When Hiroshima was nuked, why didn’t the Japanese tighten air security to save Nagasaki or other cities?
Let’s start with the Hiroshima mission. At the time Little Boy was dropped, there were three Silverplate B-29s in the vicinity of Hiroshima. Colonel Paul Tibbets, leader of…
What is a water cake?
The Water Cake is referred to as Mizu Shingen Mochi. It was originally made and originated in Japan. If this delicate cake isn’t eaten within half an hour it actually disappears leaving just a…
Why can Ferrari not be driven daily?
My brother owned a 308GT. Identical to the one Tom Selleck drove in the TV series “Magnum P.I.” Red, loud, low and sleek. A real attention grabber. People…
Why is Canada considering scrapping their F/A-18s instead of selling them to the US Air Force?
Canada is operating legacy Hornets (CF-188 model, which is basically an F/A-18A/B). Those planes are old – they were built in the 80s. Their airframes are nearing their end of…
Why is steel extensively used with concrete?
Concrete is great in compression. You comfortably put 500 times the weight of the concrete on top of concrete with no problem. Unfortunately, concrete totally sucks when it…
If I hack my microwave oven so that it runs with the door off, would this be dangerous?
I did this with a colleague when we were training technicians on microwaves back in the 90s. The unit was 800 watt which was standard back then and…
At what point would a spaceship leaving our solar system become free of it and no longer be a part of the solar systems gravity? Would this effectively increase the speed of the spaceship allowing it to get to another solar system quicker?
The sun’s pull thins as you go. At the heliopause, about 11 billion miles out, the solar wind gives way to what lies between stars — Voyager 1…
If Andromeda is the closest galaxy to us, why have we not started exploring it yet?
A lot of people have already given a sufficient answer but I really like talking about the scale of the Universe. Let me give you some comparisons so…
Why is the Washington Monument built to be 555 feet and 5 inches (555’ 05”) tall? Was it intentional or just a coincidence with all the fives?
Not only is the Washington Monument 555 feet 5 inches tall, it is also 55 feet wide at its base. That’s even more fives! But the reason for…
What is the math behind the Leaning Tower of Pisa?
The math is simple. It is a fight between two forces: the tower’s weight and the ground it stands on. The tower has a center of gravity. This is…