Some shops were open and some were closed. A store with massive quantities of Wisconsin-themed clothes had racks of "Final Four" Badgers clothes but nothing representing tomorrow's game. "Final Four" is so yesterday, but the sales guy said the more up-to-date things are not printed yet. "It's Easter!" he said. Who wants to work on Easter? The skateboard shop was closed:
We pondered whether the skateboard people were religious, since they'd taken the trouble to make a special Easter-themed "closed" sign. There's no inconsistency between skateboarding and religion, but perhaps there's a slight disjuncture between religiosity and the use of the human-adult-sized rabbit character, as President Obama is learning if he's reading his Facebook commenters.
At the square, we sat on a bench near the statue of our Civil War hero Christian Heg, the site of some of our fondest protest-era memories — recorded here and here — and we conversed and people-watched until it seemed as though we were accelerating the process of becoming oldies...
... and we got a couple B-cycles out of the nearest kiosk and biked back home along Lake Mendota, which is exactly what we'd done the day before. But yesterday the lake was still maintaining its ice, in layered shards that looked like solid whitecaps. I should have taken a photo then, because today all that water had assumed the liquid form that gets to hog the name "water."
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... and we got a couple B-cycles out of the nearest kiosk
We have bicycle kiosks in Seattle. I don't understand the benefit.
They seem to be aimed at people running errands in the neighborhood. I believe that you are supposed to return the bike to the same kiosk.
I should have taken a photo then, because today all that water had assumed the liquid form that gets to hog the name 'water.'
I note that "what is the physical structure of water?" made the list of top unsolved problems in physical chemistry
The equilibrium phase change of water to ice and vice versa consumes and releases enormous amounts of energy each year. The energy needed to melt ice exactly balances the disorder created with no concomitant increase in the water's temperature. I'm sure there's a social analogy in there somewhere but I haven't found it yet.
There were predictions last year around this time that the deep freeze of the Great Lakes would lead to a cooler-than-normal-summer surrounding the lakes. Did that materialize? I think the predictions are forecast for this summer too.
I cleaned out the garden space today for tomatoes and planted seedlings. I found a feral tomato plant sprawling behind another nearby plant. It must have sprouted from a fruit that fell off last season. Is it true that such plants won't bear fruit?
When traveling, I frequently try to guess the denomination of churches, based on their architecture. Churches with two unequal towers, like the one behind Mead in the picture, usually reflect a Methodist or Anglican heritage, but of course not always.
Some church buildings get swapped between denominations as well.
"They seem to be aimed at people running errands in the neighborhood. I believe that you are supposed to return the bike to the same kiosk."
The system we use lets you return the bikes to any kiosk. I just wish there was one a little closer to home, but we were able to walk 4 miles then bke back to within a half mile of home.
@ken in Tx: That church is Lutheran though I don't think it's very old. The oldest ones are on the Capitol Square.
@chickelit:I note that "what is the physical structure of water?"
I used to study that very thing, and I'm puzzled by what is supposed to be so mysterious about it. Water bonds with itself because its charges are not evenly distributed about the molecule. Chemists call this a "hydrogen bond" which I think clouds the issue, making it sound mysterious. From a physicist's perspective bonds don't "break" or "form": rather there's some kind of potential energy in the system and the kinetic energy of the system is more than that or less than that. When it's less, the whole system is bound and when it's more the whole system is unbound.
Water has a lot of solid phases; I used to see ice IV, V, and VI. Liquid water appears to have a structure, there seems to be high-density and low-density water.
@chickelit:The energy needed to melt ice exactly balances the disorder created with no concomitant increase in the water's temperature.
I think you've confused some concepts here.
By "disorder" I guess you mean entropy; "disorder" is a sort of metaphor for entropy, and not a very good one. It's not something that can be exchanged for energy; the two things are completely different.
Ice melts because the entropy of the ice plus its surroundings increases at that temperature and pressure. But when ice freezes, it's for exactly the same reason: the entropy of the ice plus its surroundings increases at that temperature and pressure.
Gabriel said...
I think you've confused some concepts here.
By "disorder" I guess you mean entropy;
I know that Gabriel. I wasn't talking to physicists. Why would you even pretend that a public forum must conform to such precision?
Gabriel said...
I used to study that very thing, and I'm puzzled by what is supposed to be so mysterious about it.
So, in your studied opinion, that question should be stricken from the list as "settled science"?
@chickelit: I wasn't talking to physicists. Why would you even pretend that a public forum must conform to such precision?
I think you should stick to true things. What you said was untrue and misleading. It is not that difficult to keep it simple without departing from the truth.
So, in your studied opinion, that question should be stricken from the list as "settled science"?
No, I merely said that its inclusion puzzled me. Perhaps they are referring to an issue of which I am unaware, the statement is too vague for me to figure out what they mean.
There isn't any such thing as "settled science". But that doesn't imply that anything goes either. The physical composition of the moon is not 100% understood, and might never be, but at our present state of knowledge we can 100% rule out that it is made of green cheese.
I think you should stick to true things. What you said was untrue and misleading. It is not that difficult to keep it simple without departing from the truth.
Ice melts because the entropy of the ice plus its surroundings increases at that temperature and pressure. But when ice freezes, it's for exactly the same reason: the entropy of the ice plus its surroundings increases at that temperature and pressure.
What I meant was that the Gibbs Free Energy change for the phase change of water to ice and vice versa was zero. You did notice that I said "vice versa" in my first comment to which you objected so strongly?
ΔG = 0 implies that the enthalpy change, often called ΔH, is balanced by the entropy term, -TΔS.
To have put it in those terms probably would have satisfied the pedantic physical chemist, but of course not the pedantic physicist, because they somehow always believe that they are closer to the truth.
I looked at the Madison b-cycle map and it doesn't seem to have very good coverage, particularly if you want to ride out toward West Town, out to the east end, or frankly anywhere not on the isthmus. Your closest one would be likely the Breeze Terrace one or possibly the Observatory Drive spot out by the parking lots, knowing you're on the hill above Campus Dr/University. It doesn't look like you could use these bikes for the rides you and Meade do out on the Capital City or Southwest Trails, without incurring large fees for not checking in/checking out a new bike at a kiosk every 45 minutes, or whatever the Madison return time parameter is.
I was no fan of the Madison b-cycle program when last in Madison--it was family unfriendly. I couldn't get bikes for my kids (both under 18) even though I was with them at all times.
The B-cycle program seemed to be just another subsidized perk for the blissfully child-free (of which there are so many in Madison).
I think only in a place like Madison would some consider the Easter Bunny a sign of religiosity.
kzookitty
@chickelit:To have put it in those terms probably would have satisfied the pedantic physical chemist,
It would certainly have been correct, but not easily understood. I objected to your saying something completely false, confusing, and meaningless. There are simple ways to express what you said that are true, meaningful, and clear.
but of course not the pedantic physicist,
Wrong. As a matter of fact I was
chemical physicist and am familiar with what you cited, so I don't know why I wouldn't accept it.
because they somehow always believe that they are closer to the truth.
Gibbs and Maxwell, whose identities you cited, were physicists. Many of those who put chemistry on a solid theoretical footing were physicists. Physicists have contributed a great deal to chemistry and do so today.
@kzookitty:I think only in a place like Madison would some consider the Easter Bunny a sign of religiosity.
It certainly is a religious symbol, but not that of any religion with any adherents nowadays.
"The B-cycle program seemed to be just another subsidized perk for the blissfully child-free (of which there are so many in Madison)."
I was under the impression that it was not subsidized (and that we owe this to Mayor Soglin). Am I wrong?
"I looked at the Madison b-cycle map and it doesn't seem to have very good coverage, particularly if you want to ride out toward West Town, out to the east end, or frankly anywhere not on the isthmus. Your closest one would be likely the Breeze Terrace one or possibly the Observatory Drive spot out by the parking lots, knowing you're on the hill above Campus Dr/University. It doesn't look like you could use these bikes for the rides you and Meade do out on the Capital City or Southwest Trails, without incurring large fees for not checking in/checking out a new bike at a kiosk every 45 minutes, or whatever the Madison return time parameter is."
These bikes are for getting around downtown and on campus, but I assume they'll put in new kiosks in strategic places. The bikes are heavy and not what you'd want for a long ride. We have our own bikes for those kinds of things. The nice thing for us about B-cycles is that we can combine walking and biking and we don't have to mess with locks. They insert into the locking kiosks very easily, and with a card, they're easy to get out too. The sticking point is that there needs to be a kiosk. I wish the bikes had some technology that displayed available kiosks and led you to them.
There's a kiosk by the Natatorium.
There should be a kiosk at Picnic Point.
Gabriel said...
@kzookitty:I think only in a place like Madison would some consider the Easter Bunny a sign of religiosity.
It certainly is a religious symbol, but not that of any religion with any adherents nowadays.
Point taken. And as Madison is stuffed with New Age Gaia worshipping Neo-Pagans, I suppose it's in fact perfect.
kzookitty
As to finding kiosks, the Twin Cities "Nice Ride" kiosks supposedly can be located with your smartphone, though I have never used one of these bikes, as they are heavy like the ones in Madison program. I'll dig around to see if the B-cycle kiosks are locate-able with your iPhone.
It appears that the downloadable app available at iTunes or Google Play allow one to see the bike stations and number of bikes available at each one.
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