Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Vector and raster graphics
Here's a neat article with links to programs, some free, some not, on the difference between vector and raster graphics. The best part are the listings of programs you can easily get for your own graphics. Check out the links.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Science Knowledge: Still down
Today's New York Times has an article about the state of science education in America. As you might expect, we're not doing well. Here are a few interesting points:
Citizens need to know science more now than in the past because issues today are based more on science. Example: stem cells, global warming.
Students who attend college often have to take a science class. Not so in high school. So, people who attend college have some science education but students (about half of all students) only attend high school and are, therefore, ill-learned in science.
Teachers of science are hard to come-by because we pay them so little.
So, what to do?
I think we need to make science a bigger part of the news, and media in general. We need to have newspaper, web articles, and radio shows, discuss the science behind and within an article, not just the political sides of a story. When there's an article about stem cells, there should be a side bar about cells in general. When there's a story about Tanzania, there should be a map showing the location. (Our geographical knowledges is not good either.)
That's a start, but only a start.
(Hat tip: Ilachina)
Citizens need to know science more now than in the past because issues today are based more on science. Example: stem cells, global warming.
Students who attend college often have to take a science class. Not so in high school. So, people who attend college have some science education but students (about half of all students) only attend high school and are, therefore, ill-learned in science.
Teachers of science are hard to come-by because we pay them so little.
So, what to do?
I think we need to make science a bigger part of the news, and media in general. We need to have newspaper, web articles, and radio shows, discuss the science behind and within an article, not just the political sides of a story. When there's an article about stem cells, there should be a side bar about cells in general. When there's a story about Tanzania, there should be a map showing the location. (Our geographical knowledges is not good either.)
That's a start, but only a start.
(Hat tip: Ilachina)
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
How Stuff Works
I had forgotten about this website but then I was wondering about power brakes. I was driving a few nights ago and it dawned on me: I don't know how power brakes work. I had an idea about manual brakes, but what about power brakes. So, I type "how do power brakes work" into Google (www.google.com) and then this site appeared. The site not only answered the question (I'll leave it to you to check the site if you're interested) but it had a great animation of the vacuum system that gives the driver power brakes.
Pretty slick.
Pretty slick.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Faster than light: You go!
"A team at the Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland" has successfully manipulated the speed of light. They can slow light by a factor of four. More interesting is that they can manipulate the components of a light to change the velocity of each so that the light moves faster than light. Sounds wierd, doesn't it.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Who carries Einstein's legacy forward?
Lee Smolin, a theoretical physicist, discusses who among physicts today follow the path set by Einstein. Smolin believes few do and those that would can't because if they do, they won't have job.
Smolin's article describes what Einstein believed, how Einstein approached physics, and how Einstein's ideas are still not well understood by physicists.
Smolin's article describes what Einstein believed, how Einstein approached physics, and how Einstein's ideas are still not well understood by physicists.
Einstein: Original manuscript found
An original manuscript of Albert Einstein's was found in the archives of Leiden University's Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics. The manuscript is for the paper "Quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas" and is dated December 1924.
What if?
What if Einstein did not discover relativity? Would someone else have discovered it? What would have happened if Newton did not pursue science? What would have happened to the world?
These questions are pondered in the current issue of NewScientist.com.
While it's fun to speculate about such ideas, and for political purposes it makes sense, I don't think it's true for science. Yes, we can ponder what would have happened had the Nazi's won (an item from the same article) but in science, we make discoveries. Scientists find things that exist or are true, but have not been found by others. So, if Einstein did not discover relativity would that make Newtonian mechanics always true? Of course not. Newton's theories work well, but not for objects approaching the speed of light. Likewise, if Newton didn't work in mathematics, we'd still have calculus. Liebnitz discovered and developed calculus around the same time as Newton. If Liebnitz didn't discover calculus, someone else would have.
Sure, we can ponder these ideas all day but science is discovery so if one doesn't discover something, another person will. Of course, the timing of the discovers can change many, many things. If the U.S. didn't build a atomic weapon when we did, who would have built one? And what would that country do with an atomic weapon? Now that's something to think about.
These questions are pondered in the current issue of NewScientist.com.
While it's fun to speculate about such ideas, and for political purposes it makes sense, I don't think it's true for science. Yes, we can ponder what would have happened had the Nazi's won (an item from the same article) but in science, we make discoveries. Scientists find things that exist or are true, but have not been found by others. So, if Einstein did not discover relativity would that make Newtonian mechanics always true? Of course not. Newton's theories work well, but not for objects approaching the speed of light. Likewise, if Newton didn't work in mathematics, we'd still have calculus. Liebnitz discovered and developed calculus around the same time as Newton. If Liebnitz didn't discover calculus, someone else would have.
Sure, we can ponder these ideas all day but science is discovery so if one doesn't discover something, another person will. Of course, the timing of the discovers can change many, many things. If the U.S. didn't build a atomic weapon when we did, who would have built one? And what would that country do with an atomic weapon? Now that's something to think about.
Friday, August 19, 2005
Google: Fun with numbers
In today's Wall Street Journal (wsj.com; requires subscription) they show that Google likes math! Yes!
" Amid all the mystery, the tech company seemed to leave a clue that suggests the size of the offering wasn't arbitrary by stipulating that the number of shares Google plans to sell is 14,159,265. Those are the first eight digits that follow the decimal in the value of pi (which is 3.14159265), a number representing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter."
And there's this:
"(The IPO also showed Google's inclination to have fun with figures. In an SEC filing the company said it sought to raise as much as $2,718,281,828. The number 2.718281828 is the constant e, which is related to natural logarithms and, like pi, a key concept in mathematics.)"
I think it's great that in the world of finance, inundated with numbers, Google has found a way, and does it, to introduce more advance ideas then just addition and subtraction.
Way to go, Google!!
" Amid all the mystery, the tech company seemed to leave a clue that suggests the size of the offering wasn't arbitrary by stipulating that the number of shares Google plans to sell is 14,159,265. Those are the first eight digits that follow the decimal in the value of pi (which is 3.14159265), a number representing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter."
And there's this:
"(The IPO also showed Google's inclination to have fun with figures. In an SEC filing the company said it sought to raise as much as $2,718,281,828. The number 2.718281828 is the constant e, which is related to natural logarithms and, like pi, a key concept in mathematics.)"
I think it's great that in the world of finance, inundated with numbers, Google has found a way, and does it, to introduce more advance ideas then just addition and subtraction.
Way to go, Google!!
Lightning on Demand
Read about Tesla coils that can send lightning bolts across football fields. Neat stuff!
Engineering biological molecules
Scientists are designing and building their own biological molecules. The article gives examples of where scientists have already had some successes.
I can't help but wonder how the Law of Unitended Consequences will play out with this. Will a scientist seeking to cure one disease cause another that cannot be cured? It makes me wonder...and cringe.
I can't help but wonder how the Law of Unitended Consequences will play out with this. Will a scientist seeking to cure one disease cause another that cannot be cured? It makes me wonder...and cringe.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Social networks via cell phones
Here's a site about studying social networks via cell phones. Very interesting. I hope to learn more about it later.
Hat tip: Cyptogram newsletter.
Hat tip: Cyptogram newsletter.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Crystal Radios: Kits and Projects
Here's another site courtesy of Test and Measurement World magazine (www.tmworld.com). This one has lots of information on building crystal radios.
Crystal radios always remind me of my ham radio days and I still hold a current ham license, General Class, by the way. I think I used to make a few of these radios when I was a teenager. There's a great feeling to putting together a kit like these, putting the earpiece in your ear, and hearing sound. It's not just the fact that it works which is always exciting, it's the fact that it works with so few parts and seems so easy to do. Yet, if you don't do it, you never get that thrill any other way. What's particularly neat is that the radio seems to work out of nothing. You can't see the radio waves, can't feel them, and in no way can you physically detect them with just your being. Yet, the waves are there, waiting for something to detect them and play them as audio.
If you've never built a radio receiver before, you should give serious thought to doing so. It'll be a thrill you'll love. Trust me.
Crystal radios always remind me of my ham radio days and I still hold a current ham license, General Class, by the way. I think I used to make a few of these radios when I was a teenager. There's a great feeling to putting together a kit like these, putting the earpiece in your ear, and hearing sound. It's not just the fact that it works which is always exciting, it's the fact that it works with so few parts and seems so easy to do. Yet, if you don't do it, you never get that thrill any other way. What's particularly neat is that the radio seems to work out of nothing. You can't see the radio waves, can't feel them, and in no way can you physically detect them with just your being. Yet, the waves are there, waiting for something to detect them and play them as audio.
If you've never built a radio receiver before, you should give serious thought to doing so. It'll be a thrill you'll love. Trust me.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
More Richard Feynman quotes
While looking through the amateur science site I found some more quotes from Richard Feynman. Here are some of my favorites.
"I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong."
"If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain... In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar."
"We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, 'You don't know what you are talking about!' The second one says 'What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?', and so on."
"I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring." (last words)
Click the link for more.
"I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong."
"If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain... In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar."
"We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, 'You don't know what you are talking about!' The second one says 'What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?', and so on."
"I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring." (last words)
Click the link for more.
Spend some time at this site: you'll love it
O.K. Here's a site I love and I've only spent a few minutes there. It's a site for science hobbyists! Yes. And while it says for kids to stay away, I didn't see anything objectionable. Except to acually conduct any of the experiments. I wouldn't recommend that without adult (intelligent adult) supervision. But, browse throught this site and enjoy. I only have a minute to look now, but I'll be back!
(Tip: Test and Measurement World magazine www.tmworld.com)
(Tip: Test and Measurement World magazine www.tmworld.com)
Newspapers: From around the world
The Newseum, a museum for journalism, has a site with frontpages of newspapers from around the world. Go to the link above, and run your mouse over the papers. You'll see the front page. Click on the link and you'll get a window so you can read the front page. It's pretty cool; you can see what's in the news at other locales and see newspapers find important. I noticed that while my paper, The Washington Post, is pretty nationall focussed, especially the front page, the newspaper in Cumberland, MD, is much more locally focused. Interesting to compare!
(Tip: Ilachina and thanks very much.)
(Tip: Ilachina and thanks very much.)
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