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Pendulums are simple mechanical objects.  They are made of just three parts: a pivot, a rod, and a bob at the end of the rod.

Kermit the Frog told us decades ago that it wasn’t easy being green.  We’re only now starting to understand.  Coal is thought to have first been used for heat in Northern China 4,000 years ago.  This special rock could burn like a log, providing warmth in a cold part of the globe and likely the first time humans used fossil fuel.  Fast forward through various ind

Holes can crop up anywhere.  There’s always one on a perfectly quaffed putting green.  Although I’ve never see it, there is supposed to be a big one in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy.  Analysts on Saturday and Sunday afternoons might comment on one which opens up when a blocking scheme is particularly effective during football season.  And every once in a whi

Some of the best laid plans develop crimps.  Take the Kinks and their song Lola for instance.  They recorded the song in 1970 (it became one of their most famous songs) but needed to re-record it in order to get airplay on the United Kingdom’s BBC.  You see, broadcasting is different in the UK.  The nat

Petri dish metaphors are totally appropriate for an economics-oriented note during a global pandemic.  Julius Richard Petri invented the eponymously named Petri dish.  This simple tool is used along with a growth medium to culture cells of things like mosses, yeasts, bacteria, and fungi.

Scientific laws are both derived and sustained by generations of repeated observations of natural phenomena.  Physical sciences are founded on the unveiling of these laws.  In other words, something like chemistry or geology wasn’t invented but discovered.  That doesn’t mean scientists don’t postulate about yet-to-be discovered phenomena, but until an idea is em

Humans and our ancestors have used tools for millions of years.  They started with rudimentary instruments made of rocks (hence the stone age moniker).  Suddenly, around 12,000 years ago, humans began to harness copper.  Since then, we and this utilitarian metal have maintained a longstanding relationship.  It was the first metal worked by our ancestors and is still an impor

What a time to be alive.  The 2020 Olympics are a week away from beginning in 2021.  Many American lives are being pieced back together as the world’s largest economy is reemerging after its forced shutdown devastated too many financially.  And other countries haven’t even started to recover.  Oh yeah, and before the torch relay is over in Tokyo, two billionaires