Science is a tool that mankind uses to expand our technical knowledge of the world and universe around us.
People use the term “science” broadly, but it has a specific meaning:
Performing an experiment to determine the outcome of a closed system when an independent variable within that system is modified.
You don’t have to have a degree to be a scientist. A scientist is anyone who follows a rigorous scientific process, called the scientific method:
Observe, Analyze, Hypothesize, Experiment, Conclude, Repeat
Please enjoy these science-related posts.
In 1984, there was an annular solar eclipse visible from Texas, and every school-aged student made a pinhole projector, that allowed you to view a representation of the sun and the shadow of the moon as it passed in front.
Now, everyone has a smart phone, so in honor of the upcoming August eclipse event, why not make “an app for that”?
Update: Now takes time-lapse photos
Or as I call it:
First, let me present the app and how it works.
Later, a rant about Google Play
From time to time, I run across a vendor who says:
We have over 40 years of combined experience…
What does that really mean?
The intended meaning is that, if there are 4 people in the room, they each have about 10 years of experience.
But, it could also mean that one of them has 39 years of experience, and the other three have been in the business for only 4 months!
Further, let’s say that this particular vendor is an AI (Artificial Intelligence) consultant – why would I want 40-year-old advice from the mid 1970’s, when the largest computers of that era didn’t have as much computing power as my smart phone?
Essentially, we have a set of scalars that are supposed to represent the respective sizes of each individual’s experience base within the group.
Let’s say we have 4 people:
This gives us a set of 4 scalars: {12, 15, 8, 10}
Although there are many valid ways to compare and combine these numbers, there are also very many ways to combine them, that don’t make sense.
At the end of the meeting, Stacy proudly proclaims, “we have 45 years of combined experience“, because she added all of these scalars, but what does that really mean?
It’s not like the team are simply ONE person who becomes eminently more qualified with combined magnitude. Take the case of our most junior member – in theory, if we give Johnny another year of experience, he still sits within the footprints of all three of his other team members. The team’s range of experience is really based on it’s most senior member (Stacy).
It’s not like there is some kind of historical significance, as if getting to some magic number of combined experience qualifies the team for an historical marker. If they make it to 100 years of combined experience, they can’t proclaim “experience since 1917!”.
Talking about a set of numbers that each represents a constant value is just like combining height: Unless you plan to have them stand on each others’ shoulders, or make them lay on the ground end-to-end, the “combined height” would be completely pointless. The statement, “we have 22 feet of consultants visiting us today…” just doesn’t make any sense. Nor would it make sense to say, “it took 600 pounds of consultants to fix this problem”.
Instead, if we understand that we have a set of 4 people, and each scalar in the set represents ONE of the four people, we can come up with some meaningful metrics by comparing rather than combining:
Likewise, if we’re talking about numbers that reflect a rate, such as salary or billable rate, it might make sense to say, we had four consultants come in for a meeting. Their combined billable rate was $800/hr, and the meeting lasted two hours, so the cost of the meeting was $1,600.
When you use math to compare or combine a set of numbers, ultimately, you have to maintain perspective about what those numbers really mean.
If you combine numbers in ways that don’t make sense, you might create a meaningless metric.
More to come, later. I just posted this video showing a time-lapse execution of a simple algorithm to use the digits of Pi as a source of drawing instructions.
Here is the YouTube video:
Here is a link to the PDF explaining the details of MazeBot:
Solving Irregularly-Shaped Mazes Using Cellular Automata and State Machine Logic
Here is a link to the Google Play Store, where you can download MazeBot to your Android Phone:
MazeBot on Google Play
I was recently asked these questions:
Read on, for an explanation.
Here is a list of prepared foods that exist in every culture.
Some form of baked grain food product exists all over the world. In Europe, America, and northern Asia we have the traditional bread loaf. All countries have some form of leavened or unleavened, baked grain product, similar to a tortilla.
Harvesting and using grain is a more sophisticated process than simply picking fruits and vegetables, since grains must be prepared, usually by drying and then grinding them.
Simple bread-like products, such as tortillas and crackers, can be created using only grain and water, but more sophisticated products use yeast, animal fat, eggs, and and chemical ingredients such as baking powder to change the texture or flavor.
Mankind’s transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers was necessary in order to develop leavened bread, as it would be difficult to drag around the equipment, nor would it be feasible to spend the necessary time baking, if one is constantly on the move. Unleavened products, such as tortillas, can be made on-the-fly, and cooked quickly over a camp fire.
Once we have bread, it’s a simple matter to either slice it, or create a bread pocket, and stuff it with meats, cheeses, and vegetables.
Sandwiches are very portable, and can be eaten with one hand, making them extremely convenient.
The taco and gyro are more exotic examples of a sandwich.
A step up from the sandwich, a dumpling is a filling (such as meat, cheese, or vegetables) wrapped in dough, and then either boiled or fried.
Examples include wantans, egg rolls, flautas, empenadas, gyoza, and others.
Wine may have pre-dated leavened bread – no one is really sure. Once mankind figured out how to use yeast to make bread rise, we certainly, quickly found other uses for it.
Wines are made from fruit, while beer is made from grain. In each case, the raw materials are smashed up and mixed with water, in to a “mash”, that may or may not be cooked. Yeast eats the sugar, and slowly releases alcohol and carbon dioxide gas.
Every culture has at least one kind of wine, beer, sake, or mead.
The other thing we can do with bacteria is to ferment animal milk (or soybean) curd, to create cheese.
Every culture has some form of cheese, tofu, or both.
Thanks to Steve Harvey…
Somewhere in an alternate universe…
There is now an alternate MISS universe…
The quote goes something like this:
Pi is an infinite, non-repeating decimal – meaning that every possible number combination exists somewhere in pi. Converted in to ASCII text, somewhere in that infinite string of digits is the name of every person you will ever love , the date, time, and manner of your death, and the answers to all the great questions of the universe.
Converted in to a bitmap, somewhere in that infinite string of digits is a pixel-perfect representation of the first thing you saw on this earth, the last thing you will see before your life leaves you, and all the moments, momentous and mundane, that will occur between these two points.
All information that has ever existed or will ever exist, the DNA of every being in the universe.
Everything: all contained in the ratio of a circumference and a diameter.
This is poetic, but false.
Read on, for my analysis…
Science generally agrees that “mankind”, homo sapiens, is about 200,000 years old.
During that span of time, technology has advanced at an ever-increasing rate, but there have been only a small handful of innovations – fundamental changes – that altered mankind’s ability to express itself technologically.