Hi all, my name’s Rick. I’m interested in science in general and physics and mechanical systems, quantum computing, AI and computer science in general. I’m more of an engineer than a scientist, but I’m interested in most areas of science. I’m very glad to know that mad scientists have organized and are congregating! An anecdote to introduce myself: while I’ve taught graduate computer science as an adjunct, my most satisfying science education experience was about 35 years ago when I was asked to do a “science after school” session for a 3rd grade class. I decided to do an elementary physics lesson and had a half dozen experiments that i had the kids perform. The handouts included index cards, rubber bands, popsicle sticks and a roll of pennies per kid. I also had a whiffle softball and a croquet ball (same size, different mass). We made scales to weigh things, did experiments to understand mass and momentum etc. But the absolute best part was recreating the experiment at the leaning tower of Pisa. I stood on the teacher’s desk (always a crowd pleaser with kids!) and prepared to do an experiment where I would drop a single penny from one hand and two pennies taped together from the other. We first did a mind experiment to predict which would fall faster and hit the ground first. Initially most kids predicted the heavier two would drop faster. I then asked them, in their minds, to sever the tape and make the experiment be three pennies dropped at once. Would taking two of them together make them fall faster? About half of the class had the Aha! moment and correctly predicted that the two and the one would fall at the same rate. Having them realize that they could figure out some fundamental principles and laws in their minds was pretty neat. So, sorry for that long winded intro but I figured that this group might just be nerdy enough to humor me!