Howling at the Moon

The S.O.B. Letter Column

Andy York

Sounds like the wine making operation is getting into full swing. Are you going to make the equivalent of a microbrewery? If so, since we Texans can now order wine via mail, how much will a bottle cost <GRIN>?

[Well, I doubt that I'll be making that much. I'm currently working on one gallon batches. Unfortunately, events have conspired against me with my grapes. I inadvertently over watered the merlot vine, so a number of the grapes split before they were ripe. I lost a lot more to rats. I was only able to get about four pounds of grapes from the vine, and many of those weren't quite ripe. Also, since it takes 15 pounds of grapes to make one gallon of wine, I decided that my best bet was to try and make a merlot-chardonnay mix. However, the rats got to all of my chardonnay grapes before they were completely ripe. So, I've given up on grape wines this year. Instead, I've gotten batches of nectarine and orange wine going, and I will be starting a batch of apricot this weekend.]

Interesting bit on Einstein. Do you get Analog? The latest issue had a good column on how Black Holes might really be Dark-Energy stars and the introductory editorial discussed the responsibility of teaching science in the context of evolution in today's schools. One of the stories brought up something about the parallel worlds theory that I'd not ever considered - if every decision creates parallel universe(s), where does the matter come from to create it (considering the conversation of matter). Sorta puts a damper on that theory.

[I don't get Analog, so I haven't read the column to which you refer, but the idea of black holes being dark energy stars seems far-fetched given the likely nature of dark energy. After all, how can something that effectively has negative gravity clump to form a star -- much less a black hole? On the many worlds hypothesis of quantum mechanics, that little issue is one that had never occurred to me, either, but I can't help but think there is a solution to it. After all, the physicists who devised it were smart enough to factor in conservation of mass-energy. Still, the observation problem is still a major inconsistency underlying quantum physics.]

Yep, the dark energy star v. black hole was an interesting concept. The genesis of the article came from a lecture by Dr. George Chapline of Lawrence Livermore at the "Physics for the 3rd Millennium II Conference" held by NASA. His theory is, as the star is collapsing into a black hole, quantum mechanics takes over before the final collapse and the dark energy's negative pressure equalizes the forces causing the collapse.

I'm not well enough versed in the field to follow all of it, but it sounds like a plausible theory (emphasis on the theory).

Bob Robles

Book review. Journal of the Waterloo campaign. General Cavalie Mercer. A first hand account of the Waterloo campaign by a horse artillery officer. This is definitely an on the ground, "I was there" report from the embarkation in England to the occupation of Paris and back home again. Oh by the way, a personal account of the battle of Waterloo. The author has a nice eye for detail and you get an really nice description of the marching through Belgium and France. This does not give you the 'big picture', nor is it supposed to.