WobLog

Catching up on old magazines, I caught an article in the August 2008 issue of Physics Today on the physics behind Speedo's LZR Racer swimsuits, which made such a big "splash" at the 2008 Olympics:

Competition in the pool at this month's Beijing Olympics will be not only among world-class swimmers but also their swimsuits. Since its debut in February, the low-drag hydrophobic Fastskin LZR Racer swimsuit from Speedo International Ltd has had more than 44 world records broken in it; critics allege that the $600 "space-age" suit, in part developed by NASA scientists, gives its wearers an unfair boost in buoyancy and amounts to "technological doping." The company claims a 5% decrease in drag over the previous model but no buoyancy increase, and the suit, along with competing models, has been approved for Olympic competition by FINA, the international swimming federation.

The LZR Racer is a descendant of the full-body swimsuit Speedo introduced in 2000 to mimic the viscous-drag-reducing denticles on a shark's skin. The shark suit proved that surface-engineered synthetic materials can be made to have lower drag than a swimmer's shaved skin. The next move for Speedo's internal R&D unit was to form a team of external partners led by Barry Bixler, the late Honeywell Corp engineer and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) expert, to further cut the passive drag.

[...]

"There is still debate as to what the primary source of drag is for a shark, but for a swimmer, it is primarily form drag," says Amy Lang, an experimental fluid dynamicist at the University of Alabama. From CFD simulations and studies in a swimming flume, the researchers determined that total drag is reduced when low-drag polyurethane panels are inserted to compress the chest, upper thighs, and other areas of the swimmer's body where form drag is most pronounced. "We spent a lot of time [on the previous model] drag testing anatomically accurate mannequins" in the flume, says David Pease, a biomechanist at the University of Otago in New Zealand. "This time around involved quite a bit more actual athlete testing in order to test differences in compression and support provided by the new suit."

The article goes on to describe some of the work going on in preparation for the 2012 Olympics, extending research from minimizing drag during the glide phase of a stroke to include combating drag during the active phase of each stroke.

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Michael Phelps appeared Thursday night, December 11 on FOX News' Hannity & Colmes to talk about his new book, No Limits: The Will to Succeed. He talked about his childhood ADHD and about how many calories a day he really eats. You can watch the interview at FOXNews.com

Posted by Don Roberts at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We all know that windmills kill birds. Now even some homes are not safe:

Ice-Tossing Turbines: Myth or Hazard?

By KATE GALBRAITH, New York Times

How do wind turbines fare in winter weather?

Not so well, according to one little town in England. The Wisbech Standard reports a harrowing tale in which "lumps of ice three or four feet long flew through the air" and smashed into a carpet showroom and a parking lot.

They apparently came off the spinning blades of a 410-foot-tall wind turbine.

[...] a 2006 publication by G.E. Energy, a maker of large wind turbines, warns that "rotating turbine blades may propel ice fragments some distance from the turbine -- up to several hundred meters if conditions are right."

Posted by Don Roberts at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I recently upgraded our blog software to the latest version of MovableType (v.4.23). Not a painless process, and I'm not done yet. To take full advantage of the new version's capabilities, I need to upgrade all our blog templates. That won't happen for a while.

Anyway, the new blog software broke the old CAPTCHA module that I'd been using (SCode). However, the new one (reCAPTCHA) has a nice benefit: its CAPTCHA's come from digitized books. It uses words that were not recognized by OCR software. Basically, everyone who uses this module is helping to get books into digital form. Cool, huh?

Posted by Don Roberts at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Over at the New Liturgical Movement, they have an interesting entry on the origin of the Christmas carol "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

The well-known Advent hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel belongs to the ever-growing repertoire of popular hymns known, loved, and sung all over the English-speaking world. It made its first appearance as far back as 1854, in Part II of the Hymnal Noted, edited by Thomas Helmore. The English words are based on a free Latin paraphrase of the great O Antiphons, which are sung with the Magnificat at Vespers on the days leading up to Christmas Eve. These antiphons themselves came into existence at least as early as the eighth century. The paraphrase can he traced back to the seventh edition of the Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum, published in Cologne in 1710. The present splendid English translation was made by Thomas Alexander Lacey (1853-1931) for the English Hymna1 (1906), of which he was joint editor.

The familiar melody was said by Thomas Helmore to have been "copied by the late J. M. Neale from a French Missal" which he located “in the National Library, Lisbon." But in a letter to the press in 1909, H. Jenner claimed that his father, Bishop Jenner, had copied both the tune and the words in Lisbon in 1853. All attempts to track it down, however, failed: neither a "French Missal," nor indeed any service-book from Lisbon could be produced to justify either claim. The compilers of the 1909 historical edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern drew a complete blank, and, more recently, one scholar even made the ingenious suggestion that Thomas Helmore had perhaps composed the tune himself, coyly hiding his identity behind the pretence that it was an ancient tune gleaned from a Continental source.

I was able, however, in 1966, to vindicate his honor. My attention had been drawn to a small fifteenth century processional in the Paris Bibliothèque Nationale. It was Franciscan in origin and probably intended far the use of nuns rather than friars. Turning the pages I discovered, on folio 89v ff, a number of troped verses for the funeral responsory Libera me in the form of a litany, beginning with the words "Bone iesu, dulcis cunctis.” The melody of these tropes was none other than the tune of O come, O come Emmanuel. It appeared in square notation on the left-hand page, and on the opposite page there was a second part that fitted exactly, like a mirror-image, in note-against-note harmony with the hymn-tune. The book would thus have been shared by two sisters, each singing her own part as they processed.

So it would seem that this great Advent hymn-tune was not, in the first instance, associated with Advent at all, but with a funeral litany of the saints in verse, interspersed between the sections of a well-known responsory. Perhaps it is a measure of Helmore's genius that he detected in this melody an appropriate Advent sound as well, one which conveys an unmistakable sense of solemn expectancy, not only for the Nativity of Christ, but also for his Second Coming as judge and as savior. Helmore was shrewd enough, also, to have been aware that an indubitable link exists between the theology of Advent and a procession marking the passage from death to eternal life.

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Seventy years ago tonight, Orson Welles vaulted to fame when the Mercury Theater on the Air broadcast their famous adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.

I remember attending the Fiftieth Anniversary celebration of the broadcast, held near Grover's Mill, New Jersey, while I was in grad school. What a blast! I enjoyed driving through Grover's Mill late at night in the autumn. There was something about the darkness of the place (very few street lights), the thick growth of vegetation, and the fog rising up from the pond. I could see people believing that a strange shadow might be a Martian invader.

Happy Halloween!

Posted by Don Roberts at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wow. Two video posts in a row. Here's one for you Chess/Grieg fans (Alex is both):

Posted by Don Roberts at 6:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Recently, Lisa and I caught a rerun of Scrubs (if you're curious, Season 1, Episode 23: "My Hero") that featured the lawyer at Sacred Heart Hospital, Ted, and his a cappella group of fellow hospital employees ("the Worthless Peons") singing the theme song to Underdog. Although I never see that cartoon classic in reruns, I loved it when I was a kid. As you can hear in the following clip, it has probably the best cartoon theme song, ever:

Continue reading "Greatest. Cartoon. Theme. Ever." »

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I got back from the gym this morning and was greeted by Sarah and Alex saying "Argh Daddy! Today we be pirates."

Here's what I wrote for International Talk Like a Pirate Day in this space last year and in 2006.

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle has a story on the increased attention on people with Down Syndrome as a result of Sarah Palin's vice presidential nomination.

I spoke on the phone with the reporter for the piece, and she included a couple quotes from me in the article (she identified me as "Don Peters," a physicist from Pleasanton). Don't know why she couldn't get my name right, but at least the quotes are accurate.

Posted by Don Roberts at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In the wake of Speaker Pelosi's mangling of Catholic Church teaching, Democrat VP nominee Sen. Joe Biden appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and did the same. Here is Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput's response to Senator Biden's comments:

Public Servants and Moral Reasoning:
A notice to the Catholic community in northern Colorado

Monday, Sept. 8, 2008

To Catholics of the Archdiocese of Denver:

When Catholics serve on the national stage, their actions and words impact the faith of Catholics around the country. As a result, they open themselves to legitimate scrutiny by local Catholics and local bishops on matters of Catholic belief. In 2008, although NBC probably didn't intend it, Meet the Presshas become a national window on the flawed moral reasoning of some Catholic public servants.

On August 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, describing herself as an ardent, practicing Catholic, misrepresented the overwhelming body of Catholic teaching against abortion to the show's nationwide audience, while defending her "pro-choice" abortion views. On September 7, Sen. Joseph Biden compounded the problem to the same Meet the Press audience.

Sen. Biden is a man of distinguished public service. That doesn't excuse poor logic or bad facts. Asked when life begins, Sen. Biden said that, "it's a personal and private issue." But in reality, modern biology knows exactly when human life begins: at the moment of conception. Religion has nothing to do with it. People might argue when human "personhood" begins - though that leads public policy in very dangerous directions - but no one can any longer claim that the beginning of life is a matter of religious opinion.

Continue reading "Denver Archbishop corrects Sen. Biden's abortion errors" »

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As Michael Phelps smashes swimming record after record, he's had to overcome challenges beyond the constant, grueling training and the need to eat 12,000 calories a day: Phelps also had to beat attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity (ADHD).

Diagnoses of ADD or ADHD generate a lot of controversy, no doubt in part because today being a "normal kid" can be considered problem behavior. But along the spectrum of learning styles and abilities, there are certainly kids who don't respond well to conventional teaching methods. In Michael's case, he had the good fortune to have a mom, Debbie Phelps, who recognized this. Here's an interview with Debbie from the May/June 2007 issue of ADDitude:

Michael might not have loved swimming at all, were it not for the ingenuity of his mother, Debbie Phelps. “At age seven, he hated getting his face wet,” says Debbie. “We flipped him over and taught him the backstroke.”

Michael showed swimming prowess on his back, then on his front, side, and every way in between. But in the classroom, he floundered. An inability to concentrate was his biggest problem.

“I was told by one of his teachers that he couldn’t focus on anything,” says Debbie. She consulted a doctor, and nine-year-old Michael was diagnosed with ADHD.

“That just hit my heart,” says Debbie. “It made me want to prove everyone wrong. I knew that, if I collaborated with Michael, he could achieve anything he set his mind to.”

Debbie, who had taught middle school for more than two decades, began working closely with Michael’s school to get him the extra attention he needed. “Whenever a teacher would say, ‘Michael can’t do this,’ I’d counter with, ‘Well, what are you doing to help him?’” she recalls.

The article goes on to describe some of the novel techniques they used to help Michael learn to focus and to attack difficult subjects (like math). Interestingly, as their efforts bore fruit, Michael himself decided he wanted off his Ritalin. While the article doesn't make the claim, I got the impression from reading it that the swimming and teaching style changes were the keys to Michael's success, not the stimulant medication. This is a helpful, hopeful sign for parents of kids with learning challenges who are trying to avoid putting their kids on ADD medication.

Go Michael!

Posted by Don Roberts at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

A state appellate court, which had previously ruled that Californians have no right to homeschool, reversed itself today. Here's the story from the San Francisco Chronicle

(08-08) 10:49 PDT LOS ANGELES - -- A state appeals court reversed itself today and ruled that parents in California have the right to home school their children even if they lack a teaching credential.

The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles had ruled Feb. 28 that the state's compulsory education law requires parents to send their children to a full-time public or private school or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home. The ruling caused an uproar among home-schooling advocates and could have made truants out of an estimated 166,000 children in California who are taught at home by their parents.

After hearing from an array of objectors that included state education officials and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the court agreed to reconsider the case and issued a new ruling today that reached the opposite conclusion: State law allows home schooling, although children can be required to attend school if they're being abused or neglected at home.

Although the compulsory-education law hasn't changed since 1929, some alter laws "demonstrate an apparent acceptance by the Legislature that home-schooling is taking place in California, with home schools allowed as private schools," Justice H. Walter Croskey, author of the earlier ruling, wrote in today's 3-0 decision.

"Recent statutes indicate that the Legislature is aware that some parents in California home school their children by declaring their homes to be private schools," Croskey said. He said one of those laws, a 1998 measure exempting parents from fingerprinting requirements imposed on private school employees, indicated "a legislative approval of home-schooling."

Because the 1929 law itself did not explicitly allow or prohibit home schooling, Croskey said, the court should interpret it consistently with the Legislature's current understanding, along with the views of state government and education officials.

He said such an interpretation also allows the court to avoid deciding "difficult constitutional questions" about parents' rights to exempt their children from compulsory-schooling laws. The previous ruling found that no such right exists.

The court ordered a Los Angeles County juvenile judge to reconsider the case of a Lynwood family that has educated their eight children at home, with the mother, who has an 11th-grade education and no teaching credential, acting as the teacher.

The judge initially concluded that the parents had an absolute right to home school their children. The court said today that the right to home school is not absolute, and told the judge to decide whether to send two of the younger children to school in light of the father's history of child abuse.

The case is Jonathan L. vs. Superior Court, B192878.

The ruling is available at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B192878.PDF.

Posted by Don Roberts at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tony Snow lost his battle with cancer today at age 53. Here's the statement from the President:

Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend, Tony Snow. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Jill, and their children, Kendall, Robbie, and Kristi. The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character.

Tony was one of our Nation’s finest writers and commentators. He earned a loyal following with incisive radio and television broadcasts. He was a gifted speechwriter who served in my father’s Administration. And I was thrilled when he agreed to return to the White House to serve as my Press Secretary. It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work. His colleagues will cherish memories of his energetic personality and relentless good humor.

All of us here at the White House will miss Tony, as will the millions of Americans he inspired with his brave struggle against cancer. One of the things that sustained Tony Snow was his faith – and Laura and I join people across our country in praying that this good man has now found comfort in the arms of his Creator.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen. (Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. Rest in peace. Amen.)

Posted by Don Roberts at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Writing today's date in my gym log this morning, I said to my buddy, "June 6. I think that's D-Day, isn't it?" I had a moment of doubt, because I'd heard nothing about it this year.

Later in the morning, Rush did spend part of his show talking about the invasion.

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)