Science Fare

Rescued my favicon

2009-05-20T22:42:00.002-05:00

the other day Blogger greedily stole my favicon, the sneaky devils.

I modified my template so I could take it back. It's easy, just include

<link rel="icon" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon" href="http://blog.paddlefish.net/favicon.ico"/>

In your template file. Well, obviously, you'd want to use your favicon, not mine. Although I am rather partial to mine...

Andean Pan Flute

2009-05-17T00:59:00.001-05:00

PanFlute.jpg, originally uploaded by nakedtram.

Too-del-dee dee dee

Andean Music

2009-05-17T00:40:00.008-05:00

Listen to the Andean Flute performance from this afternoon in iTunes or download directly here:

Zamphir, eat your heart out.

IMG_0101.jpg

2009-05-05T22:10:00.001-05:00

IMG_0101.jpg, originally uploaded by nakedtram.

Here it is: My Lightroom pillow fashioned by my favorite artist.

Spring Hyacinth

2009-04-18T21:22:00.001-05:00

Spring Hyacinth, originally uploaded by nakedtram.

Today I enjoyed the nice warm spring weather. I trimmed away some of the dead foliage from last fall and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of new growth lurking underneath. The only flowers showing so far are the hyacinths in purple, pink and white.

Dave Stafford Architecture

2009-04-17T10:26:00.002-05:00

Check out this awesome new architecture firm in Rapid City.

http://www.davestaffordarchitecture.com/

IMGP4074.jpg

2009-04-15T14:36:00.003-05:00

IMGP4074.jpg, originally uploaded by nakedtram.

Here is one of the cranes up close. Lucy stared at it intently through the rear passenger window of our car.

Sand Hill Cranes in flight

2009-04-15T14:36:00.001-05:00

Sand Hill Cranes in flight, originally uploaded by nakedtram.

Another charismatic mega-fowl we observed today were the Sand Hill Cranes. A trio were grazing near the roadside, then took flight when a passing car got too close.

Trumpeter Swan

2009-04-15T14:01:00.001-05:00

IMGP4108.jpg, originally uploaded by nakedtram.

On our way out of Carlos Avery (a state wildlife sanctuary about a half hour north of Minneapolis) we saw a pair of Trumpeter Swans. These large guys dwarfed the Canada goose that was swimming nearby. One was banded (Z85) around the neck. They spent most of the time with their heads under water. They're stained slightly pink on their heads and bellies -- I suppose due to iron or some other mineral in the water.

IMGP3920.jpg

2009-04-13T12:45:00.001-05:00

IMGP3920.jpg, originally uploaded by nakedtram.

Happy puppy!

Heart Fractal Card

2009-01-25T22:00:00.001-06:00

IMG_2735.jpg, originally uploaded by nakedtram.

This is a variant on a popular triangular fractal, modified with hearts.. just in time for Valentine's Day.

Download the source Adobe Illustrator CS3 file for your Craft ROBO (free!) here: http://blog.paddlefish.net/downloads/heart_fractal.ai

Love Makes the World go 'Round

2009-01-25T21:58:00.001-06:00

IMG_2733.jpg, originally uploaded by nakedtram.

This card was made using Craft-Robo! The heart twirls around while the lyrics to a popular song from the musical "Carinval!" scroll by in the cut-out windows.

Download the source file for free here: http://blog.paddlefish.net/downloads/love_world.ai

Be Mine Valentine Card

2009-01-25T21:54:00.002-06:00

IMG_2739.jpg, originally uploaded by nakedtram.

"Be Mine" palindrome card. Created using Craft-Robo. Download the source file here

A "C" whistle

2008-08-23T12:16:00.004-05:00

The pitch of a whistle is determined by its length, and the speed of sound (340 m/s).

To determine how long to make a whistle, you need to know the frequency of the desired pitch:

Based on A 440 (A5), you can determine the frequency of C5 (three half steps higher than A5) by multiplying it by 2^(3/12). 3/12 is 0.25, and 2^0.25 is 1.189. 1.189 * 440 = 523. Higher octaves are multiples of 2: 1046, 2092, 4084. ( units: Hz, which is also 1/s)

The length of the whistle is simply the speed of sound divided by the frequency:

C5 : 0.65
C6 : 0.33
C7 : 0.16
C8 : 0.08

It's this last one that interests me -- because an oboe reed is approximately that length, and it sounds "C" when blown by itself.

But curiously, an oboe reed isn't 8 cm long -- they're usually 6.9-7.1 cm. What would account for this difference?

It turns out that the value for the speed of sound I used was for dry air at sea level at 60 degrees (F).

However, an oboe reed is blown, so the air moving through it is 98 degrees, and 100% humid. Calculating the correct speed of sound requires knowing the density of the air, and its adiabatic constant. Fortunately, someone has already calculated this. They give these values:

30°C 351.51
40°C 359.17

Linear interpolation for 37° gives us close approximation for the speed of sound through human breath: 357 m/s

Using this revised value, we find that our ideal oboe reed would be 8.5 cm. This is ever further from the actual length of an oboe reed!

So where does the additional 1.6 cm come from? If the pitch of the instrument was determined entirely by the length of the reed, then it would be impossible to influence the pitch of the instrument by how you play (e.g. your embouchure). I assure you, the pitch of the oboe is very easy to influence! Therefore it is clear that the musician is part of the instrument -- Thus the extra 1.6 cm are coming from the resonance of the players mouth.

Kudos for Lr2

2008-08-07T21:18:00.001-05:00

I upgraded to Lightroom 2 last week... so far, every single change that I’ve noticed has been for the better. It’s a remarkable improvement over what was already one of my favorite pieces of software ever.

From Daring Fireball

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

2008-07-29T12:08:00.002-05:00

Download the free 30-day trial now! Existing users can upgrade at a discounted rate!

Eric put up a snap of the about box. Can you find my name?

Discharge for N F Flathead river

2008-07-26T18:54:00.003-05:00

You can see how well we're staying afloat next week by checking that live data report from the USGS:

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=12355500

Dad is hoping for around 2000 CFS. Based on the data for the last 8 days, I think it should reach that just when we put in on the 31st. It depends on whether it rains in the next week, and how warm it is (which will influence how quickly the glaciers and snowpack melt). If it is a lot higher than 2000 CFS, it can make negotiating the log jams more treacherous. But also more exciting...

Speaking of melting glaciers, it looks like the mean water temperature is 15 degrees C. Which seems down right balmy for melted snow. But keep in mind the gage station is in Columbia Falls, and we're going to be upstream of there. Closer to the source, and therefore likely to be colder water. I think Mike is bringing a wetsuit for the guy in the kayak...

gotta get me one of these

2008-07-20T23:44:00.000-05:00

Cap'n Tight Pants Returns... sortof

2008-07-16T08:57:00.000-05:00

One Minute Documentary : Wool

2008-07-02T19:42:00.001-05:00

Recent panorama of the 35-W Bridge

2008-07-02T17:09:00.001-05:00

A "Zoomify" panorama is here.

Yay Acipenseriformes!

2008-07-01T12:04:00.003-05:00

(Image courtesy of the University of Minnesota.)

As a paddlefish fan, I take heart when I hear of exciting news about any of the Chondrostian fishes. According to KELO news, the Gavins Point Fish Hatchery in Yankton, SD, has successfully bred the endangered Pallid Sturgeon entirely in captivity. Previously, they would harvest gametes from wild adults for the hatchery program.

I did much of the research for my master's degree program at Gavins Point Hatchery. They have a nice facility for raising paddlefish, sturgeon, and also walleye.

One Minute Documentary : Thread

2008-07-01T10:19:00.001-05:00

Click To Play

I'm a bio-med expert

2008-06-30T22:04:00.002-05:00

And I know two times as much about RNA-binding proteins as I do about pyrimidines. DNA and RNA are composed of two classes of nucleic acids: pyrimidines and purines. But don't ask me about purines, I know nothing about those.

Funny, it doesn't mention Lua, Lightroom, web design...

Heron Island

2008-06-16T22:20:00.003-05:00

One Day At A Time and I went for a four-hour bike ride on Sunday. We headed north to view an island on the river which was reported to have a few great blue heron nests on it. Wowie Zowie! The island was nearly flooded out of existence by the high water -- but the trees were still standing. Which was all the herons cared about. We stopped and gawked for a good long time, capturing a few decent pictures. The coolest part was watching the parents feed the young. The youngsters looks nearly old enough to fly.

We then came back via the stone arch bridge, pausing to admire the rush of water over St Anthony Falls, and to have an ice cream at the Stone Arch Art Festival, which happened to be going on.