Area of a Circle with Simple Geometrical Model

Thomas Greenslade wrote a very simple article for the Physics Teacher in March 2011 sharing a beautiful, wooded model from the L E Knott Apparatus Company which illustrates, at a glance, the principle that the area of a circle is really 1/2 x radius x circumference.

 

The Best BBQ Chicken in the World

The best BBQ chicken in the world is “beer in the butt” chicken. I heard about this way of cooking chicken on a grill many years ago, tried it and was hooked. Apparently, I am not the only one. I did a Google search and found more than 16,000,000 entries for beer in the butt chicken on the web.

A Perspective from Picasso

Picasso was on a long train ride, on one of those trains that has seats facing each other. Across from him sat a man who recognized him, but said nothing for a good 30 minutes, and then began mumbling to himself, “don’t like it. ….can’t understand it….shouldn’t be allowed…”

After a few of these comments, Picasso interrupted him and asked him, “What are you talking about?”

The man said, “Modern art. It’s too abstract. I don’t understand it, Galleries shouldn’t show it.”

“What should they show?” Picasso asked.

“Realism. They should show reality, the way the world really is.”

“Give me an example,” Picasso asked, and the man pulled out his wallet and showed a picture of his wife. “This is a picture of my wife. This is realism. This is how the real world is.”

Picasso looked at it, turning it over and said, “My, she’s awfully small, …and awfully flat.”

New Spin on an Old Poem for Amateur Astronomers

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house… "  is the way the classic poem by Major Henry Livingston Jr. 1748 – 1828,  begins. Over the years, 849 variations have been created each with different spins and Matthew Monroe has complied everyone of them.

Some are about Chanukah, like:
Twas the month after Chanukah, and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I’d nibble, the latkas I’d taste
At Chanukah parties had gone to my waist.

Some are about computers, like:
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a peripheral was stirring, not even a mouse;
The modem was hung by the keyboard with care
In hopes that a download soon would be there.

But my favorite of all is about amateur astronomers. This version is credited to Jane Houston Jones of San Rafael, CA, which she wrote on Dec 21, 2002. She calls it

"The Week Around Solstice"
by Jane Houston Jones

University Astronomy 101 in Your Pocket

Now that you have discovered how much you love astronomy, do you regret not paying attention in your college classes, or kick yourself for not even taking an Astronomy class when you had the chance?

It’s not too late. In fact, you can listen and view Astronomy 101 classes from some of the top universities or listen to invited lectures by the scientists who are making the great discoveries we read about each day. Best of all, it’s completely free, and you can take it with you on your iPod or iPhone. A new world of learning is available to you at iTunesU.

All you need is a computer and internet access. Download Apple’s completely free iTunes program for the Mac or the PC. Go to the iTunes store and click on iTunesU listed on the left hand menu.

Gravitational Lensing in a Wine Glass

On May 20, 2009, Prof Patricia Burchat, the Chair of the Department of Physics at Stanford University, presented the last lecture in the 10th season of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures. She gave what I have found to be the best demonstration of gravitational lensing.

Of course, there are many examples of gravitational lensing in Hubble photos of galaxies. These are sometimes called Einstein rings and are the direct result of the bending of light by gravitational fields.

Life Long Learning at Your Fingertips

I’ve never given up my thirst for learning more about what interests me in the world. I went to school in Cambridge, MA, where there are 30 large universities in the area, each with weekly talks and seminars. I used to hop from seminar  to seminar, eating the free cookies and cakes and listening to the distinguished visitors from around the world.

With the web and my iPod, I can access the same quality speakers who are expert on almost any subject imaginable, but with the convenience of my schedule. I’ve found three important sources for incredibly great learning.

The 212th AAS Mtg in St. Louis, MO, June 1-5

Three themes permeated many of the sessions at the recent American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis, MO June 1-5, 2008.

1. The International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009 is going to be a BIG, world wide event.
2. The number of excellent astronomy related web resources are growing faster than any single individual can track them, let alone take advantage of them.
3. Data flow from the new ground based and space based observatories is escalating and we are going to be inundated with new discovery announcements from now on.