Cosmos Computed

Recently, Google released a new map system to allow for a 3D Earth view. The new maps depict Earth as a 3D planet, and allow users to explore mountains and cities in 3D.  At first, Google Earth could be downloaded and installed on a computer, but now it is available at maps.google.com for Google users to use without downloading it. To try the new maps, sign in to your Google account and go to maps.google.com. In the tab on the left, click "Get it now" where it describes the new Google maps. If you do not see the button, try  typing "new maps" into the search bar and pressing Enter. The "Get it now" button should appear above the results. My photograph of the Grand Canyon on left, Google Earth's Grand Canyon on right (same location) I really like the new maps. Besides being able to explore the Grand Canyon or Mount Everest, I especially like what happens when I zoom out all the way: Earth becomes visible with a lit side and a shadowed side, and the bl...

On Khan Academy, a while ago, I wrote a program that would allow users to draw a picture, and then the program would generate another program which they could copy and paste and save. The new program would animate the drawing of the same picture. The program was named "Art Maker". Recently, I created a new version of my program. The original only allowed for black and white; the new version includes color, as well as a dialog box system which I designed. The program uses only my own code - I didn't borrow anybody else's (as far as I can remember). To embed the program on my blog, I had to use Khan Academy's script; unfortunately, their script isn't working very well here, so the program is cut off at the edge. You can access the program itself here:  https://www.khanacademy.org/cs/art-maker-pro/5733417664643072 I finished the program before Christmas so I could release it for everybody to use on that day... so Merry Christmas! To use: * Click Generate to gener...

Apfelkuchen is an apple pie baked German style. The word literally translates to "apple cake", but is used in Germany to mean apple pie. Apfelkuchen has many variations. One variation involves baking apples inside a sweet, sugary crust in a tube pan. My mom had a recipe for apfelkuchen which she got from a German woman she knew, but she lost it. The following recipe is my imitation of that recipe. If you try it, let me know how it turned out! Crust: 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened 1 1/2 cups sugar 3 medium eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 4 cups flour Filling: 8 - 10 apples, sliced (peeling is optional) 1/2 cup sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla                                                     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and ...

Blowing snow lit up by the sun, which recently set behind those two peaks A couple of days ago I went skiing. That's not unusual, because I love to ski. Every year I go skiing quite a few times - usually starting in November, when Arapahoe Basin opens, and ending in June, when the snow melts and they have to close. When I went skiing, I brought my camera to the ski resort and took a few pictures. I didn't take any videos or photos of the skiing, but I did take some photos of the moon above the mountains. If I come up to the mountains from Denver, there are two options to get to Arapahoe Basin. One option is to  take the I-70 through the Eisenhower tunnel, continue past Arapahoe Basin until the next exit, drive through Dillon, and then backtrack to the resort. When I go through the tunnel (which I don't very often), I like to hold my breath until I get to the other side. This is especially difficult when I run into a traffic jam halfway through. A quicker route is to get off...

This candle was leaning over too far, so I propped it up with a folded piece of paper. In the cold, dark months of the year, candles are more than welcome. Not only do they give off a cozy light, but they also give off heat and warmth. The trouble is that candles cost money - not only for the candle itself, but also for the candle holder. So is there an alternative to buying candles? Minneola tangelos also work well. The answer is yes: make them yourself. That might sound tough at first, but it turns out that there's a really easy way to do it - all you need is an orange and some cooking oil. Here are the steps: 1. Cut into the peel on the orange. Try not to cut into the juicy flesh, because the juice could make the peel wet and cause it to have trouble lighting. Cut all the way around the orange. You might want to have a few extra oranges in case something goes wrong. 2. Remove the peel on the side opposite the stem. The wick will be on the stem side, so you need to keep that pa...

The spiral-shaped tube of this compact fluorescent lamp results in a bulb much more compact than the fluorescent tubes seen in stores - hence the name. I recently wrote the following essay for school. Because of my school, I haven't had time to post very many things on my blog, but since I wrote this anyway I figured I might as well post it. It's an informative essay formatted MLA style explaining why sometimes green alternatives are not always what they're thought to be. Green Alternatives: Are They Really So Green? There are many different dreams out in the world. Some of them are related in ways you might not think of at first. Two such dreams are the dream of money and the dream of a healthy planet. People who dream of having lots of money usually want the delights and comforts that would come with being rich, such as being able to retire early, buying new and exciting things, or relaxing in a hot tub while sipping hot chocolate. Those who dream of a healthy planet, on ...

Here's an explanation: My college psychology teacher is probably the best teacher I've ever had. She shows fun videos, has the students do fun activities, and allows the students to give presentations to help the subject matter sink into their heads better. It would probably seem a little odd to see college students making paper "brain hats," but the students (especially the girls) enjoy that kind of thing more than the average person would probably think. Anyway, the last two videos she showed us during class were TED talks. They pertained to what we were learning at the moment - namely, the mind's perception of things and attention. I enjoyed them, so I thought I'd post them on my blog in case somebody hasn't seen them yet. Here are the videos, embedded. When given instructions, be sure to follow them carefully so you'll better understand what they're getting at:

A cold front clashed with the warm, moist air from monsoons in the south. As the warm air was cooled by the cold air, large clouds formed. The resulting rain began on the afternoon of September 10th where I live. It started out as a thunderstorm, like all of the other storms that we had this summer. This thunderstorm, however, was particularly impressive; there was crackling thunder and it just kept raining. I didn't think much of it, as we had been getting a few thunderstorms lately. The next day we had another thunderstorm. This one was special, because once the rain began it continued for the rest of the day. It stopped raining for a couple of hours around nightfall and I thought it was over, but I was wrong; the rain started up again later in the night, gently pouring from the sky. The next morning was cold and grey. I probably would have slept in if it weren't for the fact that I take part-time college courses. As it was, the rain was gently falling as we drove to the buil...

Here's a version of the instant chat system I mentioned in my previous post . It updates in real-time, so unlike most forums, you don't have to reload the page to see new comments. You can include HTML in the comments, but I disabled the <script> tags because users misused them. I also added a &ltconsole&gt tag and an &ltincode&gt tag. To post a comment, either click the button or press the Alt key on your keyboard. There may or may not be other people on the chat app. If you want to chat with someone, email the link to that person. If you do not see the app, please click HERE . Instant Chat Application Instant Chat System INITIALIZING... Name:

The sky was dark. Occasional raindrops pattered outside. Thunder rumbled. A computer geek sat in the glow of a computer, typing and staring at the screen as if in a trance. He happened to be working on an instant chat application, using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. When he was complete, he would host one version of the app on his Computer Science blog. He later hosted another version  HERE . Suddenly, the wind outside picked up all at once. As it howled, the windows cracked and popped. At one corner of the house came a spooky moaning sound. Only then did the geek come out of his trance; he stopped typing and turned towards the window. That geek was me. The reason I ceased to type was because I knew that the pickup of wind was unusual, and that it can be a sign of a nearby tornado. I scanned the fields, trying to guess approximately how strong the wind was. The wind had picked up dirt and was blowing it through the fields, so I knew from experience that the wind was particularly strong...

A cumulus cloud with pileus. This pileus is a small one. There are multiple pilei on the cloud in this photo. See if you can find them. A  Pileus , pronounced pie-lee-us , is a small, smooth, silky-looking lenticular (lens-shaped) cloud that can appear above parts of either a cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud. (If you don't know what a cumulus cloud is, click HERE . Cumulonimbus clouds are basically very large cumulus clouds.) A cloud attached to pileus is said to be "with pileus" or to "have pileus". Clouds with pilei can develop into very large cumulonimbus clouds. Pilei form when a strong updraft at a lower altitude acts upon air at a higher altitude, and causes it to cool below its dew point. The result is that as the air cools, the water vapor in it condenses and forms a cloud. Because of the conditions required for it to form, a pileus cloud is usually a sign of severe weather; the cloud that it forms above is likely to develop into a cumulonimbus if it hasn...

This morning my sister noticed a tiny little spider, only a few millimeters wide, sitting in its web. It was a type of orb weaver. It had built its web, which was only about the size of my palm, between a couple of bars of a railing. The spider was sitting in the center of the web, waiting for something small to come along and get caught. One of my friends suggested throwing an ant into the web; he wanted to see the spider at work. We looked around, but couldn't find the slightest trace of an ant. I didn't really care - I had already seen plenty of spiders catch their food  - but my friend was not satisfied. He stuck the tip of his pocket knife gently into the web and jiggled it around. His efforts proved futile; the spider could tell it wasn't an insect and did not budge from his position at the center. My friend succeeded only in messing up the web. The upper-left corner is where my friend put his pocketknife. The entire web is only the size of my palm. Soon my sister fou...

The actual sun appeared bright red, but my camera picked up some invisible radiation as violet. This photo was not enhanced. Last year was very dry. Wildfires raged through the state, and a firework ban on Independence Day made everybody even more sorry about the lack of water. I think this summer is turning out to be a repeat. So far we've had 3 historically significant fires: the  Black Forest Fire , which burned 14,280 acres and was the most destructive ever recorded in Colorado (in terms of property damage); the Royal Gorge Fire , which burned 3,800 acres and jumped the Royal Gorge; and the West Fork Complex , which is still burning 0% contained, and has so far burned more than 83,004 acres. Photos of an affected area, arranged  in chronological order. Just today, we watched a wildfire almost in our backyard, and saw the firefighters putting it out. We packed up in case we had to evacuate, but they got it under control and put it out. They had a helicopter with a wate...

Six days ago, a fire started in Black Forest, Colorado. The wind was very strong, and the fire quickly grew to become the most destructive fire in the history of Colorado. The smoke cloud looks a lot like this cumulus cloud; both were formed from warm rising air. That afternoon, I was able photograph the smoke cloud. You can see one of my photos at the top of this post. Notice the lighter area near the top of the cloud; that's caused by water vapor condensing out of the smoke. The following day, the air where we live was full of smoke from the fire. Then the wind changed and blew the smoke away, and we had fresh air for a while. That night, we were smoked out again. Wind that keeps changing over a wildfire can be bad. As we later learned, the fire had turned around and burned areas that had originally been spared. Not good. As of today, the fire is still burning, 75% contained. It has so far destroyed at least 483 homes and partially damaged 16 homes. Luckily, only 2 people we...

I recently sent a letter to Astronomy magazine about one of the articles in the April 2013 issue. The article was titled Astro April Fools  and was written by the columnist Bob Berman. I didn't like how lightly Bob treated Y2K, so I wrote the following letter: I have been a subscriber to Astronomy magazine for about 3 or 4 years, since I was about 12. Probably my favorite part of Astronomy magazine is Bob Berman's Strange Universe. However, in the April 2013 issue, Bob seems to treat Y2K a little too lightly. Although not as bad as advertised, there really were dangers; computers really did fail, and bad things did happen. Caption: A French sign displaying an inaccurate date because of the Y2K bug. Image taken from Wikipedia. Think about a normal computer problem, like the one that happened a few weeks ago: an airline's computers were down for only a couple of hours, but it cost them thousands of dollars. When something like this happens, the computer can be reset; o...

Last Friday I went skiing at Arapahoe Basin. Yes, there's still snow up there - but the warm weather is melting it, resulting in conditions known as Spring skiing. The water from the melted snow collects in valleys and trenches, forming ponds excellent for skimming. Skimming is skiing on water. To skim a pond, the upward force from the skis must exceed the skier's weight, and it must continue to exceed his weight until the skier gets across the pond. The force is determined by the skier's forward velocity, the surface area of the bottom of his skis, and the angle of his skis. On Friday when I visited Arapahoe Basin, I skimmed a few ponds. It's lots of fun, as long as you don't slow down too much halfway through the pond. Here's a video from my trip:

Finally - it's nice and warm outside. The meadowlarks are singing, and cumulus clouds fill the sky. In some places, this kind of weather has been going on for the past couple of months. Where I live, though, we've been having cool weather, so a 70° day seems very warm. Here are some of the pictures I took today: The photo above is of some purple mustard flowers. I really don't like purple mustard, but unfortunately it always comes with summer where I live. Sure, purple mustard might look okay, but it smells awful. This is a western meadowlark. I wanted to get a photo showing his breast, which is yellow with a black V, but he was always facing the wrong direction. Whenever I moved to a different angle, he changed position accordingly. So I had to be satisfied with a photo of his back. Dark, big clouds, with precipitation. Precipitation is what water is called when it condenses and falls out of the sky. Rain and snow are forms of precipitation; so is hail. Meteors are not. A ...

Photos of seeds from yesterday, to scale. The onion is the one on the left. A couple of days ago I planted 3 seeds in a clear glass jar, so I could watch them germinate. 2 of the seeds came from one of my basil plants, and the other came from a green onion plant. This is partly a test on the quality of my home-grown seeds, but also a fun gardening activity; after all, who wouldn't like to sprout  some seeds and watch them grow? Here's how you can make your own sprout jar: 1. First make sure you have some seeds you can use. Popcorn kernels work very well, if they haven't been popped yet; the better they pop, the better they grow. You can also use dry uncooked beans. 2. Acquire a small clear tube of some sort. I used an empty spice jar with the label removed.  3. Fold and/or cut a paper towel until it is as wide as the jar is tall. Then roll it up and put it inside the jar. Try to make the paper towel tight against the sides of the jar. 4. Add seeds to the jar. Place the se...

Yesterday I learned about something really cool called a Halbach array. It's a special arrangement of magnets that has a magnetic field on one side, but not the other. The array and its effect were discovered in 1973 by John C. Mallinson, but it was named after physicist Klaus Halbach, who invented the array 7 years later - not knowing someone else had already gone to the trouble. Halbach array, showing approximate field lines. The way the Halbach array works is similar to a bunch of lined up horseshoe magnets. There are North and South poles, but they are all on the same side of the row. Horseshoe magnets are clumsy, so in the Halbach array, regular bar magnets are used instead. The magnets are oriented so that their magnetic fields match those of the horseshoe magnets they're replacing; that way, the effect is nearly the same. A perfect Halbach array is only magnetic on one side, greatly reducing stray magnetic fields that can interfere with other equipment; and since the mag...

One day in Arizona, I made pancakes. The pans were a little different than I was used to; I normally use a buttered cast-iron skillet to fry my pancakes, but the apartment we were staying in didn't have any of those. As far as pans went, all they had were stainless steel frying pans - which are very different from cast-iron skillets. When I was heating the pans for the pancakes, I couldn't tell how hot they were. I put my hand over one, but felt very little heat - probably because it didn't radiate much heat. So I left the pans to heat up more. Finally I decided to try something else. I got my hands wet, so I could splash some water on one of the pans. If the water bubbled and boiled, that would mean the pan was hot. I splashed some water on. It didn't boil; instead, as it hit the pan, there was a dull clink , and the water turned into a bunch of tiny balls that rolled around on the pan, bouncing back and forth from one side to the other. Now THAT was different. What wa...