Re: New Edisons? Was: [OT] Simple math considered physics
On Nov 23, 2007 9:47 PM, Ric Werme <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > No More Edisons? I find sweet irony in the tone of this essay, given that it was re-posted in a forum whose nominal focus is an operating system created by an upstart college kid. :-) -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: [OT] Simple math considered physics
> Any I've missed? If I ever have children they're definitely going to > have easy access LEGO and random electronic components. Rubber-band powered airplanes made of balsa and tissue paper (today the tissue paper is sometimes replaced with ultra-thin plastic, which can actually be made by spreading liquid plastic on top of water). This is not just a "kid thing", as many adults like building these too. Small radio-control units can now be purchased for a small amount of money and re-used over and over again if the plane (or boat or car) "lands right" (or even "at all"). For that matter, paper airplanes have many designs, and orgami is a great art to practice, as you can entertain people at almost any time with a few scraps of paper. And kites made from bamboo and paper. Start them now and use them this spring. All of these flying, floating things need physics and math. Many years ago Popular Mechanics published a book called "The Boy Mechanic" that had hundreds of pages of projects from the very simple to the very complex of things for children to build from everyday components. When I was in grade school I borrowed the book many times from the library, and eventually bought a used copy when I was in college. One project, however, was how to build a hot-air balloon out of tissue paper. From personal experience I recommend adult supervision on that one That book (unfortunately) has been out of print for many, many years, but here is another book along the same lines that I would recommend: http://www.amazon.com/American-Boys-Handy-Book-Nonpareil/dp/0879234490/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product a reprint of Dan Beard's book: "The American Boy's Handy Book: What to Do and How to Do It" While Lord Baden-Powell was the originator of Boy Scouts, Dan Beard was the movement's heart. Not to be outdone, there was a companion book for girls published by his wife: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879236663/ref=pd_luc_215881650940879236663 actually, the set would be good for any family. Like music? Go beyond just the ipodget an old 78 record and show them the grooves. Pluck a string and show them the harmonics. Get them involved with midi, electronic music. Lots of cool software for audio on Linux. md -- Jon "maddog" Hall Executive Director Linux International(R) email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 80 Amherst St. Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A. WWW: http://www.li.org Board Member: Uniforum Association Board Member Emeritus: USENIX Association (2000-2006) (R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. (R)Linux International is a registered trademark in the USA used pursuant to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the USA and other countries. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
New Edisons? Was: [OT] Simple math considered physics
> Perhaps our society has been wealthy for too many generations. Few > young people seem think about what they want to accomplish in life. > Everything they could want is there - or so it might appear. And too many distractions. John Taylor Gatti, NYC teacher of the year a few times was quick to say the main thing he did is set expectations and then get out of the way. I like the "shoot your television" concept, but haven't done so with mine. > Oh, well. Maybe they are right, and the era of nuts-and-bolts > engineering and physical science are mostly over. Sort of like the era > of the great classical symphony composers. On the latter, look up John Rutter, he started with reinvigorating old Christmas carols and moved on to choral and instrumental works. Most of his music sounds like it's from the 18th or 19th century, but there's an interesting modern accent. As for the former, I wrote the following a while back. While it ran in the NH Mensa newsletter, I was never happy with it and haven't put it on the web yet. Too many omissions, too many sentences that need their own paragraph, but it really needs to be short and great, not short and good enough or too long to be memorable. I'll fix it someday. No More Edisons? -by Ric Werme One of my childhood heroes was Thomas Edison. No, I'm not old enough to know him - but his eldest daughter gave me my first book about him. "Aunt Marion" lived next door to my grandparents was one of my grandmother's closest friends. That book was a biography written for children and gave an appreciation of his entire remarkable life. That was some fifty years ago, and even then it would have been nigh on impossible for another child to replicate Edison's childhood. Today, aspects would be considered child neglect or result in other adults facing criminal charges. In 1859, when Edison was 12, he convinced his mother to let him sell newspapers on a train that ran between Port Huron and Detroit, 60 miles away. The time in Detroit was frequently spent reading at the library or buying items for his chemistry hobby. Apparently there were no restrictions on what he could buy - just consequences when a stick of phosphorous set fire to the baggage car when its bottle was jarred loose by bad tracks. Edison never became an engineer or scientist, he remained an experimenter and inventor and several of today's products are still closely related to his original designs. Suppose someone with Edison's promise were born in 1997, 150 years after the original. How might he turn out? Today's United States is so vastly different it's hard to tell. Edison was a "late talking child," not talking until age four. Today, that is a red flag for autism, though I'm certain Edison's mother would have found Thomas Sowell's book on the subject and realize that description is a better fit. The new Tom would never become a newsboy on the Port Huron train, in part because it and most other passenger trains no longer run, in part because neither parent nor train operator would allow it. Nor would he have learned Morse code or the telegraph business. Instead, I think he would carve an interesting niche out of the World Wide Web. I've heard stories of motivated teens setting up commercial web sites, and have no doubt a new Tom would readily get the little permission and parental support needed to get a business running. What to sell? Probably not chemicals! Today's EPA, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Homeland Security, and several other federal, state, and local agencies and other distractions have virtually destroyed the home chemistry hobby. They've even created huge obstacles to legitimate R&D. Perhaps in Russia or India a new Edison could grow up with chemistry. New Tom would embrace electronics and could well build his web business around clever gadgets, peripherals, etc. and reach far more customers than he ever could on a train. Edison was a master at finding new products that would create new markets, even if he had to create the infrastructure to support it. The incandescent light and electricity production is his the best example. The phonograph and the recording industry has parallels with today's iPods and music downloading. As new Tom's business grows, it would give him the capital to look for new product niches and set about filling them. Genetic engineering or nanotechnology could be the stage big enough to address the myriad ideas, and is fresh enough so that empirical design and experimentation that Edison relied upon might apply to new Tom's work. Science is the process of understanding how the universe works and developing tools to interact with it. Engineering takes those tools and creates new systems not previously possible. Invention envisions new systems not previously known. What might the new Tom create? I don't know, that's his job. What markets might exist to absorb new products? That's a much easier question! Medi
Re: [OT] Simple math considered physics
On Nov 22, 2007 9:18 PM, Drew Van Zandt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > LEGO > Erector sets > Tinkertoys > Lincoln Logs > Piles of junk + imagination > > Any I've missed? Along with most of those, I had a blast with Capsela toys when I was a kid. They had more electric gizmos, earlier, than LEGO blocks. I see now they're billed as "Construction Toys for Building Minds"; there might be something to that. http://images.google.com/images?q=capsela Imagination is certainly a key ingredient for all of them. I rarely built the thing pictured on the box; I was too busy building my own ideas. If we didn't have toys, any old junk was adaptable. Many a parent has observed that an empty box can be a race car, a space ship, and a castle to a kid. There's something there that should be encouraged. Segue to: Encouragement, also, is a vital ingredient. My parents and teachers encouraged my curiosity and creativity. > (Books too, of course, but like many a young child that goes without > saying.) I'm always amazed at how many people don't like to read. -- Ben ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: LinkedIn group for GNHLUG
Ted Roche wrote: > Ted Roche wrote: > >>> http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/42315/32A73B64F8DC >>> >> FYI, for those who like to measure such things, we got 21 members in the >> first 24 hours. >> > > And in the second 24 hours, membership rose to 30. And over the holiday, the total is now 33 and one pending. Now you can start postulating curve-fitting algorithms! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: [OT] Simple math considered physics; turns out it's fun, not harmful
On Nov 21, 2007 11:03 PM, Greg Rundlett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Philosophically and sociologically, I'm asking why somebody who worked > there wouldn't solve these problems out of curiosity. Because they > don't know how? Because they don't care? Because they were > conditioned by social norms to believe the subject is too difficult or > uncool? > I went to an engineering college. Most of my classmates would probably take a stab at the problem. Many of my IT colleagues might also. The facilities guys, the administrative assistants, the cafeteria staff, etc would probably not. Most people are not "problem solvers" and it's a personality thing. I bet most of us on this list took things apart as kids to see how they worked. That's what this physics problem is: taking it apart to see how it works/compares. Most people don't do that. ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
Re: [OT] Simple math considered physics
On Thursday 22 November 2007 21:18, you wrote: > I'm sure you can't MAKE kids interested in engineering, but there are > certainly classes of toys that a great many of the more geek-inclined > people I know remember fondly. > > LEGO > Erector sets > Tinkertoys > Lincoln Logs > Piles of junk + imagination > > Any I've missed? If I ever have children they're definitely going to > have easy access LEGO and random electronic components. I had the last 3 of the above. LEGOs weren't invented, and we couldn't afford the Erector set. I did get a hand-me-down electric train and used 5-tube table radio though. You might guess the source of my ham radio interests. Two areas that you might consider when expanding your list are 1) things to extend the child's senses, and 2) stuff to take apart. I never got a microscope, but tried to build one. A binoculars led to many summer nights on the lawn matching constellations to those in my book, watching meteors, and hoping to spot a UFO. (The binoculars had an eerie story with them. My father had taken them from a dead French officer in the Pacific. There was blood on the leather case.) Before things were junked (which was seldom), they were offered to us to take apart. I remember getting a wind-up alarm clock at age 4. The brass gears were fascinating. And frustrating, because there was nothing I could do with them. My mother was usually neutral about taking things apart. Usually. My younger sister had an expensive doll that gave out a Whaaah sound when tipped over. My brother and I convinced her that her baby would not be crying unless there was something wrong with it. So, my good hearted sister gave permission to "operate". My mother was not pleased. Jim Kuzdrall ___ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
