| December
2002 Science
is knowledge at a slightly deeper level of abstraction than we readily
notice. We must do a bit of harder thinking to "see" the patterns
of science. We are here looking at (and perhaps seeing) one of the
odd patterns in the sunrises and sunsets: from the first week in December
to the first week in January, both sunset and sunrise are getting
later each day. The sun is due south halfway between sunrise and
sunset: that's "solar noon." So solar noon is getting later, and
that means that the length of the day is increasing. The length of
the day is mostly determined by the very, very steady rotation of the earth
on its axis, but there's more to it than that. The earth also revolves
about the sun, and that's not steady. The orbit of the earth is an ellipse
not a circle. That's the cause of the changing day length.
Analyzing that elliptical motion is what led Isaac Newton to his "Laws
of Motion," and that led to science.
Newton's
Laws of motion are today seen as the abstract patterns that actually exist
in the real world about as often as is seen the odd behavior of those sunsets
and sunrises. Navigating
Newton |
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Have
you Noticed...
The year is
almost over; winter approaches. The evenings were recently rapidily
getting darker and darker. But by the first of December sunset time
is no longer racing toward noon, and the darkest evening of the year is
almost upon us. On which date would that dismal eve be?
No! It's
not
the solstice, December 21st. It's much earlier, about December 8th!
During most
of December, evenings stay light later and later day after day. Yet,
almost noone notices. Even fewer reason why. Reasoning through
this puzzle leads to what became the basis of modern science. The
magic of science is simple but subtle—those powerful patterns are seldom
seen even when right there for everybody to see.
(See
January, below)
...What
is the magical reasoning?
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November 2002
Springwater
Corridor
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Have
you Noticed...
Alongside one of
Portland's trails some of the hills are actually huge piles of bricks with
trees and bushes growing on them.
...Where
?
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October 2002.
Riverview
Cemetery
45.4618°
N
122.6731°
W
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Have
you Noticed...
Wyatt Earps's brother,
Virgil, is buried in Portland.
...Where
?
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| September
2002.
in
the Rock Garden
Hoyt
Arboretum Tree House
45.5157°N
122.7174°W
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Have
you Noticed...
Very few plant
species grow on the Antarctic continent. You can see one those unusual
species growing somewhere in Portland.
...Where
?
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August
2002.
face="Arial,Helvetica">.
Statistics
is one of the most powerful tools in the scientist's toolbox.
...and
everybody
should be able to handle some statistical reasoning.
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Have
you Noticed...
 ...
win
lose
win lose
...statistics can
baffle. A nut was added to the appropriate column as hundreds of
players told how they would bet: "stay" or "switch." The columns were thus
statistical information on how they should bet. We wonder
why they didn't use that information. Do
you recognize the problem (made famous by Marylin vos Savant in her Parade
column)? |
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July
2002. |
Have
you Noticed
new "Walk Map of
SW Portland"?
A hillside in Portland
is covered with a maze of hillside stairs. Some are public. Some are posted
"private but open to public use." Some are posted "private." Some lead
into overgrown bramble bushes. They are somewhat connected to each other,
or connected by short sections of streets. PICTURES
...Where
?
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June
2002.
45.4968°
N
122.6799°
W
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Have
you Noticed?
Somewhere in
Portland is a monument to the Spanish American War.
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May 2002.
Calculating
ratios and recognizing when a ratio needs to be calculated is one of the
simplest concepts of science. It also presents one of today's most
common barriers to understanding the use of science. Today, lack
of understanding of the use of science is one of of the most serious threats
to all of us, even though better understanding will come to most adults
if they put a little of the right kind of extra effort into it. So
think about it . . . What's most likely to happen if
an adult who's still using his child-like mind is given the controls of
a huge modern hi-tech bomber loaded with nuclear weapons?*
*Dumbing
down in dangerous.
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Have
you Noticed?
On that joyous day in May, when you get your state and federal tax refunds,
you have forgotten the details of all those bond measures and tax levies
that raised your taxes. But did you notice how much each one was
going to affect your own tax bill? Did you, or someone you know,
actually calculate some estimates? For example, which of the following
would cost you the most, which the least: your state of three million people
funds a new freeway costing six billion dollars; your city of a hundred
thousand funds a new soccer stadium costing four million; your country
of 250 million funds a new Coast Guard rescue vessle costing 600 million?
Even more interesting is the great variety of calculations that different
people use when trying to make those estimates. What to add together?
What to subtract? What to multiply ? What to divide?
How important is calculating ratios? |
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April
2002.
Precision
is important in modern science and technology. The ways things work
is important, too. And correctly anticipating outcomes of what we
do is a fundamental key to life itself. Human evolution has been
developing ever better skills of anticipating outcomes.
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Have
you Noticed?
When, the first
weekend in April, you adjusted your clocks for Savings Time, they had drifted
a bit from the exact time by several seconds or a few minutes. If
the clock is on your VCR, you probably missed the start of some programs.
Actually, if
you thought a bit about it, you may have noticed that some of the clocks
had not drifted from the exact time. Some of them had kept precise
time.
Old-fashioned
electric dial clocks hadn't drifted as long as no power outages had occurred.
But the new-fashioned digital clocks did drift.
Most
of them drifted. Some did not. Some didn't drift
even a fraction of a second—especially those that have very large numbers.
Some plug-in digital clocks have practically perfect precision.
...What's
going on?
How
do modern clocks (try to)
keep accurate time? |
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March
2002.
More
in the shadows of the edges of human comprehension! Science succeeds
because it uses often unrealized human potential for sorting relevance
from irrelevance. And the first step in doing so is is to abandon
the somewhat satisfying sense that each effect has but one cause and each
cause leads to but one effect.
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Have
you Noticed?
Sunburns have
not been happening since early last October (unless the sunburnee
has been a long way out of town or in a tanning salon).
Sometime in
mid March sunburns will suddenly appear on a lot of people.
People sunbathing
to get a tan sometimes lie in a hot sun for hours with no effect, but can,
a week later, lie in the sun for 20 minutes and get burned.
What
simple information reliably tells us when the sun is actinic?
Ferret
out what's relevant ("Back" to return). |
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February 2002.
This
striking phenomenon lies in the shadows at the edges of human comprehension.
Everyone looks at it as TV weather forcasters display the relevant numbers
year after year. Virtually no one sees it, because "seeing" this
one seems to require graphing. No one thinks to graph it.
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Have
you noticed?
See
all temperature records (graphed).
Discover
more about it ("Back" to return).
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January 2002.
This
looks pretty mundane, but if you see deep enough to see the magic underlying
it, you have seen what began the science and technology that surrounds
us today.
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Did
you notice?
On January 3, 2002
. . .
The drive to work in the
morning was the darkest of the year. But the drive home in the evening
was much lighter than it had been a month earlier.
Why?
See
it for yourself (graphed).
Discover
more ("Back" to return). |
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