By Vladimir Brezina
… to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease …
John Keats, To Autumn
This past weekend was beautiful: dry, calm, sunny and warm—Indian Summer weather. In New York City’s Central Park, still mostly a fall-denying green, a fresh crop of flowers was out. And the park’s bees and butterflies, like the city’s human inhabitants, were out in force.
Posted in Nature, New York City
Tagged Bees, Butterflies, Central Park, Fall, Flowers, Indian Summer, Insects, New York City, Photography
By Johna Till Johnson
One of the pleasures of having a blog is the ability to quickly share really cool discoveries with like-minded people. This morning, my friend Steve Crandall sent me the link to his most recent blog post entitled the delight of turning potential energy into kinetic energy.
As Steve writes in his most excellent post:
You’ve all seen videos of large domino chains. By standing a domino on end you are increasing its potential energy. Energy that can be released later when the domino tips, turning stored potential energy into the energy of motion – kinetic energy…..With a bit of cleverness you can weave a pile of wooden sticks into a structure storing the energy that you used to flex them for later release. Fifty sticks will give you and idea – a thousand will give you something wonderful.
He’s not kidding. Wish I had the time and floor space to try it!
If you want to try it, Steve’s post also has a how-to-do-it video.
By the way, I first met Steve at an event hosted by Coburn Ventures. We bonded over shared interests in physics and energy—along with the fact that we both have synesthesia, in my case quite mild and in his, rather intense.
Posted in Science and Technology
Tagged Craft Sticks, Domino Chain, Dominoes, Energy, Energy Transformation, Physics, Science, Technology
By Vladimir Brezina
NYC Swim‘s Ederle Swim, the ~17-mile open-water swim through New York Harbor between Manhattan and Sandy Hook, NJ, has become very popular. This year, there have been no fewer than three of them. And each one set a new record.
First, in June 2011, Liz Fry swam from Manhattan to Sandy Hook and back, becoming the first swimmer ever to complete a double Ederle Swim—and, in the process, setting records for both individual directions as well.
Then in August, Lance Ogren, swimming with a fast ebb current in the wake of Hurricane Irene, shattered Liz’s Manhattan-to-Sandy Hook record by almost an hour.
I was one of the kayakers accompanying both Liz and Lance on these swims (see my writeups and photos here and here).
And now, Round Three! Last Sunday we had the main, yearly Ederle Swim for multiple swimmers—19 swimmers started—but in the other direction, from Sandy Hook to Manhattan. The winner of this race was looking to beat Liz’s other individual record!
This time I was the kayaker for Janet Harris, in her very first Ederle Swim. Here are some annotated photos from my kayaker’s perspective. Janet has posted her own account of her swim here.
Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Sports
Tagged Ederle Swim, Kayaking, Long-Distance Swim, Manhattan, New York Harbor, NYC Swim, Open-Water Swim, Sandy Hook
By Vladimir Brezina
Yesterday I got up early to go kayaking with NYC Swim‘s Ederle Swim. It was dark and cold. Why do these swims always begin so early? (Don’t tell me: time and tide wait for no man…)
But there was an unexpected bonus: a prime view of a spectacular dawn and sunrise over New York Harbor, from the motorboat that transported us from Manhattan to Sandy Hook, NJ, for the start of the swim. A few photos:
Posted in Nature, New York City
Tagged Dawn, New York City, New York Harbor, Photography, Sunrise
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.
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Wind Against Current 