Vinny Gambini once said:It's a procedure. Like rebuilding a carburetor has a procedure. You know, when you rebuild a carburetor, the first thing you do is you take the carburetor off the manifold? Supposing you skip the first step, and while you're replacing one of the jets, you accidentally drop the jet, it goes down the carburetor, rolls along the manifold, and goes into the … [Read more...] about A Good Learning Experience for NASA
Science
The Earth and Moon
My astronomy correspondent sent me this very cool image of the Earth and the Moon, as seen from near the sun: Click for a larger image. Source and explanation here. … [Read more...] about The Earth and Moon
P≠NP (maybe)
Wow! Vinay Deolalikar, a Hewlett Packard researcher, has published his proof that P≠NP. It may not mean much to most of you, but P versus NP is the greatest unsolved problem of theoretical computer science. A complete explanation of the problem would be lengthy, but let me see if I can summarize it. P represents a large set of computer science problems that are known to be … [Read more...] about P≠NP (maybe)
A Scientific Digression About Inductive Cooking
I had a frustrating science discussion with a friend the other day. Somehow, our conversation had turned to the subject of cooking -- about which I know nearly nothing -- and my friend mentioned that someday he'd like to have an induction cooktop. He told me that when you place a pan on an induction cooker and turn it on, the food will begin to sizzle almost immediately. To me … [Read more...] about A Scientific Digression About Inductive Cooking
Is Consistency Enough?
People I trust have been saying good things about Jeff Gamso's blog, Gamso - For the Defense, and I've been meaning to check it out for months now. I finally got around to it, and I'm glad I did, because I discovered a fascinating post called "Hobgoblins of Little Minds."It's about what experts mean when they say a piece of evidence is "consistent": The criminalist who did … [Read more...] about Is Consistency Enough?