Cop Car's Beat

Why would I do this to you?

This is one of those postings that I expect about half of my blog friends to skip over - those who have no reason to know what a partial differential equation is or why they would want to know. I understand, and think none the less of those who feel that way. As a freshman in college, I was among that group. However, the next year, as a physics major, I was required to start thinking about thermodynamics. I would bet even money that you have heard of the First Law of Thermodynamics and can even tell me that it has to do with conservation of energy. (See how smart we are?)

A 2011 comic take on the game version of the laws by American chemical engineer Rich Byrnes

Byrnes, Rich. (2011). “Boil’s Laws: the Laws of Thermodynamics and Casinos”, Funnybone, ChEnected, Apr. 08

By my second semester junior year, I was required to take a course in thermodynamics. Although I don't recall the exact title of the book we used in Introduction to Thermodynamics, I recall that it was a thin book with a grey cover. As I recall (but, I wouldn't bet too much money on this, it was in 1958, after all) I believe that little book was by Sears (not & Roebuck!) That was a difficult course for me. As it turned out, the course and book were super-saturated with partial differential equations, a course that, at that time, I had not gotten around to attempting. Somehow, my math always seemed to be behind my physics coursework. I needed matrix algebras long before I got to a math course that included them.

One of the more interesting things about my taking thermo was that Elder Brother and Hunky Husband were also taking thermodynamics - and - we were all living together (along with EB's late wife). Funny thing was, the three of us could not compare notes or even converse cogently about our respective classes. EB took thermo in the chemical engineering department and HH took thermo in either the mechanics department or the mechanical engineering department. HH wanted to talk steam tables, I wanted to talk partial differential equations (PDE), and who recalls what a chemical engineer wanted to talk about? I do recall the two guys playing catch (thereby destroying) my clay model that I had built of the pressure/volume/temperature (better known as a PVT) diagram for water. Grr!

Cop Car's Roomies - Elder Brother, Hunky Husband, Expert Seamstress - Spring 1958

Fast forward to 1981 at which time I interviewed for a job at Tyndall AFB, Florida, working on USAF's HAVE BOUNCE program - part of the Rapid Runway Repair program to which BDM was contracted. (This was actually my second interview - BDM had first asked me to come to McLean VA, to their corporate headquarters.) I recall someone's bragging to me that the USAF computer being used for aircraft simulations would do xxxx fast Fourier transforms (FFT) per second. "What's a fast Fourier transform", you may ask. Well, it is a faster way of computing the same answers as one gets using the old, standard Fourier transform - which is now called a discrete Fourier transform (DFT). Did I hear you mutter, "Ask a silly question...."? Either FFT or DFT should give the same answer in solving (drum roll) differential equations, including PDEs!

Fourier Transform (FT)

Why did HAVE BOUNCE need to use FFTs at all? Because the HAVE BOUNCE program involved testing of various aircraft (F-4, C-130, C-141, C-5, B-1, A-10, Boeing 747, Douglas DC-10 are the ones which I recall) to measure their response to operations over a surface that was shaped as a 1-cos wave of known maximum amplitude. The measurements were made in the time domain, that is, one would plot out the data along a time axis. We needed to know the response as a function of frequency - plots along a frequency axis.

BTW: In case I didn't mention it, FFT solutions/second was/is used in comparing speeds of computers in practical terms.

 

Why did I bring up the whole subject? Because, I visited the Improbable Research website this morning only to find the following posting.

How Aesthetically Pleasing Is Your Country’s Diffraction Pattern?

September 19th, 2018

You may be wondering how aesthetically pleasing is your country’s diffraction pattern. This new physics study proves that Albert F. Rigosi shares your mental hobby:

“Analysis of Fraunhofer Diffraction Patterns’ Entropy Based on Apertures Shaped as National Borders,” Albert F. Rigosi, Optik, vol. 172, November 2018, pp. 1019-1025. (Thanks to John Ng for bringing this to our attention.) The author, at Columbia University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, reports:

“How aesthetically pleasing is your country’s diffraction pattern? This work summarizes the calculated and experimental Fraunhofer diffraction patterns obtained from using apertures lithographically formed into shapes of national borders. Calculations are made based on the fast Fourier transform of the aperture images. The entropy of a diffraction pattern image, based on its two-dimensional gradient, for each of 113 nations has also been computed. Results suggest that most nations’ diffraction patterns fall under one of two prominent trends forming as a function of geographical area, with one trend being less entropic than the other.”

The top images here shows shows a diagram of the experimental setup. The bottom collection of images show: “Three example nations. (a) The aperture for the continental USA is depicted. (b) is the FFT calculation of the aperture above, and the corresponding experimental data is shown below in (c). (d) The aperture for Egypt is depicted, along with its FFT and experimental data in (e) and(f), respectively. (g) The aperture for Papua New Guinea is shown with its (h) calculated FFT and (i) experimental diffraction data.”

Additional everything can be found in an appendix.    

posted by Marc Abrahams in Arts and Science, Research News | Comments Off on How Aesthetically Pleasing Is Your Country’s Diffraction Pattern? 

I have zero interest in fractal patterns of the outlines of various countries. They have no need to be pleasing as far as I am concerned; but, perhaps you can understand how it sent my mind off in a mathematical direction?

Squirrel vs Woodpecker

Ronni Bennett posted a video that had been pointed out to her by a friend. It shows a woodpecker fending off a "thieving" squirrel. I have two comments: 1) Contrary to the script, the tree is not dead. It has green leaves. As a point of fact, the species of the tree is "live oak". 2) As a birdwatcher who has spent many hours near Tehachapi, California, watching them, I have to tell you that the woodpecker is an "acorn woodpecker" - very appropriate for the activity.

Our own squirrels have been really busy for the past few weeks burying hundreds/thousands of black walnuts, from our woods, and acorns from our neighbors' oak trees. They like me to get my exercise each spring and summer trying to keep new trees from taking over our lawn and planting areas. If the squirrels would dig those nuts up during the winter instead of wrapping themselves around the peanut feeders that we put out for the birds, I wouldn't get nearly as much exercise pulling up seedlings. I have a hard enough time trying to keep up with the elm, hackberry, ash, and cottonwood seedlings that are broadcast by the winds - especially when they take root among the branches and roots of our ornamental shrubs.

How to write good

In looking for something else, I found a file with the intriguing title How to Write Good. The date on the file was 11/1/2003, two months before I decided that I would retire on 5/1/2004. Opening it, I found an email that I had sent to a work colleague on whose "Plain English" committee I served. In those days, aircraft manufacturers from around the world (Aviation English is used by international civil aviation) were trying to make maintenance manuals more understandable. 

In the copy of that file, below, I have cleaned up the format for readability. Please comment on any further amendments required.

Before anyone mentions it: Why, yes, I do (consistently) violate Item 6.

To: xxxxxxxx@cessna.textron.com

Cc:

Bcc:

Subject: Helpful Tips on Writing

How to Write Good (adapted from Boston's monthly Mensa newsletter, ca.1982)

1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat).
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8. Contractions aren't necessary.
9. One should never generalize.
10. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
12. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
13. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary. It's highly superfluous.
14. Profanity sucks.
15. Be more or less specific.
16. Understatement is always best.
17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
18. One word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
21. Adding "ly" to words can be overly done. Use sparingly.
22. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
23. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
24. The period. An often overused punctuation mark. Should never be used in place of commas. Obviously.
25. Logograms aren't worth a $.
26. Anadiplosis is unnecessary--unnecessary and affected.
27. The argument concerning logomachy continues.
28. Cleave to logodaedaly, and you cleave yourself from clarity.
29. The use of anacoluthon should be eschewed, as she ain't too subtle.
30. You can't be too amphibolous.
31. Why be captious when quiddity will serve?
32. Palinodes should never--no, forget that, I take it back.
33. Don't never use double negatives.
34. Don't spoose unerisms.
35. Remember that humor is nothing to be laughed at.
36. There are exceptions to every rule, except this one.
37. The true fact is that pleonasms aren't good, as you can see with your own eyes.
38. Neophytes who are just starting and beginners should watch out for tautologies.
39. Neologisms are absolutely gronky.
40. It doesn't make sense to use an alogism, and your nose will fall off.
41. Who needs rhetorical questions?
42. Don't verbify nouns.

In those days, I had a standard sheet/file that I provided engineers to help them write readable reports on analyses/testing/research that had been performed. Some needed some assistance because they were not raised speaking standard English and some appreciated it because they learned English as a second or third language in a country other than the USA. My first rule was: Succinctness is to be prized.

Guilty pleasures #2 - Trivia & Sherman

I didn't often go on Twitter (and I cancelled that account a few months ago); but, last February, I was wasting a bit of time one afternoon - checking out some blogs and Twitter. An item had been posted several days previously that I found interesting. I wrote a posting, but failed to publish it.

Military.com‏Verified account @Militarydotcom Jan 27

There has only been one woman from the British royal family to ever serve in the Armed Forces, and she’s the only head of state to have served in World War II. | Queen Elizabeth II's Time in WWII Makes Her the Most Hardcore Head of State

 

The wording could have been clearer. Queen Elizabeth II is the only current head-of-state who served in the military during WWII. For those who are too young to have lived through it: Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne upon the death of King George VI on February 6, 1953. WWII had ended on September 2, 1945; thus, during her WWII military service, Elizabeth was not yet a head of state.

BTW: That's a British L85 battle rifle the Queen is firing - in Surrey England. 1993. 

SHERMAN

For the past few days, Sherman's Lagoon has had an amusing run.

Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey | Comics Kingdom

Just to set the record straight

I erred in In Cop Car's Kitchen. The plum dumpling recipe had been posted, long ago. It may be found at Puddings and Pastries - if one scrolls down to the third recipe - just after Paul Neuman Pie.

Arrrgh - cosmic rays got me!

We've been exchanging some comments on the posting An old skeptic needs smart opinions. Since I don't pretend to be as smart as many of my friends, and since Stu is off in the hinterlands and presumably using his Smart Phone to leave comments via a voice-to-text app, I'm not sure that we are communicating. I think that all I have succeeded in doing is to confuse everyone, including myself.

My real goal was to find out how many flashes per minute or per hour might one expect to "see" as a result of cosmic ray bombardment of the earth. I wished to know that number to see how well it correlates to Ingineer's and my (and anyone else's) observed flashes at night with our eyes closed. If it correlates well, I will be more inclined to believe the assertion that the flashes astronaut Kelly saw with his eyes closed while in space were due to cosmic rays. (It turns out that Kelly is not alone in his assertion and I cede, up front, probably 40 IQ points to astronaut Kelly, but...I still want to check it out.)

Embarrassingly enough, during research for data to support my calculation of the flashes per minute one might expect to see, I found (in multiple places) statements such as the following from Detection of Cosmic Ray µ-Mesons by the Human Eye, on the Nature website. (I added the highlighting.)

THE detection of ultra-violet light and X-rays in the human eye, through a fluorescence mechanism, is well known¹, and it would be expected that a high flux of ionizing particles would be similarly detectable. There is apparently no record in the literature of the detection of single minimum ionizing particles, though there are several mechanisms by which a relativistic particle may release a detectable amount of energy in traversing the eye. These include the emission of Čerenkov radiation² in the vitreous humour. An ultra-relativistic singly-charged particle, in median passage through a normal eye, from lens to retina, generates approximately 600 photons in the visible, which will be collected over a large part of the retinal area. The visual signal would be equivalent to that from an illuminated disk, with intensity increasing from about 0.5 photon/mm² at the periphery to about 10 photons/mm² at the centre. This light is emitted essentially instantaneously (within 10⁻¹⁰ sec) and has an intensity comparable with that at the threshold of vision³. In addition to Čerenkov radiation, light may be released by scintillation in the crystalline lens or vitreous humour, or direct excitation of the retina may occur.

1. Bornschein, H., Pape, R., and Zakovsky, J., Naturwiss., 40, 251 (1953).

2. Jelley, J. V., Čerenkov Radiation (Pergamon Press, London, 1958).

3. Pirenne, M. H., and Marriott, F. H. C., J. Opt. Soc. Amer., 45, 909 (1955).

 It is "well known"? How come I did not know that? Or...is it one of the presumably many things that I've forgotten along the way? (That idea doesn't thrill me, either!) I am sorry to have led everyone on a random walk. Maybe some other time I'll display knowledge beyond that of a 1st grader? Maybe I've been blasted?

Klingon Disruptor from Star Trek

While we are here, I'll mention that I found many interesting papers, among which is Cosmic Ray Counting from University of Washington, Seattle. I mention that U of W is in Seattle because, during his sophomore year, HH attended Washington University which has been re-named Washington University in St Louis to avoid confusion.

In Cop Car's Kitchen

I love the colors of produce from the garden. This year my huge garden comprised four tomato plants (only one of which produced tomatoes, and those within the past 10 days!), one banana pepper plant, and one bell pepper plant. The photo, below, shows the pickings from the past few days. The banana pepper plant has been a bountiful producer. BTW: The banana peppers in the left side of the dish were picked several days ago while everything else was picked last evening. (Yes, a bug got to the red bell pepper. I don't spray for bugs.)

BTW: I don't count the cilantro, dill weed, chard, and fennel that come up, voluntarily, each year as being part of the garden, though I use cilantro and dill weed, on occasion.

Ten days ago, on Hunky Husband's birthday, he was attending an all-day class in Wichita. Taking advantage of his absence, I baked him a chocolate chip/pecan pie and cooked him up a few plum dumplings. I failed to take a photo of the pie (every pecan pie looks about the same), but I did get a photo of one of the dumplings. [The system is this: I put a piece of pie, cake, etc, or a dumpling in this case onto a small plate; cover it with a glass dome; and place it on the breakfast table so that HH may partake whenever he cares to do so.]

As I've mentioned, before, I am not a great cook - passably edible is more my style - however, I try to (on occasion) make dishes that my beloved, late mother-in-law used to make. (For those who do not know, HH's mother was from Serbia and a wonderful, wonderful cook!) Some of the dishes for which she left me a recipe are included in the Category Cop Car's Chow. The recipe for plum dumplings is not among them.

Until recently, my beloved sister-in-law, Helen, owned a bakery and a deli. She has slowed down in her old age (she'll be 79 in a few weeks) and now merely serves as pastry chef for one of the fancy restaurants in St Louis. She got her talents, and some of her recipes, from her mother who got them from her mother. [We called HH's grandmother Babu Corner - because she lived on the corner - to distinguish her from the other babu (who lived two doors away) who was called Babu Tetu - because she and HH's only aunt lived together.] Helen recently published the recipe for Plum Dumplings on her website. I've never eaten one of Helen's plum dumplings, but the recipe is close enough to Mom's that I know that her recipe will produce delicious results.

Addition of 9/16/2018

Liz's comment about her husband's making relishes reminded me that I had pickled a bunch of the banana peppers during the past several weeks - a fate that awaits most of the peppers in the above photo. I was convinced that I had previously posted a photo of my pickled peppers; but, alas, I find no such posting. Below is a photo of the last three pints of pickled banana peppers. They don't look as pretty as some of the earlier (but already consumed) peppers because I did not bother to insert dill weed fronds into these jars. Too, these jars include no ripened (red) peppers. (The frosty look of the lid flats is due to condensation. The jars had been in the refrigerator.)

An old skeptic needs smart opinions

Truthfully, for some years now (2? 20? 70?) I have not noticed the phenomenon; but, in my childhood I recall seeing flashes of light with my eyes closed (and without anything pressing on my eyeballs). Although I've enough eye problems that I probably wouldn't notice even if I did still experience the phenomenon (Bogie, you trump me on this, but bear with me); but, I've always assumed there was an easy neurological explanation for the observations. Now, I see that Scott Kelly proffers a totally different explanation.

On the Physics and Physicists blog, Zapper Z published a post from which I excerpt the first paragraph, below.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Human Eye Can Detect Cosmic Radiation

 

Well, not in the way you think.

I recently found this video of an appearance of astronaut Scott Kelly on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. During this segment, he talked about the fact that when he went to sleep on the Space Station and closed his eyes, he occasionally detected flashes of light. He attributed it to the cosmic radiation  passing through his body, and his eyes in particular.

 

Your opinion is sought - especially if you are smarter and/or more knowledgeable than me. That means that I solicit help from each of my blog friends/readers.

Dudette's quilt - still progressing

All 54 blocks have been set. Next to come are the three borders. Amazingly enough, when I measured (three places) the length and width there was only about 1/8" variation in the measurements - better than I expected. It is slightly smaller than it should be; but, close enough for fabric work. At this point it should measure 36.5" wide by 54.5" long. It is actually about 36" x 54.2". And to think: I used to specify to the 0.005" (or was it 0.0005" ?) on some aircraft parts. My excuse: metal isn't as squirmy as cotton fabric. (The real reason: Talented men and women were doing the metal work.)

Happy Birthday, Hunky Husband

Hunky Husband's photo journey, in short:

Late 1936 or Early 1937 - Pop's & Mom's pride and joy - first born

1938 - Chubby-cheeked tot on his 2nd birthday

Fall 1953 - High School Graduation
 

Fall 1958 - College Graduation and Hunky Husband of 10 month's standing

April 1988 - Hunky Husband for 2nd time - with his proud father, Bogie, Dudette, and Wonderful Granddaughter

2017 - Going strong (photo courtesy of the American Red Cross)

Happy birthday to the love of my life, Hunky Husband!