Author Archives: gmcdavid

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About gmcdavid

Retired IT professional with a wide range of interests. Married. Three sons, two with autistic-spectrum disorders and the third being transgender with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. From Chicago but now living in the Twin Cities metro, Minnesota. Episcopalian. Carleton College (BA 1972, physics) and Stanford University (MS 1974, Applied Physics; MS 1976 Statistics).

Relativity is Right on Time,…

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… Again

Special relativity predicts that a twin in a high-speed rocket, as viewed by his Earth-bound brother, will have a slower-ticking clock. A precise test of this time dilation, first performed in 1938, involves observing the frequency shift—or “ticking” change—in the electronic transitions of fast-moving ions. An update of this type of experiment using lithium ions has now verified special relativity’s prediction with unprecedented accuracy—a result that provides additional constraints on quantum gravity models.

With hottest August on Record, …

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… 2014 Takes Aim At Hottest Year On Record

Last month was the warmest August since records began being kept in 1880, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported Thursday. NOAA also projected out scenarios for the rest of the year making clear that 2014 is going to be one of the very hottest years on record — and possibly the hottest.

The Scottish Referendum

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The rest of the world is tired of Americans telling them what to do, so I am not expressing an opinion on this vote. This is easier since in fact I am not sure what I think about this. However, I can enjoy the humor, the existence of which is very reassuring however the vote goes.

This Is What It Will Be Like If Scotland Votes For Independence

As a long-time fan of fantasy I am pleased to see Game of Thrones and Harry Potter appear in this discussion.

From our side of the pond, there is nothing like the Colbert Report.

The Shadow of the Past

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Thought WWI was history? In the Middle East, think again

What brought Turkey into World War I was the Escape of the German warships Goeben and Breslau , especially the Goeben, which was the most powerful ship in the Mediterranean at the start of the War. She was The Ship That Changed the World.

According to Winston Churchill the Goeben brought “more slaughter, more misery, and more ruin than has ever before been borne within the compass of a ship.”. He wrote that in 1931.