Author Archive
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
A few puns…
Past, present and future walk into a bar. It was tense. Midget clairvoyant escapes from prison. Headline: “Small Medium At Large!” Puns are a rare medium well done. Guy sends in ten puns to a magazine contest. Headline: guy fails to win prize, no pun in ten did. Did you hear about the fire at […]
Comments Off on A few puns… - Posted in Fun by Happy
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009
The “Coin-Flip” puzzle
On Monday, you flip coins all day. You start flipping coins until you see the pattern Head, Tail, Head. Then you record the number of flips required, and start flipping again until you see that pattern, you record it, and start again. At the end of the day you average all of the numbers you’ve […]
Comments Off on The “Coin-Flip” puzzle - Posted in puzzle by Happy
Friday, August 21st, 2009
The “Handshake” puzzle
You didn’t really think one puzzle was the end of it, did you? Fred and Norma held a dinner party and invited 4 other couples. As people arrived, Fred noticed that people who knew each other hugged or kissed, but if they were strangers they just shook hands. After all the arrivals and all the […]
Comments Off on The “Handshake” puzzle - Posted in puzzle by Happy
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Hubble Deep Field fly-through
Speaking of good science, here is a nice article and video about the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2009/08/hell_yeah_hubble.php?utm_source=selectfeed&utm_medium=rss It includes a “fly through” of ancient galaxies. The earliest galaxies visible are 13 bn years old, were created when the universe was 0.5m years old, and are now 43 LY away and (although not actually moving […]
Comments Off on Hubble Deep Field fly-through - Posted in Science by Happy
Monday, August 10th, 2009
The “Double Pack Turnover” puzzle
Time for another puzzle, to get the juices going again! Instructions: Deal out 2 full packs of cards in one long row, all face down (or in circles or loops or whatever, as long as you can count along them!). Starting with the first card, turn over every card. Starting with the second card, turn […]
Comments Off on The “Double Pack Turnover” puzzle - Posted in puzzle by Happy
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
Unusual vegetables
For really unusual vegetables you can actually buy, simply search out a suitable Asian grocery. You should easily find gai lan, sin qua, kang kong, the choy family, daikon (and other radishes), cucurbits such as bitter and fuzzy melon, kumara (and yam and other sweet potatoes), lotus root, cloud ear (and cepes and other fungi), […]
Comments Off on Unusual vegetables - Posted in Health by Happy
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
The climate science behind Senator Fielding
Senator Fielding has been outspoken in questioning anthropogenic climate change. I wondered who was advising him. David Evans seems to be not a climatologist but a mathematician who builds climate models.http://sciencespeak.com/NoEvidence.pdf Here is a summary, as I understand it. I think there are serious questions here to be answered, but I cannot answer them. Evidence: […]
Comments Off on The climate science behind Senator Fielding - Posted in Science by Happy
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Climate Change is not the problem you think it is
Allow me to make some mildly provocative statements — all of which I can justify. All climate models are wrong, and not one has yet made a correct prediction of substance (other than by pure chance). Peak oil and energy shortages will be a threat to our survival long before climate change. Shortages of food, […]
Comments Off on Climate Change is not the problem you think it is - Posted in Economics,Politics,Science by Happy
Sunday, May 24th, 2009
Factors affecting fuel consumption
Just thinking out loud… Consider a 2 litre petrol engine, idling at 720 rpm or 12 revs/sec. It takes two revolutions for each cylinder to complete its cycle (4 stroke assumed), so 6 cycles/sec. The amount of air/fuel mixture drawn into the cylinder(s) is 2 litre per cycle, or 12 litre/sec. At 7200 rpm it […]
Comments Off on Factors affecting fuel consumption - Posted in Economics,Science by Happy
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
Why do they use weather-speak?
I am continually annoyed by the language used in weather forecasts. Why can’t they speak English? Example: “A trough and low over the east are generating widespread heavy rain and damaging winds over northeast NSW, leading to flooding and dangerous surf. A vigorous front is crossing the WA west coast, causing destructive winds, squally showers […]