Podcasts

I like to listen to podcasts. Music doesn't interest me - I'm tone deaf. Podcasts are like talk radio except I can choose my area of interest and choose hosts who aren't idiots. That's not generally an option on broadcast radio. I listen while I do housework, yardwork, work in the shop or drive. It's great just about anytime when I'm alone, don't need to concentrate too hard on my work and in the mood to learn.

I don't always listen though, often I give my full attention to my work or I prefer natural sounds.

This has changed the way I consume news. I still get most of my news in written form from the Internet, but I don't pick up as much from radio (and I don't watch TV at all). That gives me a less frenetic response to current events. I know enough about the world that I don't need fresh details every hour. I need more quality analysis and less distraction.

This American Life
I’ve been listening to This American Life on public radio since it started back in 1995. It is a mix of fiction and non-fiction always told as a story. “I laughed. I cried.“ I had a cliché moment. I don’t think there’s anything out there like it or better than it.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
When this comes up on my mp3 player, I know I'm going to enjoy the next hour. Dr. Steven Novella and his "Rogues" discuss the latest science and the state of rational thinking. More than a little irreverent, but they take reality seriously. One of my favorite podcasts.

Bill Moyers Journal
A very smart, very experienced journalist who interviews experts in detail. I often learn that what I thought I knew about an issue was wrong and/or oversimplified. I understand the world better because I listen to this. Some topics don’t interest me as much, but the intelligence makes it worthwhile to listen to anyway.

The History of Rome
A straightforward telling of what happened and when in the the Roman Empire. Made interesting by describing competing interpretations of personalities and motivations and by placing events within the sweep of history. I often listen to each podcast twice because I am unfamiliar with the names and the time line. I visualize the podcaster, Mike Duncan, with a bit of a smirk on his face as he tells his stories.

The Classic Tales Podcast
Classic short stories read by B.J. Harrison. Many stories and authors I’ve wanted to read, but never got around to.

To the Best of our Knowledge
A calm-and-rational detailed look at a topic twice per week. I've been listening to it on public radio for years.

Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena
I enjoy hearing from Brian Dunning as he blows another bit of pseudoscience out of the water. Unfortunately, in trying to make his points, he sometimes uses logical fallacies himself. Especially creating a straw-man arguments implying that a few points represent an entire concept. Many skeptics don't want to be called debunkers. Skeptoid attacks bunk every week.

Media Matters with Bob McChesney
This comes out of my hometown public radio station - WILL AM. Bob McChesney has high-powered, knowledgeable guests on every week to talk the world with special emphasis on the media. Recent guests include Naomi Klien, Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky. Similar to Bill Moyers Journal in that I learn that what passes for news and discussion is really just a mask covering the real issues.

Slate’s Political Gabfest
Three smart, knowledgeable and opinionated people talk about the week’s national politics. Very “inside the beltway.”

Blast the Right
A look at the talking points of the political right, addressed from the political left. Presented as arguments to use when you meet your favorite “right-winger” at the water cooler. Host Jack Clark has a confrontational style, but the facts are good and the style is exciting.

Radio Lab
A highly produced science program asking irreverent but relevant questions about science and our relationship to science.

Point of Inquiry
Calm and incisive interview show put on by the Center for Inquiry “focusing on CFI’s issues: religion, human values and the borderlands of science“.

Science Talk by Scientific American
Calm and incisive interview show put on by Scientific American. Science and technology are always interesting.

Selected Shorts
Short stories presented live at “Symphony Space” in NYC. Mostly modern fiction. Some stories can be challenging and sometimes I’m not in the mood for the story presented, but there are plenty of good ones to make it worth listening to.

Grammar Girl: quick and dirty tips for better writing
Grammar should be fun. Short interesting discussions about grammar and usage.

Stuff You Missed in History Class Podcast
I finally came up with the word to describe the hosts: glib. This show brings out the curmudgeon in me. None the less, I enjoy it and learn from it.

Live Blogging - Iran

I've been following Nico Pitney's "live blogging" of events in Iran for over a week. It has been an exciting and frightening experience. My admiration for Nico Pitney's work goes out to him. My admiration even more goes out to the Iranian people fighting for democracy. Their best and most effective efforts seem to be in non-violent struggle.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

It's worth pointing out that "live blogging" does not rise to the level of journalism by itself, but it is a valuable way of communicating what "seems" to be happening with a wonderful sense of being in the moment.

Health Care Reform # 4

The President has a lot on his plate right now. I’d rather he take health care reform off the table and deal with it right in two years.

I’ve been reading about health care systems around the world and I’ve been reading about proposals being made to change health care in the USA. In my opinion, NONE of the proposals being advanced by those in power are worth fighting for. Here’s what I believe we need:

• Single payer or even a public option is not necessarily required. But for health care to work without it, insurance companies must become public utilities, simple administrators of a plan set by law. That appears to be the format in other countries which do not have single-payer plans.
  

• Primary care must be the emphasis. Most health care is simple and people can take care of it themselves. Most of what remains can be handled by a family practitioner. Expensive specialist treatment should be the exception not the rule. Reimbursement rates should match usefulness. That means more time communicating with patients and fewer expensive tests and high-tech images.
  

• Evidence based standards for health care should be established and practice guidelines recommended. There is no reason why 10% of pregnant women get cesarean sections in one town, but 45% get them in another. This would also set standards for testing. That eliminates unnecessary testing and testing performed merely to prevent lawsuits. Similarly if a doctor follows established guidelines, they should be protected from lawsuits.

• I’m willing to make medical school free so that doctors don’t have to start out with huge debits. Of course, I think that should be true for all higher education, but I’ll start with those who serve our health.

• Mental health, dental health, optical care, substance abuse treatment, and prescriptions should all be included in the plan.

• Fraud should be investigated aggressively and punished harshly. Stealing from the public damages the public trust out of proportion to the dollars stolen.

I don’t want to sound like a revolutionary who wants things to get worse instead of a little bit better. But all the “serious” proposals being advanced support entrenched “traditional” interests which sap the current system and do not allow for real progress. I guess I am a revolutionary. I want CHANGE. Can we have it? YES WE CAN!

Health Care Reform # 3

I got an email from My.BarackObama.com asking me to "join up with local supporters, get the facts, make a plan for building support in your neighborhood, and start putting that plan into action." I attended that meeting this evening.

Of the 20 people there, almost all specifically advocated for a single payer health care plan. There was recognition that the perfect can be the enemy of the good, but there was also fear that the plans currently being discussed would effectively be a sell out. They would be so far less than perfect that they won't really solve the problem.

There was much to discuss, but it was hard to move forward without answering the first question. Is it worth working for anything less than a single payer plan?

Although we didn't resolve that, the next step seems to be some sort of a Health Care Day of Service on June 27th.

Change

I found this quote from President Obama in Thomas Friedman's 6/3/09 opinion piece in the NYT.

"We have a joke around the White House," the president said. "We’re just going to keep on telling the truth until it stops working."

Though I often disagree with the President, this is the kind of things that gives me hope.

Health Care Reform - # 2 Letters to my representatives

While each letter below says basically the same thing, I think of what I know about the person while I write and edit. They each come out a little different. Probably says more about my assumptions than anything else.

Senator Durbin,

A single-payer health care system is the solution. The math for real solutions only works for a single-payer plan. The people have made it clear in poll results that they want a single-payer. Any other solution just pushes the problem down the road.

Right now, opposition to the insurance industry may seem to be a politically expensive choice, but I believe that opposing a single-payer plan will cost more. We are capable of rising above deceptive advertising and scare tactics. In the modern media environment - deception will be uncovered and the facts will speak (not always, but enough to make a difference).

If you and the Democratic party take the lead, there will be a tidal wave of support as people stop having to worry about health care costs. In fact, if we get this done, I can’t imagine the Republican party coming back for 20 years.

There are millions of us out here ready to fight the good fight for a single payer plan. I hope I can be part of your legacy of solving the health care crisis.

Senator Burris,

I hope you are able to rise above the controversy surrounding your position and are able to work for the people of Illinois.

I want you to know that a single-payer health care system is the solution to the health care crisis. The math for real solutions only works for a single-payer plan. The people have made it clear in poll results that they want a single-payer. Any other solution just pushes the problem down the road.

The insurance companies do not own you or congress. We are capable of rising above deceptive advertising and scare tactics.

If you and the Democratic party take the lead, there will be a tidal wave of support as people stop having to worry about health care costs. In fact, if we get this done, I can’t imagine the Republican party coming back for 20 years.

There are millions of us out here ready to fight the good fight for a single payer plan. I hope I can be part of your legacy of solving the health care crisis.

Representative Johnson

I believe that a single-payer health care system is the solution our country needs now. The math for actually solving the problems only work for a single-payer plan. The people have made it clear in poll results that they want a single-payer. Other proposals just push the problem down the road.

A single-payer health care system is good for business, good for entrepreneurs, good for America. There will be strong opposition from insurance company lobbyists, but we are capable of rising above deceptive advertising and scare tactics. In the modern media environment - deception will be uncovered and the facts will speak (not always, but enough to make a difference).

If Americans put the troubles of this crisis behind them and the perception is that the Democrats made this happen and Republicans stood in the way, I don’t think it will be fun to be a Republican for a long time.

There are millions of us out here ready to fight the good fight for a single payer plan. I hope I can be part of your legacy of solving the health care crisis.

Each letter above submitted to the representative's website. I do put "cc blog" at the bottom of each to indicate that I consider them to be open letters.

Health Care Reform - Letter to the President

Mr. President,

I missed the health care reform conference call last week due to a meeting.

I want you to know that there are millions of us out here ready to fight the good fight for you like we did in the campaign. If you really want me on your side giving it my best, you need to push for a single payer plan.

The people have made it clear in poll results that they want a single payer plan. The math for real solutions only works for a single payer plan. Any other solution will just push the problem down the road.

I think you can call on the people to go over the the heads of the insurance lobbyists and make this happen. I'd love to be a part of your legacy of solving the health care crisis in the USA.

Thank you.

IceBike Shoes

I used to bicycle a lot; hence my web handle "SchreiberBike". Riding year-round in Illinois means learning how to ride in cold weather. I put this information up in a web site back in 2001. It was hosted on Tripod.com and they took it down without notice because of an error I made. Although I had some good feedback, I didn't put it back up.

Here's the information from 2001, with a few edits, pulled from the Internet Archive's WaybackMachine. I recovered most of the pictures from my PC.

Shoes for Cold Weather Cycling

How I Keep my Big Feet Warm

For me, keeping my feet warm has always been the hardest part of winter cycling. I've just made up a pair of shoes that have finally solved the problem for me. I've tried many suggestions from other ice bikers, but I haven't been able to do the most effective one: wearing extra layers of socks inside extra large loose fitting shoes.

When you normally wear size 13 shoes (48 Euro) it's hard to find cycling shoes that are large enough to allow for wearing extra layers of socks without constricting your feet. There are a couple brands available in up to size 50, but at prices over $150.00 US I couldn't justify them. (Doing things inexpensively is critical.) I settled on finding shoes and modifying them to use SPD cleats.

Shoes
A logical spot for big shoes is the nearby University of Illinois football program. Almost all of the football players are big guys so I thought they might have some old shoes they could spare. I found that they were going to donate last year's shoes to Goodwill soon. I haunted Goodwill and was rewarded with a pair of size-15 high-top turf shoes for $8.00. The turf shoes have a rubber sole with dozens of quarter-inch nubs rather than metal cleats.

Cleats
At this point I had two options for the shoes: clipless pedals or PowerGrips. I had done my winter riding with PowerGrips for years, but my rat trap pedals were shot and I'd have to get the extra-large size which were about $30.00 US; so I decided to go with off-brand SPD compatible pedals from Nashbar. The good news was that they were on sale for about $20.00. If price was no object I would have liked the SpeedPlay Frogs, but the cost was too high.

Cleat location
I eyeballed the shoes next to my present shoes and used a marker to show where I thought the cleat should go on the new shoes. The standard mounting for SPDs have about 3/4 inch of front to back adjustment and 1/4 inch of side to side. I was glad I had that much adjustment available, because I found it difficult to estimate where the ball of my foot would fall in the over-size shoe and how much clearance I would need for the crank arm.

I didn't want to attach the SPD cleat directly to the shoe because the localized stress would likely destroy the sole of the shoe, and because I wanted to distribute the pressure of the cleat over more of my foot (diagram below). I visualized a metal plate that would be as large as possible, but no heavier than necessary, and not so large as to disturb the natural shape of the sole. The bottom of the shoe is not flat. I drew a shape on the sole of the shoe about three and three quarter inches by two inches and cut the nubs off of that area with a utility knife.

Hardware
The next step was to make up a metal plate. An engineer could tell me more about the appropriate material to transfer the forces, but what I did was go to the hardware store and hold samples of metal in my hand until I found one that felt right. It was also terribly cheap. I used a steel cover plate for an electrical box. I bought two, but was able to make do with one. Cost 44 cents. Tracing the space on the shoe onto cardboard, I copied the shape onto the metal, cut it with a jigsaw, and shaped it with a file. The fore and aft position of the cleat is adjustable along 1/4 by 3/4-inch slots. I cut the slots in the metal by drilling holes then filing along the lines where the cleat would go.

To attach the metal plate to the shoes I drilled holes in the shoes that matched the holes on the mounting plates. I then used 1/4-inch machine screws screwed into "T" nuts, which are inside the shoe beneath the insole. "T" nuts come with a variety of shank lengths. So long as the length of the shank is less than the thickness of sole of the shoe when the screw compresses it, the shank should be as long as possible. This gives more flexibility in the length of the screws. The 1/4 inch size I used is probably overkill. If I did it again I'd use the next size down and I'd also use a screw with a less prominent head.

The length of the screws is difficult to estimate. I bought mine longer than necessary then ground them down to the correct length. To find the correct length I attached the plate to the shoe with the over long screws then measured the excess by placing Allen wrenches of various sizes next to the portion of the screw sticking out inside the shoe. This told me how many mm needed to be ground off.

The metal plate is flat and the sole of the shoe is slightly curved. Something is needed to compensate for the difference in their shapes. First I tried using household caulk, but that broke down almost immediately. I was ultimately successful with double stick foam tape. The tape compensated for the slight rocker in the sole of the shoe and after some riding, I used some more tape on the outboard side of the plate to level the shoe on the pedal.



Insole
The bottom of the inside of the shoe is not too smoothly shaped after all this. I upgraded the insole by adding two layers of polypro and some reflective Mylar. This is less than perfect, but it has been adequate for rides up to four hours. I'm still trying to come up with an improvement for this. I've also been putting a small scrap of wadded up nylon sock in the toe of the shoe to fill in the extra space there.

Finishing touches
After riding a bit with an Allen wrench and a screwdriver, I was able to get the cleats adjusted just right. I applied copious amounts of reflective tape. The tape I used is DOT C2, the kind used on tractor-trailer bodies in the US. I followed the pattern of the leather on the shoe and it has been quite durable. Almost as important it covers some of the corporate logos.

Results
The shoes are very comfortable with two pairs of thick wool socks. There is room for chemical toe warmers, but I haven't had the need as we've hardly gotten below zero F here this year.

We haven't had much extreme cold here this winter, so I haven't put them to a real test, but they are a great improvement. Rides over a couple hours at 40 F used to leave me with numb toes. With these shoes I've had a couple of rides longer than that in the single digits Fahrenheit without any problem.

I ride primarily on road, but have also done some riding in the woods with these shoes. The shoes have had good traction in the snow. Despite the experience of many IceBikers, I haven't had any trouble with the SPD pedals icing up. In the worst conditions off-road a spinning kick to the pedal cleared up any clogging.

Amazingly, despite much riding on salted roads, the plate and the screw have shown no corrosion. I think the electrical cover plate that I used may be galvanized, but the edges aren't showing any corrosion either. There has been a bit of rust on the SPD cleat, but nothing serious.

The cleat does stick out on the bottom of the shoe, but the shoe is very walkable. It would only be a problem if I were somewhere where I was concerned about scratching the floor.

10:10 almost exactly

Watches in advertisements are usually shown with the minute and hour hands in roughly the 10:10 position. For the watch model below, I wanted to know exactly what time it was when the hands are in opposing positions.

I can't get an exact time because the answer appears to be an irrational number. Based on the results of the spreadsheet summarized below, the time is approximately 10:09:13.8461472.


time decimal 0.423076923 days

--------------------Hour--------Minute-----Second
--------------------hand---------hand-------hand

Units Indicated--10.15384615---9.23076912 13.8461472
Angle-----------304.6153846°--55.38461472°
Angle from vert.-55.38461544°-55.38461472°
Difference--------0.00000072°

Modeling and Rendering

Perhaps the best, certainly the most detailed SketchUp (SU) model I ever made is of my wrist-watch. In the past I’ve bought decent low priced ($30-$40) wrist watches and they last two or three years before completely failing. Three years ago I bought a titanium Seiko SNA139. Though the watch retailed at the time for about $350, I got a used one on ebay for about 1/4th of that. It still looks almost new. If it lasts another six years the purchase is justified financially. Either way I like it and I (mostly) don’t feel like spending that much on a luxury was wrong.

To the point, one day when I was home sick from work, I started a SketchUp (SU) model of the watch. I used a magnifying glass, calipers which measure to about two-thousands of an inch, and to read the smallest letters (just over 1/100th of an inch) on the inner edge of the dial, the eyes of a five-year-old. All together I put (wasted) about 12 hours creating the model. To the best of my knowledge, I captured every detail of the real watch. The SU model if this Seiko SNA139 is available in the 3d warehouse.

Blogger

Lots of people use Blogger and it's part of Google, so I figure that it must be a pretty good tool.

I'm having tons of trouble with it and I'm not finding tricks to make it work the way I want it to. Perhaps I have unrealistic expectations or perhaps these things are harder to do.

• I'd like to be able to control where pictures appear in text.
• I'd like to be able to post pictures with captions.
• I'd prefer if the HTML didn't have a ton of unrelated garbage in it so that I can keep things straight when I try to edit the HTML.
• I wish the HTML and Compose windows were large enough to see what I'm working on in context.
  
• I'd love it if the "preview" actually looked something like the final.
• I'd love it if the "edit posts" page showed the same posts as the blog itself.
• I'd love it if posts never mysteriously combined with each other.
• I'd like it if I could make some additional edits to the blogs appearance.
  
• It would be great if I could find more resources on-line about how to work more effectively with Blogger (seems amazing that I haven't found them so far).

Some of these things are bugs, some are unrealistic expectations, some are probably possible, but I don't know the way to do them. I don't want to have to learn detailed HTML in order to write a visually coherent post.

I felt like I did better in StumbleUpon when I blogged there.

The Box

Originally posted 5/19/09
Jean Piaget described stages of development based on the idea that humans understand in different ways at different ages. Although Piaget over-simplified, I think the idea is sound. It is impossible for a child to think like an adult. The solutions available to an adult are not available to a child.

What is impossible for an adult to think of? What levels of reasoning or abstraction are humans unable to accomplish.

Can we create computers which can go beyond us? Computers can already duplicate known theories based on data. I suspect that computers will soon be able to create theories which are beyond our ability to think of.

That would truly be thinking outside of the box.

Life in Earth Orbit

Originally posted 5/19/09
I predict that in the next ten years, much of the space around Earth will be inaccessible to us. With more and more debris in space, the risk of impacts due to space debris increases geometrically. There will be a cascade of collisions which will make low Earth orbit too dangerous to put expensive satellites (or people) into. It will remain inaccessible for hundreds of years or until it is cleaned up.

Today, depending on your definition, there are as few as ten-thousand or as many as one-million things in orbit around the Earth.

In low Earth orbit (LEO) everything must traveling at least 14,000 miles per hour. Impacts can happen at relative speeds of up to 35,000 mph. Visualize two cars hitting each other at a closing speed of 35,000 mph; pieces will fly off in all directions. Most of the new objects created from the collision will not be in sustainable orbits but enough of it will hang around to be a hazard to other objects in space.

If there are 10,000 objects in space, and two of them collide at high speed, there might immediately be 10,500 objects in space. That increases the chance of additional collisions and the number of objects will continue to increase.

This won't be a problem in all orbits. Because of atmospheric drag, nothing lasts for long in very low Earth orbit; so there won't be too much debris there. Of course because of the atmospheric drag it's difficult to keep a useful satellite there for long. Distant orbits and specifically geosynchronous orbits may be available too. There is a whole lot of extra room out that way and objects are generally traveling in similar directions making them less likely to collide.

Space is a tough place to get anything done. We need to do what we can to keep it from getting more difficult. Solutions are hugely expensive, but we need to study them. If cost benefit analysis is being done to examine this issue, I haven't heard it discussed.

Google Androids Dreaming of Electric Sheep

Originally posted 4/14/09
I don’t usually think much about pop culture, especially things like viral videos sponsored by big corporations. BUT, I couldn’t help but admire the popular video of “Extreme Shepherding” by the "Baaa-Studs." Available here on YouTube.

My first question was how much of it was done with real sheep and how much with computers. The best non-answer I found comes from the 2009/03/24 NYT Technology Blog. They quoted from the agency which produced the video; "the team used some digital trickery to heighten the visual effects." That leaves a lot of wiggle room. I don't doubt that some impressive shepherding was involved, but I'm sure it's mostly CGI.

The agency which produced the video was The Viral Factory at the request of Samsung as a way of bringing attention to their LED based televisions (must have worked). So, it didn't really have anything to do with some Welshmen with too much time on their hands and a strange love of sheep and LEDs. It was a big time corporate advertising campaign which got all of the attention. In searching around, I see that very few people realize this. That's significant, but it's not the reason I wanted to write a blog posting.

What interested me was that when I first saw the video, I thought of the science fiction title "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". Then I saw that Samsung was involved and I remembered that Samsung was releasing a new phone to go with Google's Android software.

So, it IS:

Sheep > LEDs > Samsung TVs.

Is it ALSO:

Electric Sheep > Androids > Google Android > Samsung Cell Phones?

I often think I'm clever. It's good to be able to put together wide ranging ideas, but sometimes what I'm thinking has no relationship with reality, and that's not so clever.

Torture

We shouldn’t torture because:

• It’s immoral and illegal.
  

• It doesn’t matter if it is effective, but if it is to be justified because of effectiveness, it must be compared with traditional interrogation techniques, not against no interrogation at all.
  

• It sets a moral standard for the rest of the world to follow - at very least, this means our citizens are more likely to be tortured.

I wrote to the President: (Sometimes I just gotta do it.)

Mr. President,

We should prosecute and acknowledge the crime of torture because:

• Lack of acknowledgment that it was a crime increases the likelihood that torture will be justified in the future.
• Next time we are attacked, those who stopped torture will be blamed for not preventing the attack.

While it is not a convenient time politically to bring up this issue, that is not the standard we have for following the Constitution.

Thank you,

By our Pupils We'll Be Taught

This restates and expands on the entry A New Idea for Education posted 3/5/09.

---

Does it really make sense to learn things, when you aren’t going to use them again after the test? Students know it’s going to happen, but I’m realizing that teachers do it too. When teachers teach, they learn about their students. They learn how their students learn best. They become more effective teachers. But after the final exam, what they learn is mostly thrown away.

In any student / teacher relationship, communication goes both ways.. Good teachers monitor non-verbal communication, class participation, test performance, one-on-one interactions and a myriad of other sources of information. They gradually develop a profile of each student which helps them to reach into the student’s mind to make a connection. I haven’t taught semester long classes, but even in shorter term training, as I learn about my students, I become a more effective communicator and have more success.

Most students, especially in academic disciplines, are pretty well adapted to educational culture. The teacher’s default approach will probably work pretty well with them. It’s the other students who need a different approach: the students who learn kinesthetically rather than through books and lectures; those who need a detailed explanation and are not willing to accept new information “just because”; the student who can develop a relationship with the material, but can’t maintain a relationship with classmates. There are as many combinations of learning characteristics as there are students.

What if placement tests, learning style surveys, high school information, and the students own suggestions could be used to develop a profile of learning characteristics for each student? What if instructors could verify and add to that information? With that profile, the students can learn about their own educational strengths and weaknesses. Teachers, tutors and counselors will have insight into how to be most effective with that student. Each semester will start out on a roll instead of having to get going again from a dead stop. While information about a student’s strengths and weaknesses can be helpful, it cannot be a strict prescription. Material cannot always be adapted to a student’s strengths and weaknesses. In a lecture hall, there is not as much room for customization as in smaller classes and tutoring.

Practically, I envision that when a teacher receives a class roster, the roster would include some summary information about the class and how that class compares with others in the college and department. That could help the teacher decide which instructional methods to use. There would also be a few key words on the learning characteristics of each student. After the first day of class, an instructor might check to see which students stuck out in class and what special needs there may be. For students who need more than a line to describe their learning style, there would be a reference to where to find those notes.

This information could also be mined to increase effectiveness college wide. For example, we could measure changes in students’ learning strengths over time and students could how see those changes impact them. There may be relationships between learning characteristics and career choice. Even student or teacher demographics may have a significant impact.

There are potential problems with this approach. No one wants additional testing. No one wants additional work for instructors. There could be a privacy concern in developing a “profile.” And of course, this idea may not work at all.

This idea occurred to me when reading about how businesses study their customers individually and as groups. I thought about the difference between business and education in how we “maximize” our relationships. That thought process grew into the ideas above. I am new to higher education, working on institutional research in a community college. I have described this in that context, but I can see applications in other environments too. I think this is an idea worth exploring.

SketchUp to Reality - bedside table

I use Google SketchUp (SU) to do a lot of doodling and planning. Sometimes I actually produce something which I have modeled. This is a nightstand I made for my daughter.


Besides basic assumptions for a bed side table, the design criteria were:

1. It had to fit stylistically with her present furniture and be neutral enough to fit with future furniture.

2. It needed to incorporate some bins.

3. It had to minimally block the vent which it will be on top of.

4. It had to be quick & easy to build.


After Googling around looking at bedside tables, I drew first on paper just to think about the design, then started in SU. I modeled the height of her bed and the window behind it to help get the size and proportions right. We purchased bins and I modeled those.

I used pocket screw joinery to assemble it. I bought a "Kreg Jig" system earlier this year and I have found it to be extremely useful. It is a quick and strong way of assembling things. It's not "fine woodworking," but not everything needs to be.

In addition to the model of the nightstand in place, I copied the components onto imaginary boards to optimize lumber usage. One of the "scenes" in the model shows the diagram below. I had planned on gluing up lumber to get 12" wide panels, but when I went to purchase the wood, lumber which would dress to 11 1/4" was available. I quickly updated the model and was good to go. The pine lumber was nominal 3/4" thick.

I used hand planes to prepare the wood, a guide and a circular saw for the crosscuts, and handsaws for the rips and curves. My router broke just before I started this project, so I was not able to use a router bit to round the edges. I did that with a block plane and sandpaper which resulted in a nice handmade look.

I sanded and scraped the pine and on first assembly, found that the wood was substantially less than 3/4" Using 1 1/4" Kreg screws for that size resulted in some of the screw points coming through the sides of the boards. I disassembled it, moved the boards slightly and replaced the screws with smaller ones.

I do not find finishing intuitive, but I am pleased with how this turned out. After I assembled the piece the first time, I disassembled it and finished it flat. Finishing individual pieces is much easier than working with completed furniture. The downside is that all the glue surfaces are covered with finish. If I were doing it again, I would mask the glue surfaces. Between the lack of glue and the smaller screws, I have some concern about structural integrity, but it feels solid enough.

I wanted to learn about shellac because I had never used it before. Shellac’s great fault is that it is soluble in alcohol, so you wouldn't want to use it anyplace where an alcoholic drink might be placed on it.

I used Zinsser Bulls Eye shellac. The shellac as it comes out of the can is very thick. Finishers refer to that thickness as a three-pound cut. A three-pound cut means - if the shellac had been made from flakes, as it used to be, it would have used three pounds of flakes mixed in one gallon of denatured alcohol. For the first coat, I added two units of hardware store denatured alcohol, making it a one-pound cut. Subsequent coats were a two-pound cut. I sanded with 400 grit to smooth the surface between coats. I also applied a gel stain between the 2nd and third layers.

After the four layers of shellac, I applied Trewax, Mahogany wax with 000 steel wool, then buffed it. Unfortunately, where I had put the wax on in a swirling pattern, there was a slight stain on the shellac. Repeating the waxing as below, eliminated almost all of the stains.

Next time, I will not leave as much wax on the surface while it is drying. It should be just enough to create a haze with no ridges. I would also apply the wax with the grain. The final finish has substantial depth.

The customer is happy and I'm pleased to be able to show it to friends. The model is available in the 3d warehouse here.

Anti-Missile Fantasies

Space fascinates me. I follow what's happening there. I just saw this story in Wired's Danger Room.

There was much debate about the effectiveness of anti-missile systems, but no debate about the plausibility and significance of somebody launching an ICBM toward the USA. I had to comment:

If somebody has an operational nuke, and wants to use it, an ICBM is the dumbest way to go. An ICBM leaves a trail showing right where it came from.

Any "evil doers" will hide their nuke in a freighter and drive it up the Hudson River or into San Francisco Bay. If they really want an air burst, it's much easier to launch from 100 miles offshore than from the other side of the world.

I can’t imagine any scenario where our best efforts should be spent trying to stop a missile flying toward us. There must be hundreds of more efficient ways to make the world safer.

Thanks,

Sometimes I just can't help myself.

Moderates vs. Extremists

I listened to a podcast of This American Life earlier today. Act Two, Does This Suit Make Me Look Terrorist To You? of the 2009/03/13 show had one point which I thought spoke very clearly.

The world is at war right now, but it’s not a war of Christian vs. Muslim. It’s a war of moderates vs. extremists, and the two groups are battling it out in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. But they’re also battling here in America.

Extremists have advantages: It's easier to explain the world in stark terms of right and wrong. Extremists can force moderates to acknowledge them through violence.

But, history is on the side of moderates. I see gradual unsteady movement toward an acknowledgment of subtly. As the world has become more complex, it has required increasingly complex thinking. The skills that are necessary to succeed in this world also enable people to see the whole world in more complexity. Hence increased moderation.

A New Idea for Education

I’ve got an idea. Not sure if it is a new one, but I came up with it while reading the introduction to Data Driven by Thomas C. Redman. The importance of businesses really knowing who their customers were on an individual basis was mentioned and I thought about how I could apply that idea. I work in the institutional research office of a community college. I have done formal teaching/training, but I have not taught semester long courses. This idea comes primarily from my personal experience in education. It is not based on any empirical research, but does relate to my understanding of some educational theory.

I know that when I teach, I became more effective over the length of the course because of what I learn about the students’ strengths and weaknesses. I believe and have confirmed anecdotally that at the end of a tutoring relationship, course, semester or year, teachers know more about their students and are more effective.

At the end of the term that knowledge is lost. There is no way for a future teacher to benefit from the information gained. The knowledge of the students’ strengths and weaknesses has not been added to or refined. The students also may not have learned more about their learning strengths and weaknesses in ways that they can apply to future education.

Instead there could be a system which could collect knowledge about the students’ learning styles and make it available to the student and future teachers. This would help the teacher better plan their educational approach and it would help the student plan their learning approach. Right now, teachers can access student present and past transcripts. This gives them a broad stoke of information about the student’s past, but more specific information may help them teach better.

Initial sources of information might include:

· Placement test results – perhaps broken down beyond a single score to show what areas of the test were successful and which were not.

· Learning style inventories.

· Student’s self report of strengths and weaknesses.

Then as education continues:

· Past teacher’s impressions and reflections on the standardized information above.

· Results of various types of assignments in past classes.

· Reports from tutors or support teachers.

· Additional standardized inventories.

I’m not sure exactly what kind of information would be useful at this point. One traditional kind of information is so-called “learning styles”; that is whether a person is better at absorbing information through auditory, visual, kinesthetic or reading channels. I’m not sure how valid learning styles are, or if they are applied properly, but it is one possible dimension of a learning profile. Other possible dimensions may answer the question, Does the student learn better:

· in a classroom or on-line?

· with a passive or an active teacher?

· under time pressure or without?

· in groups or individually?

· in large or small classes?

· It might also tell if a student best shares their knowledge (testing) by writing essays, speaking, answering open ended or multiple choice questions, under time pressure or without.

I’m sure there are many other dimensions; those are just a few to throw out.

This knowledge does not mean that all of a student’s differences must be accommodated, but it does give more information which can make teaching and learning more effective. Strengthening weaknesses may be just as important as taking advantages of strengths. Such knowledge may also help in career placement.

The information gained would be available to students and hopefully to teachers. Perhaps when a course roster is received, it would also include information about the class as a whole and/or about individual students. Training for staff would be required so they would know how to be most effective with various students. There is a privacy concern which should be addressed.

I’ll think about this some more and perhaps it might be a good enough idea to pursue. For now, it’s out here and maybe it will help someone.

An Invitation to Join the Natural System

Originally posted 2008/06/29 in my old blog

Last summer I was visiting family in West Virginia and we had been canoeing. While waiting for others to catch up, I was lying on my back watching the large birds circling in a thermal on the side of a nearby mountain. There were dozens of them about a half mile away and at various altitudes, probably 400 - 800 feet. It appeared that they never moved a feather while circling in place. Beautiful to watch, especially when tired after canoeing.

Gradually, they changed positions. It appeared that they moved out of the thermal and were having to flap their wings occasionally to maintain altitude even as they descended. I wondered if the wind had shifted or if they saw some carrion which had attracted them to the new location. It seemed they were circling almost right over me.

They got lower and lower, and these birds are big. I could see them quite clearly when they were over a half mile away, and seeing them closer now, I realized that they had wing spans of three to five feet. Still thinking about why they had changed their orbits, I realized that they were looking down at me and wondering if I were available to eat yet.

After that epiphany, I got up and walked around to show just how alive I was.

The beautiful birds returned to their thermals in the mountains and I felt the closeness we have to nature deeper in my bones than I ever had before.

Long Term Thinking

Originally posted 2008/10/01 at my old blog and before that on StumbleUpon

There was a letter to the editor in our local paper explaining why bicycles were children's toys. It explained further that growth and consumption are the only ways forward. After thinking about it for a long while, the words I wrote were a poem of sorts.



If I had only been alive one day, I would celebrate the rising sun, but I would not know that I should prepare for night.

If I only lived one year, I would gorge at the harvest, but I would not know that winter comes.

If I only knew one life, I would gain in vigor, intelligence and wisdom, but I would not know that these gifts pass.

If I only knew my own country, I would witness its greatness climb until it was alone, but I would not know that every country of the past had gone into decline.

If there were only one planet . . . would I use it until there was no more?

If I believed God loved me, would I believe that for me there could be no fall. History, Death, Winter, Nightfall.



Can we learn that there are limits?

Can we learn to live within limits?

My Original Ideas

Originally posted 2008/07/28 at my old blog.

Original ideas are rare enough. I think of myself as a creative guy and I am reasonably well educated. I’ve had two ideas in my life which while I’m sure they are not unique, I believe they were original.


1. The behavior of Human Beings is best understood by seeing the mind as a Rule Learning Device.

Noam Chomsky, before he was a political figure, was a pioneering scientist in the study of language. My memory of what I learned about him was that he posited that human beings had a Language Acquisition Device which made it possible for us to learn languages. I think that the Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a subset of a Rule Learning Device (RLD) which makes it possible for us to learn. Like the LAD which makes it possible for us to develop languages only within a range of possibilities, our RLD makes it possible for us to learn and think in ways compatible with the device. I first came up with this idea in 1984 or 1985 when I took an introductory class in the speech therapy department at Bradley University.

There’s a start of an idea. Here’s another.


2. Activities of the human mind can be seen as internal behavior and emotions can be seen as internal consequences.

Operant conditioning, as described by Skinner is the basis of human behavior. But he was wrong to see the mind as a black box. I believe that a full theory of psychology and social psychology could flow from that idea. Internal behavior is rewarded and punished by internal emotional responses more than it is by outside forces. The fact that we can not measure these internal factors does not make them less significant than those we can measure. I first came up with this idea while at the University of Illinois in 1990 studying for my Master of Social Work. I think it might be a better theory of human understanding than any other which I know of.


Just thought I’d get these out on the web. You never know when the world may come asking for a good theory.

Thank you,

Credit Card Debit

Originally posted 2008/10/02 at my old site.

Everyone knows that the economy is having some challenges, and I've thought a lot about it and even written a bit, but I haven't had time to make what I think concise and clear. Here's one thing which I don't see being talked about, which I think will have a very major additional negative impact.

I think there will soon be a crisis in credit card debit leading to a crisis in personal bankruptcy. None of the "solutions" being approved by the US congress really solve any problems for consumers. The people who foreclosed on homes tried very hard before they gave up. They are broke. This crisis and the "solutions" are not helping any of those people. Anyone who was close to bankruptcy is now even closer. The only credit left, which anyone has access to, is on their credit card.

Levels of debit are sickeningly high. As we go into recession, people will be unable to make payments for either their credit cards or anything else they owe. Credit card companies are strongly protected by the current bankruptcy law, but when people are squeezed, they have to react somewhere. A lot of people are not going to get money they think is owed to them. A lot of people are not going to be able to buy things soon.


I predict depression.


The economy has been riding on credit for an unsustainable length of time. There is really no money in the bank and we have been shuffling money around trying to fool ourselves otherwise.