also known as Seth, J. B., Chetan Anand, and Gian Chand. “The effect of moist air on the resistance of pencil lines.” Proceedings of the Physical Society 41.1 (1928): 29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0959-5309/41/1/303
Author: scruss
amalgam squidge
Got yet more mercury alloy trowelled into my head tonight by Dr Choi. I have to say, the best bit about going to the dentist is the squidgy noise the filling paste makes as it compresses into the cavity. It means it’s nearly over, and the burring slow drill is banished until next time.
frying tonight!
We have 22 eentsy platy fry bopping around in the isolation tank. They may be small, but they’re crafty and difficult to net. There are about 3 I didn’t manage to catch, and they’re (figuratively) thumbing their noses at me from under floating fronds.
no snooze
The Science of Sleep is good.
uptown senga
The Yorkville matron, clad in too much Burberry, doesn’t realise she looks like a chav.
big boy’s book of big things
Christmas came early. With money from Carlyle, I bought a reproduction of Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary, a three-tome work from the 1870s which catalogued mechanisms, devices and machinery known at the time. It’s the ultimate nerd read.
You can browse two electronic versions online:
- at UMich; large page images.
- at Princeton Imaging; in DjVu format, this is a little easier to read if you have the right plugin.
I have to say, though, that the dead tree version is a splendid read.
in a jam
I was supposed to have a book on the Golden Ratio waiting for me, but instead they had the Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving.
that was easy
I upgraded Catherine’s eMac last night, which up until then was probably the last Mac on the planet running 10.1. It now talks to the network better, and runs quite a bit faster.
spider in the house
Ole! Tarantula is in the house, but where’s the promised bonus CD?
pastry abuse
Excel can (but probably shouldn’t) be used to make charts like this:
shiver me statistical tables!
Today would be an apt day to revisit The Wit and Wisdom of Paul Hart, part 37(b)
damp bandit
I was busy making Möbius strips out of till roll, when I became aware of a little face watching me at the window. A very damp raccoon had one paw up on the window sill, and was looking at me as if to ask, “What are you doing making single-sided paper figures on a night like this?”
faint praise
Dylan’s Modern Times is a bit, uh, adult contemporary.
beautiful bike
Sorry there’s no picture, but there’s a beautiful Pedersen parked outside Chester TTC. It’s the original tallbike.
segue to black
Could Segway’s voluntary recall be the end of it? Every single Segway needs a software update for safe operation. Corvair; Pinto; Segway?
This is the Michelin commercial theme …
Manfred Mann and Mike Hug – The Michelin Theme
(More info at discogs. MP3 originally nicked from Steve York‘s site, and then lost on an obscure corner of my backup drive. Steve played bass on this track.)
more big boats
Algoisle loads grain.
Algosoo loads salt.
oheeay
I’m at the OEA conference. The energy industry is a strange little ecosystem.
Nice view of the falls, though.
Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine is almost perfect.
no, it just isn’t
Finding a source of “Unlimited free energy” would be the most unimaginably heinous crime possible against humanity. For it would inevitably turn the planet into a cinder. Hastening an isoentropic heat death. If you find a free energy source, you damn well better find a new free energy sink as well. Even then, the relative flux rates will still nail you.
— Don Lancaster, How to Bash Pseudoscience.