Pushing Up

I'm not saying that push-ups are the most important thing, or even that they are the greatest desert ever, but why on Earth do they make push-ups in a flavor other than orange?

The only reason to anyone would eat a red push-up is because there wasn't an orange push-up available.  So why not make more orange push-ups?

And don't even get me started on purple-flavored push-ups.

I have so much to say

It's hard to fathom how a benevolent creator might have dreamed this up.  This parasite attaches itself to the base of its host's tongue, cutting off the blood supply.  Once the tongue atrophies and dies, the parasite becomes the host's tongue.

Stephen King has nothing on nature.

Alternative Engineering

Engineering, in a broad sense, can be defined as the application of science to solve problems. 

We have all sorts of engineering, mechanical, electrical, software, civil, etc.  Each of these disciplines can be used to solve problems and to keep people safe, to save lives and to perform mission critical applications.  It would be hard to imagine accepting "alternative engineering".  If a company answered a request for quote from a state government by saying that they were using an alternative form of engineering, developed by ancient Chinese engineers, it really couldn't get through the process.  If the company made the claim that all of the engineering firms that normally pitch and win contracts are actually conspiring to keep bridge prices high, and to keep bridges constantly in danger of failing just to perpetuate the need for engineering bridge-building companies, the state government would most likely think of the company as cranks and would throw away their business cards.  But if they believed the company's claims, even a little, they might ask that company for evidence of those claims, and they'd certainly require a pilot study and proof of these better, cheaper bridges before they (the government) would allow their voting constituents to drive their cars on these new bridges.

The same is true for any kind of engineering that is important, like air traffic control software, medical equipment for hospitals, airframe manufacturing, etc, etc, etc.  We demand these engineers, organizations, and companies use the best practices which have been proven by science.  Stepping away from the long-standing traditional, tried-and-true path of building these things happens, but only after the process is thoroughly vetted against the traditional methods with plenty of science and testing behind it. Again, this is for mission critical or life-supporting applications.

Medicine is a kind of engineering in this sense.  It is the application of basic science to solve a life-saving or life-supporting function.  It is certainly more directly critical to those clients who seeks its services.  Why are we so much more willing to accept "alternative medicine" than we are to accept "alternative engineering"?

Strange Consequences

On the problem that it's easier for a resident of Peoria to find the best restaurant in Manhattan than for that resident to find the best restaurant in Peoria:

The problem is the googlization of information. Google taught us that the masses -- en masse have something valuable for us: information on the collective mind. The problem is that when you diverge from the center, the fidelity of that information to your needs is exponentially eroded at the square of the distance

Newish Idea

I think I'll use this blog going forward to do a little something more than just pictures. I think I'll start posting thoughts as well--which will be new. We'll see how it goes.

Derby!

Ethan's car took 5th place in speed and 3rd place in design in the Boy Scouts' pinewood derby!

Mr. Squirrel

Obviously squirrels eat well in our backyard.

When good faeries go bad...

There are some pretty shots, too, but I like this one the best.

Aftrer the Laser

After the laser shot Ethan's chin, this is what he looked like.

ESD Beat Down

And here's my boy after he fought the playground and lost.

the great pop-sci book project

Jennifer Ouellette has proposed a project by which all her readership list the top 100 science books of all time and she will compile a moderated list. I offer my list, and I note that she included science fiction in her list, so I will do so as well.

1. The Origin of the Species, Charles Darwin
2. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, Richard Feynman
3. Phantoms in the Brain, V. S. Ramachandran
4. The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks
5. A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
6. *Godel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter
7. The Physics of Star Trek, Lawrence Krauss
8. The First Three Minutes, Steven Weinberg
9. Neuromancer, William Gibson
10. The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan
11. *The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins
12. Wonderful Life, Stephen J. Gould
13. The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins
14. The Astonishing Hypothesis, Francis Crick
15. The Physics of the Buffyverse, Jennifer Oeullette

New Flower

From the front bushes of a house I will paint on September 5th. I missed the bumble bees, but the flowers stayed nice and still.

Baby Bunnies

What you're looking at is the top-most baby bunny from the nest of baby bunnies we discovered this evening in the kids' sandbox.

They are cute on a scale nearly unimaginable.

The Homestead

My parents-in-law's house, a beauty out in the woods of Northern Illinois.

Go cats!

Forgive the cell-phone shot.

This picture is the top-seeded NU Wildcats women celebrating their 12th goal against 8th seeded Princeton in their quarterfinal game. I got to see the first half, which included several goals by the 'cats including an over-the-shoulder shot near the end of the half.

Into the Woods

Run Away!

My children tear off into the woods, as fun a time as we've had for months.

Lamium?Vinca

I think this is lamium.Turns out it's Vinca It's a pretty little ground-cover flower that my father-in-law is partial to.

Snowy Fields

In the forest preserve near the house. The tracks are all animal tracks.

A Harsh Mistress

Great eclipse experience tonight. The best and most complete eclipse of my life.

This is hand-held with my zoom.

Beautiful Girl

Sometimes Margot takes a picture that takes my breath away.