In writing about daily life in Iraq, I neglected to write about Gatorade bottles. Specifically, empty Gatorade bottles. I never went anywhere without one. I never had to use the one I kept in my backpack whenever I boarded a helicopter flight, but I always had one.
Neither Blackhawks nor Chinooks have latrines. And as some of their crew like to say, "We can stay up for hours." In any case, I made sure to hit the latrine before boarding every flight and had that bottle just in case the Blackhawk had to stay up longer than I could wait.
In all the convoy training we did at Fort Sill and in Kuwait, I had that same empty bottle just in case that convoy kept moving.
And I kept an empty bottle in my CHU, just in case. . .
My commander once announced that he only relieves himself three times a day. Any more than that is a waste of time. I agreed with him in principle, but in actual fact, I am 57 years old and that kind of schedule is a long way in my past.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Writing for the blog Periodic Tabloid: gravity and Pseudoscience
Recently the lead article in the Science Times profiled a string theorist who claims gravity does not exist.
Instead, physicist Erik Verlinde says “gravity is a consequence of the venerable laws of thermodynamics, which describe the behavior of heat and gases.” Verlinde is not denying the phenomenon nor expecting pigs to fly, he just wants to describe why gravity keeps us firmly on Earth.
Theories do have a history of falling out of favor. In the late 1600s, both Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton developed useful and mutually exclusive theories of how light travels. For Huygens, light was waves. For Newton, particles. Huygens got a big boost from Augustin-Jean Fresnel in the early 1800s when the French scientist described light as waves in the omnipresent ether.
Almost a century later, the ether theory was found to be false. And in the 20th century both the wave and particle theories of light turned out to be true at the same time.
As a history of science organization, CHF follows the fortunes of theories from their inception through their ascendance and acceptance, and on to their demise. We may one day see the demise of the theory of universal gravitation. Theories, as a rule, rise slowly and fitfully and fall like a rock tossed off a building—gravity accepted as true for now. In all science, minority positions like Verlinde’s are part of every discipline. But sometimes these minority positions leave science and go another way.
As such CHF also tracks the history of pseudoscience. For us, the rise of a theory that never gains scientific acceptance is as interesting as one that wins acceptance as a way of understanding material reality. For example, why did creation science evolve and thrive in the United States, just as this country became the world leader in science? In the middle of a country that boasts Caltech, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Apple, Intel, and Genentech sits the Creation Museum near Louisville, Kentucky. Inside Cain and Abel play with pet dinosaurs and the speed of light is considered variable.
Scientific theories are some of the most ingenious products of the human mind when based in fact. But even when they are not, the history of science in all of its forms is fascinating.
Theories do have a history of falling out of favor. In the late 1600s, both Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton developed useful and mutually exclusive theories of how light travels. For Huygens, light was waves. For Newton, particles. Huygens got a big boost from Augustin-Jean Fresnel in the early 1800s when the French scientist described light as waves in the omnipresent ether.
Almost a century later, the ether theory was found to be false. And in the 20th century both the wave and particle theories of light turned out to be true at the same time.
As a history of science organization, CHF follows the fortunes of theories from their inception through their ascendance and acceptance, and on to their demise. We may one day see the demise of the theory of universal gravitation. Theories, as a rule, rise slowly and fitfully and fall like a rock tossed off a building—gravity accepted as true for now. In all science, minority positions like Verlinde’s are part of every discipline. But sometimes these minority positions leave science and go another way.
As such CHF also tracks the history of pseudoscience. For us, the rise of a theory that never gains scientific acceptance is as interesting as one that wins acceptance as a way of understanding material reality. For example, why did creation science evolve and thrive in the United States, just as this country became the world leader in science? In the middle of a country that boasts Caltech, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Apple, Intel, and Genentech sits the Creation Museum near Louisville, Kentucky. Inside Cain and Abel play with pet dinosaurs and the speed of light is considered variable.
Scientific theories are some of the most ingenious products of the human mind when based in fact. But even when they are not, the history of science in all of its forms is fascinating.
Published here.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Visiting Pittsburgh--Nigel's First Foster Family
Today we got up at 3:45 am to drive to Pittsburgh for a math conference where my wife is a presenter. Our girls are working, traveling and otherwise occupied so only Nigel and Jacari came on the trip. Annalisa had meetings from 10am till 230pm then she and the boys drove to Dormont, 9 miles south of Pittsburgh to visit Nigel's first foster family. I rode there and got a chance to ride over Pittsburgh's Mount Washington, while they drove through the same mountain in the Liberty Tunnel.
The Sharbaugh family cared for Nigel for the first six weeks of his life--from when he left the hospital the day after he was born until six weeks later when we picked Nigel up and brought him to our home from their home.
The Sharbaughs cared for Nigel and 11 other newborn children in the first weeks of their lives, then turned them over to other families. Wow!
I admire them very much in the same way I admire running backs who can smash though hulking linemen or hockey players who can speed skate and shoot a blazing slap shot all in one motion. The Sharbaughs, the running back and the hockey player all can do something I can't do.
Imagine taking care of a newborn for weeks and weeks and then handing that little baby over to strangers--not once, but a dozen times. I can't. They are one amazing family. I'm glad we had a chance to visit them and get reacquainted ten years after they cared for baby Nigel.
[In case you were wondering, we are Nigel's second foster family. It was almost a year before all the paperwork was approved for the adoption.]
The Sharbaugh family cared for Nigel for the first six weeks of his life--from when he left the hospital the day after he was born until six weeks later when we picked Nigel up and brought him to our home from their home.
The Sharbaughs cared for Nigel and 11 other newborn children in the first weeks of their lives, then turned them over to other families. Wow!
I admire them very much in the same way I admire running backs who can smash though hulking linemen or hockey players who can speed skate and shoot a blazing slap shot all in one motion. The Sharbaughs, the running back and the hockey player all can do something I can't do.
Imagine taking care of a newborn for weeks and weeks and then handing that little baby over to strangers--not once, but a dozen times. I can't. They are one amazing family. I'm glad we had a chance to visit them and get reacquainted ten years after they cared for baby Nigel.
[In case you were wondering, we are Nigel's second foster family. It was almost a year before all the paperwork was approved for the adoption.]
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Quote for Today
In times of war, you often hear leaders--Christian, Jewish, and Muslim--saying, "God is on our side." But that isn't true. In war, God is on the side of refugees, widows, and orphans.
Greg Mortenson, as quoted in "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
", Penguin Books (2007) p. 239
Greg Mortenson, as quoted in "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
", Penguin Books (2007) p. 239
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Porthos Dies in the Night
When Annalisa and I were married 13 years ago yesterday, she had three cats--Athos, Porthos and Aramis. They are the Three Musketeers if you ready old books or watch bad movies. Of course the main Musketeer is D'Artagnan, and that is one criticism of the story for most of the past two centuries.
Actually, Aramis, who spent way too much time sitting in the middle of streets, died just before we were married. Athos, the more adventurous of the two remaining brothers, lived several years longer, but also succumbed to injuries from spending just that extra moment in the road.
Porthos lived a fairly long life for a cat. He and his brother Athos were excellent hunters. They left the remains of mice and baby bunnies near the back door so we could see how proficient they were in small furry animal population control. After the demise of Athos, Porthos was less inclined to hunt and, like many older carnivores, put on a lot of weight. At his weight peak, his hind feet would disappear under his fat when he sat down.
But like some obese people, he managed to remain healthy despite a sedentary lifestyle. In the last year he rapidly lost weight. Last night when I switched the laundry at midnight, Porthos was asleep on a small rug. He didn't move when I turned the light on, but I thought I saw him breathing. The next morning he had not moved. I checked. He was not breathing.
Porthos is buried in the flower garden near our garage between Athos and our dog Lucky.
We will be getting a dog in September after we return from vacation. We had been planning to get a dog for a while and now we won't have to worry that a new and energetic dog will torment our geriatric feline.
Actually, Aramis, who spent way too much time sitting in the middle of streets, died just before we were married. Athos, the more adventurous of the two remaining brothers, lived several years longer, but also succumbed to injuries from spending just that extra moment in the road.
Porthos lived a fairly long life for a cat. He and his brother Athos were excellent hunters. They left the remains of mice and baby bunnies near the back door so we could see how proficient they were in small furry animal population control. After the demise of Athos, Porthos was less inclined to hunt and, like many older carnivores, put on a lot of weight. At his weight peak, his hind feet would disappear under his fat when he sat down.
But like some obese people, he managed to remain healthy despite a sedentary lifestyle. In the last year he rapidly lost weight. Last night when I switched the laundry at midnight, Porthos was asleep on a small rug. He didn't move when I turned the light on, but I thought I saw him breathing. The next morning he had not moved. I checked. He was not breathing.
Porthos is buried in the flower garden near our garage between Athos and our dog Lucky.
We will be getting a dog in September after we return from vacation. We had been planning to get a dog for a while and now we won't have to worry that a new and energetic dog will torment our geriatric feline.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Flat Out of Luck
This morning I woke up at 0430 to drive 2 1/2 hours to a time trial race. The 20km race was the Master State Championship. It's not my favorite kind of race but I need the practice for the qualifying races for the National Senior Games. I also volunteered to help clean up after the race since it was jointly sponsored by my race team, BiKyle/Mazur Coaching, and the Quaker City Wheelmen.
My start time was 0835:30. I started warming up at eight. I felt really good after the warmup. The course was out and back beside a lake. It started gently uphill then rolled through a series of rolling up and hills and flats. I started fast and felt good, 26mph on the initial, hill 29mph on the flat. I was flying, probably too fast. But it didn't matter because 1/2 mile inI hit one of the little rocks on the edge of the road and heard--hissssssssssssssssss.
And my race was over.
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