New Camera & the Planck Constant

Nothing much happening here in Phoenix other than major heat, so I thought I would tell you all about our new camera. It is a Sony Cybershot DSC-W170 and I have only had it for 2 days, but so far it is fantastic! I took the below picture from my balcony, at night! That is right, completely dark outside...not bad I think for having virtually no available ambient light. Digital cameras these days are amazing! Thank the heavens for Electrical Engineers (and other engineers...I guess, :) ).

In other unrelated non-news, does anyone (besides Brian, put your hand down smarty-pants) know why the electromagnetic spectrum stops at a frequency on the order of 10^25 (Gamma Rays)? Yeah, me either. Apparently it is related to the Planck constant, which is the proportionality constant between the energy of a photon and its frequency. Just something to think about if you are having trouble sleeping tonight! :) It's a real cranium-buster!

The E-Bike is back, Sorry OPEC!...No, you're right, I am not sorry at all.

Well, after much anticipation, we now have a new E-Bike! This one cost a bit more but has additional features such as a mind-numbing, scare-your-socks-off, drain-the battery alarm, and a wheel lock so that would-be theifs will have to carry the bike rather than ride it if they intend to make off with it (notice the 50lb. lead-acid battery on the frame...that is saying nothing of the additional weight of the motor in the rear wheel). Even with these features, I haven't been riding it lately because I have not procured an adequate bike lock/chain yet. This time, I intend for the bike to be stolen only by a theif wielding a blow-torch, so I am in the market for a titanium chain...j/k...but seriously.

Anyway, the bike is super-sweet and kind of a big deal. You may notice from the picture below that all writing is in Chinese...I mean really, how important is it to be able to know what your indicator lights mean?


In case you missed the back story, we had another e-bike that was stolen from our parking garage in May, so that one is gone and now we don't park the e-bike downstairs anymore...instead it is taking up valuable real estate in our apartment.