What I learned on the Mayflower 2

Took the kids and some out of town visitors to Plimoth plantation and the re-creation of the Mayflower (the Mayflower 2).  While onboard, one particularly good actor/guide was in character as a seaman from the 1600's and he explained to us that the modern day unit of time of seconds and minutes came first from navigating distance on the globe. Now, I have been telling students for years about the Babylonians and their base 60 numbering system and how all the units of time come from astronomy, but this little gem escaped me.

The 360 degree circle that a line of latitude or longitude is divided into was not accurate enough, so Ptolemy subdivided each degree into partes minutae primae which were further subdivided into  partes minutae secundae! Argh!  How could I have never noticed that seconds are the second partition and that minutes are related to minutiae ??  Also, I had assumed that the division of time into minutes and seconds were the inspiration for divvying up of degrees in an angle into the same units when it was precisely the opposite!

Former student and I

Ilya J. was in the very first class I ever taught.  He took physics as a Junior at Swampscott and then AP Physics as a senior.  He's now doing engineering work at SpaceX in LA where we visited during a family vacation.  Note Sebastien photo bombing!

He reminded me that I wasn't even married when I started and I reminded him that I didn't know what I was doing. He was kind and said "It was pretty theoretical..."

Well Done, Gentlemen

My only gripe is the clues in the background for those who don't get the science references... Should let those scientific illiterates wallow in the ignorance...

Presbyopia

Something funny happened on my way to a monocle...I got old. I really noticed this when reading out the names at last spring's award ceremonies - turns out when the paper you're reading is on a podium, you can't just extend your arms to bring everything into focus...

Am I Buying a Fish or Teaching Myself to Fish?

My friend, GG, would be proud.  Last year I paid a chimney sweep a ton of money to sweep out all the chimneys (probably hadn't been done in 5 years).  I watched him carefully, bought myself a brush for $25 and did the wood stove chimney myself this year.

Inspired by this, when Drano didn't clear up the slow draining shower this week, I ran to home depot and bought a $15 auger and snaked that pipe out myself.

Now, what I'm not telling you about is the burst pipe and the disassembled sink that have yet to be fixed, but 2 out of 4 ain't bad, right? Oh, and the yard is over-run with weeds.  Let's focus on the positive, people!

Why exactly is home ownership part of the American Dream, again?

The stormtrooper-fruit link

I just read a science fiction book where the protagonist has a genetic anomaly that makes her unique.  The details aren't important but some aliens at one point clone her so they can use the clones (and their abilities) to their own ends.

How bizarre, no?

No.

I think that almost all of the fruit we eat have been grafted from a single plant from the past that was uniquely tasty or uniquely resistant to disease.  We keep grafting or budding over and over and raising these genetically identical fruit.  Clones, actually.

Next time you are in the supermarket look at all those bananas and think about that...

Fruit Fish-stick Train

The five year old mind is a wonder...
(of course he ate it afterwards!)

2 fish stick base with half strawberry, blueberries, and grapes