Pirate!

[unixronin]

Pirate ROCKS.

Pirate, who is 7, was staying that she wanted to stay up and see Santa.  I told her that she couldn't, because he was unobservable.  Then I jokingly suggested that it was a quantum effect.  Then, having started that, she wouldn't let it rest until I explained Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, wave-particle duality, the double slit experiment, quantum superposition, and quantum decoherence.

"Aha!", said Pirate.  "Now I know how Santa gets to every house in the world on one night.  He's in a superposition, and he visits all of them at once and puts presents under every tree at once!"

Comments

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

It is so cool when you can have those kinds of conversations with kids. It is even better when they understand and can make connections. That is a better rush than an elegant piece of code that works the first time. Nothing really compares. It is not just genetics, but environment. Congratulations.