says dave in new york city: “i love that this note contains a fairly detailed explanation of lord kelvin’s formulation of the second law of thermodynamics. and a helpful diagram!”
when ph.d.s get frustrated
June 3, 2007 · 26 Comments
Categories: "helpful" advice · college · temperature · visual aids
26 responses so far ↓
Rigby // June 3, 2007 at 5:34 pm
That’s truely the best. I love the diagram.
TTFK // June 3, 2007 at 6:06 pm
So he’s a PhD, and he makes a drawing of hot air FALLING?
Catsoup // June 3, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Pfft. I’d be more impressed if he’d used blue ink to indicate the cold air.
Artorios // June 3, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Hahaha
Anhoni // June 3, 2007 at 8:02 pm
All he had to say was “Don’t run the A/C with the window open, it wastes electricity.”
Mark Davis // June 3, 2007 at 8:47 pm
this note isn’t passive aggressive. it has a specific request and logical rational reasons.
Suzi // June 3, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Okay, I’ve been reading this web site obsessively since I stumbled upon it a week or so ago, and this is my favorite one so far. Brilliant.
Jordan // June 3, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Mark Davis is right, in the end.
andyfox1979 // June 3, 2007 at 10:31 pm
truly a scientist.
Adam // June 4, 2007 at 12:14 am
Absolutely the best PA note thus far. Let’s start a ‘note of the week’ or something here
babychaos // June 4, 2007 at 11:52 am
I reckon Mark Davis wrote the note.
Cheers
BC
Michael // June 4, 2007 at 12:03 pm
The room won’t necessarily get hotter. If the cold air blown into the room minus the hot air generated by inefficiencies in the unit is greater than zero then you have a net decline in heat. It doesn’t matter that the A/C blows hot air outside because that shouldn’t effect the temperature inside. It could make a difference if there’s a constant draft going into the room that draws all the heat from the unit in with it but that probably doesn’t happen too often. It still wastes a lot of electricity though. Blowing a fan over a bucket of cold tap water would be a lot more efficient.
phampants // June 4, 2007 at 12:48 pm
i’m glad ph.d. students have so much time
Veritas // June 4, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Am I mistaken or did he spell it vary instead of very?
jane // June 4, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Best one so far….
OPTIMUSCRIME.COM » Living With Engineers // June 4, 2007 at 6:27 pm
[...] Today, via the Globe and Mail, we found PassiveAggressiveNotes, a blog dedicated to the snarky notes left by roommates. Our favourite is a rejoinder to keep the window closed near the air conditioner: [...]
V // June 4, 2007 at 6:58 pm
hmmm…hard to determine whether this is P-A or just plain TMI. Sometimes, it’s best to just say what needs sayin’ (like Anhoni stated), without the lesson.
Top Posts « WordPress.com // June 4, 2007 at 6:59 pm
[...] when ph.d.s get frustrated says dave in new york city: “i love that this note contains a fairly detailed explanation of lord kelvin’s […] [...]
Hooray for nerdy notes! « nudnik. // June 4, 2007 at 8:38 pm
[...] passive-aggressive notes from roommates, neighbors, coworkers and strangers [...]
kat // June 5, 2007 at 2:33 am
i love this one. the best so far!
CoFactors » Blog Archive » A Blog of Notes // June 5, 2007 at 1:41 pm
[...] particularly this one, which provides a helpful diagram and some instructional [...]
Nova // June 6, 2007 at 3:32 am
A very unique blog i must say! U r good
majdanac // June 6, 2007 at 9:06 pm
^^ gr8 1!
CJ // June 6, 2007 at 11:09 pm
While the average temperature of the room will likely increase due to the net influx of hot air, the local temperature in the immediate vicinity of front of the ac unit will still be significantly cooler. It may be possible that the note’s recipient simply wanted to find a way to show off those great wool pants he just bought at an off-season clearance sale.
jalix // June 16, 2007 at 1:24 am
HAHA yeah TTFK had a point.
who’d run the aircon with window open anyway? if it’s hot enough OUTSIDE to turn on the aircon it’s hot enough to close the window.
jesse7 // April 2, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Suppose, however, that it is much hotter inside than outside. (Perhaps it got very warm in the room during the day, but now it is night.) Turning the AC on and opening the window might be the fastest way to get the place cool. Assuming, of course, that not all of the hot air from the AC unit finds its way back in through the window. I’m just saying… this guy’s roommate might have done exactly the right thing.
You must be logged in to post a comment.