Labour
Moan, moan, moan
It’s time for a rant, it changes nothing but by golly you feel much better afterwards or at least you ought to to. As I sit here compiling this list I am getting more and [more…]
Space
Physics
20th Century
Is there life on (somewhere other than) Mars?
Once upon a time we knew our place in the universe. The science was settled and the experts agreed. The Earth was at the centre of the universe and everything we could see in the [more…]
20th Century
Close Approach of Mars to Earth
In September 1956, as Mars approached its closest to Earth for 34 years, John Alldridge summed up what we then knew (or thought we knew) of the planet for the Manchester Evening News – Jerry [more…]
Arts
Elementary, my dear Watson – Ti Titanium
Another week, another element. Let’s head off on another exciting elementary excursion. You’ll get the idea now that I hope to ensure that at least one element is included from each of the eighteen Groups [more…]
Engineering
Three Gyroscopes – Part 4
Introduction As a child I loved playing about with magnets – I still do. They can move heavy objects – such as lifting cars at a scrap yard. They can also move light (-weight!) objects [more…]
Engineering
Three Gyroscopes – Part 3
Introduction In part one we looked at how a gyroscope seems to defy gravity. This is accomplished by angular momentum. We’ll come back to that later 🙂 In part two we looked at how a [more…]
20th Century
Space-Travel Anniversaries and More Debris
I have been wondering how to continue with articles on the space-coins collecting theme. It is a vast subject and open to many directions of thought. However, a glance through history quickly shows that 2022, [more…]
20th Century
‘Twas the Night before Christmas………..53 years ago
Placing the spacecraft in lunar orbit had not been easy. Compounding the difficulty, the engine firing, which would put the spacecraft in the right spot, had to happen while the spacecraft was out of contact [more…]