Journal entries in 'Things I Like' for December, 2006

When I was at Jeff and Amy's mom's house in Aiken for Thanksgiving, I came across an old Super 8 silent film camera in the room where I was staying. I asked their mom about it, and she said she couldn't imagine why she'd ever need it again, and that I could have it. That was an unexpected turn — I've been wanting to buy an old film camera on eBay for a while now, but could never bring myself to spend the money on it.

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I remember once when I was 14 or so, I was reading the periodic table and I came across the description for Gallium. It's a metal that is solid and brittle at room temperature (if you strike it, it shatters like glass), but it melts at 86°F, so if you hold it in your hands for a few minutes it will melt. Unlike mercury, gallium is not toxic. It also easily becomes supercooled, meaning that if you bring it down below 86°F, it will remain liquid until it is "seeded" — when you drop in a tiny chunk of solid gallium, the liquid will suddenly solidify. I thought that was amazing, and I've wanted a chunk of gallium ever since.

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