As we come into the beginning of summer and are on the heels of the 244th anniversary of the nation’s independence from England, it must be said that things look less than rosy.  The riots that range across many cities and the continued presence of the 21st-century plague that is COVID-19 have certainly bruised and battered the American psyche.  And for good reason.  There are many areas where the USA could stand revamping and improving.  That said, the staff of Blog Wyrm continue to believe in the American Experiment.  We agree that there linger injustices but we are hopeful for a more just future.  We agree that there is a new normal but we are hopeful that American ingenuity will prevail.  We agree that there are structural imbalances but we are hopeful that reason and sanity will again prevail so that, together, we may address them.  In short, while the nation is certainly far from perfect, we still believe that we can form a more perfect union.

Now onto the columns.

There are many ways in which random process and outcomes play a role in the world around us.  Some of them are presented themselves in fun diversions, such as games of chance.  Other faces of randomness are more profound and are seemingly essential for the world around us to function.  But the power of randomness is often over-imagined by the average person.  This month’s Aristotle To Digital takes a look at just how much monkeying around can chance and randomness really pull off.

Very few art forms are as uniquely American as the comic book.  For over a century, sequential art in the form of comic strips and then books have entertained and intrigued us and sometimes driven collectors and speculators to some of the most outrageous behaviors.  The very names of Superman and Batman are part of our cultural DNA to the point that we sometimes forget that, above all else, the business of comics is a business. Spurred on by the recent announcement that DC Comics is breaking from a comic book distribution monopoly that’s existed nearly 25 years, Common Cents looks at the business of how comic books go from publisher to customer, and all the implications that the modern direct market entails.

The Navier-Stokes equations are considered to be some of the most difficult models to grasp and deal with in all of theoretical physics.  Numerous real-world effects, including viscosity, thermodynamics, and compressibility, complicate the situation to the point that general solutions to these equations have, so far, remained elusive.  Nonetheless, simple situations can provide exact solutions that, while not capturing all the fine details, can serve to at least hone the intuition and provide baselines against which one can measure more subtle phenomena.  This month, Under The Hood begins a two-part look at some simple but important exact solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations.  The flows examined, which result from the influence of gravity or are driven by pressure differences, underpin some of the more important results about lubrication and fluid flow through pipes.  And we all love these effects because they keep our modern machinery running and provide drinking and bathing water directly in the home.

Enjoy!