This page contains a video of something every science student has imagined, but very few see: the demonstration that, in a vacuum, all objects fall at the same speed. Usually you learn of this demonstration and are left to imagine it, since setting it up is somewhat complicated. On rare occasions, this demonstration is actually carried out with an evacuated cylinder of glass containing a feather and a bullet or some other dense object. I’ve never seen such a demonstration, and I’ve certainly never seen it carried out on the scale documented in this video. read more

Thanks to an error by the company who provides my web server, Tracie and I lost about 12 hours worth of email. If you wrote to us on Wednesday evening through Thursday morning (about 9:30AM MST), you should re-send your message.

And yes, it’s been awhile since my last post.

The Japanese writing above the Fujicolor sign saya “New Photo”. I wonder whether they were able to sell their last rolls of film before they expired.

Too tired to write a post or embed photos. Click here for some photos taken today.

A typical Japanese public-service sign. The thinking seems to be that the mental image of having your fingers wedged in a subway door is pretty disturbing, so they lighten it up a bit by adding a couple of cute animal characters.

I saw this on the chalkboard at Whole Foods today:

I was indeed saddened by the news of the death of the last Ramone. They were a big favorite of mine during my teen years, for their humor as much as for their music. While I can’t say that I’ve listened to them much in recent years, it’s just sad that the world no longer has any Ramones at all.

As a follow-up to a previous post: TIME has posted a video summarizing their conclusions about food in general and fat in particular. It’s worth watching.

All I can do right now is laugh. Well, laugh and write this post, I guess.

It has just come to my attention that mainstream media has caught up with the news that eating fat is not bad for us after all. The current TIME Magazine’s cover bears a succinct directive: Eat Butter. The cover story (which I have not read) is titled Ending the War on Fat. None of this particularly comes as a surprise to me since, just shy of two years ago, Tracie and I switched to a paleo-based philosophy of eating after her investigations convinced her it was a better approach than the high-carb/whole-grain/low-fat party line we’ve all been fed for decades. Since then, the evidence has only mounted that fat is not bad for us–in fact, it’s necessary and essential. read more

If you follow me on Twitter (either directly or via the sidebar on this blog), you’ve probably seen my “Sunday morning” photos. They’re snapshots of the back deck (usually), taken every Sunday morning (usually), and usually involve flowers. I think I’ve been taking them for about a year or so. I never had any particular reason for taking them; mostly they’ve been an excuse to play with the filters in various iOS photo apps. Maybe they’ve also served as a sort of anchor of regularity, a moment or two of tranquility every week despite whatever else is going on. read more