Martha Sylvia was born on March 3, 1918 in Chicago. She was the daughter of Swedish immigrants, and grew up during the Depression, in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. I always thought the name Sylvia was absolutely lovely, and she always hated it. She said she didn't know where her mom got it from. Martha put herself [...]
What exactly is science???
There’s an idea floating around that science is all about experiments, in fact, that without experiments, there is no science. Certainly, experimentation is right up there, at the highest level of science, but there are whole branches of science where experimentation is not possible. Geology is one of them. No one is doing experimental continental [...]
Last PT for a while…
Today is my last physical therapy appointment for my hip. Probably. Not the end of PT in my life because in a year or so, when the hip is completely stabilized, I'll have to deal with my back problems. Spinal columns are supposed to look like ... columns ... not stacked beads. But today is [...]
I’m sure there’s a word for this…
Forty-five years ago I bought a ‘portable’ table loom. I was living in Seattle and the local Rasmussen looms were a Thing in certain circles. It was an outrageous purchase even at the time but I didn’t care. I was entranced by the idea of making cloth. I also had the idea at the time [...]
Did Augustin-Jean Fresnel really invent the Fresnel lens?
Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788 — 1827)was a Catholic scientist in France in the early 1800’s. He made incredible contributions to the understanding of light, being one of the earliest and best champions of the idea that light is a waveform. He entered the French school for engineers around 1804 and then served in the engineering corps [...]