Obama & Stimulus

collage by marguerita
One of the two members of the class of rolling, or so-called antifriction, bearings (the other member of the class is the roller bearing). The function of a ball bearing is to connect two machine members that move relative to one another in such a manner that the frictional resistance to motion is minimal. In many applications one of the members is a rotating shaft and the other a fixed housing.
Archimedes was one of the first to think deeply about fluid physics, and while many people know the famous story about his discovery of the principle of buoyancy (he saw the water level rise as he stepped into the bath, then ran naked through the streets yelling “eureka”) few know exactly what he was looking for (“eureka” means “I found it” in ancient Greek).Guest Column: The Absurdly Artificial Divide Between Pure and Applied Research - Olivia Judson Blog - NYTimes.com