Stephen Hawking’s A Briefer History of Time: A Review

There was a young lady of Wight

Who traveled much faster than light.

She departed one day,

In a relative way,

And arrived on the previous night.

pg 108; On wormholes and time travel

For anyone interested in learning more about the theories regarding the universe (in physics, quantum mechanics, mathematical equations, etc), this book is a perfect gem. Written for the public knowledge, it removes the largely complicated information regarding worm holes, string theory, etc and focuses on the basics of the ideas. Starting out with Newton’s laws of gravity and Einstein’s theory of relativity, Hawking gives the reader the background needed to understand the rest of the book.

My favorite chapters were Newton’s Universe, Relativity, The Big Bang, Black Holes, and the Evolution of the Universe, and The Forces of Nature and the Unification of Physics. The last chapter I mentioned, especially the Unification of Physics, discusses string theory, a topic that I find very interesting. The only chapter I could not follow was on Quantum theory (i.e. quantum mechanics = electrons, positrons, quarks, etc); the only time I ever acted interested in quantum mechanics was at a science trip, and I only stayed awake because the guy had an amazing Australian accent.

So, for anyone interested in the general theories of our universe, I definitely recommend this book. And if you cannot completely follow it, do not worry! It has pictures!

Grandma's Birthday Cake

This year I was in charge of making my grandmothers 82^nd birthday cake. Nervous, I scoured any cookbook I could find, looking at soufflés or very complicated cakes that would make me look professional.

In the end, I chose a simple chocolate cake right from my grandmother’s cookbook, The Red Cabin Cookbook, printed in 1981.

Here is the recipe:

In a large bowl sift together:

3 c flour

2 c sugar

6 T cocoa

1 t salt

2 t baking soda

Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add:

¾ c oil

2 t vanilla

2 T vinegar

2 c cold water

Stir well and put into a well-greased and floured 9 by 13 inch pan. Bake at 350˙ for 25 minutes.

For the cake I made, I separated the batter into two circle pans and placed them in the oven. As the batter expanded, it began to rise above the edge of the pans, making two domes. It took longer than 25 minutes to bake, but I would just watch to make sure it does not burn.

After taking them out of the oven and letting them cool (I baked at night and finished in the morning), I placed one upside down on the plate. Then, I placed a small layer of frosting on top, then placed the other cake on top; then frosted.

Unfortunately, I did not have enough cream cheese frosting (which I did buy from the store), so I had to improvise. Slicing the strawberries into fours, I used them as decorations to cover all the mistakes I had made.

The cake was a success and it was delicious.

Sometimes a simple cake is the best way to go when it comes to birthday cakes! Good luck with any cake making and decorating!

Questions

Now and then, I question the evolution of humans. Usually, these questions come up at work, either during my cleanings or sometimes at my other work place. Today, I came up with one:

Why would you try to was a huge shard of glass down a sink drain that is about 1-inch in diameter?

When using addition to count up a daily payments, wouldn't it be smart to look at the whole items (i.e. cash vs credit card) and combine the two? Rather than question whether I can add 2 + 2?

(i could explain more, but that would be dangerous)

The Garden: August 9, 2010

Once again, here are a couple pictures of the garden. Looking back, it is amazing all the plants started out as seeds and are now producing.

The raspberries are almost done, but the squash, zucchini, beans and strawberries are just starting. Even some of the sunflowers are as tall as me!

Picture to upper left: broccoli (fresh broccoli is absolutely delicious!)

Picture to upper right: flowers

(picture: the climbing beans; most have been climbing the corn, but hopefully more will go up the sticks.)