Black and White Television

Retro TV

I am old enough to remember watching a black and white television as a kid. No, I am not talking about black and white movies on a color television, I am referring to a television with no color. When I grew up, color television was not groundbreaking, but it was still an upgrade from the technology of black and white sets. Color was optional. This was really a buzz kill when watching The Wizard of …read more

Snow Job

snowjobthumb

I heard a great story by Jeff Brady on NPR while on the way home yesterday.  It was about the work of two researchers from Dartmouth who found it odd that ski resorts seemed to report more snowfall than surrounding areas and and steeper increases in snow amounts on weekends.  They also found that resorts close to major population centers exaggerated figures even more.  These scientists were skeptical about this “weekend snow” effect, and started …read more

The Physics of Marketing – Simple Harmonic Motion

Think of a pendulum steadily swinging from side to side and you are visualizing Simple Harmonic Motion. From children on play gound swings to highly skilled engineers, simple harmonic motion surrounds us. It involves the give and take between potential and kinetic energy. In the example of the pendulum this would be height and speed. You could even use the principle of Simple Harmonic Motion to prove that the world rotates. If you were to …read more