Ring Experiment: Take II, and college flashback

Okay, the painters are done, the stoop is now a lovely shade of blue-green (though we were aiming for more of a deep, stoop-worthy pine green), and we have officially thrown in the towel on stoop pigment nirvana.

With the departure of the very lovely, hard-working and highly cost-effective painters (referral provided upon request), I feel secure in deploying the second generation ring experiment. Which I have done at 7pm on Sunday, August 3, 2008.

As previously discussed, one of the main improvements to this round is the use of two parts of the same ring unit, or “yoke” as they call it in the industry. Another improvement is in clearly marking the outdoor array as Not Trash. Which reminds me of the co-op I lived in during college. Since we all shared one big industrial kitchen, private items had to be clearly labeled and tempting treats sometimes wandered off. Beer – in particular – was known to vanish before it got cold. I used to put mine in a series of six-pack disguising bags, all labelled with a biohazard symbol and a note declaring it a neuroscience experiment. Perhaps thanks to our college’s top-flight neuroscience department, it worked.

Man, were we pigs. Imagine 50 or so college students sharing one house. Now imagine that they do all of the cooking and cleaning, and make all of their decisions via consensus voting. This disaster of a wikipedia page is a good illustration of the process.  That year our house was home to a pneumonia epidemic (which kind of blows the stats for the whole town, you know?) and about 17 toaster fires. I think the legacy of the co-op is that all of its survivors become blessed with especially robust immune systems.

Anyhoo, reports on this set of rings will be provided on an irregular basis.