the pitch drop experiment

The last time I saw my brother, he introduced me to the term "delighter"; the most simple definition of which is 'something that gives or causes delight'. My brother described it a little bit differently as in when you are watching a movie and the movie is good and you are ready to love it and then something happens in the movie that confirms your hopes of loving it and allows you to freely give that love. Like in The Italian Job with Michael Caine: you're ready to love it because it was made in 1969 and it's a heist movie but then you realize that the getaway plan consists of 3 minis, red, white and blue and your like "yeah, worth the price of admission!!".

I recently read about the Pitch Drop Experiment. It is the world's longest running lab experiment, started in 1927 when Thomas Parnell poured hot pitch into a funnel and let it cool to show how viscous a fluid could be. In the article, Nick Paumgarten mentions that no one has ever seen a drop fall (it took eight years before for the first drop fell) and that this unpredictability is one of nature's greatest offerings. Nature is, of course, the most awesome of delighters. We know that, every year, spring follows winter and yet we always thrill at the first sign of a bud on a tree. Intrigued by the pitch drop experiment, I did my own abbreviated version with honey (I wanted to make sure I was present when the first drop fell and I didn't feel like I had eight years to wait). Watching the honey drip was mesmerizing and, well, delightful. I felt myself willing each drip to drop and then spring back up in order to do it all over again. It was so beautiful. It was also an easy way to get my fix of the moment before expectation becomes a certainty.