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Hack from Nowheresville
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Please post any comments about The 40th Noël here. 
Ultra Lucille
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Top Banana
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A scientific Christmas story! Very creative (and enjoyable)! And Dr. Klein's reaction to the diamond cufflinks was priceless. Coal, indeed! 
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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 Very enjoyable, even though the science went straight over my head. You kept Dr. Klein perfectly in characters. Loved his reaction to the gift! Priceless. 
VirginiaR.
"On the long road, take small steps." -- Jor-el, "The Foundling"
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"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
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LOL. Nerd/geek/science alert. I loved it. You did really great with all the science terms too.
Fantastic work, thanks.
KatherineKent/Victoria
Lois: "You put up with me for the same reason I put up with you. It's because I'm completely in love with you."
Clark: "And I love you ... Did we just make up?"
Lois: "I think so."
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Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/smilie/xmas/a014.gif) It’s Christmastime at Star Labs. But Kris Kringle has left Dr. Bernard Klein a rather strange gift. A lump of coal, and a heatable pressure chamber? As he entered the foyer and began wrestling out of his coat, he breathed deeply, the myriad scents of fir trees and ginger snaps, of hot apple cider and cinnamon stimulating the G-protein coupled receptors on the olfactory receptor neurons in his superior nasal cavity, generating a unique pattern of neuronal depolarization that positively breathed the word ‘Christmas.’  Michael
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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What a fun vignette. I love the voice you used for Bernie.
Joy,
Lynn
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Thanks everyone who left comments!! Annie: A scientific Christmas story! Very creative (and enjoyable)! Thanks! I'll admit, after the bio-babbling imp in my head got her hands on this story, I was a little worried! VirginiaR: You kept Dr. Klein perfectly in characters. Loved his reaction to the gift! Thanks! Actually, the gift (and Dr. Klein's reaction to it) was the initial genesis of the story! KatherineKent: LOL. Nerd/geek/science alert. Yup!  I loved it. You did really great with all the science terms too. Thanks! Michael: It’s Christmastime at Star Labs. But Kris Kringle has left Dr. Bernard Klein a rather strange gift. A lump of coal, and a heatable pressure chamber? Spot on with the lump of coal part (at least in Dr. Klein's head)! I think that a good bomb calorimeter might have cost even more than the diamonds, though. Maybe it wasn't in the budget? Like, what happens when you combine optics, high-energy light amplification through stimulated emission of radiation, and extra-terrestrial crystals of various colors when pointed at non-human sentient species?
LEX: /shakes a wrapped Christmas present excitedly/ Hmm....this sounds familiar <g> Yes, what evil supervillain *doesn't* want a red kryptonite laser? But if Luthor thinks I'm going to share it, he's got another thing coming! Only a scientist. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">:D Well, we all have our little foibles. Lynn: What a fun vignette. I love the voice you used for Bernie. Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Ultra Lucille
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
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Great story--you had such a great handle on all the scientific information! You were really 'in' Dr. Klein's world here  As he entered the foyer and began wrestling out of his coat, he breathed deeply, the myriad scents of fir trees and ginger snaps, of hot apple cider and cinnamon stimulating the G-protein coupled receptors on the olfactory receptor neurons in his superior nasal cavity, generating a unique pattern of neuronal depolarization that positively breathed the word ‘Christmas.’ Nothing gets you in the Christmas spirit like hearing about olfactory receptor neutrons  “What did I do wrong?” he wondered softly to himself, his childlike effervescence at the holiday season slowly draining from him.
“Why would someone put coal in my stocking?” GREAT ending! Loved it.... What a fun story--really creative how accurately you portrayed Dr. Klein! Great job  Laura
"Where's Clark?" "Right here."
...two simple sentences--with so much meaning.
~Lois and Clark in 'House of Luthor'~
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Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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I think that a good bomb calorimeter might have cost even more than the diamonds, though. Maybe it wasn't in the budget? Bomb calorimeter? I was just thinking about a make-your-own-diamond set  Michael
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Laura: Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you had fun with the story! Nothing gets you in the Christmas spirit like hearing about olfactory receptor neutrons Hee hee. Well, they do say that smell is the sense most closely tied to memory! Oh, I have totally used the the snack table to avoid the dreaded 'awkward conversation'--loved this! Yes, I'll admit that this particular part of the story just might have been based on real life experience... <g> What a fun story--really creative how accurately you portrayed Dr. Klein! Great job Thanks! My inner geek had huge amounts of fun writing from his point of view. Now, I just have to get her to go back into the little box where she belongs...  /surreptitiously wipes copious amounts of sweat from forehead/
Ultra Lucille
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Originally posted by Darth Michael:
Bomb calorimeter? I was just thinking about a make-your-own-diamond set Aha! I get it now! Sorry, my mind immediately jumped to calorimeters. But come to think of it, I suppose that the enthalpy of combustion for most types of coal has probably already been determined with some accuracy... Anyway, surprisingly enough, it's relatively easy (apparently; I haven't personally tried it) to make synthetic diamonds . All it takes is a microwave!
Ultra Lucille
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Blogger
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Blogger
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This was so much fun...until the end. Now we need a sequel with an attractive scientist in love with Dr. Klein and his reaction to her increasingly less subtle hints. Your inner geek would love to write her voice too! I always did want to see Dr. Klein matched up and no longer lonely.
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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That was just hilarious. I was laughing all the way through. You have Dr. Klein's POV just right.
Great last line, too!
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Originally posted by Ultra Lucille: Anyway, surprisingly enough, it's relatively easy (apparently; I haven't personally tried it) to make synthetic diamonds . All it takes is a microwave! You did read the part of the comments where the author admits it's a practical joke, right? I kept thinking 'microwaving two mugs for 99.99 minutes isn't going to make them explode?'  I was fooled, but being that my B.S. is in Classics (i.e. Ancient Greek Language and history), it doesn't take much in the science department to fool me. 
VirginiaR.
"On the long road, take small steps." -- Jor-el, "The Foundling"
---
"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Originally posted by VirginiaR:
You did read the part of the comments where the author admits it's a practical joke, right? Aha! I *did* think that it sounded rather bizarre (and unlikely). That's what I get for not checking my sources! My thesis advisor would be spinning around her grave like a top if she knew! I just thought it sounded weird and funny, so....  And yes, my first response to the whole 'You know, the word gullible isn't in the dictionary' joke was to take out a dictionary and look...
Ultra Lucille
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Thanks for your comments! Katie123: This was so much fun...until the end. Sorry...The whole diamonds/coal thing was just too good to pass up! Now we need a sequel with an attractive scientist in love with Dr. Klein and his reaction to her increasingly less subtle hints. I'm afraid that I'm not very good at WAFF... It would be fun to read it, though! Although didn't he have that love interest in "Voices from the Past" (the particle physicist from MIT)? IolantheAlias: That was just hilarious. I was laughing all the way through. You have Dr. Klein's POV just right. Thanks! I'm so glad it was funny!
Ultra Lucille
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
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I sent the link to this story to my dad (a retired science teacher). He enjoyed it--and he passed the link on to several of his friends.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 9,066 Likes: 31
Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Originally posted by Ultra Lucille: Thanks for your comments!
Now we need a sequel with an attractive scientist in love with Dr. Klein and his reaction to her increasingly less subtle hints.
Although didn't he have that love interest in "Voices from the Past" (the particle physicist from MIT)?
Here's a another vote! Michael
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Annie: I sent the link to this story to my dad (a retired science teacher). He enjoyed it--and he passed the link on to several of his friends. Thanks for letting me know! I'm really glad he enjoyed it!
Ultra Lucille
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