Solar Power and Stuff...

A thought occurred to me the other day, which is such an unusual occurrence I thought I should set it down:

Imagine you are at a social gathering of some sort, and you find yourself, by chance, sitting next to a physicist. And suppose that for some odd, inexplicable reason, you do not immediately call the police, or animal control, but instead attempt to engage said physicist in conversation. Now, given the number of subjects that most people associate with physics, and the things that are most on people's minds, it might be entirely foreseeable that the conversation would turn to the Energy Crisis.

What will probably happen is a very confusing twenty minutes in which the physicist will expound on topics near and dear to his heart (almost inevitably, the social ineptitude required for this particular scenario requires a male), possibly including switchgrass, inertial-confinement fusion, and tidal energy platforms. At the end of this, by which time you may very well have given up all hope on a useful and concise answer, the physicist may finish his remarks with:

"But the real answer is going to be solar power."

"Solar power?" you ask.

"Of course," he says, "everyone knows that.", using a tone of voice which indicates that everyone includes all people with IQs higher than their shoe size and the literacy level of a first grader.


( Solar Power )

Edited to save some more of people's FLists.