Levels of predictability
The recent solar eclipse demonstrates much more than astronomy. (Image: one page of Guy Ottwell’s The Under-Standing of Eclipses, available here)
The Sun, clouds and people
School subjects
The purpose of classes
School is a different environment from the rest of life. This is not always a good thing.
The Crescent Sun
Enjoying a partial eclipse
We didn’t make it to the path of totality last week. But we found that a partial eclipse can be just as enjoyable, for unexpected reasons.
Local color
An exercise with the company title
We present some results from our investigation into color photography.
The photographer, the painter and the scientist
Realism and creativity
Art and science are tied to reality in different ways, as are artists and scientists.
Disaster this time?
Threatening technology
New technology has been forecast to bring social disaster several times in the past. We seem to have avoided it; but that doesn’t mean we always will.
Non-spectacular spectacles
Seeing astronomical events
A total solar eclipse is an amazing spectacle. You might not even notice other astronomical events.
A modern irritation
A grand memory for forgetting
Learning in compartments
There is so much to take in that we divide up our task subject by subject, rarely allowing something we’ve learned in one class (or other environment) to leak over into another. This is not, in general, a good thing.
The story of the bees
Yes, but not in Germany
Scientists try to ask simple questions and to design a controlled experiment, with “all other things being equal.” It’s rarely possible.