I was thinking the other day about my first science “experiment”.

I was probably 4 years old at the time.  And I wanted to know if the TV basically did, what I now know would be referred to as “caching”.  Specifically, I wanted to know if I turned off the TV and turned it on fast enough if somehow the TV would “remember” the second or two of the episode that was aired while it was off and somehow play it back when the TV was turned back on.

I still remember the process.  It was obvious to me that the TV wasn’t going to remember very much (simple experience showed me that since I obviously couldn’t watch a show that was on an hour previous).  But, I figured if it was quick enough, perhaps somehow it was stored in the TV.

The problem though, was “how to tell?”  So I had to set up some conditions.  Basically it came down to watching enough TV to be able to guess what the next word would be in the sentence the actor or presenter was saying.

So once I determined how to do the experiment, I proceeded to sit in front of the TV and wait for a line of dialog where I figured I could safely guess the next word or two.  Then I’d flip the TV off and on.  I also tried changing the channel to see if that would affect things.

After a few tries, I was pretty much convinced that the TV wasn’t capable of caching anything.  I never could be sure though since I realized my guesses might be wrong.  But, my confidence was high enough that I concluded that when the TV was off, anything transmitted to me was lost.

So, at age 4 or so, I had somehow already figured out the scientific method and was engaging in science experiments.

That though has pretty much defined my life.  I have to remind folks, I received my BS from the School of Science at RPI, not the School of Engineering.

Scientist: It’s the way I roll.