REFINING HEMINGWAY’S DETECTOR
ERNEST HEMINGWAY SUGGESTED in The Paris Review, “The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof, shit detector.” I used to suggest to students that readers as … Continue reading
FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS IN COMPUTING
THE WORD “ADVERTORIAL” SETS an alarm in my mind: Is this thing trying to bamboozle me or what? On the other hand, AAAS Science magazine uses it in the pure … Continue reading
BATTERY RECYCLING—MORE THAN AN ENVIRONMENTAL NICETY
AS CITED IN SAE INTERNATIONAL’S Automotive Engineering, October 2022, “Recycling battery materials is vital to the electric-vehicle future, but the way forward faces a host of hurdles.” Jim Motavalli describes … Continue reading
THE WHALE’S WONDERFUL NET
IMAGINE THE CHALLENGES CONFRONTING terrestrial ancestors of dolphins and whales: Exponential increases in drag forces when moving through water, higher hydrostatic pressures at depth, and extreme breath-holding requirements to function … Continue reading
FIDO SNIFFS OUT ARITHMETIC ANXIETY
“Whether it’s a tricky maths problem or an unexpected bill,” Nicola Davis of The Guardian reports, “daily life is full of stressful experiences. Now researchers have found that humans produce … Continue reading
DID THE EARTH MOVE FOR YOU, JUST A LITTLE?
THE INTERESTING FACTS WEBSITE reports that “The Earth Shakes Every 26 Seconds, and Scientists Aren’t Sure Why.” Well, this is tantalizing enough to require a perusal and perhaps some additional … Continue reading
SPERM WHALE CLANISH CLICKING
IT HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN that sperm whales make clicking sounds to communicate as well as to echolocate prey in ocean darkness at depths of a mile or more. Recently, … Continue reading
THE FOURTH ELEMENT: FIRE
LIFE WAS A LOT SIMPLER when Aristotle had only four elements: air, earth, water, and fire. Later, he added heavenly aether, and things have gotten more complicated since then. It’s … Continue reading
BERNOULLI’S JAALI
ARCHITECTS OF THE TAJ MAHAL, Formula One designers, and cricket bowlers have all been inspired by Daniel Bernoulli. Here are tidbits on these gleaned from BBC as well as my … Continue reading
SARTORIAL COOL PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE EXCHANGED suit, repp tie, and dress shoes for hoochie daddys and sandals. Today we continue with tidbits gleaned from Christopher Favelle’s most informative “Hot Couture: How a Warming … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 