Category Archives: General Science

Interesting Historical Note About Cheese

Posted on 27-February-2013 by mathscinotes

Interesting Historical Note About Cheese I like blog posts that go into the history of common things. This post does a nice job discussing cheese and its long history.

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Great Article on Recreating Shackleton's Whiskey

Posted on 19-January-2013 by mathscinotes

While I am not a drinker, I do admire the impressive technology that Scottish distillers used to duplicate the lost recipe for Shackleton's whiskey. They were even able to identify where the peat used in its formulation came from. Continue reading →

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Fond Memories of Fast-Moving Milk Bottles and Toy Boats

Posted on 19-January-2013 by mathscinotes

Last night on "How It's Made" they were showing machines filling bottles with a beverage. This show stimulated my memories from first-grade when I was shown a 16mm movie about how milk came to our door every morning. I still can remember almost every detail of this movie. The story started with a cow eating grass and ended with a bottle of milk on a kitchen table. What really caught my eye was the filling of the milk bottles by machines. It seemed like magic the way the bottles were put into a fast-moving row, filled while moving in a circle, and then capped. Continue reading →

Posted in General Science, Osseo, Personal | 1 Comment

Outdoor Enclosure Temperature Profile Math

Posted on 9-December-2012 by mathscinotes

Introduction We build products that mount on the outside of homes -- homes that can be anywhere in the world. This means that the temperatures can be brutally cold (e.g. -46 °C in Bemidji, MN) or brutally hot (e.g. 49 … Continue reading →

Posted in General Science | 6 Comments

Skydiving Math

Posted on 17-October-2012 by mathscinotes

Introduction I must admit that I was amazed at what Felix Baumgartner accomplished. As I watched the video, I found myself focusing on the video's display of Felix's speed versus time. It was really interesting to see how he quickly … Continue reading →

Posted in General Mathematics, General Science | 1 Comment

Not Every Scientist Starts Out a Prodigy

Posted on 10-October-2012 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day A father is only as happy as his least happy child. - Dr. Phil. This is something a dad understands. I have to share this news story about John Gurdon, who is one of the 2012 … Continue reading →

Posted in General Science, Management | 2 Comments

Fuel Efficiency Math

Posted on 4-October-2012 by mathscinotes

A number of months ago, I wrote a blog post that analyzed the fuel efficiency claims of CSX, which was expressed in ton-miles per gallon. While doing some other efficiency work, I stumbled upon a web site that nicely summarized … Continue reading →

Posted in General Science | 4 Comments

How Much Radioactive Material is in a Smoke Alarm?

Posted on 28-September-2012 by mathscinotes

Quote of the Day MacArthur could never see another sun, or even a moon for that matter, in the heavens, as long as he was the sun. - Dwight Eisenhower on Douglas MacArthur Introduction I was watching this Youtube video … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, General Science | 5 Comments

The Ultimate Lego-Based Analog Computer

Posted on 25-September-2012 by mathscinotes

I find this video incredible. I have heard of people reconstructing the Antikythera mechanism and I have even seen a reproduction in Bozeman, Montana. However, I have never heard of one built out of Legos before.

Posted in General Science | 2 Comments

Volcano Math

Posted on 24-July-2012 by mathscinotes

I was listening to Planetary Radio the other night and they had an interesting interview with Rosaly Lopes, a researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who has discovered more volcanoes than anyone else. Her discoveries were of volcanoes on other … Continue reading →

Posted in General Science, software | Tagged , | 4 Comments