What is Night?

Thanks to Ted Chiang, I now know "night for what it [is]: the shadow of the Earth itelf, cast against the sky." Why didn't I ever think to put it like that?         

Came across the great picture from 1992 (Galileo spacecraft on its way to Jupiter snapped this on its way out) so you can not only see the Earth's shadow but the Moon's as well and the orientation between the two that give us the "Phases" of the Moon:

I think it's a gibbous moon, but is it waxing or waning? I want to say waxing (getting bigger) but without knowing the Galileo spacecraft's trajectory I'm not sure...

Aaaw yeah...

A former student (CF) just emailed this to me.  She used an app that puts random quotes on pictures on a photo she snapped of me on a recent visit to the new high school. Please note the red pen and carefuly crafted Earth-tones look.

Eerily insightful, that app.

Astrophysics and Art

Thanks to the Boston Globe for turning me onto the glass artist Josiah McElheny:

Island Universe

Whew! STEM Crisis: Avoided.

It is very fashionable these days to bash on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) educators for driving students away from pursuing these careers and thereby ruining this country's future.  I am so sorry, Wall Street, for ruining the economy - I will try harder, I promise!

Somehow this never sat well with me, but I was having trouble voicing my doubts about this interpretation of the STEM job market problem. Don't most talented people go where the money and the jobs are in a down economy despite their lousy high school physics teacher(s)? Now, two recent articles have popped up supporting my gut instincts on this one:

(1)  We are doing just fine in the actual engineering graduation department compared to the rest of the world, thank you: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/president-obama-there-is-no-engineer-shortage/2011/09/01/gIQADpmpuJ_story.html

(2) The 'right' number of STEM graduate actually graduate in the USA, they just decide to pursue other careers (bio majors going to med school, physics majors working for hedge funds, etc.).  Now, correct me if I am wrong, but that sounds like a market place problem not an education problem, right? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=graphic-science-science-tech-jobs-enticing



(Cartoon from http://fidgetyteach.blogspot.com/2010/05/there-is-so-much-negative-banter-about.html)

Why Sebastien is not Alexandre

Before we knew if we were having a girl or a boy, Irene and I had settled on a boy name and a girl name after undergoing a rigorous search process. (The process was us throwing out random French inspired names that work in English and in French and that have several easy to form diminutives .  Then we threw most of them out: "too girly sounding for a boy", "too easy to make fun of in English", "Too hard for Chinese relatives to pronounce", etc.)  Eventually we settled on "Isabelle" and "Alexandre" in round one.

Then, for child two - we waited until we knew the gender and then had a short conversation that went like this "Hmmm, should we use the Alexandre?  We liked that one before."
"Nah, that was Isabelle's boy name - can't use it."

Student Work

Here's a short video some students made for a small project in one of my physics classes.  The assignment was to analyze some (bogus) physics in a movie or tv show.  The grading rubric had points for style and humor as well as for the physics and these guys went all out in first categories.  Note the homage paid to a mustached teacher in one of the scenes (that, of course, guaranteed them an A on the spot!). 

Sebastien, School, and Truthiness

Me: Chongers, why did you bite that teacher at your school?
Chongers:  I didn't bite a teacher!
Me: Don't you lie to me, I know they called Mommy in the middle of the day to come get you!
Chongers: Daddy, it was the Lunch Lady.
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Chongers: I don't play shooting games at school so they won't call Mommy and Daddy up.
Me: So they have a school rule against playing shooting games?
Chongers:  Only while the teacher is watching.