Family Vacay Pic

Rare it is that there is a family picture that all four of us like.  So when the Hard Rock Cafe, Niagara Falls (NY side) offered us this slightly cheesy, fake background picture we actually caved.

Bonus:  I'm wearing the same T-shirt as in the pic from last year's trip to Catacombs!

The Rideouts, June 2019

Shed Doors: Round 2

On the right you see an interior door from home depot ($41) that I replaced the old, rotting shed doors with a few years ago.  Apparently, there's a reason interior doors are called "interior"!

Needing to replace the rotting, moldy doors yet again, this time I made a wood frame and attached a thick sheet of PVC to it ($50 total - on the left).  Hopefully this one will last!

Halfway through the replacement process makes for an interesting picture!

Finished project (a dew days later):

Niagara Falls Walk-Abouts

Putting the new fitness band to good use, I mapped out a couple of walks the four of us took while on vacation in Niagara Falls.

First up, a walk from our hotel around Goat Island with a stop for dinner in the middle:

Part 1: Horseshoe Falls from the USA side

Horseshoe Falls taken by Irene from Canada

Part 2: American and Bridal Veil Falls on the USA side

American (left) and Bridal Veil (right) Falls taken by Irene from Canada

Next, on the Canadian side, a walk along the river downstream.  Notice how the GPS gets confused about which side of the river we are on at one point and makes it appear as if we did a quick swim back and forth across the class 6 rapids!

White Water Walk

Check out these standing waves that form as the current begins to slow down that we saw at the end of our White Water Walk:

Photo cred to Irene - 2 meter amplitude standing wave in a rapid!

They Keep on Keepin' On?

Look closely at the following picture:

Max and Frederique (in the middle) on their wedding day with friends

These appear to be adults, right?

But that's not possible - almost all of these guys were students of mine.  Sixteen year-olds taking honors physics their junior year.  Of course, that was back in 2007 when I first started in Wayland (my 6th year as a teacher but the first year in a new district is like starting all over again).  Apparently life goes on even after they leave me!  Somehow I imagined they stay sixteen forever.

Surreal!  So happy that F & M reached out for tips on their upcoming trip to Corsica which enabled me to see this picture.  One never knows the seeds that get planted - students may not remember all the physics that gets taught (or is attempted to be taught), but they do apparently remember some stories about working in a winery in Corsica.
 
Happy memories for me as this is one of the classes that confirmed I had made the right choice in leaving my previous school to teach in Wayland!

BTW, I'm taking full credit for this wedding despite the fact that I'm pretty sure they did not meet in my class - I just prefer to imagine it that way - please do not disabuse me of this notion if you know better!

I recall lots of flailing around at the blackboard in front of these patient guys.  Funny to remember just how different a teacher I was back then.  (Now I flail around at a whiteboard with more technology).  This was pre-blog, pre-laptops, pre-AP Physics 1 curriculum, pre-Energizing physics, pre-peer instruction, pre-new building, pre-astronomy, pre-formatives  -  I wonder what I even inflicted these kids with!?

Happy Adulting!

Father's Day Gift

I got a Garmin Viviosport as an early father's day gift.

Sporty + Modern Technology = Me (?)

I was inspired by my bro's use of one to track and post his running routes and walks.  I was thinking how cool it would have been to have it when we were walking all around Paris last summer.  Here's a sample of what it can do as we took a walk on the aqueduct near the high school:



When setting the "Smart Activity Tracker" up, I chose the 24 hour clock option and the metric system for all measurements (ofc! as the kids would say).  When, later during the set up, it asked me for my weight in kg, I was at first annoyed because it should have asked me for my mass in kg but then I was annoyed because I had no idea what the answer was and had to do some quick dimensional analysis in order to answer. Then, after I was wearing the viviosport, I looked at the dial and saw the display doing this:

except that the numbers were something like

15

17

I had to ask Irene what it meant and she looked at me like I was some kind of moron and simply said "You know it's a watch, too, right?"

Then I realized the first 15 meant 3 PM.  

Oh, okay... yep, I'm ready for this!

5th grade party favors

Turns out that if you are playing pool in a bar in Cambridge, the party your fifth grade son was invited to can provide you the perfect hat to cover your bald spot!

Note Seb, the playboy pinball machine, and death-surfing-on-a-shark in the background

  photo creds to Irene!

Physics Video Project

Check out this exceptionally good video explainer on Chaos theory and the butterfly effect by YL and AA.  Nice voice-over narration by RU!

I'm often impressed by the science in these video explainers I've been having my juniors do and even more frequently surprised by how funny/creative they can be and, of course, referencing me in the video is always a good move.  But pulling a triple, now that's rare!

Once upon a time, I, Chuang Chou, dreamt I was a butterfly , 

fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. 

I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, 

unaware that I was Chou. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. 

Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, 

or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. 

Zhuangzi, 300 BCE

Imma Miss These Kids!

My two classes of juniors on our last day of school before finals:

Investing in a Story about Dumb Luck

I've always been surprised that people seem to respect rich people or people in positions of authority. There's an assumption that they deserve it or earned it or something.   I've never really felt that; Something has always bothered me when people try to explain it all to me - it just seems a bit too... random...



Vindicated!

Just read this article recently in the MIT Tech magazine: Luck is the best model for why some people experience success / get rich and others don't.  Luck is a more important factor than smarts, hard work, or talent!  How can this be?

I think these misconceptions about how the world works comes down to the fact we are hardwired to be story-tellers.  We need and crave to tell ourselves stories about why things are the way they are.

That person got rich through hard work, talent, and/or smarts is a much better story that "He was in the right place at the right time with the right stuff."

Now, don't give up on your own education and start frequenting casinos!  The MIT article is really about the phenomenally successful person and the high concentration of wealth in society.

I, for one, totally deserved to be raised in a stable, loving household by two college educated adults in late 20th century America, didn't I?


P.S.
We've known for a long time that simply blindly investing in an unmanaged index fund will almost always beat a professional investor. However, we continue to pick stocks ourselves or trust some professional to make active decisions for us.  Isn't this just the stock market version of this same misconception?

Props for Isabelle

Isabelle just wrote a really great cry-to-arms for taking better care of our planet.  It just appeared in the middle school newspaper:

http://www.waylandmiddleschool.org/orange_black/sixth-mass-extinction-by-isabelle-rideout/

Way to go, Isabelle!  Sorry we handed you such a messed up planet - but some of us are trying to do better!

Just Can't Win

Irene and I trade off cooking pretty frequently.  When I cook, I get a lot of complaints from the other three:

"Why didn't you set the table?"
"How come we have to get our own forks?"
"Why are you serving the food in the cookware?"

So, today, I took the time to serve up the meal in an aesthetically pleasing manner:

Rice surrounded by green beans surround by fish fillets

I got these in response:

"Why did you cook brown rice? Yuck."
"The fish doesn't look as good as it usually does. What did you do different?"
"Great, another plate to wash after dinner!"
"Why do I have to serve myself?"







(I got permission to post this from the other three, but they all said these are either exaggerations or simply made-up, but I'm sticking to my story!)

Cautionary Tale

I spend all day with teenagers.
They are pulled towards the easy wins.
Engage in activities that give the most short term rewards.
Reach for things that give immediate satisfaction.
Much like these Irises in our front yard reaching for the Sun and flowering beautifully this spring:

But their long, thin stalks can't support their early bloom and eventually they fall to the ground and it makes me sad to see them lying there in the grass.

Irises, spend some more time building up your roots and stems - the foundations need to be there to enjoy a long and rewarding life!



(Irene says my analogy is fundamentally flawed (a lot of rain this season exacerbated the problem - not simply an over-reaching for the Sun), but I'm posting anyway)

Lying and Learning; Models and Science

The other day I told my students that every science teacher (including myself) has been lying to them!  I went on to explain that everyone starts off learning overly simplified models and that the more you study, the more detailed and complex the models become (or so simple, unifying and unintuitive that they hurt your brain!).  

Yet another excellent xkcd slice of truth

But of course the truth is that even are best theories are still simply models:  analogies in the language of math that do an excellent job predicting the results of future experiments.  Descriptions of things are not the same thing as the actual thing itself!

“It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, 

but it would make no sense. 

It would be a description without meaning—

as if you described a Beethoven symphony 

as a variation of wave pressure.” 

- Einstein