Monday, March 21, 2011

Hans Rosling and the Magic Washing Machine

On the surface, by the title, I wondered why this was on TED. But as usual, Mr. Rosling brings a unique POV to the topic and evokes deep thought.
There are four major devisions in the world's population of 7 billion. The people of fire, bulb, wash, and air. And their energy requirements will only increase as they shift up the scale.

There are some environmentalists that proudly do not drive cars, but how many of them do not use a washing machine?

What's the real gift of the washing machine? The time to read books.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Full Moon 14% Bigger on March 19th

The moon, like the planets and other moons, orbits in an ellipse. When it is close to the earth in that ellipse it is called perigee. When the perigee and a full moon coincide, the moon will be 14% larger than it normally appears. This interesting occurrence happens about every 18 years.

The perigee in March 1993 was four hours off of the full moon, pretty close. However, this year's will be only one hour from perfection. So get your best cameras ready!

Even though NASA chose the title of "Super Full Moon", I didn't like the connotation.
Their write up is here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/

NASA ScienceCast video