“I want the universe.”
I looked down at the Junior Science Villain and marveled at his ambition. You just don’t see that kind of drive in a four year old. It really is impressive and adorable. But I felt it was my duty to tone down his plans to something a bit more manageable. Walk before you run and all that.
So I tussled his hair and gave him some wisdom. “Have you thought about starting a little smaller? You need to take the long term goal of taking over the universe and chop it down into smaller, more attainable goals. Maybe a small country or a U.S. state.”
The Young Evil Genius let out a sigh and gave me the You Are A Stupid Adult Look. He grabbed my hand and lead me to the computer. He guided the browser to The Particle Zoo and showed me what he was talking about.
[ad#longpost]Now we have written about The Particle Zoo before. They make plush subatomic particles for the young physics geek in all of us. They range from the common electrons, neutrons, and protons to the exotic bosons, neutrinos, and quarks. They even fill the particles with the appropriate stuffing as to make them weigh what the actual particle would weigh. They even have antimatter version of the particles, although they don’t have evil goatees on them. The Particle Zoo even has Dark Matter to please our resident Man In Black, Widgett Walls.
This time however they have gone from the sub-molecular to the cosmological with The Universe. I should say that if you getting this for normal children and not super-genii, you might want to wait until they’re about five or so as the ‘stars’ and googly eyes might detach and cause a problem. Still, you can’t beat buying a universe for less than $10, plus shipping. And it’s money well spent to keep yourself on a young evil genius’ good side.
