Author Archives: Charlie
Katabatic Winds
If you have ever spent an evening on the slope of a mountain, you know the temperature will precipitously drop as soon as the sun sets. Part of this is the dry mountain air that does not hold on the … Continue reading
Incomplete Presidential Terms
A couple of years ago, I did a post on the eight Presidents who died in office and the Curse of Tippecanoe. This got me thinking about which Presidents did not complete their terms. There were, of course, the eight who … Continue reading
Lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely
Lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely, I have nobody for my own. I am so lonely, I’m Mr. Lonely, wish I had someone to call on the phone. Where is the farthest you could possibly be from other people? The answer is … Continue reading
See a Double Sunset
A couple of years ago, I asked the question, can you see across Lake Michigan. The answer is no, but a related question is whether you can see the sunset more than once in 24 hours. The answer to that … Continue reading
A Time to Pee
Q: Why can’t you hear a Pterodactyl going to the bathroom? A: Because the P is silent This one is just too good to pass up. Patricia Yang is a doctoral student at Georgia Tech who studies “how animals urinate, defecate, and … Continue reading
The Days Get Shorter in the Summer
I asked people if they know why the days get shorter in the summer, and they all replied, you mean the opposite. Actually, no, I meant what I said, the days get shorter in the summer and they get longer … Continue reading
Size Does Matter
You probably know that the largest planet in our solar system is Jupiter and that the second-largest is Saturn. You also know that Jupiter is massive: kg, more than 317 times the mass of the Earth. In fact, if you total … Continue reading
Presidential Deaths
Yesterday marked an interesting milestone. It had been 18,967 days since a US President died in office. The last President to die in office, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Prior to the current record, the longest … Continue reading
Airport Runway Names
Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport has sixteen different runways (keep reading, that actually means eight, of which five are used). The two most used runways are 27L (landings) and 28R (take-offs). Runways are named based on their direction on a scale of … Continue reading
Why Does Soda (or Beer) Explode When Shaken?
Soda is pressurized with carbon dioxide gas, making it bubbly and fun-tasting. When you open a can or bottle, the pressure is released, and the gas expands to fill the greater volume, in this case, into the air around you. … Continue reading