Polymath (n): A person who has extensive knowledge in many different areas
The country of Switzerland is well known for their simultaneous neutrality and preparedness. Having remained neutral during both world wars, they are also not a member of NATO nor the European Union, despite being surrounded by member nations. They also boast a robust emergency preparedness system, with a goal of having a nuclear shelter within Read More …
I do hope that all of you got a chance to see the aurora this past weekend. It was certainly impressive from where I was. This was the strongest geomagnetic storm since 2003. I drove out to Camano Island north of Seattle to get a good look (along with a lot of other people). I Read More …
It’s May! And I recently visited the Museum of Flight in Seattle. So have a post about those things! Perhaps the most widely recognized distress signal is the SOS. This simple Morse code message consists of three dots, three dashes, then three dots. (Although it is often referred to as “SOS”, as there are no Read More …
Traveling around Washington State, you sometimes see big, imposing signs along the highway reading “ENTERING APPLE MAGGOT QUARANTINE AREA – DO NOT TRANSPORT HOMEGROWN TREE FRUIT BEYOND THIS POINT”. These signs demarcate the boundaries of the Apple Maggot Quarantine Area. This quarantine area was set up by the Washington State Department of Agriculture to help Read More …
Today as I was snacking on some tortilla chips and guacamole, I noticed that the chip bag bragged that it only had four ingredients. Intrigued, I turned it over to see what those ingredients were. “Corn flour, vegetable oil, salt, and water.” Pretty simple. And it makes sense that those ingredients are all you would Read More …
Back in 2017, when I was just getting started blogging, I did a post on sample-return missions. These are space missions designed to bring material back from space so that we can study it here on the Earth. While sample-return missions are complicated, it allows us to use larger and more capable instruments than we Read More …
I hope that everyone was able to see the total solar eclipse today! If you didn’t, the picture at the top of the page is one I took during totality. Although This is the first time I got to see a total solar eclipse; I was not able to travel for the one in 2017. Read More …
Long time readers of my trivia, if there are any, will know that I usually don’t jump into the main point of my post right away. I like to begin with a bit of a story, and create a narrative around the post. This is the way I like to teach and present, so it Read More …
A few weeks ago, I baked a cake for my friend’s birthday. His choice – a chocolate mousse cake – was something I had never made before. As part of the recipe, I had to melt some chocolate chips. One of the most common ways of doing this is by using a double boiler. To Read More …
If you have been driving late at night, probably in an area which is not very populated, you may have seen some streetlights casting a strange blue/purple light. I’ve seen this myself in a few different areas. At the time, I thought that there must be some reason behind it – some sort of function Read More …