the good old days

Falling in the “I wish I made this up” category…

image from the Stanford School of Medicine

Next year, I’m paying for grad school by participating in a program which puts graduate students in science or engineering (like me) in middle school classrooms every week, to do demonstrations which help translate often vague scientific concepts into a form that kids can understand. So I’ve been scouting around for ideas of how to present science in ways that are both fun and educational.

Here’s an example… Let’s look at the concept that “The Universe is Regular and Predictable”. This is very important to science, because it means when we discover something (such as the law of gravity), we know it will always work the same way. Stuff always falls down due to gravity; it doesn’t sometimes float, it doesn’t sometimes fly up to the ceiling, it always goes down at 9.5 meters per second squared. Science WORKS because things are predictable, as long as we can figure out HOW they are predictable.

Now, please watch this little video below, and tell me if it helps you understand that idea.

It’s all so much clearer, isn’t it?

The sad thing is, the Science Cheerleader wants to make science more relevant to public discussion and policy-making choices. That’s a goal I completely support, and something that is desperately needed — but this series of videos, even though they are posted at the Science Cheerleader blog with paragraphs describing the science concept, make science look dumb and desperate in addition to obscure and confusing. It should be able to succeed on its own merits — there are plenty of ways to make science sexy without resorting to cheerleaders. The many, many women in science and engineering are not going to like this, at all. Many (hopefully most) men in science aren’t going to like it. It doesn’t even teach anything about science. So WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?

According to the site the Della can change a woman’s life. “Once you get beyond how cute they are, you’ll find that netbooks can do a lot more than check your e-mail.” Yes you can “find recipes online” and you can use them “to track calories, carbs and protein with ease, watch online fitness videos, map your running routes and more.” — Fudzilla

Wow. I totally can’t do that with my high-powered built-from-scratch non-Dell(a) computer. I better go alert my friend who’s head of tech support, because I bet her laptop totally doesn’t constantly stream online fitness videos and map her running routes for her. And wow they have a featured artist! Just what a girl needs.

Let me know when it babysits.

“We will call it Mexican flu. We won’t call it swine flu,” said Mr Litzman, who belongs to the ultra-religious United Torah Judaism party. — BBC

Look, if you don’t like the term “swine flu”, just call it H1N1, which is more accurate than “swine flu” anyway. Making up an alternative casual term is fairly silly (and, in this case, not terribly kind to Mexico who just happened to get stuck with the initial outbreak)… but it is also a telling statement of just how well-prepared you are to handle a potential pandemic.

(I also don’t really understand why you’d want to avoid naming diseases after a unclean animals anyway — is “Mexican Flu” somehow healthier?)

Via Writes Like She Talks, I learned of a cute bit of Stalin-esque photoshopping:

Two women serve in Israel’s new Cabinet, but some Israelis would rather not see them.

Newspapers aimed at ultra-Orthodox Jewish readers tampered with the inaugural photograph of the Cabinet, erasing ministers Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver.

Ultra-Orthodox newspapers consider it immodest to print images of women.

The daily Yated Neeman digitally changed the photo, moving two male ministers into the places formerly occupied by the women.

The weekly Shaa Tova simply blacked the women out, in a photo reprinted Friday by the mainstream daily Maariv. — Associated Press/Washington Post

The “ideal” solution would have been to not print the photo at all, rather than tamper with it; I suppose a black box saying “OMG WOMAN DO NOT LOOK!” is better than pretending somebody else was standing there, if I have to choose between the two. Censoring part of the picture escalates the insult.

I’d like to recommend a book I enjoy about this topic, The Commissar Vanishes, as background reading — it is an excellent overview of photographic manipulation during Stalin’s reign. There’s a website which covers the main points; frequently Soviet officials being removed from old pictures once they were decided to be unwelcome (any evidence of Stalin associating with them had to be removed). There’s one photo in the book (not on their site) in which four or five party officials leave the same photograph as it’s published over time, eventually leaving only Stalin and a couple others in the “group” shot.

While I’m impressed by the technical skill required to “fix” some of these shots (especially considering they were working on actual photographic negatives, not with Photoshop), the effect is pretty disturbing.

In general, it’s not a good idea to follow the lead of despotic regimes when choosing your editorial practices. It’s just bad journalism.

Nowadays, you can’t get a bill from the electric company without an accompanying insert on ways to use less energy in your house. Insulate! Unplug computers! Buy EnergyStar Certified appliances! Considering the antiquated grid structure and long certification process required to build new plants to increase capacity, companies have little choice but to try to decrease demand by teaching consumers to use less power.

Contrast that modern reality with this 1937 concept, apparently actually used in France.

By pressing an electric switch, radio listeners may express approval of a current radio program. Holding down a small switch attached to the base of a small lamp placed near the radio, the increased current drain is shown at the local power plant or substation.

The power company raked in extra money by convincing people to draw extra power and telling them it was some sort of rating system. And convincing them this “special” button would be distinguishable from, say, turning on a light or using an electric toaster. Edison’s approach was all wrong — if he wanted people to buy DC rather than AC electricity, he should have sold them all thoroughly useless gizmos like this, that worked only on HIS special DC current. At worst, he wouldn’t be remembered as somebody who electrocuted an elephant.

Article via Modern Mechanix.

They used to dump oil-soaked bricks in the ocean to catch lobster.

Seriously, with a long history of “you have GOT TO BE KIDDING” actions like this, it’s amazing that some people refuse to be convinced of the idea that people can have a very negative impact on the world around them.

1931 article via Modern Mechanix.

As you recover from holiday indulgence, you may wish to consider this advice before hurrying to start a diet.

Why Fat Women Are the Happiest

Fat women, especially those in middle age, are usually happier than thin women because they are better equipped to withstand the nervous strain brought on by the active pace now required of middle age women, according to Dr. McPhedran, of Toronto.

Women of 40 and 50 are expected to manage the household, take an active part in club and civic affairs, and still be fresh for parties in the evening.

All this is contrary to nature, and a reasonable degree of plumpness cushions the body against physical shocks and strain.

I am guessing the authority for that tidbit is Dr. Alexander McPhedran, who pops up in various medical literature in the early twentieth century. He appears to have been a cardiologist. He was head of the Canadian Medical Association for a while.

He also appears to be unable to understand that fat doesn’t function as a pillow for the soul. I must admit, it’s one of the more intriguing argument against having women involved in “club and civic affairs”, at least the skinny ones… but it still comes down to “Ahhh, feeble women!!”

If you’re not going by primary sources when researching your family tree, there’s always a risk that there was a transcription error, or somebody connected the wrong facts to people.

This is actually the eighth ancestor of mine who is listed in various records as being buried alive — she’s probably the longest underground survivor, though. Well done, Miriam.

It’s supposed to prevent wrinkling in prunes by letting the plums be harvested without any hand contact.

Because wrinkled surface on dried fruit is totally caused by handling, not the drying process. (And plums were totally gathered by women in nice dresses in 1932.)

Gotta love Modern Mechanix for the latest and greatest in wacky ideas