Really trivial stuff that amuses you...

[Solfe]

I’m not sure if it amuses or bugs me, but the Kesel (sic) Run discussion is still going.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It is leaking Kesel all over here, too.

[grant hutchison]

I’m not sure if it amuses or bugs me, but the Kesel (sic) Run discussion is still going.

We're just hosting a bit of it temporarily. It's global, massively parallel and will persist until the Big Rip.

Grant Hutchison

[KaiYeves]

I’m not sure if it amuses or bugs me, but the Kesel (sic) Run discussion is still going.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's been a popular physics problem/teachable moment for four decades, so that's not really surprising.

[grant hutchison]

It's been a popular physics problem/teachable moment for four decades ...

Dear god, why?

(Now I'll go over to the "bugs you" thread to post the phrase "teachable moment" - which should have been a teachable moment in how not to write English as soon as it saw the light of day.)

Grant Hutchison

[Gillianren]

Yesterday, a friend of Simon's had his fifth birthday party. The power went out half an hour into the festivities, and I'm not sure the kids even really noticed.

[KaiYeves]

Dear god, why?

(Now I'll go over to the "bugs you" thread to post the phrase "teachable moment" - which should have been a teachable moment in how not to write English as soon as it saw the light of day.)

Grant Hutchison

Because it's a popular use of a technical term that many people would otherwise never hear. Trying to work out how it can make sense is a way of illustrating what "parsec" means and what some problems in future space navigation might be.

[grant hutchison]

Because it's a popular use of a technical term that many people would otherwise never hear. Trying to work out how it can make sense is a way of illustrating what "parsec" means and what some problems in future space navigation might be.

But (as seems to have been established over on that thread) there really isn't a way it can make sense. A discussion that seeks to reinterpret a simple and obvious error as something that "really makes sense" in a contrived and convoluted way seems like the antithesis of a "teaching moment" to me.

Grant Hutchison

[DonM435]

I once read someone argue that had Arthur Conan Doyle been more careful in his writing, we wouldn't have so many discrepancies in the Sherlock Holmes stories. However, down through the years, trying to interpret and explain just why Dr. Watson wrote this one time and wrote that another time has been a jolly game for many, many readers. It may have done much to keep the stories alive in the public mind.

Bloopers are a challenge.

[grant hutchison]

I once read someone argue that had Arthur Conan Doyle been more careful in his writing, we wouldn't have so many discrepancies in the Sherlock Holmes stories. However, down through the years, trying to interpret and explain just why Dr. Watson wrote this one time and wrote that another time has been a jolly game for many, many readers. It may have done much to keep the stories alive in the public mind.

Bloopers are a challenge.

And I'm sure the Baker Street Irregulars have had immense fun over the years constructing their Watsonian explanations of Doylean errors - they're an intellectual exercise.

What I'm puzzled by is how they can be thought of as presenting a "teachable moment", in either the original or current usage of that phrase (which are very different). We acquire new concepts best when they're delivered simply and clearly - the intellectual convolutions come later, and are a great way of consolidating existing knowledge.

Grant Hutchison

[KaiYeves]

And I'm sure the Baker Street Irregulars have had immense fun over the years constructing their Watsonian explanations of Doylean errors - they're an intellectual exercise.

What I'm puzzled by is how they can be thought of as presenting a "teachable moment", in either the original or current usage of that phrase (which are very different). We acquire new concepts best when they're delivered simply and clearly - the intellectual convolutions come later, and are a great way of consolidating existing knowledge.

Grant Hutchison

I guess I was picturing articles about it that go something like "Did you know a parsec is a real measurement used in astronomy? [explanation] Funnily enough, as the line appears, it sounds rather unlikely-- unless... [relativity-based or "shortcut" theories]".

Now the casual reader knows what a parsec is and perhaps something about relativity. "There's a mistake in the original Star Wars... or is there?"/"What does this line in Star Wars really mean?" is a hook that will attract some readers who wouldn't necessarily read an article with a title more like "What is a parsec?" or "How do scientists measure astronomical distances?"

[grant hutchison]

I guess I was picturing articles about it that go something like "Did you know a parsec is a real measurement used in astronomy? [explanation] Funnily enough, as the line appears, it sounds rather unlikely-- unless... [relativity-based or "shortcut" theories]".

Now the casual reader knows what a parsec is and perhaps something about relativity. "There's a mistake in the original Star Wars... or is there?"/"What does this line in Star Wars really mean?" is a hook that will attract some readers who wouldn't necessarily read an article with a title more like "What is a parsec?" or "How do scientists measure astronomical distances?"

So that's a sort of third iteration of the meaning of "teachable moment". The original meaning referred to waiting for a child to reach an appropriate developmental stage at which a skill could be imparted; the second is still in some sort of educational setting, but involves an opportunity that presents itself because an event occurs in which the learner is primed or unusually motived to learn.
Whereas I think you're describing a completely informal setting in which someone learns some factoids because they've been delivered under an intriguing tag-line. I had visions of teachers playing Star Wars movies to their class so that they could provoke a discussion about parsecs.

(There's another iteration in meaning, used by a colleague of mine to designate a medical emergency in which all hell lets loose for a protracted period of time, during which it's extremely difficult to know what's going on. "Well," he would say afterwards, sipping coffee while the blood was mopped up and the patient wheeled off to Intensive Care, "that was a bit of a teachable moment.")

Grant Hutchison

[The Backroad Astronomer]

One thing it teaches is that writers need better science education.

[KaiYeves]

So that's a sort of third iteration of the meaning of "teachable moment". The original meaning referred to waiting for a child to reach an appropriate developmental stage at which a skill could be imparted; the second is still in some sort of educational setting, but involves an opportunity that presents itself because an event occurs in which the learner is primed or unusually motived to learn.
Whereas I think you're describing a completely informal setting in which someone learns some factoids because they've been delivered under an intriguing tag-line. I had visions of teachers playing Star Wars movies to their class so that they could provoke a discussion about parsecs.

(There's another iteration in meaning, used by a colleague of mine to designate a medical emergency in which all hell lets loose for a protracted period of time, during which it's extremely difficult to know what's going on. "Well," he would say afterwards, sipping coffee while the blood was mopped up and the patient wheeled off to Intensive Care, "that was a bit of a teachable moment.")

Grant Hutchison

Pretty much, yes.

[Jeff Root]

It isn't at all obvious that the term "parsec" was used incorrectly
in 'Star Wars'. What *is* obvious is that it was intended to have
a cognitive impact on the movie viewer, and it appears to have
had that impact.

A similar situation occurred in an episode of 'Star Trek:TNG',
when a Romulan who knew the language spoken aboard the
Enterprise but didn't know the temperature scales they used
tried to order a glass of cold water. He expressed the temperature
he wanted in 'onkiyons' (my ad-hoc spelling), which the Enterprise
computer didn't know. If the Romulan knew a bit of basic physics
(which he evidently did not), he would have been able to explain
the desired temperature without knowing anything of temperature
scales, standards, or terminology.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[grant hutchison]

It isn't at all obvious that the term "parsec" was used incorrectly
in 'Star Wars'.

It pretty much is, actually. The fact that the explanations people argue about are either Watsonian-convoluted, Doylean-convoluted, or both, makes that pretty clear.
The fact that people have fun with these discussions should not obscure the fact that it was just a self-evident mistake, like the variable location of Watson's jezail bullet.

Grant Hutchison

[grant hutchison]

Pretty much, yes.

Ah-ha. Thanks.
Is that really a useful kind of "teachable moment"? Or is it like my colleague's version, where interesting and strange stuff happens, and then we move on, none the wiser?

Grant Hutchison

[KaiYeves]

Ah-ha. Thanks.
Is that really a useful kind of "teachable moment"? Or is it like my colleague's version, where interesting and strange stuff happens, and then we move on, none the wiser?

Grant Hutchison

I think if people do learn something relevant to real-world science, it is useful.

[Jeff Root]

I'll change my assertion, then. The term "parsec" was used correctly.
The Millenium Falcon made the Kessel run in 12 particle sectors, a
record at the time. (Which was almost two million years ago, but
Kessel is over five billion light-years away, so from our point of view
it is still far in the future.) Most commercial hyperdrives used only
one or two parsecs when traversing highly-convoluted space. Even
advanced military craft used eight parsecs maximum. Using 12
was very risky but enabled a ludicrously rapid passage. Of course
the Millenium Falcon had to be extensively modified to have such
outrageously nonstandard capabilities.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[grant hutchison]

I'll change my assertion, then. The term "parsec" was used correctly.
The Millenium Falcon made the Kessel run in 12 particle sectors, a
record at the time. (Which was almost two million years ago, but
Kessel is over five billion light-years away, so from our point of view
it is still far in the future.) Most commercial hyperdrives used only
one or two parsecs when traversing highly-convoluted space. Even
advanced military craft used eight parsecs maximum. Using 12
was very risky but enabled a ludicrously rapid passage. Of course
the Millenium Falcon had to be extensively modified to have such
outrageously nonstandard capabilities.

There couldn't be a better example of what I was talking about. I rest my case.

Grant Hutchison

[grant hutchison]

I think if people do learn something relevant to real-world science, it is useful.

I think that's true. But [devil's advocate] aren't the scenarios you describe just "clickable moments" rather than "teachable moments"[/devil's advocate]?

Grant Hutchison

[DonM435]

Suppose that "par" is used in the same sense as in [terrestrial, international] golf: it's established as an expected value, based upon the local conditions.

So, you do something in 10 sec in a good day in your easy galaxy, and I do the same thing in 13 sec on a bad (append list of excuses) day in my tough galaxy.

We can't compare these directly, but by making proper adjustments, I may be further "under par time" than you are. My 12 par seconds may be better than your 11 par seconds, eh?



Well, this is all pretty hopeless, but I thought I'd try!

[Solfe]

I had my first example quiz last night. There was a question that read "True or False: According to the syllabus, there are 10 competency quizzes presented every week." The syllabus says there are 10 quizzes, one a week. I answered false and got it wrong. I have no idea if this is one of those quizzes and if it actually counts for anything.

I am pretty sure this question should have read: "True or False: You can communicate with your professor competently."

I probably pop in during office hours and say "hi" to the professor, instead of questioning it in email.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

Not trivial but amusing, military personal have wearing their fitness tracking devices on bases and apps are automatically loading data to the internet. Like an airfield in Africa that not supposed active has a lot of activity around the base. Plus one person who murdered the partner kept it on and showed that they arrived earlier then they did and went up down some stairs a few times.(maybe not so amusing for the last one)

[BigDon]

Have I got a couple of stories about teachable moments!

During my second deployment I was assigned to show the new guys how to not die on the flightdeck OR the hanger bay and how to just generally live on a ship at sea.

I just don't have the time this morning as my posting window is drawing to a close. (Already a quarter to 10!)

[Hornblower]

I am amused by the botanical classification of conifers such as southern yellow pine as "softwood". I just now drilled a hole in a 69-year-old ceiling/floor joist consisting of the stuff, and it seemed harder than many woods that are classified as "hardwood". Given that much time, that pine tar seems to set up hard as a rock.

Note: I made sure of drilling the hole in the center line of the joist. I know better than to disturb the edge of a load-bearing beam, especially with a piano sitting on top of it.

[PetersCreek]

I am amused by the botanical classification of conifers such as southern yellow pine as "softwood".

Not a perfect term, to be sure. It's also amusing to think that balsa (being an angiosperm) is technically a hardwood while yew is classified as a softwood. Pine is a tricky one with the late wood part of the ring being so much harder than the early wood. It can make a drill bit take a walk on the wild side.

[Jeff Root]

It can make a drill bit take a walk on the wild side.

I've been having that problem recently drilling into poplar end grain.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[PetersCreek]

I've been having that problem recently drilling into poplar end grain.

Brad point drill bits might help with that (unless you're using them now) since they have cutting spurs that scribe the circumference of the hole as the bit advances.

[Jeff Root]

My big set of drill bits was stolen, and I was too cheap to buy brad
point bits to replace them. Having almost no experience with them,
I convinced myself that regular points would work just as well.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[The Backroad Astronomer]

At times I think I would like to get in the head of some people . Like the ones that came up with the creepy iphone add with the signing emojis or there were people who tried to convince me my own past was made up, and then I go please. please no.