Monthly Archives: February 2018

Cabin Is Complete

Posted on 25-February-2018 by mathscinotes

My cabin construction project is now complete. My wife and I are now beginning to furnish our new home, which will take some time. I continue to work on the garage construction myself, which will take until sometime in May to finish. Overall, our planning was good and there were no major surprises. The one area of difficulty that I did not fully appreciate is the remoteness of the site. Before you go to the site, you need to plan out every possible tool or part that you will need while there. Continue reading →

Posted in Construction, Personal | 12 Comments

Minnesotans In the Olympics

Posted on 24-February-2018 by mathscinotes

I spend a lot of time in northern Minnesota now that I have a home there. I have been surprised as to how popular curling is in the area (Figure 1). The US curling team at the 2018 Olympics is dominated by people from northern Minnesota. I also notice that there are quite a few Minnesotans participating in the games other sports – the numbers are large enough that the New York Times has even written an article called "Team USA? More Like Team Minnesota" on the topic (PDF of the article). Our state does not have a huge population, ~5 million, and most of that population is concentrated around Minneapolis and St. Paul. The northern part of the state is only sparsely populated as it is covered with national forests and wilderness areas. Continue reading →

Posted in Excel, Statistics | Comments Off on Minnesotans In the Olympics

Time for a Job Change

Posted on 12-February-2018 by mathscinotes

My company is changing its approach to hardware development, and after much soul-searching, I have decided to volunteer for layoff. I do not have any immediate plans – it is just time for a change. I will continue to write on technical topics because math, electronics, and software are in my blood. Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | 6 Comments

Smallest Rocket to Put Payload Into Earth Orbit

Posted on 6-February-2018 by mathscinotes

I just read a news article about Japan launching a 3 kg satellite into orbit using a 9.7-meter-long, two-stage rocket called the SS-520 (Figure 1). The 9.7 meter length was interesting to me because I recalled an Air & Space magazine article from 1999 that stated that the smallest rocket capable of achieving Earth orbit would be "about 30 feet long." Since 9.7 meters is 31.8 feet long, it appears that Japan's SS-520 is very near the lower size limit for rocket that can put an object into Earth orbit. Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Space | 5 Comments