Manufacturing in China and the role of American businesses For several years now there has been a lot of talk arguing that China’s trade practices with the United States are unfair. That is, that the U.S. trade imbalance with China is in China’s favor. When I first read about this issue more than twenty years […]
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When I try to imagine a pleasant place that is full of life, history, and wonderful people, Delft immediately comes to mind. I spent 5 weeks there and was thoroughly enchanted. It has beautiful historic architecture, many pedestrian zones, plenty of good restaurants, and excellent outdoor markets. It also is bicycle friendly with its many
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One of the most delightful places I’ve visited is Parma, Italy. It is a pretty, pleasant city full of life, entertainment, and wonderful food, yet it emanates an air of blissful tranquility. I spent five weeks there and I was supremely happy. It certainly is worth visiting Parma. The historic district of Parma and much
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Are you tired of the commercialized Christmas season in the USA? Do you get worn out from the frenetic shopping and spending and the scurrying through jostling crowds of crass consumers? If yes, then you should consider spending your Christmas and New Years in Florence, Italy. Celebrating Christmas and New Years in Florence is like
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(The items I list here are from my special list of the best things to do in Verona. But in all honesty this is only a partial list. For the sake of brevity I forced myself to restrict the list to just 12 items.) Lovely Verona, set comfortably along the two banks of a section
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Perugia is a charming city, tucked away on the slopes of gentle Umbrian hills. It has a nice, large historic center ringed by more modern development. But in the city center you will find more than 2500 years of history, beautiful architecture, and an exuberant zest for life. It is much admired by artists, architects,
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This post will show a way to calculate the diameter and radius of the moon. These can be determined from the angular width of the Moon viewed from the Earth and using simple trigonometry. The following need to be obtained from elsewhere: r = average Earth-Moon distance = 379800 km (get from solution to one
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This post will show a way to calculate the diameters and radii of the planets. These values can be determined when the planet is aligned with the Sun and the Earth. Then, knowing the time period of the planet’s orbit around the Sun and measuring the angular width of the planet by an observer on
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This post will show a way to calculate the diameter and radius of the sun. These values can be determined from the angular width of the Sun viewed from the Earth and using simple trigonometry. The following need to be obtained from elsewhere: r = average Sun-Earth distance = 134030000 km (get from solution to
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This post will show a way to calculate the approximate mass of the sun. The value can be determined from knowing the time period of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun and assuming the Earth’s orbit is circular (which it very nearly is). Need to obtain the following from elsewhere: D = average Sun-Earth distance
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This post will show a way to calculate the approximate distances between the sun and planets. This method requires the following steps:Step 1: Use Kepler’s third law to determine the approximate distance of each planet from the Sun as a fraction of the Sun-Earth distance. (Kepler’s third law was published sometime between 1609 and 1619.)Step
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This post will show a way to calculate the approximate distance between the earth and the moon. This value can be determined from knowing the time period of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth and assuming the Moon’s orbit is circular. The computation here uses the equation for the gravitational force developed by Isaac Newton
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This post shows a way to calculate the approximate mass of the earth. The computation uses Isaac Newton’s second law and his equation for the gravitational force, both published in his book “Principia” in 1687. The following need to be obtained from elsewhere: R = average radius of Earth = 6370 km = 6370000 m
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Walking the Montalceto path is a delight because you get to see the lush, verdant fields in Tuscany. I recommend starting with a stay in Siena. Siena is a wonderful place to visit for many reasons including for its medieval architecture, its friendliness, its food, and its outdoor markets. But I would recommend a two
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This post shows an approximate way to calculate the radius of the earth as well as the circumference of the earth. This post uses the method of Eratosthenes. Eratosthenes (born 276 BC, died 194 BC) of Alexandria, Egypt was the first person to calculate reasonably accurate values for the circumference and radius of the Earth.
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This post speculates on an eternally cyclic Big Bang arising from merging black holes that ultimately become unstable. It also speculates on the possibility of multiple universes. Black holes and eternally cyclic Big Bang: Scientists know from astronomical observations that black holes are scattered throughout galaxies. Also most, if not all, galaxies contain a super
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