Dracula, First Name Vlad

Portrait of Vlad III Dracula – The Ambras Castle Portrait

Most of us in touch with the Western world are familiar with the fictional character Dracula, the king/father of all/only/oldest/alpha vampire.  What I find most compelling about the literature surrounding this "Dracula" is the man who inspired it all, a man called Vlad and nicknamed "The Impaler" posthumously (or Wladislaus Dragwlya, vaivoda partium Transalpinarum formally).  Put simply, Vlad was one bad dude; he was a man who inspired fear and obedience; he was the godfather of medieval horror stories; and he was the paragon of icy ruthlessness.

The Power of the Wind – A Brief Historical and Political Musing

Above: A wind farm at sea – utilizing ocean space for alternative energy development with minimal environmental impact

Humankind owes much to the wind.  Without the raw power of the wind, our historical progress would have been severely decelerated.  Beyond its biologically necessary environmental roles, the wind has fueled exploration and commerce and opened up to the human race greater means, and thereby greater accomplishments.  Humankind has managed, over time, to use the force generated by the movement of air from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure to push ships across the seas and to turn windmills to performs tasks from grinding crop to generating electricity.

Neptune (and Jupiter)

Neptune

So I was sitting, watching TV and enjoying my day off work, when I flipped over to the Science Channel.  The show "How the Universe Works" was being broadcast and I found the information fascinating, and thought I'd make an impromptu post (please forgive the lack of professionalism herein) about Neptune (with an interesting fact about Jupiter, to which, apparently, we all owe our lives).

Happy Fourth Everyone, but before the Fireworks...

John Hancock portrait by John Singleton Copley

Today being the Fourth of July, and I being an American citizen, I thought it might be fitting to make a post related to the American revolution, and so I present you with a brief historical profile of John Hancock.