Conversation 42

Listen to a conversation between two students before class.

Wendy: Morning, Anouk!

Anouk (who is distracted; he is fiddling with his computer set up): Huh? Oh. Oh hi, Wendy. How are you today?

W: Good, thanks. Uh…what, what’re you doing in class so early? Can I…?

A: I’m…I need to use Power Point this morning, but– for my presentation, y’know?– but I can’t…I can’t…it won’t boot, and…

W: Can I help you somehow?

A: Uh, no, I don’t think so, thanks. Or…darn! Well, I’ve checked all the cabling here twice. See? – it’s plugged into the USB port all right…here and– at the projector, here…

W: Yeah. Yeah, they seem OK to me too. And the AC?

A: Oh. Yes, it’s fine.

W: Yes, it’s in there OK. And…you turned on the computer, didn’t you?

A: Huh? Yes. No… well, sure, but– I just leave the power switch on all the time. Actually, I don’t even remember…

W: …where it is? Heh! It should be here, on the side…about here… Uh, no. What is this, anyway? A Sony, eh? Hmm. Maybe…yeah, here it is, over here. They always hide them, don’t they?

A: I didn’t know where it was. I never use it.

W: There, it’s on… No, I think I’ve turned it off now. There– it’s on now. It should be.

A: All right, good…um… No, nothing.

W: It takes a minute to boot up, Anouk. At least mine does. Windows Seven?

A: No, XP. I hear Seven is not so good.

W: Really? I think you’re thinking of Vista. I’ve got Seven and I like it a lot. So far, anyway. I got it for Christmas.

A: Yeah? Well, anyway, I’m sticking with Windows XP for now. I’m comfortable with it, and I’ve got no complaints… But I don’t see it yet.

W: Nothing, eh?

A: Nope, nothing.

W: Uh. OK, then…what else? It was working OK in your room, wasn’t it?

A: Oh yes, sure. I practiced my presentation last night, and it was running just fine. Where’s that power switch again? Here?… Um. Yeah, it’s on, all right. Now what?

W: And the power goes to…um…where? Oh, the outlet here on the lectern. And…

A: Yeah, this’s just how the professor sets his up. I don’t get it.

W: But– is this outlet on? I mean– where does it plug in, anyway?

A: Huh? I never– ah! Down here. And– that’s it! The lectern’s not plugged in! Into this floor socket, see? Damn…There, now how’s that?

W: Let’s see. Hang on now…There! There she is!

A: Hey! There she is indeed! Great! Thanks, Wendy, thanks a lot. Electricity– phooey! When are they going to make electricity wireless, anyway?

W: Can they do that?

A: Do what?

W: Make it wireless. Give us electricity with no wires, no plugs, no extension cords.

A: Well, I think so, yes. We can transfer electrical power by induction, can’t we?

W: I dunno. What’s that? What’s ‘induction’?

A: Didn’t you take any physics? How’d you get into this course, anyway? You remember– magnetic fields. You remember the experiment where you use the magnet and a bunch of iron filings? The filings show the nice symmetric magnetic field around the magnet’s poles?

W: Oh. Yeah. All the electrons are pointing in one direction or something, right? Just like electricity.

A: It IS electricity, actually. That’s what electricity is– a line of flowing electrons.

W: But they don’t really flow anywhere, do they?

A: Well, no. They don’t. Each electron just kind of bumps the next electron, sort of. Anyway…

W: Anyway, so…if they could make that happen efficiently, I mean, without much energy loss and, and… across long distances, then– they could make electricity wireless, I guess.

A: Right!…Theoretically.

W: So– we wouldn’t need batteries anymore, for one thing. No more dead batteries. No more pollution from discarded batteries– that’d be good.

A: Yeah– except when you’re out in the woods or somewhere. Your camping equipment, your flashlight and– you know– you’d be too far from an electricity source, even a wireless source. You’d need batteries.

W: Yeah, I guess. But not if we were in the city, say.

A: No.

W: And we wouldn’t need a cord that we might forget to plug in.

A: Oh, very funny.

W: So are you all set up now? Your presentation is first, isn’t it? What’s it about again?

A: Um…I call it “Research Planning: Catching all the Details before you Start”. Guess I should pay better attention to my own presentation, shouldn’t I?

W: (laughs) Maybe. Good luck with it, Anouk. I’ll be rooting for you.

A: Thanks!