Magic and the Incomprehensible

In my reading a few days ago I encountered this:

     "Science is magic, only real."

No.  Science is the puny attempt of mankind to comprehend the Mind of God.

The endeavor is fated ever to fall short, for as John Chrysostom correctly observed, "A god comprehended is not god.

Another Did That

I posted this article a couple years ago under the title "Jurisprudence Trumps Science." The thing that motivated me to look it up and drag it forward was this. We finished the garden tomatoes at supper. Beautiful golden and red slicers, so tomatolicious. Summer time gives me the opportunity on occasion to toss in this little tidbit for the edification of the auditors. And 121 years later, it seems yet that suing the government is a zero-sum activity. The plaintiff is likely to get zero, and the cost to the defendant will likely be zero. The attys win, though.

Jurisprudence Trumps Science

On May 10, 1893, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a lower court decision and declared the tomato to be a vegetable, not a fruit.

 Notwithstanding testimony to the contrary, and much reading from dictionaries by both parties to the dispute, ultimately Justice Horace Gray wrote the opinion for the court in which he essentially said that notwithstanding that all botanical references did seem to support its status as a fruit, because of its historical place on the dinner-table,  eaten with the main course, not as a dessert, the tomato is a vegetable.   

Some background might shed some light on this astounding turn of events. Under the Tariff Act of 1883, fruit were admitted duty free, whereas vegetables were not. The plaintiff had been paying, under protest, tariff on tomatoes and was therefore suing to recover said payments from the Collector of the Port of New York and to require such collections to cease.

 Does it take a genius to figure out what is about to go down? Merchant vs. Government of the United States, essentially, though that is not the name of the case. What duly appointed and honest justice is going to rule contrary to the interpretation of the government?  If the government says the tomato is a vegetable, the tomato is a vegetable. Case closed.

Case is Nix vs. Hedden, 1893.
Image:  The Kitchen Table

Global Disaster

Mark Twain was wise beyond the age in which he lived, and vain about it, too.  But it is truly amazing the insights he had; and his succinct writing is a perpetual model for logic of thought and clarity of expression.  Behold, how this passage written about 135 years ago is yet today a highly accurate picture of "scientific" projection as it exists in this twenty-first century!

-----And in umpteen thousand years the planet will no longer be capable of sustaining life.




Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, chapter 17.

Some day I might like to share Mr. Clemens's understanding of monetary policy and the economy.  He nailed it in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, but I fear we have ignored the message much too long.  Perhaps I'll forego the post.  Spitting into the wind.

Geosynchronous Orbit

twinkle, twinkle in the sky

22000 miles from my eye

pretty lights of red and green

from my front door can be seen

on a night so cold and clear

satellite, why are you here?

so your xm won’t fade away

as you listen all the day

and night.

Through the eye of the point-and-shoot camera.

 Blowup shows colors of the lights.

How difficult is it to hold the camera still at 26x?

I need a tripod.  And a more sophisticated camera.

This geosynchronous satellite is visible from our front door whenever the night sky is clear.  To the naked eye its position varies very little from night to night.  I believe this particular object is situated at 85.0 degrees west longitude. For a scientific explanation of this, you will need to look elsewhere.

From Vanilla's Clipboard

A wind farm is up and running in our county. Another has received approval, but protests the limitations set by the duly authorized government agencies from which approval is required.

Thousands upon thousands of words have been submitted to the local newspaper as "Letters to the Editor."

The discussion has progressed, naturally, given that it is an argument amongst human beings, from reasoned debate based on findings of fact to ad hominem attacks on citizens with whom we have  all lived for decades.

This is probably the most divisive issue that has arisen here in a half century, and perhaps ever.  STSTT does not purport to be the voice of reason, presenting the solution to the problem and making everyone happy.  There is sufficient wrong-headedness on both sides to go around.  We need not add to the clamor.

I am sad.  Present me no arguments for or against "green energy."  Instead, if you can, reassure me that people are basically reasonable, good, and altruistic, being concerned for the welfare of all.  Currently, I have my doubts.

The Day the Sun Stands Still

Scienterrific lesson.

The title today is simply a reminder that the solstice occurs on June 21 this year (as it will every non-leap year for the next quarter-century.)  It is a non-scientific reminder, for the Sun of course continues in its orbit, and the Earth in hers.  But if Sol has transited a certain number of degrees of latitude on its "northward" journey and has reached the highest north latitude it can achieve, then turns southward, it must surely "stand still" if only momentarily.

Do not pass this stuff along in a middle school science class.  It won't fly.  But the date and the event are correct.

Hope your summer is a jolly good one!

Blog update.

This little site, String Too Short to Tie, for some time has been getting between 4,000 and 6,000 hits per month.  I guess the spammers are having an effect, though, for suddenly during this month of June the number of visits according to blogger stats exceeds 20,000.  Is that even possible?  And why?  Of   course none of these people is interacting, unless one counts the posting of spam as interaction.

If you are a new reader, and you are really reading the posts, leave me a one-word comment, "Yes."  Otherwise, I will have to assume that I really have no new readers, just trolls.  I really hate to go to the captcha thingie, I hate it, but what does one do?  Oh, yes, blogger filters ninety percent of the spam, but still I have to empty that folder daily.

Liftoff + 27 Years

11:38 January 28, 1986  Liftoff, and one minute, thirteen seconds from the disintegration of Space Shuttle Challenger, claiming the lives of seven crew members, and forever etching on our minds and in our hearts the knowledge that man's most daring efforts are not always successful.

Crew

•  Gregory Jarvis   1944 - 1986
•  Christa McAuliffe  1948 - 1986
•  Ronald McNair  1950 - 1986
•  Ellison Onizuka 1946 - 1986
• Judith Resnik 1949 - 1986
•  Commander Francis Richard "Dick" Scobee 1939- 1986
• Michael J. Smith 1945- 1986

One of my staff members was a candidate for the position Teacher in Space which was filled by Christa McAuliffe.

1755 Lisbon Earthquake

9:30 A.M., All Saints Day. A huge number of the residents of Lisbon are in their respective churches for special Mass on this Holy Day.

The temblor strikes; the churches crumble and crash in on the worshipers. The candles which the faithful had lighted and the kitchen fires at home ignited the flammable material in the rubble.

The city was soon ablaze. The tsunami crashed into the shore, throwing the ships in harbor up into the city.

The Lisbon Earthquake of November 1, 1755 claimed a massive toll of human life. The difficulty of obtaining an accurate count is evident, as not only were people and property destroyed, so were official records. Some estimates of deaths ranged as high as thirty to seventy thousand, and at least one chronicler claimed it was nearer one hundred thousand. Careful study over the intervening years have led most historians to believe that the death toll was probably in the range of ten thousand.

The event had serious and long-lasting effects on Western thought as theologians and philosophers started to reassess their thinking in light of such a disaster. The eighteenth century belief that this was the “best of all possible worlds” started to crumble in the face of the question, “If this is the best of possible worlds, what would any others be like?”

The event sparked interest, too, in search for a scientific explanation for such phenomena, and partly due to the thought and writings of the young Emmanuel Kant, the science of seismology had its beginnings.

It is estimated that by modern standards, the quake would have measured between 8.7 and 9.0.

History is littered with records of natural disasters. Doubtless such phenomena existed in prehistoric times. They are still with us, witness the destruction on the East Coast of our United States just this week. Likely, there shall be no end to such things so long as the Earth exists.

Sources:

1.  Helena Murteira, Extracts from PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2004

2.  National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering, UC-Berkeley

Hot Enough for Ya?

The ever-smiling, hand-waving perky little Weather Person told me that as of today, we have had 30 days where the official temperature topped 90⁰. The previous highest number of such days in a year? 15. Also, eight of those days have topped 100⁰. Then, Miss Perky went on to give us the “eight-day outlook.”

Grim. That’s what it is: grim. All, all of those eight days will add yet another day to the list of “above ninety” days, and not fewer than two of them will exceed 100⁰.

I know that some of you who live in certain parts of the country find this to be no big deal. A summer’s day for you that doesn’t push the thermometer to triple-digits is no summer day at all. But, please, we are not used to this!

Now, other than what may at a glance seem to be carping, there is a nubbin of scientific knowledge in all this that is of interest to me, and no, I am not going AGW. The interesting thing to me is the progess over the past few years in the science of meteorology. As recently as 1990, we were taking our weather forecasts with a fairly large grain of skepticism. We had even developed a sort of game in which we wanted to hear the weather forecast not so much to aid us in planning our day, or deciding whether or not to take the galoshes, but more so that we could check tomorrow against the forecast so we could deride the meteorologist if he was wildly wrong.

But that lucky fellow, or lady, who had that job had a swell mantra by which to live. “Being wrong never means I have to say I’m sorry.” He, or she, just blithely went along with another forecast, which may or may not be as wrong as the previous one.

And here it is. Today’s weather forecasting has become an amazingly accurate science. Ho-hum. The other way was so much more fun. Not nearly so helpful, but more fun.

I really wanted to write a tribute to Willis Carrier, whose scientific acumen, brilliant solutions to "indoor climate control," and the daring to push through the Great Depression to bring to hoi polloi in-home air conditiong, but I really hadn't the time to do adequate research and condense viable information into such  a tribute.  Nevertheless,  thanks, Mr. Carrier.

Monsieur Lavoisier, Meet Mme. G

In chemistry class Miss Phelps taught me that Antoine Lavoisier, French scientist, was the “father of modern chemistry.” His accomplishments were many and he will be long remembered for his contribution to the sciences.

 Lavoisier named “oxygen” and “nitrogen.” He established the fact that sulfur is an element and he was instrumental in the development of the metric system. He also discovered that whatever its state, matter always remains the same mass.

 On this date in 1794, his head fell into the basket beneath the blade of the guillotine. He was accused of selling watered-down tobacco. However, it was his position as tax collector which was the cause of his demise, for all such persons had a date with Madame la Guillotine. They did not teach me that in high school.

 And, we suppose, the needles of Madame Defarge kept clicking.

 Antoine Lavoisier 1743 - 1794 RIP








Image:  wikipedia

Supermoon

Folderol.  Don't take my word for it; read it in Discover Magazine.
If you had read none of the hype, nor listened to any astrologers, you  would not be able by eyeballing it to discern any difference between this full moon and any other.  Take a look to the east just after sunset.  See for yourself.

And, no.  It is not a harbinger of any disaster, nor will it cause one.

On April 25th

Image: Wikipedia

Lysander’s Spartan Navies and Armies defeat the Athenians thus ending the Peloponnesian War, 404 B.C. following over a quarter-century of hostilities. Whether the Spartans or the Athenians should rule became totally moot a half-century later when Philip of Macedon conquered the whole of Greece.

Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish Molecular structure of nucleic acid, describing the now-famous double-helix structure of DNA, 1953.

Image: Wikipedia

Must See TV

 

Technology is truly amazing. And yet I am even more amazed at the people it serves. A case in point, and the cause for the writing of this brief article, is the development of the transmission of transitory pictures which we have come to identify simply as “TV.”

About ninety years ago as radio was being developed as a commercial enterprise, people began to ideate the possibility of transmitting not only sound, but video as well. Early experiments, without going into specific history, produced some small degree of success as early as the late 1930s. But it was not until the 1950s that commercial television began to spread widely across the country. If my memory serves me correctly the small city in which I lived presented its first commercial broadcast to the residents in 1951.

This new medium was to have very little bearing on my life for many more years, although I attended college in a much larger city, and there was a television set in the student lounge on which one might, if he chose to do so, watch a baseball game or something that someone else chose to watch. I mostly avoided all that.

The early “TV sets” had very small oscilloscope-sized screens, some of the larger ones perhaps offering thirty square inches of viewing field. It was not long, though, until larger screens were widely available, and by 1967 when I got my first set, the screen sported a 19-inch diagonal measurement screen. This might have approached 200 square inches of viewing area. By 1973, I actually had a 19" color TV!

Fast forward to recent years. I now have a 46-inch HDTV, and it is quite small compared to those some of my acquaintances have. Some of them provide, I am sure, up to fifteen square FEET of viewing space! (My modest home is not nearly big enough for one of these. Neither are most of the homes in which I have seen them.)

Anyway, what now is the new standard of “TV viewing”? Of course you know the answer to that. It is the somewhat under four square inch screen on your cell phone! We’ve gone full circle. And have you tried to watch an NBA game on one of these? How big is the basketball? Never mind the NHL.

As I said, people are much more amazing than is technology.

What am I really saying here in far too many words? If one hasn't time to sit down and watch TV, he has no need to be watching TV at all. imho.

Chupacabra, Palm Rats and Road Runners #T

Update: According to feedjit, chances are you are here because you are looking for information about or a picture of the roadrunner.  Thanks for visiting, and please join me on String Too Short to Tie on a more or less daily basis.  It is a potpourri; you never know what you will find.  Comments appreciated.

One of the challenges the Winter Texan is faced with is that of sorting out legend, fantasy, and nonsense from reality.

That it is a different world in South Texas from the world we are accustomed to in the Midwest is evident. A day's drive across the semi-arid mesquite and cactus-ridden landscape is more than enough to convince one of the truth of this.

But consider some of the strange "inhabitants" of this land. Following the title, I first mention el chupacabra, and that may be first because he has recently been in the news. Whether or not a thirteen-year old boy actually killed a chupacabra will no doubt be debated into the pages of history until it becomes a part of the legend. El chupacabra: legend or reality?

I learned of palm rats the first year I spent in this area. My skeptical nature more or less demanded that I believe the purveyor of the tale was leading me pretty much on a "snipe hunt." Over the years, I have come to be aware that in some parts of the country there are rats that climb palm trees to raid the fruit thereof, and that some may jump onto roofs; hence we have "roof rats." But of the "palm rats" of which I was first told, those that live in the dead fronds near the top of palm trees and never go to ground, I ask: fact or fiction?

Road runners appear in my birders' manual, so I am quite sure that they exist. I have been told that they inhabit this area; but as to the question as to whether they really do or not, I say, Seeing is believing. One morning while taking an early perambulation around the park, a road runner ran out in front of me and fled down the street on which I was walking! He soon sped out of sight around a corner. I did not see Wile E. Coyote. But I'm pretty sure he or his near-kin are close by!

Rocket Science, 1948

Above the main building on the west side is the parking lot.* It has a gravel surface. It is the scene of an escapade of two boys who shall remain nameless in the interest of protecting any parties who may be in need of such protection.

The boys conceived the idea of building and launching a rocket. The power source was a matter of serious discussion. Having no access to liquified gasses, and the concept of atomic power just now being mastered by Oppenheimer and others, the boys concluded that a solid fuel propellant was required.

But how to obtain the "solid fuel"? Resourceful as these young minds were, it did not take them long to realize that three substances would suffice to provide sufficient force to propel their rocket into suborbital flight. The reader would do well to realize that the V-2 rocket only three or four years before this tale unfolds had been used to attack the British from the European continent. Also realize that it was yet a matter of more than twenty years before anyone launched an orbital foray from Earth.

Stage set, on with the tale. One of the chemicals required was "in stock" in the boys' chemistry set. Another was readily available with a little work around the dregs of a recent "campfire" in their backyard. The third item, however, was not easily accessible, but a little thought brought them to the realization that every drugstore in town had a supply of this magic ingredient. Thus, it being a lazy summer afternoon and with nothing more productive to do, the boys ambled to town and assayed to purchase the item at Walton's Pharmacy. The druggist questioned the boys as to their need of the material, found their answer unsatisfactory, and refused to sell it to them.

Not discouraged, the boys applied what they had learned as they strolled to another drug store a few blocks away. This gave them time to brainstorm the solution to another interrogation. They formulated a brilliant scheme, probably involving such things as "My mother needs it..."
or, "His dad uses it for..."

So we they entered the store, and actually found a half-pint jar of the substance on an open shelf near the rear of the store. They took it to the lady at the cash register who rang up the purchase and for the sum of twenty-nine cents, our heroes were in business, no questions asked.

[to be continued] © 2011 David W. Lacy

*refer to map here, if you need memory refreshed.

V-2 missile development: http://www.centennialofflight.gov/

Can It!

At dinner last evening, BBBH and I engaged in conversation which stemmed from a remark she made concerning a historical novel she is reading in which canned food was mentioned.

Wait! you might say. A conversation at dinner? What is this novelty of which you write?

True, is the reply. It is not unknown in this household to sit at table for repast without the accompaniment of the blaring TV, engaging one another in brilliant repartee.

Back to the tale at hand. She questioned the historical accuracy, thinking that possibly the author had committed an anachronism. I doubt it, I replied, for though I do not know the history of canned foodsuffs, I am quite sure that it goes back as far as the early part of the nineteenth century.

To which she replied, we need to look it up; and I responded, What a great idea, Dear! It is a fitting subject for a blogpost.

So here we have it, thanks in largest measure to Tinplate Group which maintains an informative website.

In 1809, a Frenchman, Nicholas Appert discovered that food could be preserved by sealing it in an airtight jar and heating it. The process obviously worked as demonstrated by empirical evidence, but no one knew why, inasmuch as the effect of microbial creatures on foods, and the effects of heating on those creatures, were both unknown.

By 1811, Englishmen John Hall and Bryan Donkin had developed a metal can in which to process foods. Their can was made of iron and coated with tin, and while it was virtually unbreakable, it also required a hammer and chisel with which to open it!

Because canned goods were very expensive throughout most of the nineteenth century, they were available primarily to the well-to-do.

Finally, however, "tin" cans were being made from very thin sheets of steel, rather than iron, though still dip-coated with tin.

Most cans were made from three pieces, a rectangle rolled into a cylinder, and a top and a bottom. Today, many cans are made from a two-piece process, and thus you do not see a seam on the side of your soft drink can, nor on many other products as well.

Both steel and aluminum cans are produced and used, and discarded, by the millions every day. Small wonder that we need to be more attentive to the process of recycling!





Bon appetit!

Scraping Face

Like most young lads, I could not wait (until it was really necessary) to get started with the shaving bit.

I had watched my Daddy shave with his straight-edge razor since I was a mere tadpole, and such a manly thing must be incorporated into my own lifestyle!

I started with a safety razor, Gillette blade, more than sixty years ago. When I ventured out into the world "on my own" at age seventeen, I moved to Wichita and took with me a straight razor. Every young smart aleck, I no exception, has to show off in some way or other. Wow, did I impress people, they knowing I shaved with an open blade! How did they know? I told them, of course. I used that razor until I decided I should give up factory work and go to college. I was smart enough to realize that such an object was not something to take to a college campus. I went back to the safety razor.

Like most of my fellow Americans, I was susceptible to the wiles of advertising, and thus I chose the Wilkinson blade with which to shave. I mean after all, the Wilkinson people had been making swords ever since Arthur pulled Excaliber from the Stone. How could I go wrong? Well, I paid more for my blades than did my peers who used lesser brands.

When I was probably a junior, I found there were a few dollars in my billfold, and I was in the very store that sold the new-fangled electric shaver. I needed one, didn't I? You may see the picture here of the Sunbeam Shavemaster, which I still have and which is more than fifty years old. It sits in its case (isn't that a beauty?) in a drawer, virtually unused throughout its life. It created such a rash on my neck that I was never able to endure it long enough to get past that stage and into a life of electric shaving. (It still runs. Sounds like a tractor.) So it was back to the safety razor. I have gone through several permutations, single double-edge blade, double blade, triple blade, but I drew the line when they went to "quatro," and I think I have recently seen five-bladed shavers advertised.


Ten years ago, I decided to give electric one more try. This does the job, I use it daily, and I am as delighted as it is possible to be with performing a necessary but nasty chore.

I am told that a type-A personality, go-getter, mover-of-the-earth and occupier of the corner office shaves in the morning before facing his world, and that a Lover shaves at night before retiring to bed.

The penultimate chore I perform each day is shaving. Then it's brush the choppers and off to bed!

New Beginning

Depending on your location on the globe, today is either summer solstice or it is winter solstice. We say in the northern hemisphere, "Today is the first day of summer," somehow totally overlooking the fact that we have already sweltered through many days of ninety+ heat. So, technically today is the first day of summer. It just got a running start!

Stuff Ag Communities Don't Want to Think About

and the government won't.
Rapeseed and corn biodiesels were calculated to produce up to 70 per cent and 50 per cent more greenhouse gases respectively than fossil fuels.


Our excursion on Memorial Day took us past miles of rich farmland. There were a few fields of rape in bloom, lending a brilliant stripe here and there across the landscape.

A certain cultivar of rape is called "canola" and is used to provide the cooking oil in your kitchen cabinet. Other varieties are used for feed and for the production of biofuels, particularly biodiesel.

The major portion of biofuels are produced from rapeseed and from corn, the former largely in Europe, and the latter in North America.

Recent research has shown that aside from the addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere due to transportation of the product, the fuels themselves when used may be more damaging to the environment than are traditional petrofuels. Specifically, nitrogen oxide which is emitted, is 296 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than is carbon dioxide. Recent scientific studies have shown that biofuels release twice as much N₂O as previously thought. These were done by respected scientists, including Nobelist Paul Crutzen.

Huge numbers of semi trucks rumble past my domicile in the fall on their way to the ethanol plant a few miles down the road. Do the math. And here, my math may be faulty, but it seems to me that the more corn turned into ethanol, the higher the cost of the bacon to go with my eggs. And I get to help pay for the biofuel whether or not I use it, thanks to the government subsidies!

Hospital

It is not a pleasure to spend time in a hospital. Yet we are truly grateful for the facility and its dedicated staff who are there in the hour of our need.

This is the whiteboard in BBBH's room as she had her surgical procedure the other day. The quotation is there for inspiration and guidance. And a good one it is, too. I read Scott Adams on a daily basis. Always did believe the soundest philosophies are printed on the comics pages. And Dad always said that the only part of the newspaper you could believe was the funny page.

The artwork below Nicki's signature was done by Dr. Weksler after he completed the surgery. He drew the sketch to explain to me where the stents were placed. Like many of the brilliant people I have encountered in my lifetime, this coronary surgeon wielded the pen in his left hand.

Thanks to all the staff at IU North Hospital who helped make the stay for Spouse as comfortable as possible.