Where pegs grow legs: hanging ideas on words

Those who know me know I love to read the Outlook section of the Sunday paper of the Washington Post. Today I read an interesting article written by the former executive editor of the Post about the culture of Washington as a living, breathing being. As a government contractor well domesticated in the ways of Washington (however not nearly as domesticated as the author), I can’t agree more fully. There are many talents stored within the walls of The Machine, much of the time spent silently and laboriously releasing their electric charges of energy that we never hear about.

My own shorter time with The Machine has been built on a love-hate relationship: I see the potential, but many times am frustrated by the outcome (really lack thereof). For those on the outside of the walls, unfortunately the frustrated and disappointing outcomes are what make the headlines, many times further paralysing progress through our human inability to turn at the edges and recognize unhealthy pessimistic as well as optimistic over-momentum. But as I was telling a colleague of mine when I was in Cambridge, MA last week, when the planets do align, great things happen.

I’ve been on an energy kick lately, and in my research of insulation, I came across an incredible new substance called Aerogel. This gel-like material is just absolutely amazing.

It is the world’s lightest solid, yet its thermal insulation properties are better than anything else known to man. In fact, an astronaut only needs an 18mm thickness of this stuff to survive in temperatures of up to -130C. If that wasn’t enough to make your head spin, it apparently has superior bombproofing properties too. 6mm of aerogel on a metal plate is enough to sustain a direct dynamite blast, so you can easily seeing it being used for military applications too. Lastly, because of the billions of tiny pores inside each square inch, it has exceptional sponge-like capabilities. The next time a hugh oil spill threatens to destroy a coastline, aerogel can be used to clean it up.