OUTRAGE!!

There was a party this evening, held in a stuffy and noisy (nasty acoustics) ballroom. Before long, the anti-party-goer in me was protesting, so - after downing my share of grub - I slipped out, and went to the library instead.

It was straight to the periodicals room. I had been looking for recent issues of Nature for some while to no avail. After one last combing, I asked the student helper at the desk.

Me: Where are the international science journals?
Her: They're right there in that corner under "N".
Me: So how come there are none?
Her: Ahh. Right. They've stopped subscribing to them.
Me: What??!
Her: Well...you see the library decided that there were hardly any people were reading them, so they've cancelled subscriptions for this year.
Me: Cancelled?? THEY CANCELLED??!!
Her: Wait, I think there's still one left, you might want to scour through that row beside the wall...

I could have collapsed on the spot.

It's outrageous! Blasphemy!! What on earth is a university library doing without international science journals?

To clarify things, I went to the main desk where three librarians were having a good laugh. They had no idea the journals were missing, nor could they offer an explanation for the disappearance. They did seem shocked though, and said things like "no way, they can't unsubscribe to this Nat-you-are thing can they?", and "we're never going to get a subscription again if we cancel now!" So that went down the drain. A respectable one with greying hairs asked me amusingly, "you actually read them?"

JUST BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE CAN'T READ THEM DOESN'T MEAN NO ONE CAN OKAY??

Of course I restrained from shouting in public and merely mumbled a yes. Then greying Mr Venerables followed up with a "you're an undergraduate right? What's your subject?"

Argh.

Just get the journals back on rack for crying out loud.

---

Update: The day after that there were three international journals laid out, two of them published locally. On the second day five more were put up, including NG and Fortune but not Nature. I even spotted a few of last year's old journals masquerading as recent issues...how sad is that?

Update: They're all back now. Thank goodness!

The Horrendous Museum Scene

"Like I said, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is for me as the Oxford Museum is for Richard Dawkins… a spiritual home."
- Splendid Elles

This recent essay on creationism invading museums is written by a 15-year old freethinker who volunteers at her local museum. It resonates with my views on creationism, but for now the topic will be museums.

As much as I love them, I've never really considered museums as my spiritual home - a spot always occupied by the great Albion. But then again it has everything to do with the numerous museums and other places of learning he offers.

The good old Hull Maritime Museum for example, holds a very special position in my heart due to all those field trips and birthday parties. I distinctly remember the taxidermied polar bear in its glass case under the window, and the blue room hung with fishing nets and anchors to resemble the oceans deep - not to mention the gigantic whale skeleton sprawlled across the ceiling! It was a world of wonder and terror to a five-year-old.

The public today has every need for museums. Young people need to be enlighted. Older people need to be reminded of the wonders of our world. Last but not least, we need to secure our batch of scientists for a very challenging future!

Every self-respecting region should have a museum, or a science centre at least. It should have the following features:

• Exhibitions
• Interactive elements
• Distribution of educational materials
• Research capacity

I believe that they are of equal importance, and only in unison can they fulfill the role of a well-rounded public learning place. But it seems far from reality...well the reality over here anyway.

On a hike this February, I found out quite a few displeasing facts about the museum scene over here:

Me: You know this lack of museums...I mean, is there even a Museum of SZ?
Eric: Yes there's definitely a Shenzhen Museum. I've been there.
Me: Really? I bet it's boring. SZ hasn't got a long history for one thing.
Eric: It sure is boring. I bet you can't even imagine how boring it is.
Me: That can't be too hard...let's see...it consists entirely of scale models and picture displays?
Eric: Ha. Correction: there's ONE model of a rocket in the atrium, then it's on to THREE WHOLE STOREYS of picture displays!
Me: *chokes*

You actually call that a museum? Pur-leease. Even the teeny tiny Nantou Museum has artifacts and a projector and a mock archaeological dig site. They should really make more of an effort, since SZ is already known as a "Cultural Desert". A bit of poking around, and I found a journal in the library called Science Popularization, which has a section devoted to improving museums. It's not like no one is into the matter!

To think of it, I've been to many, many museums. (That didn't occur to me until now!) From tiny community museums to grand national museums, it's always inspiring to see the treasures of ages. It also awes me to see how people are devoting their lives to fields that may not pay well, nor be of sufficient public interest, but nevertheless enhance our existence as a species - we are, after all, Homo Sapiens, and we thrive to understand and explore.

Basic Procedure For Effective Teaching

This procedure is suitable for all kinds of situations, though I've written it with teaching algorithms in mind. It addresses the needs of both visual spacial learners (by connecting to previous knowledge) and auditorial sequential learners (by repeating). There are three steps to follow, preferably in the prescribed order. I'll explain why later. Here are the steps:

1. What

What's coming up? The teacher gives a outline of what is to come. This can include definitions, an overview, what to expect, or anything relevant.
  i.e. You are going to do the laundry when I'm out.

2. How

How's it done? This is the actual teaching part itself. The material is presented in a way the teacher deems suitable for the learner.
  i.e Separate whites and colours.

3. Why

Why's it done like this? This is a very important step. The aim is to explain the material using concepts already familiar to the learner. It connects the new found knowledge to something already fully grasped, and thus strengthens it.
  i.e. Some colour dyes stain things - like how sweets stain your tongue.

I've noticed that the third step is largely none existent in school education (especially at higher up levels). They leave it to the students to make connections...big mistake. Under all the exam pressure and time pressure and parent pressure, surely priority should go to keeping the stuff inside your head?! I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of such connections made are mnemonic devices. Right after the Big Exam, they're gone with the wind...

Education should not merely be about memorising information!

So now you know the importance of the third step. But why put it last? I reckoned that since the second step is the most crucial part, it would make sense to reinforce it right away. The second step provides the things to connect previous knowledge.

Disclaimer: this method is entirely a creation of my musings, and does not come with a pedigree whatsoever.

How To See A Mirage

What, you've never seen a mirage before? Fear not, they are actually not as incredibly rare as some may think. In fact, you might see one today if you know where to look!

Things You Will Need

• A hot, sunny day
• Protection from the sun
• A loooong stretch of road, preferably over a hill*
• A camera, if you're up to it

*Safety note - If you are on foot or on a bike, please please do not attempt to observe a mirage in traffic. You can get seriously hurt. It's best to choose an unused road, or better still, observe from inside a moving car while someone else is driving.

Steps

• 1. Go to the very end of your chosen area and stand facing it.
• 2. Make sure your observation spot is safe, i.e. devoid of traffic and other hazards.
• 3. Crouch down slowly, keeping your eyes on the stretch of road in front of you. At some point you will start to see wisps of grey stretching out horizontally. If there's a hill, just climb the hill from the other side, watching out for said phenomenon.
• 4. Adjust your height until the wispy lines develop into clear "reflections". They will resemble patches of water on the road.
• 5. Admire your mirage! (And take some snapshots if you have a camera handy.)

What you see is an inferior mirage, because the mirror image is under the original one. It is caused by light being bent by a layer of hotter air near the ground, and is actually due to refraction, not reflection. See the links for more on mirages.

How did I think of this? Well I see them every single day in summer. There's a hilly stretch of road on the way to school, so they dance into view whether I ask nicely or not. Guess it's a comfort of living in the subtropics.

Further Reading:

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage
• An Introduction to Mirages: http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/mirages/mirintro.html

Umbrella Survey

It's been raining ever since we got back from the picnic. Not the heavy kind, more like a fine drizzle that goes on for ever and ever. It can drive one insane.

Anyway fearless people like us are unaffected by a bit of drizzle. We cycle every day to school, rain or none. So one arm has to do the job of holding up the umbrella. The question is, which one?

You'd think that would be easy. The stronger hand steers the bike while the weaker one does the easier job of brolly-holding...therefore most people should hold the umbrella in their left hands, right?

Think again.

According to a brief (and whimsical) survey conducted by me in the rain on Thursday 3rd of April during the lunch rush:

of the 94 people on bicycles holding an umbrella, 43 (45%) did so using their left hands, while 51 (55%) did so using their right hands.

That's almost neck-and-neck. Perhaps it matters so little that it's entirely up to statistics. In that case, I'd bet 50/50.

I'll put it up for further pondering.

---

For your information/curiosity: I hold mine in my right hand.

And yes, I DO do such weird things on impulse.

Fireworks in Zero G

...'Fireworks Theory', which suggested that the universe began as a geometrical point, a 'primeval atom', which burst into glory and had been moving apart ever since...

- A Short History of Nearly Everything, P173

Having read this I started to imagine how fireworks would behave under zero gravity conditions.

Since there would be no gravity to pull the sparks into a downward curve, they would radiate out from the intial point, like spikes on a sea urchin. (not considering the force from ejecting it out in the first place)

And if a lone firework was ignited in a vast space of vacuum in 0G, then the sparks would travel outward for ever and ever...expanding the boundary at incredible rates.

So much for the Big Bang!

A Short History Of Nearly Everything

Why is it that progress can sit in constipation for aeons...then all of a sudden...come whooshing in leaps and bounds - merely a month after the Motion Mountain discovery, another rare life-changing gem comes into view: A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson.

It was love at first sight. Honestly. (And that's coming from me who never judges a book by it cover, me who let HP sit moulding on the shelf for a whole year before prising it open.) Mum and I were in Carrefour at the Deira City Centre, Dubai, scanning the books section, and its pinkish cover just jumped out from shelves of rubbish, screaming to be read. A split-second later I realised this was the original version of that terrible weighty tome Mabel had picked up years ago - it was called Wanwu Jianshi in Chinese. I bought it anyway.

Lucky, lucky me! It kept me engrossed for the full 7-hour flight back home...didn't sleep a wink (our flight was at two in the morning, so that's saying something). As a bonus I witnessed one of the most mind-blowing sunrises I've ever seen.

It's the Holy Grail I never knew existed.

It's a book that makes my blood boil.

Enough said.

Motion Mountain

I have found my Holy Grail - in the form of a 1500-page PDF book called Motion Mountain.

It's a (text)book on physics,

...written in a way that should appeal both to people who prefer thinking in images and to those that prefer thinking in words...

And it is

[a book] written for the curious: it is entertaining, surprising and challenging on every page. With little mathematics, starting from observations of everyday life...

All my subconscious fancies rolled into one.

And to top it all, it's free.

Search Status

Search Status - is automatically granted to certain items that comes into the Conscious Present. The usual characteristics of such items are:

• Hitherto Unknown or Unresearched.
  
• Not in the realm of The Obvious.
  
• Does not carry the Unsearchable tag assigned by the Unconscious.
  
• Of sufficient interest.

Items granted Search Status are researched as soon as possible, usually via the following channels:

• Web-based Google search bar.
  
• Mobile Google homepage.

The level of research depends on the item in question. There are three major levels:

1. Out-of-the-way: the lowest level of research, used to gain a basic understanding of unfamiliar items to ensure smooth procession in other levels of research. Done via the "define:" operator in Google Search. Frequently taken to the next level.
   
   
2. Birds-eye-view: the most common level of research, done to gain general knowledge of item in question and its relationship to other items. Usually consists of multiple Google searches and scanning of Wikipedia entry.
   
   
3. In-depth: the highest level of research, marked by the transcend from virtual-reality to reality, i.e. incorporating research methods independent of the Internet. Carried out to the extreme, it becomes a Phase or a Hobby.

Hither we set sail

Mariner's Handbook is a notebook modified by me. Its former self was ugly beyond words.

The real thing: