On Stage


Aladdin comes onto the stage, grabs the halter of the wooden camel, and gets into a tug of war over it with the leader of the SGS's. The Widow Twanky marches onstage, throws her broom over her shoulder (student and all) and staggers back into the wings as the student continues to sing (out of tune.) Two other students have found a blackboard on an easel somewhere, have dragged it on stage, and are busily writing out quantum equations.

"Snowflakes!" yells one of the students. "There were snowflakes on that page, and they were all exactly alike! That violates Heisenburg's uncertainty principle!"

"I don't think snowflakes are governed by quantum theory," another student says doubtfully. "Chaos, maybe?"

A third student nods knowledgably. "Oh, definitely chaos theory," she says. "No two snowflakes take exactly the same path through a cloud, so no two have exactly the same shape."

"But surely the quantum state of the water molecules striking the growing crystal has some influence," insists the first student. The three wander away from the singers, still arguing.

Bill Gates pokes his head out of the wings, shaking his head and muttering, "and they called ME a nerd?" The remaining students are still bellowing away.

Copyright 1996 by Sue Ann Bowling | sbowling@gi.alaska.edu