can get her to take just one step in the problem, she is usually more likely to get the question right than her male counterpart who didn't bother to read the question properly. That first step, even if it is in the wrong direction, illuminates the next step, and then the next and finally the girl gets to the destination: the right answer.  But she has to get over her emotional response to a difficult question and take that first step.