Re: Keeping it simple
John, I use a similar technique. I usually say something like: A watch is based on, an imaginary earth that is traveling in a perfectly round orbit, and is not tilted. The sundial is based on the real earth traveling around the real sun. Most people seem to vaguely remember that orbits are oval and the earth is tilted. And, as you said, they rarely press for more information. ++ron - Original Message - From: John Carmichael [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 4:13 PM Subject: Re: Keeping it simple To avoid confusing my clients, I just tell them that these irregularities are due to the earth's tilt and elipital orbit and leave it at that. And this satisfies them. (As soon as I mention the word orbit they know it's a complcated subject and never press me for more information). John John L. Carmichael Jr. Sundial Sculptures 925 E. Foothills Dr. Tucson Arizona 85718 USA Tel: 520-696-1709 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.sundialsculptures.com - Original Message - From: Anselmo Pérez Serrada [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 8:31 AM Subject: Re: Keeping it simple I believe that the simplified explanation of these concepts is very important. Complex scientific overloading, however accurate, can easily intimidate the casual user of one of our creations, to the point of actually making them give up or lose interest in understanding the concept at all. Not everyone, obviously, is looking for that level of information. An elegant, simple explanation for some of these basic concepts - the ones they must confront in order to understand and use the dial they are standing in front of - is what is needed to welcome the uninitiated to the concept, and for that matter, to dialing as a whole. I too am trying to figure out how to explain these things, and I hope that by doing so I might even increase our ranks by sparing my customers the initial intimidation of the subject matter. If the mountain does not look too steep more people may be inclined to climb it, so to speak. I wonder what the party definitions would be to some of these basic dialling concepts, such as EoT? Jim, I agree 150% with you! It is very important not to make things more complicate than they are... Sometimes it is the lingo, some others the tools (mathematical, theoretical, academical) we use to describe them and some others our own limitations to express them... And unfortunately many people gets discouraged from knowing more about someting beautiful, useful or simply' mind-expanding' (so as to call it) because of this. As an accidental teacher, I tend to think a lot about which are the foundations, the barebones, of what I am going to teach: which is the core and which is just chatter. And I can't help thinking that maybe it is our fault that most people are so'scientifically and technically illiterate'... even my own engeneering colleagues! Best regards, Anselmo - - -
Re: Keeping it simple
I believe that the simplified explanation of these concepts is very important. Complex scientific overloading, however accurate, can easily intimidate the casual user of one of our creations, to the point of actually making them give up or lose interest in understanding the concept at all. Not everyone, obviously, is looking for that level of information. An elegant, simple explanation for some of these basic concepts - the ones they must confront in order to understand and use the dial they are standing in front of - is what is needed to welcome the uninitiated to the concept, and for that matter, to dialing as a whole. I too am trying to figure out how to explain these things, and I hope that by doing so I might even increase our ranks by sparing my customers the initial intimidation of the subject matter. If the mountain does not look too steep more people may be inclined to climb it, so to speak. I wonder what the party definitions would be to some of these basic dialling concepts, such as EoT? Jim, I agree 150% with you! It is very important not to make things more complicate than they are... Sometimes it is the lingo, some others the tools (mathematical, theoretical, academical) we use to describe them and some others our own limitations to express them... And unfortunately many people gets discouraged from knowing more about someting beautiful, useful or simply' mind-expanding' (so as to call it) because of this. As an accidental teacher, I tend to think a lot about which are the foundations, the barebones, of what I am going to teach: which is the core and which is just chatter. And I can't help thinking that maybe it is our fault that most people are so'scientifically and technically illiterate'... even my own engeneering colleagues! Best regards, Anselmo -
Re: Keeping it simple
To avoid confusing my clients, I just tell them that these irregularities are due to the earth's tilt and elipital orbit and leave it at that. And this satisfies them. (As soon as I mention the word orbit they know it's a complcated subject and never press me for more information). John John L. Carmichael Jr. Sundial Sculptures 925 E. Foothills Dr. Tucson Arizona 85718 USA Tel: 520-696-1709 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.sundialsculptures.com - Original Message - From: Anselmo Pérez Serrada [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 8:31 AM Subject: Re: Keeping it simple I believe that the simplified explanation of these concepts is very important. Complex scientific overloading, however accurate, can easily intimidate the casual user of one of our creations, to the point of actually making them give up or lose interest in understanding the concept at all. Not everyone, obviously, is looking for that level of information. An elegant, simple explanation for some of these basic concepts - the ones they must confront in order to understand and use the dial they are standing in front of - is what is needed to welcome the uninitiated to the concept, and for that matter, to dialing as a whole. I too am trying to figure out how to explain these things, and I hope that by doing so I might even increase our ranks by sparing my customers the initial intimidation of the subject matter. If the mountain does not look too steep more people may be inclined to climb it, so to speak. I wonder what the party definitions would be to some of these basic dialling concepts, such as EoT? Jim, I agree 150% with you! It is very important not to make things more complicate than they are... Sometimes it is the lingo, some others the tools (mathematical, theoretical, academical) we use to describe them and some others our own limitations to express them... And unfortunately many people gets discouraged from knowing more about someting beautiful, useful or simply' mind-expanding' (so as to call it) because of this. As an accidental teacher, I tend to think a lot about which are the foundations, the barebones, of what I am going to teach: which is the core and which is just chatter. And I can't help thinking that maybe it is our fault that most people are so'scientifically and technically illiterate'... even my own engeneering colleagues! Best regards, Anselmo - -
Keeping it simple
Hello All, Anselmo Prez Serrada wrote: Then I tried to explain him this curious fact by saying "Imagine you could see the Earth from the Sun: then, the Earth spins around itself not every 24h00m but every 23h56m, blah, blah, blah As the Earth's axis is tilted towards the North Star, you do not see perfect halves of the Parallel Circles, but sometimes more and some others less than this, blah, blah, blah" . I'm afraid I wasn't quite successful and I still wonder if there is a better way to explain these things to common people, maybe by drawing circles in a bowl as Fer de Vries did or some other way. Any suggestion? I too have recently attempted a "simple" explanation to a similiar question, that being why one must use an EoT chart when reading a longitudinally corrected vertical sundial. I found out (after reviews of my explanation by several good sundialing friends) that in my efforts to oversimplify I had sacrificed scientific accuracy in the process. I believe that the simplified explanation of these concepts is very important. Complex scientific overloading, however accurate, can easily intimidate the casual user of one of our creations, to the point of actually making them give up or lose interest in understanding the concept at all. Not everyone, obviously, is looking for that level of information. An elegant, simple explanation for some of these basic concepts - the ones they must confront in order to understand and use the dial they are standing in front of - is what is needed to welcome the uninitiated to the concept, and for that matter, to dialing as a whole. I too am trying to figure out how to explain these things, and I hope that by doing so I might even increase our ranks by sparing my customers the initial intimidation of the subject matter. If the mountain does not look too steep more people may be inclined to climb it, so to speak. I wonder what the "party definitions" would be to some of these basic dialling concepts, such as EoT? Jim Tallman Artisan Industrials
