Dare to be different

> Some people not only bend the rules, they break them and make up their own to get things done their way

Houston is called Even Better Than the Real Thing.

Technically speaking, the title is right. Even I can sing and dance better than the average corpse, albeit only marginally.

Of course, there are some things that no amateur should ever do.

I once cut my wife’s hair, and the next time she went to a real hairdresser, he almost died of shock. I hid behind a magazine in the waiting area.

But one should be ambitious.

Some years ago, my children and I tried to split an atom at home. Here’s how we attempted to do it:

You get a smoke detector and take out the smidgen of radioactive isotope that makes it work.

You buy a pre-1950 watch and extract the radium 226 that makes the hands glow.

Then you put the radium in a small box with a tiny hole in it.

You bounce the alpha rays that come out of the hole against tinfoil, resulting in free neutrons which can split an isotope atom.

Unfortunately my wife thought nuclear fission might stain the kitchen table and told us we had to do it outside.

But it was raining, so we baked a cake instead.

Nury Vittachi is an Asiabased frequent traveller. Send ideas and comments to lifestyle. nury@thesundaily.com.