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Tuesday, March 23, 2010
A new visitor
Monday, March 22, 2010
A dog sled trip
A few years ago we went on a dog sledding trip. Now, just picture sergeant Preston as he harnesses up his faithful dog King and the rest of the team. The dogs sit there patiently while he loads the sleigh with last minute items, locks up the cabin, takes a leisurely look at the morning sky, mounts the sleigh, hollers “on King” and the dogs come to life and gently move off into the forest. Nice picture eh? Yes, nice picture, but totally, absolutely wrong right from the beginning.
What really happens is that the dogs come abruptly to wild, frantic, maniacal life as soon as they see the harnesses. And they stay that way till the end of the day when supper is finished. In actual fact, Sergeant Preston would have had to anchor his sleigh to a tree with a grappling hook before he ever got a dog near it, and there would be no need to holler “on King”, because as soon as he unhooked from the tree the dogs would be off in a cloud of snow, with Preston if he were alert enough and hanging on tightly.
Before starting out on this trip we were naturally interested in any commands that we might use to “drive” the dogs. We soon found that any thought we had of “driving” the dogs was a total misunderstanding of reality, that there is a very good reason why the sleigh is shaped like a bullet… mainly because that’s how it behaves….you can aim it, but once you unhook from that tree, you have no control.
In fact, there are no commands… because dogs have no brakes, no steering wheel, no reverse, and absolutely no concern for your welfare. I doubt that they have any idea that there is anything behind them. Hence no commands. Well, there was one; it went something like HeYaaaaa, HewYaaaaaa, and sort of deteriorated from there on. However, they really need very little encouragement. Anyway there really are no commands, because you don’t really drive them, you just hang on. Well, Burton, the guy who owned the dogs, did have one dog, Sandy, his lead dog, who would ostensibly veer left to “haw” and right to “gee”. This worked not too badly, until Sandy saw a moose and headed for the bush.
They don’t even stop to crap, they simply crap on the run. Not a skill that you’d want to cultivate, but these guys do it, and do it well. They just spread their back legs a bit change to a gait where both back legs are moving in unison, and let fly.
Another thing that the new “driver” should know is that you will probably start out on shore and head out onto a frozen lake. Invariably there is a steep, twisting drop to the lake, studded with trees and other minor obstacles. Once you unhook from the tree, the dogs, who are fresh, excited (excited is such a weak word), and surprisingly powerful, and who have no interest in anything that they may be pulling, take off like a shot toward the lake, and keep on going. They do get a little bored on the lake and may slow up a bit in the fullness of time, but interest piques again as soon as they get onto a narrow, twisting portage trail crowded with trees, rocks and stumps and hills etc, and as the dogs turn corners, the sleigh slams against the trees (hence the bullet shape), and tips over. The sleigh is tough, and is usually not damaged. If you are not damaged, and intent on salvaging your pride, and would not want to have your team bound out onto the lake with you running behind screaming, you hang on for dear life, being dragged through the bush, until the sleigh finally gets tangled in a tree or rights itself on a snow bank.
Yes, there are brakes….. three of them. The first is a piece of snowmobile track about 8” wide and a foot long, that drags between the runners, that you can put your foot on to slow them down (this will in no way stop them, but putting all their weight on it may cause them to sweat a bit). Of course taking a foot off one runner, can have a deleterious effect on your balance, especially on an uneven portage trail.
The second brake, which worked fairly well on my sleigh, is an aluminum bar with two big prongs on it that you can force with a foot into the snow. It works well if you are on a hard packed trail. It’s particularly useful coming down hill through the bush on a portage trail where you have to apply vigorous brake to keep from over running the dogs with the sleigh, if not in preservation of your own health.
The third, not really a brake, is the anchor. It’s actually a large two pronged grappling hook, (mentioned earlier) and is made out of 1/2 “ steel rod. It’s on the end of a rope that places it near your foot. The idea is that when (if) you get them stopped, you throw this down on the ground, stamp it in hard with your heel, turn your sleigh on it’s side and sit on it while grabbing the axe to pound the grappling hook deeper into the Ice. Imagine Sergeant Preston pulling up dramatically in front of the miscreant and having to go through that procedure? Of course if there is a tree handy, you just toss out the hook on the way by and hope to snag it. Then, when you start out again, you unhook from the tree, the team immediately senses freedom and is off like a shot while you try valiantly to retain your balance, put on a brake, and stow the hook, while careening down a steep slope, through the trees onto the lake.
It’s fun though….. and by the way, none of the above is exaggerated.
The dogs are interesting. We had 21 of them, and they ranged from a couple that actually looked like real huskies, to big, long haired sad faced things, and small wiry, short haired creatures. In fact, the small dogs pulled harder than most of the big ones. But they all shared one trait; everything was done at full speed and right now. They were quiet on the trail, rarely fighting and barking. Even off the trail they were fairly well behaved until they sensed that it was nearly time to go, or time to eat, then they were in full cry continuously, until on the trail or eating.
Harnessing 21 dogs is real frantic. By the time you’re done its time for a little lie down, but of course, that’s not in the cards. They’re smart in a way. They know the routine, and they know what to do, they just have to do it right now. The result is that when you unhook them from their chains, you have to grab them by their collar and lift their front legs off the ground, that’s the only way you have a chance of controlling them. Even then it takes a firm arm.
But they know this routine, and actually leap into this position as you grab their collar. They knew when the trip was over too and were quiet then, just anxious to get into their cages. When we unharnessed them they’d usually run us to the truck and leap up as you lifted them into their little holes. He had a low box on the truck (sitting on the truck box so he could put sleighs and gear under it), with six little compartments with screened doors on each side. Once in there, they were content to just sit, no barking.
Harnessing them took over ½ hour. The lead dogs were harnessed first and if smart enough, would keep the traces tight while the others were harnessed. But they have a short attention span for anything but running, and we usually had to work at keeping them in line. Of course they are in full cry all this time. Some would even jump straight into the air they were so excited and anxious to get going.
We had 4 sleighs. Mine was the only manufactured one. It was all metal with an aluminum bottom about 5 feet long with nylon runners that stuck out about 3 feet behind, very light and short. I had 5 dogs.
Anne’s sleigh, as were all the others, was handmade, by Burton. They were nice sleighs, made of ash with thick nylon bottoms and runners. All the handmade sleighs had a canvas insert that closed at the top to keep your stuff from falling out as the sleigh bounced along behind the dogs after you fell off. Anne had only 3 dogs to start with, geared to her slender weight, then they added a fourth later. Even 3 were enough to cause whiplash. Except for falling off a few times on the portage trails, Anne did very well. (not that she fell off any more than I did)
Burton and his helper, Dwight, had 6 dogs each since they were carrying the food and gear. I guess he thought he would need a helper along with these seniors. He was right.
The dogs were remarkably well behaved in most respects, except for their hyper outlook on life. They were all very friendly and you could pet any one of them, but very few would approach you looking for attention. You could even take food away from them at any time and they would not so much as growl. (he took bones away from a couple of them). You didn’t try to pet them if they were fighting though…. And that was another application of the HeYaaa command, which, in general, just means stop whatever you are doing. (Mush was never used as a command…. Again, that gap between fact and fiction….. once those dogs are harnessed, there is never, ever, any need to utter any words of encouragement)
The food stunk…. The dog food that is. Soon after we stopped for the night, he chopped up a big bag of meat and fat scraps to give them a snack (about ½ to one pound each). He later took a 5 gallon pail, poured in dry dog food, water and more fat scraps and heated it on the space heater in the cabin (our food had to wait till the dogs were fed). They eat at high speed too.
The trip was fun. We left from a landing near his place, went across Eagle Lake, portaged into another lake, went down a narrow channel; a weedy place with a creek in the middle, and stopped there for lunch under an overhang on a huge cliff.
Lunch was corn chowder cooked over an open fire, bread, and cookies. The chowder was cooked in a pot that Noah probably chucked off the arc, and was served up in various containers from old margarine containers to broken plastic bowls. Very rustic. Very good..
We went over at least 4 portages on the way out to the cabin. The last was the worst. It was quite long, very crooked and narrow and full of trees and other hard things. I came off several times, managing to hang on until the sleigh got hung up on a tree, then drove the anchor into the snow while I cautiously righted the sleigh and attempted to get on, put on the brake, lift the hook etc etc all without loosing it again.
We stayed overnight at a nicely made log cabin, very rustic. Pots that have seen long use as mallets or some other hard use, a couch with the stuffing coming out, two bunk beds, a space heater, various animal parts hanging here and there, etc etc. Supper was spaghetti, salad and brownies.
Breakfast was pancakes and farmer sausage, quite good. Then Burton Dwight and I went across the small lake we were on, with one team, to get a set of moose antlers out of the bush. Anne stayed behind, not feeling too well. We left the dogs at the edge of the lake and walked in the “½ mile or so” to the swamp where the antlers were. There was a ½ mile in that hike all right, but we had to walk a mile to get to it. The antlers were quite large, he had been in there before and found them (with a dog team no less…. In some spots it was hard to get through on foot). The dogs didn’t like being left. I guess the worst thing in their lives is to be left behind. In fact the dogs we left at the cabin were in full chorus all the time we were gone.
The return trip was easier, only two portages and the longest was actually a snowmobile trail (a very narrow one) but it made it easier to handle the dogs because the brake worked better in the hard packed snow. Most of the trip was on ice though. He had to break trail for part of the way, which was no great problem because the sleighs were only sinking an inch or so into the snow, but was a bit crusty and slowed him us up a bit, with the result that our teams were crowding his and at times almost travelling beside his.
Anne rode back in Burtons sleigh partly because she was not feeling well and partly to be able to take some pictures on the way home. So Burton and Dwight each had 8 dogs in their teams. Dwight tied Anne’s sleigh behind his and in fact just rode in the second sleigh for most of the trip home. The dogs are just going to keep going till they get back home anyway, so you might as well sit down and enjoy the trip.
Which brings up another point. Dog sledding has never been accepted as an Olympic sport. You see, the feeling is that if you have no control over where or how fast you go, and are able to just sit in the sleigh while the dogs do all the work, you may be having a really great time, but you’re not really an Olympian.
I can tell you one thing though, we both hurt bad in a lot of places the next day so we were doing a lot more than just sitting for two days, and are quite thankful that, as much fun as I was, it only lasted 2 days.
What really happens is that the dogs come abruptly to wild, frantic, maniacal life as soon as they see the harnesses. And they stay that way till the end of the day when supper is finished. In actual fact, Sergeant Preston would have had to anchor his sleigh to a tree with a grappling hook before he ever got a dog near it, and there would be no need to holler “on King”, because as soon as he unhooked from the tree the dogs would be off in a cloud of snow, with Preston if he were alert enough and hanging on tightly.
Before starting out on this trip we were naturally interested in any commands that we might use to “drive” the dogs. We soon found that any thought we had of “driving” the dogs was a total misunderstanding of reality, that there is a very good reason why the sleigh is shaped like a bullet… mainly because that’s how it behaves….you can aim it, but once you unhook from that tree, you have no control.
In fact, there are no commands… because dogs have no brakes, no steering wheel, no reverse, and absolutely no concern for your welfare. I doubt that they have any idea that there is anything behind them. Hence no commands. Well, there was one; it went something like HeYaaaaa, HewYaaaaaa, and sort of deteriorated from there on. However, they really need very little encouragement. Anyway there really are no commands, because you don’t really drive them, you just hang on. Well, Burton, the guy who owned the dogs, did have one dog, Sandy, his lead dog, who would ostensibly veer left to “haw” and right to “gee”. This worked not too badly, until Sandy saw a moose and headed for the bush.
They don’t even stop to crap, they simply crap on the run. Not a skill that you’d want to cultivate, but these guys do it, and do it well. They just spread their back legs a bit change to a gait where both back legs are moving in unison, and let fly.
Another thing that the new “driver” should know is that you will probably start out on shore and head out onto a frozen lake. Invariably there is a steep, twisting drop to the lake, studded with trees and other minor obstacles. Once you unhook from the tree, the dogs, who are fresh, excited (excited is such a weak word), and surprisingly powerful, and who have no interest in anything that they may be pulling, take off like a shot toward the lake, and keep on going. They do get a little bored on the lake and may slow up a bit in the fullness of time, but interest piques again as soon as they get onto a narrow, twisting portage trail crowded with trees, rocks and stumps and hills etc, and as the dogs turn corners, the sleigh slams against the trees (hence the bullet shape), and tips over. The sleigh is tough, and is usually not damaged. If you are not damaged, and intent on salvaging your pride, and would not want to have your team bound out onto the lake with you running behind screaming, you hang on for dear life, being dragged through the bush, until the sleigh finally gets tangled in a tree or rights itself on a snow bank.
Yes, there are brakes….. three of them. The first is a piece of snowmobile track about 8” wide and a foot long, that drags between the runners, that you can put your foot on to slow them down (this will in no way stop them, but putting all their weight on it may cause them to sweat a bit). Of course taking a foot off one runner, can have a deleterious effect on your balance, especially on an uneven portage trail.
The second brake, which worked fairly well on my sleigh, is an aluminum bar with two big prongs on it that you can force with a foot into the snow. It works well if you are on a hard packed trail. It’s particularly useful coming down hill through the bush on a portage trail where you have to apply vigorous brake to keep from over running the dogs with the sleigh, if not in preservation of your own health.
The third, not really a brake, is the anchor. It’s actually a large two pronged grappling hook, (mentioned earlier) and is made out of 1/2 “ steel rod. It’s on the end of a rope that places it near your foot. The idea is that when (if) you get them stopped, you throw this down on the ground, stamp it in hard with your heel, turn your sleigh on it’s side and sit on it while grabbing the axe to pound the grappling hook deeper into the Ice. Imagine Sergeant Preston pulling up dramatically in front of the miscreant and having to go through that procedure? Of course if there is a tree handy, you just toss out the hook on the way by and hope to snag it. Then, when you start out again, you unhook from the tree, the team immediately senses freedom and is off like a shot while you try valiantly to retain your balance, put on a brake, and stow the hook, while careening down a steep slope, through the trees onto the lake.
It’s fun though….. and by the way, none of the above is exaggerated.
The dogs are interesting. We had 21 of them, and they ranged from a couple that actually looked like real huskies, to big, long haired sad faced things, and small wiry, short haired creatures. In fact, the small dogs pulled harder than most of the big ones. But they all shared one trait; everything was done at full speed and right now. They were quiet on the trail, rarely fighting and barking. Even off the trail they were fairly well behaved until they sensed that it was nearly time to go, or time to eat, then they were in full cry continuously, until on the trail or eating.
Harnessing 21 dogs is real frantic. By the time you’re done its time for a little lie down, but of course, that’s not in the cards. They’re smart in a way. They know the routine, and they know what to do, they just have to do it right now. The result is that when you unhook them from their chains, you have to grab them by their collar and lift their front legs off the ground, that’s the only way you have a chance of controlling them. Even then it takes a firm arm.
But they know this routine, and actually leap into this position as you grab their collar. They knew when the trip was over too and were quiet then, just anxious to get into their cages. When we unharnessed them they’d usually run us to the truck and leap up as you lifted them into their little holes. He had a low box on the truck (sitting on the truck box so he could put sleighs and gear under it), with six little compartments with screened doors on each side. Once in there, they were content to just sit, no barking.
Harnessing them took over ½ hour. The lead dogs were harnessed first and if smart enough, would keep the traces tight while the others were harnessed. But they have a short attention span for anything but running, and we usually had to work at keeping them in line. Of course they are in full cry all this time. Some would even jump straight into the air they were so excited and anxious to get going.
We had 4 sleighs. Mine was the only manufactured one. It was all metal with an aluminum bottom about 5 feet long with nylon runners that stuck out about 3 feet behind, very light and short. I had 5 dogs.
Anne’s sleigh, as were all the others, was handmade, by Burton. They were nice sleighs, made of ash with thick nylon bottoms and runners. All the handmade sleighs had a canvas insert that closed at the top to keep your stuff from falling out as the sleigh bounced along behind the dogs after you fell off. Anne had only 3 dogs to start with, geared to her slender weight, then they added a fourth later. Even 3 were enough to cause whiplash. Except for falling off a few times on the portage trails, Anne did very well. (not that she fell off any more than I did)
Burton and his helper, Dwight, had 6 dogs each since they were carrying the food and gear. I guess he thought he would need a helper along with these seniors. He was right.
The dogs were remarkably well behaved in most respects, except for their hyper outlook on life. They were all very friendly and you could pet any one of them, but very few would approach you looking for attention. You could even take food away from them at any time and they would not so much as growl. (he took bones away from a couple of them). You didn’t try to pet them if they were fighting though…. And that was another application of the HeYaaa command, which, in general, just means stop whatever you are doing. (Mush was never used as a command…. Again, that gap between fact and fiction….. once those dogs are harnessed, there is never, ever, any need to utter any words of encouragement)
The food stunk…. The dog food that is. Soon after we stopped for the night, he chopped up a big bag of meat and fat scraps to give them a snack (about ½ to one pound each). He later took a 5 gallon pail, poured in dry dog food, water and more fat scraps and heated it on the space heater in the cabin (our food had to wait till the dogs were fed). They eat at high speed too.
The trip was fun. We left from a landing near his place, went across Eagle Lake, portaged into another lake, went down a narrow channel; a weedy place with a creek in the middle, and stopped there for lunch under an overhang on a huge cliff.
Lunch was corn chowder cooked over an open fire, bread, and cookies. The chowder was cooked in a pot that Noah probably chucked off the arc, and was served up in various containers from old margarine containers to broken plastic bowls. Very rustic. Very good..
We went over at least 4 portages on the way out to the cabin. The last was the worst. It was quite long, very crooked and narrow and full of trees and other hard things. I came off several times, managing to hang on until the sleigh got hung up on a tree, then drove the anchor into the snow while I cautiously righted the sleigh and attempted to get on, put on the brake, lift the hook etc etc all without loosing it again.
We stayed overnight at a nicely made log cabin, very rustic. Pots that have seen long use as mallets or some other hard use, a couch with the stuffing coming out, two bunk beds, a space heater, various animal parts hanging here and there, etc etc. Supper was spaghetti, salad and brownies.
Breakfast was pancakes and farmer sausage, quite good. Then Burton Dwight and I went across the small lake we were on, with one team, to get a set of moose antlers out of the bush. Anne stayed behind, not feeling too well. We left the dogs at the edge of the lake and walked in the “½ mile or so” to the swamp where the antlers were. There was a ½ mile in that hike all right, but we had to walk a mile to get to it. The antlers were quite large, he had been in there before and found them (with a dog team no less…. In some spots it was hard to get through on foot). The dogs didn’t like being left. I guess the worst thing in their lives is to be left behind. In fact the dogs we left at the cabin were in full chorus all the time we were gone.
The return trip was easier, only two portages and the longest was actually a snowmobile trail (a very narrow one) but it made it easier to handle the dogs because the brake worked better in the hard packed snow. Most of the trip was on ice though. He had to break trail for part of the way, which was no great problem because the sleighs were only sinking an inch or so into the snow, but was a bit crusty and slowed him us up a bit, with the result that our teams were crowding his and at times almost travelling beside his.
Anne rode back in Burtons sleigh partly because she was not feeling well and partly to be able to take some pictures on the way home. So Burton and Dwight each had 8 dogs in their teams. Dwight tied Anne’s sleigh behind his and in fact just rode in the second sleigh for most of the trip home. The dogs are just going to keep going till they get back home anyway, so you might as well sit down and enjoy the trip.
Which brings up another point. Dog sledding has never been accepted as an Olympic sport. You see, the feeling is that if you have no control over where or how fast you go, and are able to just sit in the sleigh while the dogs do all the work, you may be having a really great time, but you’re not really an Olympian.
I can tell you one thing though, we both hurt bad in a lot of places the next day so we were doing a lot more than just sitting for two days, and are quite thankful that, as much fun as I was, it only lasted 2 days.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Albert and the speed of light
The history of the speed of light involves, among others, Galileo, two chaps named Michelson and Morley, a FirzGerald, a guy named Lorentz, and, of course, Albert.
You might think that the speed of light was a relative thing. That it would go faster coming from car headlights than a lamp post. But you’d be wrong. You might also think that relativity was Albert’s original idea, and you’d be wrong there too, it was Galileo that first came up with a theory of relativity. He apparently said : The laws of mechanics valid in one frame of reference are valid in all frames of reference that move uniformly in relation to it.
Of course Albert took that idea and really put it to work. He expanded Galieo's relativity to include all the laws of physics. In particular, he included the laws governing electromagnetic radiation (which includes light).
But before Albert, there was Michelson & Morley, who measured the speed of light. Actually they weren’t as interested in its actual speed as they were in proving the existence of a medium for it to travel through. The thought of the day was that as a wave, light had to propagate through something. They called the something, the ether.
Of course if the ether existed, the earth had to move through it (it was assumed that the ether was motionless). Therefore a light wave moving in the direction of the earth’s motion should travel at a different speed than one traveling perpendicular to it. Unfortunately when Michelson and Morley did their experiment, both light beams traveled at the same speed. The conclusion: either the earth was not moving through the ether, or the ether did not exist. Neither alternative was very attractive to scientists of the day.
The next guy to throw his hat in the ring was George Francis FitzGerald. He reasoned that the ether may just compress matter traveling through it, including the “yardstick” used to measure the light speed. He suggested that this compression might just be enough to render measurement of the two light beams the same.
Then, Hendrik Antoon Lorentz independently worked the same idea out mathematically and laid it out in now famous theorem called the Lorentz Transformations. Albert put Galileo’s principle of relativity together with Lorentz’s transformation mathematics and came up with the Special Theory of Relativity, which says that:
1) The velocity of light in a vacuum is the same for all observers (i.e. in all frames of reference) moving uniformly in relation to each other, and
2) All laws of nature are the same in all frames of reference moving uniformly relative to each other.
The speed of light being constant in all situations is the fly in the ointment. It just couldn’t be right according to classical physics, but if it is right, if light speed is constant, then something else has to change, and Albert figured out that the something that changes is space-time.
(Even though the Michelson-Morley experiment had been published 18 years prior to Albert’s 1905 special relativity paper, and had led to the Lorentz Transformations, Albert claimed that it was not part of his reasoning process that led to his special theory.)
The perplexing part about measuring the speed of light is that since Albert threw out the idea of a fixed, unmoving, reference point, it is impossible to determine which is moving, the source or the observer. Maybe they both are. Therefore you can only talk about their motion relative to each other and only take measurements from one or the other point of view (or frame of reference).
If you are in the source frame of reference, the light leaving you will always be leaving at the speed of light, regardless of your motion relative to anything else in the universe. Consider the idea that light from a car’s headlights travels faster than light from a lamp post. Now, why would you expect such a thing? Does the sound from a car’s horn travel faster when the car is moving than when it is stopped? Of course not. Sound travels at a speed determined by the medium it travels through, i.e., the atmosphere, or you neighbours wall. Since light is a wave it propagates at a specific velocity too, regardless of the motion of the source, just as sound waves do.
However, if you are measuring from the observers frame of reference the situation is a little different (or the same, depending on how you look at it). The fact is that mass is compressed when it is in motion, just like FitzGerald said it would be (but because of a change in space-time rather than compression by the ether). The result is that the measuring tools (rulers and clocks), moving along with the observer, change just enough so that the speed of the light wave will still measure 186,000 miles/second. But that’s not all; the frequency will also measure the same as if it were measured at the moving source. The confusion comes in when you try to talk about stationary and moving observers. The fact is that you can only state your motion relative to the source of the light.
Therefore, as an observer, if you are stationary relative to the source you will measure the speed at 186,000 m/s. If, on the other hand you are moving toward the source at some incredible velocity, your measuring tools will shrink and you will still measure the speed at 186,000 m/s. No matter what the relative speeds are, or who is moving and who is stationary, the light speed will always be the same.
The classic example of a train whistle changing pitch as the it passes by is the same for light, hence the red-shift for stars moving away from us and blue-shift for those approaching us. In both cases, the velocity stays the same but the frequency changes.
Light leaving a moving star will still travel at 186,000 m/s, but the frequency will have to shift. If we were to suddenly begin to move away from that star, thus adding to the speed we are moving away from each other at, we would still see the same light speed and frequency because both our yardstick and our clock would change resulting the same measurement we got when we were "still" and the star moving away from us.
There are several other interesting points:
First; it appears that the classical physicists may have been right about a propagating medium. That medium may have been resurrected by Quantum field theory, which states that particles (including photons) are excited states of the featureless ground state of the all-pervading quantum field. (It seems to me that this field would be the fixed reference point 19th century scientists were seeking??)
Second: If light does not propagate through some medium, if it just whizzes unimpeded through empty space, then why does it settle on a specific speed? What makes 186,000 miles/second the speed limit? Well, if there is a propagating medium, i.e. the quantum field, then it make a little more sense that energy would propagate through it at a specific speed, just as sound through air. It is also in keeping with the fact that light travels slower when it encounters matter, such as glass, or the fibre used in fibre optics.
Of course, you have to wonder what also makes that particular speed an ultimate one that nothing can exceed. Is mass and energy that closely entangled that the same rules have to be obeyed regardless of which form it is in?
And finally, just to warp your mind, consider one of Albert’s thought experiments:
Imagine yourself in a moving room. The room moves with a uniform velocity close to the speed of light. Exactly in the centre of the room is a light bulb that flashes on and off periodically. The room is made of glass so that an outside observer can see what goes on inside. At the precise moment that we pass an observer the light flashes on.
Now you might think that you in the room and the observer will see the same thing, but you’d be wrong. Inside the room we would see the light travel out in all directions at the same speed and hit all four glass walls at the same time.
The outside observer also sees the light travel out in all directions at the same speed. However, he also sees that the room is moving, and therefore the light travelling backward hits the rear wall before the forward moving light can catch up to the forward wall.
And Albert’s conclusion? Events that are simultaneous for one observer may occur at different times for another observer, depending on their relative motion. The terms “sooner”, “later”, and “simultaneous” * are local terms and have no meaning unless they are tied down to a specific frame of reference.
*(this is apparently true only for “space-like separated events”. “Time-like separated events” can never appear simultaneous in any frame of reference travelling at less than the speed of light)
Just when you think you have some of it all figured out, Albert will throw something like that at you.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Beer, a short history
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
- Benjamin Franklin
You know, I always thought of Ben Franklin as more of a clown than a wise man, but those are truly awe inspiring words. But, if they are true, beer must have been with us right from the beginning. Right? So just how far back does it go? Well, Noah included it in the Ark’s provisions, but that’s as far back as we can go because the flood destroyed all the records.
Beer next pops up in 4200BC on Babylon clay tablets. It must have been very well established by that time since the Babylonians boasted over 20 varieties.
Interestingly, bread must have come before beer, which is always a good plan. But really, bread was developed first. We know this because early brewers used unbaked bread as a source of yeast to make beer. More importantly though, the master brewers were women, and in fact continued to be a major force in beer making well beyond the middle ages. The Babylonians even had beer Godesses (Siris and Nimkasi), as did the Egyptians. Theirs was Isis, the nature goddess and patroness of beer making.
Life in Babylon must have been one of the happiest of times in humanity’s long history, because in 2100 BC Hammurabi, the 6th Babylonian king, decreed a daily beer ration for the populace: a worker received two litres, civil servants three litres, and high priests five litres per day. Truly an enlightened society. However, it may explain a lot of things, including the popularity of certain careers, and some curious religious beliefs as well as rather erratic government policies.
Tavern keepers haven’t changed a bit since then either, since Hammurabi was forced to institute some serious regulations in his great code of law to protect beer drinkers. These stated that the punishment for short measure by an innkeeper was drowning; a rather effective but reasonable, way to prevent any repetition of the offence!
The Chinese were a bit behind, which was unlike them. China was not usually behind anyone in the pursuit of life enriching activities. However it was not until about 5,000 years ago that they began brewing a beer called ‘Kui'.
The Greeks and Romans also brewed beer, but they considered it the drink of barbarians, as did the Germans who thought beer contained a spirit which possessed the drinker (who’d have thought it?). Wine was reserved for upper crust.
But women continued to play in an important role in the making of beer, a fact that I’m sure all the women pushing for prohibition in the 30’s were not aware of, and which may have helped the cause of those resisting that terrible law. However, until the Middle Ages, brewing was exclusively the domain of women, mainly because they were in charge of baking the bread which also used yeast.
As the Christian Era dawned beer really caught on, mainly at the hands of the Monks. They began making beer as a pleasant-tasting, nutritious drink to serve with their meals and to help them through fasting periods (good story). Since drinking is allowed during a fast, beer was permitted; in fact some monks were allowed to drink as much as five litres a day. (No wonder some of them saw visions, and no wonder monasteries were so popular in the Middle Ages).
These guys knew when they were onto a good thing and they knew what they were doing. They added hops to the beer and perfected the brewing process. They built the first breweries are considered the pioneers of the hotel business, providing food, beer, and a roof for pilgrims and other travelers. They are the inventors of the PUB. We have much to thank the monks for.... beer, and coffee too.
Three very well thought of Christian saints are listed as patrons of brewing: Saint Augustine of Hippo; Saint Luke the Evangelist; and Saint Nicholas of Myra, better known as Santa Claus. Its funny how that little tid-bit never came up in Sunday school.
Saint Mungo, the patron saint of Glasgow, established a religious brotherhood there in 540 AD, and one of the brothers started brewing to supply the others. Brewing is still regarded as the oldest industry in Glasgow. Saint Patrick apparently retained among his household a brewer - a priest called Mescan.
Even the Emperor Charlemagne (AD 742-814), the great Christian ruler (considered by some to be the founder of Christianity), considered beer as essential for moderate living, and personally trained the realm's brewmasters.
But, invent a good thing and sooner or later the government will want a piece of it. In this case they wanted it all, and around the 12th century the rulers, saw beer as a good way to collect taxes and so brewing in much of Europe became the responsibility of commercial enterprises, given permission under royal licence. (Things haven’t changed.) As a result, the monastery pubs started to close down. It may not be coincidence that in the Middle Ages, monks nearly took over wine production, as they ran most of Europe's vineyards. While today a number of families and corporations also run vineyards and make notable wines, monks still run some of the oldest vineyards throughout Europe. But as winemaking in monasteries became more prevalent a suspicion slowly fermented that monks perhaps were more interested in celebration than in the mass… but that’s another story.
Despite the fall of the monastery breweries, beer continued to be handed out to weary travelers with the establishment of the Wayfarer Dole by William of Wykeham, (1367-1404). A Pilgrim's Dole of ale and bread can still be claimed by all wayfarers at the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, England.
But beer was still loved by the upper crust. The ladies-in-waiting at the court of Henry VII were allowed a gallon of beer for breakfast alone. The mind boggles. One wonders what they were waiting for. And then there was Queen Elizabeth I, who, when traveling through the country, always sent couriers ahead to taste the local ale. If it didn't measure up to the quality required, a supply would be shipped from London for her.
William Shakespeare's father was an ale-tester or "conner". The "conner" tested the ale by pouring some upon a bench and sitting on it while drinking the rest. If there was sugar in the ale, or it was impure, their leather breeches would stick after sitting for half an hour or so. (that’s an excuse I never thought of)
And one further little fact: in England, a "bride's ale" would be brewed for the wedding by her family. "Bride's ale" gave way to the word "bridal."
And then European beer came to North America in Christopher Columbus' ships. I suspect that Eric and Leif brought their version of beer to our shores long before that, but It is very likely that, as good Norsemen, they drank it all on the way over, which is exactly why the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, instead of further south as planned; because they ran out of beer. A journal entry dated December 19, 1620 said: "We could not take time for further search or consideration; our victuals being much spent, especially our beer" Which is not surprising; not that they ran out of beer, but that they stopped to brew some, because in those days, ships did not move without a crew, and crews did not move without their beer. In fact, Henry the VIII once nearly lost a major battle because someone had forgotten to order the beer for the ships.
Nevertheless, lets not forget our own native brethren. On his last voyage to Central America in 1502, Columbus found that they were making a first-rate brew "of maize, resembling English beer".
If, in reading all of this you think that we have lost something along the way, you’re not alone. Particularly noticeable in their absence, are beer allowances, and beer-making in the home under the direction of the little woman. It is also of note that at the end of the 17th century, the weekly allowance for pupils of all ages at one English school was two bottles a day (mostly because beer was a good deal safer than the drinking water). What a way to learn.
And beer was also common in the workplace. Benjamin Franklin, who introduced this piece, recorded the daily beer consumption in a London printing house which he visited. The employees each had a pint before breakfast, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint at six o'clock and a pint when they finished work. (and probably stopped at the local pub on their way home).
I didn’t work there
The advent of beer as we know it came in 1516 when the Duke of Bavaria, Wilhelm IV, proclaimed the German Beer Purity Law. For the first time, a law established that only barley, hops and pure water were to be used in the making of beer. The law remained in effect in Europe until 1988, when European Union rules came into effect.
Some historical notes:
4300BC Babylon clay tablets have recipes for beer. They produced around 20 varieties.
3000 BC in the Imperial Egypt of the Pharaohs, beer was already an important food item in the daily diet
3,000 year old beer mugs were uncovered in Israel in the 1960s
55 BC Roman soldiers introduce beer into Northern Europe
49 BC Caesar toasted his troops as they crossed the Rubicon, starting the Roman Civil War
500-1000 AD the first half of the Middle Ages, brewing begins to be practiced in Europe, shifting from family tradition to centralized production in monasteries and convents (hospitality for traveling pilgrims). During Medieval times beer was used for tithing, trading, payment and taxing.
800 AD: The ancient Germans were also brewing the stuff using barley or wheat.
1000 AD hops begins to be used in the brewing process.
1295 King Wenceslas grants Pilsen Bohemia brewing rights (formerly Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia & Czech Republic).
1420: German brewers develop the lager method of brewing.
1490's: Columbus found Indians making beer from corn and black birch sap.
1500: there were 600 breweries in Hamburg alone
1553: Beck's Brewery founded & still brewing today.
Late 1500's Queen Elizabeth I of England drank strong ale for breakfast.
1587 the first beer brewed in New World at Sir Walter Raleigh's colony in Virginia--but the colonists sent requests to England for better beer.
1612 the first commercial brewery opened in New Amsterdam (NYC, Manhattan) after colonists advertised in London newspapers for experienced brewers.
1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock because the beer supplies were running low.
1786 Molson brewery is founded in what is today Canada.
1830's Bavarians Gabriel Sedlmayr of Munich and Anton Dreher of Vienna developed the lager method of beer production.
1842 the first golden lager is produced in Pilsen, Bohemia.
1876 Pasteur unraveled the secrets of yeast in the fermentation process, and he also developed pasteurization to stabilize beers 22 years before the process was applied to milk.
1880 there are approximately 2,300 breweries in the US.
1890s Pabst is the first US brewer to sell over 1 million barrels in a year.
1933 Prohibition ends for beer (April 7).
1938 Elise Miller John heads Miller Brewing for 8 years as the first and only woman ever to run a major brewing company.
People around the world consume more than 100 billion litres of beer annually.
- Benjamin Franklin
You know, I always thought of Ben Franklin as more of a clown than a wise man, but those are truly awe inspiring words. But, if they are true, beer must have been with us right from the beginning. Right? So just how far back does it go? Well, Noah included it in the Ark’s provisions, but that’s as far back as we can go because the flood destroyed all the records.
Beer next pops up in 4200BC on Babylon clay tablets. It must have been very well established by that time since the Babylonians boasted over 20 varieties.
Interestingly, bread must have come before beer, which is always a good plan. But really, bread was developed first. We know this because early brewers used unbaked bread as a source of yeast to make beer. More importantly though, the master brewers were women, and in fact continued to be a major force in beer making well beyond the middle ages. The Babylonians even had beer Godesses (Siris and Nimkasi), as did the Egyptians. Theirs was Isis, the nature goddess and patroness of beer making.
Life in Babylon must have been one of the happiest of times in humanity’s long history, because in 2100 BC Hammurabi, the 6th Babylonian king, decreed a daily beer ration for the populace: a worker received two litres, civil servants three litres, and high priests five litres per day. Truly an enlightened society. However, it may explain a lot of things, including the popularity of certain careers, and some curious religious beliefs as well as rather erratic government policies.
Tavern keepers haven’t changed a bit since then either, since Hammurabi was forced to institute some serious regulations in his great code of law to protect beer drinkers. These stated that the punishment for short measure by an innkeeper was drowning; a rather effective but reasonable, way to prevent any repetition of the offence!
The Chinese were a bit behind, which was unlike them. China was not usually behind anyone in the pursuit of life enriching activities. However it was not until about 5,000 years ago that they began brewing a beer called ‘Kui'.
The Greeks and Romans also brewed beer, but they considered it the drink of barbarians, as did the Germans who thought beer contained a spirit which possessed the drinker (who’d have thought it?). Wine was reserved for upper crust.
But women continued to play in an important role in the making of beer, a fact that I’m sure all the women pushing for prohibition in the 30’s were not aware of, and which may have helped the cause of those resisting that terrible law. However, until the Middle Ages, brewing was exclusively the domain of women, mainly because they were in charge of baking the bread which also used yeast.
As the Christian Era dawned beer really caught on, mainly at the hands of the Monks. They began making beer as a pleasant-tasting, nutritious drink to serve with their meals and to help them through fasting periods (good story). Since drinking is allowed during a fast, beer was permitted; in fact some monks were allowed to drink as much as five litres a day. (No wonder some of them saw visions, and no wonder monasteries were so popular in the Middle Ages).
These guys knew when they were onto a good thing and they knew what they were doing. They added hops to the beer and perfected the brewing process. They built the first breweries are considered the pioneers of the hotel business, providing food, beer, and a roof for pilgrims and other travelers. They are the inventors of the PUB. We have much to thank the monks for.... beer, and coffee too.
Three very well thought of Christian saints are listed as patrons of brewing: Saint Augustine of Hippo; Saint Luke the Evangelist; and Saint Nicholas of Myra, better known as Santa Claus. Its funny how that little tid-bit never came up in Sunday school.
Saint Mungo, the patron saint of Glasgow, established a religious brotherhood there in 540 AD, and one of the brothers started brewing to supply the others. Brewing is still regarded as the oldest industry in Glasgow. Saint Patrick apparently retained among his household a brewer - a priest called Mescan.
Even the Emperor Charlemagne (AD 742-814), the great Christian ruler (considered by some to be the founder of Christianity), considered beer as essential for moderate living, and personally trained the realm's brewmasters.
But, invent a good thing and sooner or later the government will want a piece of it. In this case they wanted it all, and around the 12th century the rulers, saw beer as a good way to collect taxes and so brewing in much of Europe became the responsibility of commercial enterprises, given permission under royal licence. (Things haven’t changed.) As a result, the monastery pubs started to close down. It may not be coincidence that in the Middle Ages, monks nearly took over wine production, as they ran most of Europe's vineyards. While today a number of families and corporations also run vineyards and make notable wines, monks still run some of the oldest vineyards throughout Europe. But as winemaking in monasteries became more prevalent a suspicion slowly fermented that monks perhaps were more interested in celebration than in the mass… but that’s another story.
Despite the fall of the monastery breweries, beer continued to be handed out to weary travelers with the establishment of the Wayfarer Dole by William of Wykeham, (1367-1404). A Pilgrim's Dole of ale and bread can still be claimed by all wayfarers at the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, England.
But beer was still loved by the upper crust. The ladies-in-waiting at the court of Henry VII were allowed a gallon of beer for breakfast alone. The mind boggles. One wonders what they were waiting for. And then there was Queen Elizabeth I, who, when traveling through the country, always sent couriers ahead to taste the local ale. If it didn't measure up to the quality required, a supply would be shipped from London for her.
William Shakespeare's father was an ale-tester or "conner". The "conner" tested the ale by pouring some upon a bench and sitting on it while drinking the rest. If there was sugar in the ale, or it was impure, their leather breeches would stick after sitting for half an hour or so. (that’s an excuse I never thought of)
And one further little fact: in England, a "bride's ale" would be brewed for the wedding by her family. "Bride's ale" gave way to the word "bridal."
And then European beer came to North America in Christopher Columbus' ships. I suspect that Eric and Leif brought their version of beer to our shores long before that, but It is very likely that, as good Norsemen, they drank it all on the way over, which is exactly why the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, instead of further south as planned; because they ran out of beer. A journal entry dated December 19, 1620 said: "We could not take time for further search or consideration; our victuals being much spent, especially our beer" Which is not surprising; not that they ran out of beer, but that they stopped to brew some, because in those days, ships did not move without a crew, and crews did not move without their beer. In fact, Henry the VIII once nearly lost a major battle because someone had forgotten to order the beer for the ships.
Nevertheless, lets not forget our own native brethren. On his last voyage to Central America in 1502, Columbus found that they were making a first-rate brew "of maize, resembling English beer".
If, in reading all of this you think that we have lost something along the way, you’re not alone. Particularly noticeable in their absence, are beer allowances, and beer-making in the home under the direction of the little woman. It is also of note that at the end of the 17th century, the weekly allowance for pupils of all ages at one English school was two bottles a day (mostly because beer was a good deal safer than the drinking water). What a way to learn.
And beer was also common in the workplace. Benjamin Franklin, who introduced this piece, recorded the daily beer consumption in a London printing house which he visited. The employees each had a pint before breakfast, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint at six o'clock and a pint when they finished work. (and probably stopped at the local pub on their way home).
I didn’t work there
The advent of beer as we know it came in 1516 when the Duke of Bavaria, Wilhelm IV, proclaimed the German Beer Purity Law. For the first time, a law established that only barley, hops and pure water were to be used in the making of beer. The law remained in effect in Europe until 1988, when European Union rules came into effect.
Some historical notes:
4300BC Babylon clay tablets have recipes for beer. They produced around 20 varieties.
3000 BC in the Imperial Egypt of the Pharaohs, beer was already an important food item in the daily diet
3,000 year old beer mugs were uncovered in Israel in the 1960s
55 BC Roman soldiers introduce beer into Northern Europe
49 BC Caesar toasted his troops as they crossed the Rubicon, starting the Roman Civil War
500-1000 AD the first half of the Middle Ages, brewing begins to be practiced in Europe, shifting from family tradition to centralized production in monasteries and convents (hospitality for traveling pilgrims). During Medieval times beer was used for tithing, trading, payment and taxing.
800 AD: The ancient Germans were also brewing the stuff using barley or wheat.
1000 AD hops begins to be used in the brewing process.
1295 King Wenceslas grants Pilsen Bohemia brewing rights (formerly Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia & Czech Republic).
1420: German brewers develop the lager method of brewing.
1490's: Columbus found Indians making beer from corn and black birch sap.
1500: there were 600 breweries in Hamburg alone
1553: Beck's Brewery founded & still brewing today.
Late 1500's Queen Elizabeth I of England drank strong ale for breakfast.
1587 the first beer brewed in New World at Sir Walter Raleigh's colony in Virginia--but the colonists sent requests to England for better beer.
1612 the first commercial brewery opened in New Amsterdam (NYC, Manhattan) after colonists advertised in London newspapers for experienced brewers.
1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock because the beer supplies were running low.
1786 Molson brewery is founded in what is today Canada.
1830's Bavarians Gabriel Sedlmayr of Munich and Anton Dreher of Vienna developed the lager method of beer production.
1842 the first golden lager is produced in Pilsen, Bohemia.
1876 Pasteur unraveled the secrets of yeast in the fermentation process, and he also developed pasteurization to stabilize beers 22 years before the process was applied to milk.
1880 there are approximately 2,300 breweries in the US.
1890s Pabst is the first US brewer to sell over 1 million barrels in a year.
1933 Prohibition ends for beer (April 7).
1938 Elise Miller John heads Miller Brewing for 8 years as the first and only woman ever to run a major brewing company.
People around the world consume more than 100 billion litres of beer annually.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Zamboni
It's very interesting that all this Canadian pride over our Olympic performance has resulted in several references to us having invented the Zamboni. A natural assumption really. After all who else would have invented it? Well, maybe someone in Russia, or Norway, or some other northern country? Or maybe even in Minnesota? But surely, southern California would be your last guess. Well, then you'd be wrong.
The Zamboni was invented by two brothers (Frank and George Zamboni) in the early 40's, in southern California when a huge skating rink opened up in Paramount California. The Zamboni plant is only blocks away from the rink.
The ones we use here in the great white north, are of course, made in the Zamboni plant in Brantford Ontario.
I hate to wound Canadian pride, but there it is. When you think it over, though, you'll realize that Canadians at that time would not have thought of building such a device. The tough Canadian attitude would have been to just learn to live with rough ice.
The Zamboni was invented by two brothers (Frank and George Zamboni) in the early 40's, in southern California when a huge skating rink opened up in Paramount California. The Zamboni plant is only blocks away from the rink.
The ones we use here in the great white north, are of course, made in the Zamboni plant in Brantford Ontario.
I hate to wound Canadian pride, but there it is. When you think it over, though, you'll realize that Canadians at that time would not have thought of building such a device. The tough Canadian attitude would have been to just learn to live with rough ice.
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