I try to remember a lot of things, but just as likely I'll forget, and it's a good thing because forgetting is a great defense mechanism. But here's a bit of reblogging in case I forget some of my current fascinations.
No doubt we'll see a lost of "Best of . . ." lists at the end of the year. This list attempts to compile the greatest equations ever. I'm not sure if there's a certain snobbery embedded within the idea, a certain elitism, that if something can't be expressed mathematically, that it can't be encoded and decoded by an elite, it shouldn't be worth considering. But some of the equations like "1 + 1 =2" are simple enough, and simplicity and practicality were some of the considerations that Robert Crease makes for in this Physics Web article. He also mentions the "sunrise equation" which I hope to include in a blog pilgrim entry.
Roger Bailey nominated the "sunrise equation" cos(time) = -tan(lat) x tan(dec), which identifies the time of sunrise or sunset as a function of latitude and solar declination. This, he pointed out, is "fundamental to our sense of time" and it "fits on a T-shirt".
A Boing Boing entry on logic gates built with legos somehow seems useful, but I'm not sure why.
I was looking up other things, when I found this link on 18th Century hacking. Apparently postage was relatively expensive and the cost was borne by the receiver of the message. The workaround was for the sender to somehow send a coded message to the receiver, and the receiver could refuse the letter, and still receive the message. They didn't have Captain Crunch whistles back then but the same ideas applied.
If you like the idea of extreme recycling, check out this Mother Earth News article.
I got listed among other Pittsburgh bloggers on Three Rivers Online. What I like best is that my weblog is categorized as "Personal Science." I'm still getting my head around that. Even though I'm not sure what it means, I will aspire to it.
Posted by mastr at December 29, 2004 12:16 PM