Express yourself!

Drop us a line! Head on over to The Rockwood Mailbag at any time to leave us a message! It's easy!

Consider it an experiment in web interactivity. Or, consider it a way to artificially inflate our hit count. Either way, just write in!

 
September 20, 2007

Hi Brian,

I'd buy a book of comics. Perhaps more than one, since I know a few people with that last name. On another note, I was wondering if OJ would be welcome on the space station. Seems like he is pretty much free to go where ever and do what ever he wants down here.

--Jim Rockwood

 
O.J.? Can we remove all the knives, first? Ha ha ha! We kid, Juice! We kid! Please don't hurt us.
 

 
September 20, 2007

Now every day's a holiday! Maybe Brian can use my birthday (National Take a Hike Day) and let Rockwood run with it (pun intended).

Ah, what a country!

--Liz Woods

 
We'll start getting ready for that November birthday later, Liz. Right now, we're racking our brains getting ready for this Friday's holiday. Or maybe we should be unracking our brains. Hmmm...
 

 
September 24, 2007

I was gonna let it go, but since you asked for more participation, I'll comment on your reply to my letter last week, which was in reference to last Monday's strip.

I know that a kilogram is a unit of mass. I know that mass remains constant, regardless of location (even in space). I made my comment because the strip described (as did many news stories) the problem with the prototype kilogram as losing weight.

It will lose weight if sent into orbit, although the mass remains constant. The problem scientists have is that it appears that it is losing mass, and that is what is unexplained.

So, I was trying to poke fun of the widespread notion that "kilogram" was losing weight, which can be easily explained, and the fact that reporting on the subject didn't make use of the concept of mass.

--DH

 
We knew what you meant, DH, but journalists aren't well known for their math and science skills, so many don't know the difference between "losing mass" and "losing weight."

However, the real story with the official kilogram is that it's losing mass. Of course, even that's not such a big story. We doubt that many people are running down to the Bureau of Weights and Measures to calibrate their kilogram scales. After all, calibrating your watch is as simple as checking the National Atomic Clock website, and you haven't done that recently, have you? We thought not. What if you're two seconds late?