Matt Springer is a graduate student of physics at Texas A&M university. He is also an occasional writer and tinkerer, and he is probably too curious for his own good.
when you order from Amazon, and a fraction of the purchase price will be sent to me at zero cost to you. Much obliged, and thanks for your patronage.Friday I met my first ScienceBlogger in person. Nick Anthis from The Scientific Activist was in town, and as he's a former Aggie we got to trade a few stories about the university and the different kinds of work we're doing. He's a cool dude! It was very nice meeting him, and I think it might just inspire me to try to organize a reader meet-up at some point. College Station is tiny and in the middle of nowhere, but I think there's a few other Texas ScienceBloggers as well so maybe we could have a group meet somewhere big and convenient like Dallas or Houston. We'll worry about that later.
Anyway, it's Saturday. I like to try to have a nice sampling of physics-related items and quick observations but it's been a busy week so I'm a little slack in that regard at the moment. To make up for it, here's a recipe I'm making for a physics grad student potluck/picnic some of us are putting together later today. As one of the two Louisiana natives, I figured I'd try to make something authentically New Orleans. Like most New Orleans food, this one might kill you. But you'll die happy.
Praline Bacon
1 lb. sliced bacon
3 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. chili powder
Dash or two of diced pecans
Place bacon in slices on a broiling pan, bake at 425F for 10 minutes. Mix up the brown sugar and chili powder, remove bacon from oven, and sprinkle the mix on the bacon. Return to oven, bake for 5 more minutes or to desired crispness.
Absurdly delicious. Possibly dangerous - may increase your rest mass.
Ok, two short items. One: Cocktail Party Physics wrote a list a while back about the greatest pop-science books. I'm way late to the comment party on that one, but I have to protest the lack of Asimov. If there's one man responsible for my love of science, it's him. His works included literally hundreds of science books, but in particular I'd like to mention Atom
And finally via Swans on Tea, a way to convert between miles and kilometers in a very cool way.
Comments
The ratio of successive terms in the Fibonacci sequence approaches phi, which is a pretty good approximation of the the scale factor between kilometers and statute miles. But did you know that you can start with any pair of integers (not just 1,1), apply the Fibonacci rule to generate a sequence, and get the same result - that the ratio of successive terms approaches phi?
Posted by: wfr | September 6, 2008 10:46 AM
The four food groups: salt, sugar, starch, grease.
The seven vitamins: chocolate, alcohol, caffeine, capsaicin, hoseradish, ketchup, garlic.
Maillard reaction, too - Praline Bacon is a winner!
Posted by: Uncle Al | September 6, 2008 11:58 AM
Heh, she said:
One of my old Astronomy profs read On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres by Copernicus in the original latin.. because he could I guess.
I agree that something from Asmiov should have been included. He's a personal hero to me. Although I'm a bigger fan of his sci-fi, he always impressed me with his ability to communicate ideas on a level that I could understand in his straight science writing.
Posted by: Joey | September 6, 2008 12:09 PM
Several people remarked on the absence of Asimov. His books provided a great way to move from science fiction to science fact.
Posted by: SimonG | September 6, 2008 2:10 PM
If Asimov were alive today he'd own the world of science,history, literature and comparative religion on cable TV. Seeing him in lecture a couple of times, I was always impressed with his presentation and the kind of charisma he possessed and the way he connected with his audience...come to think of it, I always thought he was speaking to me even when it was written in an essay. It's a pity really that he didn't produce a series of recorded programs to add depth to such wonderful programs like: Jacob Bronowski's "Ascent of Man", Sagan's "Cosmos", and James Burke's "connections",and so manny others.
I wonder how many people entering into the fields of science and tech today can explain the beauties of the slide rule in even it's most rudimentary sense, and yet Asimov sang love songs to its virtues.
Posted by: doug l | September 6, 2008 5:46 PM
Um, I think you forgot to mention mixing the diced pecans in with the sugar and chili powder.
Posted by: asad | September 6, 2008 7:27 PM
Yes indeed. Actually I put the diced pecans on over the mixed powder, but it wouldn't make much of a difference.
Posted by: Matt Springer | September 6, 2008 10:19 PM
Do it in Houston!!!
And I'm going to try your recipe...
Posted by: Hamsterpoop | September 7, 2008 6:41 AM