Odd Lots
- Quick reminder: If I’m on your blogroll, or if you have a link to Contra on any of your pages, please check to see that the new URL is in place. Thanks!
- Pete Albrecht sent me a link to a fantastic technical animation that “assembles” the Space Station one module at a time, while displaying a timeline on the right indicating when each part was orbited and attached. I knew roughly how the thing went together, but this is almost like Cliff Notes. Takes just a couple of minutes to watch. Don’t miss it!
- Again from Pete is a site with more information on steam turbine locomotives. I had heard of the Jawn Henry (That’s how the Norfolk & Western spelled it) but had not seen a photo until I followed the link in the article. The main problem with coal-fired turbine electrics appears to have been coal dust in the electric motors. Makes sense, but I would never have thought of it.
- Henry Law weighed in from the UK on the merits of Marmite, the original beer yeast leftovers toast spread, as far superior to those of Vegemite. (See my entry for January 4, 2009.) I may have to let Henry duke it out with Eric the Fruit Bat over this, as I have not tasted either but will try some as soon as I don’t have to buy a whole jar. Sam’l Bassett suggests that its flavor is heavy on the umami, which makes me a little nervous. I don’t taste MSG at all–flavor enhancer is not a word I’d use for it–but it makes me feel almighty strange, even in very small amounts.
- The Boston Globe, of all things, published a piece stating strongly that cities are really, really really bad places to live from the standpoint of health and clear thinking. I learned that twenty years ago; nice to see that the mainstream media is giving the idea some air. Alas, their answer–more parks–is treating the symptoms, not the disease. The disease is overcrowding, and the answer is to revitalize small towns. But that’s just me, and what do I know about quality of life?
- I had long known there are “large” Lego blocks called Duplo, but it wasn’t until Katie Beth got a set for this past Christmas that I had ever seen Mega Bloks, a sort of “house-brand” Lego and widely despised as a cheap imitation. However, even though Mega has both a Lego and a Duplo clone, they also have Maxi Bloks, which are larger than Duplo and so large, in fact, that no adult human being is likely to be able to swallow them, much less a two-year-old. This was a good idea. I want Katie to be comfortable with the idea of building things, and Maxi Bloks make it unnecessary to wait any longer.
- The February Sky & Telescope has a very defensive editorial from Robert Naeye, countering a tidal wave of accusations that S&T has gone the way of Scientific American and has been “dumbed down” in terms of scientific content. I don’t have a link to the editorial online, but its core point is so silly I groaned. Naeye basically said that “We’re not getting dumber–you’re getting smarter!” Um…no. You’re getting dumber. I had been a subscriber for 25 years or so with just a few gaps. I think I have a sense for where it was when I came to it, versus where it is now.
- I’m editing this with Zoundry Raven, as I have since I stumbled on it a couple of weeks ago. I’ve used Raven enough now so that I can recommend it without significant hesitation. The Zoundry business model is interesting (albeit difficult to describe) but it’s also optional–you don’t need to participate to use the software.
- Hey. I didn’t get this for Christmas. Neither did you. But boy, the 12-year-old in me ached a little when I saw it…
- I’m amazed that I never knew this, but the Anglican term for the Feast of the Holy Innocents (December 28) is “Childermas.” He doesn’t use the word, but arguably the best song James Taylor ever wrote is about the Three Kings, Herod, and the Holy Innocents. “Steer clear of royal welcomes / Avoid the big to-do. / A king who would slaughter the innocents / Will not cut a deal for you.” Indeed. Avoid all kings. Keep them in chains when you can–even the ones we believe that we elect.
Posted in: Odd Lots.
Tagged: aerospace · astronomy · publishing · religion · software · toys · trains
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Lego also makes blocks called Primo which sound like Maxi Blocks. You can’t really build a whole lot with them, they’re best for stacking. But even Duplo are large enough that we don’t worry about choking hazard with our 10 month old. Our two-year-old has been playing with Duplo for a long time and enjoys it quite a bit.
I’ve not seen those, but you’re right–and it would be interesting to know which company originated the large size and which copied it.
Duplo is a great concept because it meshes with the smaller, “regular sized” Lego blocks and parts. If Katie takes to the Mega system, I’ll start shopping for a Duplo set. I already have a conventional Lego set in the basement waiting for the girls to grow into them. (They’re now 8 months and 26 months.) And my hope is that by 2025, they’re stacking carbon atoms and programming in NANOTRAN. (All in upper case, of course.)
I’ve had both Marmite and Vegemite, and for me Marmite is the clear winner. It’s not a taste that everyone will enjoy, though I do. And if you do try it, remember that a little goes a long way.
As for S&T, they have surely dumbed down. I sputtered a bit reading that editorial as well. To be fair, S&T has probably dumbed down less then most other amateur science oriented publications. But to deny that they have at all is just not true.
I remember when I was a member of the Astronomy Club of Akron – this would be somewhere around 1978-79 – a group of us loaded into a Vega station wagon and went to a star party at some small observatory out in the middle of nowhere. Wish I could recall where it was.
Anyway, someone there was *giving away* many complete years of S&T, and a few of the boxes contain the Amateur Astronomer bulletins from WAY back. Nobody would load them up… except for me. I hurriedly loaded 10-12 boxes into that Vega before anyone changed their mind.
Sadly I lost them all in a fire in 1983. But what memories of the thousands of pages of great historical reading…R