Vanguard 1 was launched into space on March 17, 1958. It is still up there.
Via Bad Astronomy.
50 years in orbit
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Author Archives: gmcdavid
A useful tool anywhere
Spacewalkers resort to banging, pry bar
What an old friend calls “Engineering method #1: Brute force.”
My weekend here
mia_mcdavid is in Michigan for the weekend and the first couple days of next week. Her aunt died after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. She has posted about it, most recently here.
I cleaned off my workbench this morning, and am trying to make some progress on at least some of my unfinished projects. Quite a list
Irish Class–Monday Night, March 10, 2008
Irish Class, March 10, 2008
Irish Class, March 10, 2008
The first exercise was for each of us to say something as Gaeilge
about what we had done that day. For me the choice was easy, and for once
did not involve a lot of specialized vocbulary.
| Cheannaigh mé agus mo bhean cheile carr nua inniu. Is Ford Focus é an carr. Tá an carr liath. Dhíolamar seancarr as cead dollar. Bhíomar an sásta. |
My wife and I bought a new car today. The car is a Ford Focus. The car is gray. We sold the old car for one hundred dollars. We were very satisfied. |
Happy Birthday!
To mdlbear. Have a great one!
On a lighter note….
I just discovered Larry Niven’s Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex is on the web!
Simple logic about 9/11
From Bad Astronomy:
…. it’s generally best to look at the evidence. In this case, I doubt strongly that 9/11 was an inside job by the Bush Administration. For one thing, it would involve intelligence, planning, and an ability to actually think things through. Trying to pin that on this Administration is ridiculous. C’mon! We have a President who has a hard time eating pretzels here.
A single horrifying number
2%: The US Civil War, mathematics, and why we have already lost in Iraq
Solitudinem fecerunt, pacem appelunt – They made a desert and called it peace. (Tacitus)
I hope their smoke detectors are working!
From a well-intentioned Washington Post column:
Some evangelical churches offer confession and weekly communion. They distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday and light Advent calendars at Christmastime.
Via GetReligion.
A new (for me, anyway) look at an old quote
As long as I can remember I been aware of this famous quotation from Isaac Newton
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
and thought of it as a distinctly modest remark by one of the three greatest mathematicians in history.
However, there is more to it. Newton chose that image at least in part because of his feud with Robert Hooke, who was physically rather short.
From “On the Shoulders of Giants” or, Revenge is a Dish Best Eaten Cold Edition at The Inverse Square Blog, which I learned about from Cosmic Variance.
