Remember the old saying that the human body is mostly water—about 60% by weight? Well, here's a little thought experiment. The atoms that make up our bodies are packed reasonably tightly together. But inside each atom is a lot of space. The electrons and nucleus take up almost none of the atom's volume. If the nucleus were the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen and sat at the 50 yard line of a football stadium, the electrons would be orbiting in the upper bleachers.

Or, if the nucleus were the size of the . . . (continued)

For those not watching the Tour de France: Andy Schleck lost 39 seconds on stage 15 when his chain slipped and Contador attacked leaving Schleck behind.

At the end of today's time trial--the effective end of the tour as the Sunday stage is not raced for general classification-- Contador stands 39 seconds in the lead.

The press seem ready to forgive Contador, but after last year's tour it's clear he is a ruthless competitor. That may be the new normal for the Tour, but it's sad to see such a great race decided by a simple chain slip. Moreover, the world was robbed of a chance to witness a spectacle unseen since the 1989 Tour which was decided by a scant 8 seconds.

I'll be rooting for Schleck in 2011.

Originating in Asia and popularized by pop stars like Lada Gaga, "circle eyes" have gone big across America. There are questions about possible health concerns, but that has historically been a poor deterrent to adoption of cosmetic products (on both sides of the gender line). Since reading this article I've been on the lookout for circle eyes in my area but haven't seen them yet.

So the 4.0.1 update is available for your iPhone, and according to most people is does nothing to fix the iPhone4 issues but does show AT&T's network in an even less appealing light (if that's even possible.) However, what if you want to roll back for some reason? The newer versions of iTunes allow only one backup of each phone. But there's a workaround that's pretty easy to do. I did this in case this update turns out to be extra unhelpful.

Can't wait for the recall press conference tomorrow!

Edit: or not recalling. But hopefully an admission of the issue and a pledge to fix it regardless of what it takes.

There are things that I love about my iPhone4. It's reception isn't one of them, and Apple's insistence that I don't have a problem is an even more annoying one. Well, two sources have sent an inside pitch directly at the gut of the Apple PR machine.

1. Consumer Reports did what should have been done a few weeks ago: put the phone in a lab, connect it to a local base station, and test the antenna signal strength. Guess what? The found that shorting the antenna made a huge difference and led them to revoke the "buy" recommendation for the iPhone4. See this here:
2. Some clever engineers managed to put the iPhone4 into a hidden diagnostic mode and run some real world tests. While they found the antenna to be far more sensitive than any previous iPhone, the shorting issue resulted in attenuation that was consistently strong enough to drop calls.

Bottom line: even if Apple fixes its supposed software issue, the iPhone4 suffers from a hardware design flaw. The only way to fix this is to either avoid touching the phone in such a way as to short the antenna (which is difficult and totally absurd) or to coat the antenna with something that insulates it from touch. How Apple deals with this (and the inevitable class action lawsuits from angry customers) will be very interesting to watch.

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was last week, and unfortunately some late rain made an assault on the 10 minute mark impossible. That said, the competition was serious but suffered from a lack of preparation and tuning for the event. Issues like brake cooling, tire choice, and suspension setup continue to bedevil entrants, and next year will probably be no different.

In a highlight, Jeff Zwart managed to smash the 2WD record in a naturally aspirated Porsche GT3 Cup car. Truly an amazing feat! His strategy of trying to maintain momentum during the paved section (and keep the tire temps low) paid off big time. You can watch his technique in this captivating video.

Next year will likely bring more paving to the road which is a real shame. But the competition will get even more exciting, I think. I'm optimistic that my favorite RS200 will be in attendance, as well as some new alternative fuel entries. Stay tuned!

Thanks to Steve N. for the links.

(For the record, I showed up opening day without a reservation and got one in about 40 minutes. I was lucky.

Wow, I really hope this expert is not correct saying that the BP well has been damaged so greatly the even the relief wells will not be successful in stopping the oil flow. Fascinating and chilling at the same time.

The Times has a brief retrospective to Martin Gardner who passed away last week at the age of 95. The foremost recreational mathematician and puzzle wizard, Gardner was at once an entertainer, a teacher, and a savant. He will be missed!