Dave told me an anecdote of Morfar finding a roadside "funhouse" where among other things, water flowed uphill. Dave tried to figure out if this was possible of if it was just a trick. As it turns out there are places on earth that have different gravity than others. Nasa has gone so far as to make a gravity map. As luck would have it, one of the biggest gravitational anomalies on planet earth is located under shakopee. The gravity, as dave calculated, pulls everything around it by a small amount. This includes the fluid in a bubble level and a plum line. it is a small effect in everyday use but if you were to hang a plumline off something very tall, like the ids tower, you would find that it is a few inches off of perpendicular. the even wierder part is that you would find out that even though your plum line isn't perpendiculat to the street, it is perfectly parallel to the ids tower you are hanging it from. The reason for this is becaue the ids tower, and everything else in mpls including you, leans slightly away from shakopee to counteract the gravity. if the tower were perfectly perpendicular to the street and you were to use a bubble level or plum line, the building would look tilted. cool huh.
that doesn't tell the whole story though. Nasa's gravity map is being updated slowly, and as they do they measure the changes at certain locations over time. Gravity itself is constant. infact I think the formula is
force= (gravitaional constant times mass number one times mass number two) all over the distance between the masses sqaured.
Since the only variables here are mass and distance, if those stay the same, the gravity stays the same.
Nasa is also finding out that as the mantle of the earth shifts, there are pockets of higher and lower density material. The higher density material has more mass and therefore more gravity. so as the earth continues to flow and move and shift, there continues to be subtle changes in the gravity map.
These are very slow changes and it isn't like "hmm the gravity is really high today"
Dad, you should read Kurt Vonnegut's book "slapstick". It has variable gravity in it. Also some of the future of the chinese people.
Gravity doesn't affect the stock market in a predictable way.
it is a nice ego boost to think EVERYTHING is attractive, including me.
As it turns out, the water morfar saw probably wasn't really flowing uphill.
That is gravity on earth in a nutshell.
"pick a flower on earth and you move the farthest star" -Paul Direc
"this must be the physics department"..."that explains all the gravity" -futurama
Lots of love and physics
-Bert
63 Years of Memories....
63 Years of Memories....
that's what I have now. The photo below shows the chair on the point which for so many years was my father's favorite after-supper place to contemplate and cast for walleye. As much as I feel guilty about what's happened, I know he would understand and even say there's nothing to forgive. He lived life fully and moved on many times. I'm the one with the unique experience of being attached to a beautiful place for my whole life. And despite all my best efforts, yesterday the 'cabin' was sold. I signed the papers and, truth be told, a weight was lifted. A new life lies ahead without the obligations, but with all of the wonderful memories. My unrelentingly positive attitude says this is truly how it is, but my heart is still sad.
There are some things in life for which the balance between the obligation and the joy of ownership often cannot be sustained forever. It became clear that I was no longer up to the task of taking care of the place quite a while back. However, knowing what needs to be done and doing it are often far apart. Finally, no choice was left. It had to be sold.
Now it's gone. No more worrying about how long the grass or how deep the snow is up there. No more sublimely pleasurable early morning cups of coffee sitting on the dock when the color of the lake is like pale blue glass and the air is completely still. No more endless repairs, high taxes, and utility bills. No more late nights around the fire pit with friends and family - warm from both fire and friendship. No more frozen pipes or emergency calls to the furnace guys. No more saunas and midnight skinny dipping that make you feel like you'll live forever while your connection with nature is confirmed by the gazillion stars of the milky way and the loons calling out in the dark. No more concerns with low well water levels or water so hard and full of iron the clothes turn yellow and your newly washed hair feels like brillo. No more finding the way home by boat in the dark after a long day on the lake feeling like this is the only place you really, really belong. No more praying that the boathouse will make it another year without collapsing. And ultimately, no more making new memories with friends, family and loved ones. No new memories, that is, at Half Bay, Lake Vermilion, Tower, MN. New life... here we come!
How do you thank a place for memories?
1 comment:
I was in the cabin Morfar knew about.
It was very cool, but only an optical illusion.
So, I take it from your explanation that Tania shouldn't give up her day job using gravity to predict the market
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