T.C. McCarthy’s “Exogene”

Posted on April 27, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Most of us are familiar with the Greek myth of Pandora and her eponymous box.  In a standard telling, Pandora is given the box by Zeus but is explicitly told never to open it.  Pandora’s curiosity gets the better of her, however, and when she raises the lid she releases all the evils of the world.  She attempts to put the lid back on, but it is too late — what is done cannot be undone.

The myth of Pandora came to my mind while pondering the novel Exogene, by T.C. McCarthy.

In this second book of the Subterrene War trilogy, one gets the ominous feeling that, like Pandora, humanity is being enticed by the allure of short-term gain into making decisions that will lead to doom.  As happened with the first book in the trilogy, Germline, I found Exogene pretty much impossible to put down.

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Posted in Science fiction | 2 Comments

Physics demonstrations: the Pythagoras cup

Posted on April 26, 2012 by skullsinthestars

The past few weeks I’ve been preparing a lot of entertaining demonstrations of physics principles for a Science and Technology Expo to be held at UNC Charlotte on April 29th.  I thought I’d start writing short posts highlighting the various gadgets and gizmos I’ve encountered.

At first glance, it seems like a very ordinary, if ornate, drinking cup:

There is an odd bump in the center of the cup, but otherwise, it seems quite normal, and if it is filled to a certain level can be used without incident.

However, if the cup is filled higher than the bump, the drink starts to drain out of the bottom — in fact, the cup will completely empty itself!

This is the trick of the Pythagorus cup, also known as the Pythagorean cup or the Tantalus cup!  It can be used as a nice prank to play on someone (don’t use red wine, unless you need to replace your carpeting anyway), but also serves as a nice demonstration of some physics of fluids.

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Posted in Physics demos | 20 Comments

The Giant’s Shoulders #46 is out!

Posted on April 23, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Delayed a week due to technical issues, the long-awaited 46th edition of The Giant’s Shoulders history of science blog carnival is up at Providentia!  It’s a doozy, featuring things such as:

  • How Jewish leaders reacted to Darwin’s theory of evolution,
  • An astronomer who prepared years to record an event but fainted as it was happening,
  • A medieval cookbook that shares recipes on things as exotic as unicorns,
  • Emile du Chatelet, a brilliant female mathematician, and much more!

Thanks to Romeo Vitelli for hosting an excellent carnival!

The next edition of The Giant’s Shoulders will be hosted by The Medical Heritage Library and entries are due by May 15.  Entries can be submitted directly to the host blog or throughblogcarnival.com, as usual.

Posted in General science, Science news | Leave a comment

An American in Spain, part 5: Seville Cathedral

Posted on April 21, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Part 5 of a photo travelogue of my recent trip to Spain with my wife and her family! (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

Updated some descriptions thanks to commenter VA!

When we woke up on Monday morning, the massive crowds of Palm Sunday had to a large extent dispersed, though the city of Seville was still quite lively.  We had a lot to do, so we wasted little time in making our way to the Seville Cathedral to do some sightseeing.  There was already a lengthy queue waiting to tour the inside of the massive building.

Entrance to the Seville Cathedral.

It is hard to do justice to the size of the Seville Cathedral (Catedral de Santa María de la Sede).  It is the third-largest church in the world, with some 11,500 square feet of interior space, and the largest Gothic cathedral in the world.  Like much of the early architecture in southern Spain (Andalusia), its architectural style is a curious mix of Christian and Muslim tastes.

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Posted in Travel | 4 Comments

“Mathematical Methods” on sale for $62 at Cambridge!

Posted on April 21, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Just a quick note: for those who might have been interested in my textbook, Mathematical Methods for Optical Physics and Engineering, but who found the list price a bit expensive, Cambridge University Press is selling it for 30% off until April 30th!

If my calculations are correct, £38.50 = $62, so it’s quite inexpensive right now — grab a copy while you can!

I should also note that Cambridge has put a large number of books in their optics catalog at 30% off until the end of the month.  Some great titles looks to be available for really cheap (including mine).

Posted in Personal | 3 Comments

The Moon-Maker, by Arthur Train and Robert Williams Wood

Posted on April 20, 2012 by skullsinthestars

The 1916 novel The Moon-Maker by Arthur Train and Robert Williams Wood is, even at first glance, an unusual book for a number of reasons.  First, it is a science fiction novel written in 1916, long before science fiction had become a genre in its own right.  Second, it is a sequel to The Man Who Rocked the Earth, written in an era when sequels were relatively rare.  Third, it was co-written by a very important physicist, Robert Williams Wood, whose work I’ve talked about in several previous posts (here and here).

The book is quite ground-breaking in a number of other ways as well, however, not the least of which is its early, unique and accurate depiction of interplanetary space travel!  Having just finished reading it last week, I thought I’d share some thoughts on this intriguing novel.

WARNING: since The Moon-Maker is a direct sequel to The Man Who Rocked the Earth, this review necessarily contains spoilers about its predecessor.

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Posted in Science fiction | 4 Comments

An American in Spain, part 4: Onward to Seville

Posted on April 18, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Part 4 of a photo travelogue of my recent trip to Spain with my wife and her family! (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

On Sunday, we got up relatively early to catch a train from Madrid to Seville.  The train ride was about 3 hours, but quite frankly it was nice to have an excuse to sit and relax for a while after the previous three days of intense sightseeing!  Even Madrid’s Atocha Station was worth seeing, however, due to its lush tropical interior.

Interior of Madrid's Atocha Station.

The train ride was excellent!  The seats were comfortable and roomy, and had convenient power outlets.  Perhaps the most remarkable thing: at one of the stops, technical difficulties caused a 15 minute delay in the train.  When we got underway again, it was announced that all passengers would receive a full refund because of that delay!  An airline that adopted such a policy would be out of business within an hour.

Seville is an old city with a rich history stretching back almost three thousand years.  Perhaps the most notable events were the conquest of the city by the Moors in 712 C.E., which brought Muslim art and culture into the region, and the Catholic reconquest of the area by King Fernando III of Castille in 1248 C.E.   The city  maintains an interesting mix of Muslim and Christian cultural styles, especially in its old landmarks, as we will see.

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An American in Spain, part 3: Palaces and parks in Madrid

Posted on April 13, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Part 3 of a photo travelogue of my recent trip to Spain with my wife and her family! (Part 1, Part 2)

As I’ve noted in the past parts of this travelogue, our hotel in Madrid was located very close to the Palacio Real: the Royal Palace.  For the beginning of our third day in Madrid (well, the third day for my wife and I), we went to take a tour of the palace itself!

We approached from the north side, taking in the Gardens of Sabatini yet again.

Palacio Real, from the Jardines de Sabatini.

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An American in Spain, part 2: Art and Egypt in Madrid

Posted on April 11, 2012 by skullsinthestars

Part 2 of a photo travelogue of my recent trip to Spain with my wife and her family.

Though my wife and I had arrived in Spain smoothly on Thursday the 29th of March, things didn’t go so well for her family.  My sister-in-law (SIL), mother-in-law (MIL) and niece-in-law #2 (NIL2) were supposed to fly in the same day from Cleveland.  However, the connecting flight from Cleveland to Newark was inexplicably delayed, causing them to miss their Madrid connection.  Further screw-ups by United Airlines (yeah, I’m calling you out by name) resulted in the trio being stranded overnight in Newark.  Their bags would be lost along the way, as well, and wouldn’t all catch up to us until we reached Seville several days later.

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An American in Spain, part 1: Madrid

Posted on April 10, 2012 by skullsinthestars

At the end of March, I had the great opportunity to take a trip to Spain with my wife and her family.  My wife’s niece is spending a college semester in Granada, and we traveled out to visit her during her spring break, spending several days in Madrid, Seville, and Granada.  I took a helluva lot of pictures during the trip — probably some 500 total — and I thought I’d share some images and thoughts about the trip.

The first few days were spent in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and I’ll start with posts about our stay in that city.  Many of my pictures are panoramas stitched together with multiple images, so don’t be surprised to see the same person in several places in the same picture, or people who are only half there!

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Posted in Travel | 5 Comments