"The slide rule, talisman until recently of the honorable profession of engineer, is in the electronic age as obsolete as any Bronze Age relic. An archaeologist of the future, finding a slide rule and wondering about it, might note that it is handy for drawing straight lines or for buttering bread. But to assume that either of these was its original purpose violates the economy assumption. A mere straight-edge or butter knife would not have needed a sliding member in the middle of the rule. Moreover, if you examine the spacing of the graticules you find precise logarithmic scales, too meticulously disposed to be accidental. It would dawn on the archaeologist that, in an age before electronic calculators, this pattern would constitute an ingenious trick for rapid multiplication and division. The mystery of the slide rule would be solved by reverse engineering, employing the assumption of intelligent and economical design." [p. 103]

(Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:17 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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"Look at the stars! Look, look up at the skies!
O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air!"

(Gerard Manley Hopkins)

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Anybody who has owned a dog will realize the truth of this tale: Dogs know a lot more than they let on.

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Via BoingBoing, a link to a collection of videos from last year's Singularity Summit. See Ray Kurzweil, Eric Drexler, Cory Doctorow and Mr. GEB himself!

And they say that I am a strange loop!

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Because there is nothing like the warm glow of CRT's, oscilloscopes with those wonderous green screens, analog tuning dials and more...may I present The Cathode Ray Tube Site!

I am still annoyed with my grandmother for dumping (dumping!) all of my grandfather's "ham radio" and "hi-fi" equipment without asking me if I was interested in it. I loved all that stuff as a kid and would have lept at the chance of even buying it from her and storing it until I could use it. Dang it, she even threw out his wooden sliderule!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:20 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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John Scalzi interviews the ex-planet Pluto.

IÂ’m not going to sue. Who am I going to sue? You think the International Astronomical Union has any money to speak of? ThereÂ’s a reason the most popular event at an astronomerÂ’s conference is the free buffet.

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Cold fusion keeps coming back! No word when I can install a reactor in the basement, though.

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The celestial object with that innocent name is actually the biggest supernova yet discovered. When will we see such a site in our own galaxy? Astronomers are keeping an eye on one very likely candidate.

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Looking like something that Spirit or Opportunity might see on the surface of Mars, today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is actually a shot from our own Death Valley.

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Bruce Moomaw writes about Cassini's exploration of Saturn's moon Lapetus. Lapetus? Lapetus? That's a new one. Maybe he's talking about Saturn's mysterious moon Iapetus, featured in Sir Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2001: A Space Odyssey (where it was misspelled as Japetus)?

Check, please! Spell check, please!

(Addendum: May 9, 2007: See the update, below.) more...

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How a navigator aboard a US Coast Guard cutter used the "primitive" navigation techniques of the Polynesians to traverse the distance from Hawaii to Alaska (Adobe Acrobat file). Amazing stuff!

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The list can now be viewed here.

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