Author Archives: sbrandt

Hydrogen From the Gas Pump with Nanotech

Posted on June 7, 2008 by sbrandt

Is there a future in hydrogen powered vehicles? Toyota announced a new car with a 516 mile range [guardian.co.uk]. It uses a single tank of fuel stored at -22 degrees Fahrenheit. But is this practical or dangerous? Would Americans ever … Continue reading →

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The New Jabbakins Diet

Posted on June 3, 2008 by sbrandt

Go from this…. …to this in just six weeks! Unfortunately, these are the only things you can eat.

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A Six Year Old’s Comments on a Cemetery

Posted on May 17, 2008 by sbrandt

While I was walking with my son we happened upon a cemetery. I explained that when people die, they are buried under the ground. He wanted to know who was buried under each of several headstones, and I read the … Continue reading →

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Space Cockroaches

Posted on May 15, 2008 by sbrandt

From Physorg.com: http://www.physorg.com/news130073558.html Russian space scientists announced on Thursday a new breakthrough in a long pedigree of firsts: the birth of 30 grandchildren of a “space cockroach” who spent 12 days in orbit. In the words of Kent Brockman: “I, … Continue reading →

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California Demon

Posted on April 28, 2008 by sbrandt

I just finished “California Demon” by Julie Kenner. It is a humorous fast-paced story of a mom who hunts demons while her toddler is in day care. I think I liked it even better than the first book, “Carpe Demon.” … Continue reading →

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Nomina Sacra

Posted on April 4, 2008 by sbrandt

Some early Old Testament Greek manuscripts glorify God’s name by writing them in Hebrew characters. Some of my Jehovah’s Witness friends have made much of this fact, as properly reverencing the Divine Name is of central important to them. I … Continue reading →

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Custom Dictionaries, Aspell, and LaTeX

Posted on April 3, 2008 by sbrandt

It took me a bit of hunting and twiddling to figure out exactly how to use aspell with a custom dictionary that supplements (not replaces) the master dictionary, so I thought I’d document it for posterity. aspell –lang en create … Continue reading →

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Curing Cancer

Posted on March 31, 2008 by sbrandt

I’m generally optimistic that cancer will be eradicated in a decade or so — based on the frequency with which interesting potential cures are reported. Just today there were rather two (possibly synergistic) ideas that surfaced in my news reading. … Continue reading →

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Bill’s Quote of the Day

Posted on March 26, 2008 by sbrandt

I have a “quote of the day” feature on my Google home page. This is the one I saw today:   Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could … Continue reading →

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The Black Panther Car

Posted on March 1, 2008 by sbrandt

Recently my son and I participated in a pinewood derby. He wanted to make a “Black Panther car” (Black Panther, of course is the superhero known as T’Challa, one of the Fantastic 4 and husband of Storm). Of course, Black … Continue reading →

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