the check for my NYT puzzle came in. i realize that this is the first thing i've sold in my life, as well as the first money i've actually made in years, which is sort of at once delightful and horrifying.

important discoveries of this week:

1) planets revolve because of the conservation of angular momentum from the point of their formation. i feel like this was a piece of vital scientific knowledge that was completely skipped over in primary school/secondary school/jc/college. or i was asleep on that day. the brother and i were actually trying to work out the answer to why the moon doesn't revolve when a random girl on the street came up to us and said: "are you talking about physics?" in a slightly excited tone of voice. true story. i wouldn't suggest you use it to pick up girls though.

2) the lowest freezing point of salt/water solution is -21.1 degrees celsius.

3) the reason that d minor is "the saddest key" of all is apparently because it's in the dorian mode, which yields a subjectively darker sound. i'm quite curious as to why that should be, and i think i know some people in the department who can answer that question. d really is a sad note though. it's sort of purplish-blue.