Author Archive
Sunday, January 21st, 2007
Hey Good Lookin’, Want to Contango?
Odd sort of word, isn’t it? I came across the term while doing a bit of comparison shopping. Just to warn you, for most, this discussion is about to get tediously boring. What I wanted to do was compare the cost of heating our home with the heat pump we have to an equivalent amount [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Science by bryan
Monday, November 20th, 2006
Close to home
Over the past few years, a handful of people I went to school with have met early ends of one sort or another. Generally they were just that – I’d neither had a class with them nor had occasion to speak to them. This evening while poking around Facebook, the handy “News Feed” showed that [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Introspection, Life by bryan
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006
Voting
Had I not voted today, my vote probably wouldn’t have been missed in the grand scheme. Sadly, there seem to be a great many folks who probably don’t vote because of that “my vote doesn’t really matter” mindset. It is true that one vote among many doesn’t matter much, assuming a wide margin. It is [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Rant by bryan
Friday, September 8th, 2006
NASA’s Orion
The Space Shuttle fleet has been flying now for about 25 years. In that time, there have been, unfortunately, two losses of crew and craft. Without question, both could have been prevented. A good number of folks – in government and not – combine that record with the cost of flying the shuttle and question [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Rant, Science by bryan
Tuesday, April 4th, 2006
Go By Train
The North Coast Limited was Northern Pacific’s service between Chicago and Seattle. It began operation in 1900 and continued through 1970. The Vista-Dome was probably added to the line in the 1950s.
Popular history states that the idea was dreamed up by Western Pacific president Harry Mitchell while he was riding in the cab of a [...]