I've Been Loving You Too Long

 . . .  to stop now

The great Otis Redding.

Experiments & Tampering

 From the always thoughtful Arnold Kling:

W. Edwards Deming distinguished experiments from tampering. With an experiment, you change a process and explicitly compare the results to a baseline. With tampering, you change the process without rigorously examining the results.

For example, in education, most curriculum changes involve tampering. Schools rarely test to see whether a curriculum works.

I once sat next to a high official in the Department of Education, and he was horrified when I suggested experiments in education. “Would you want your child to be part of an experiment?” he asked, incredulously. “The schools do it all the time,” I responded. “They just don’t bother checking to see whether their experiments work.”

It is very hard to make a moral case against experiments that is not also an even stronger case against tampering. But we have a much higher tolerance for tampering than for experiments . . .  Saying that you are conducting experiment implies that you are uncertain. Tampering implies that you know what you are doing. Sadly, people have a higher tolerance for tampering.

You can read the whole thing here.

Phone In A Pool

Seems what's been good for the music

Hasn't always been so good for the life

Ben Folds accompanied by yMusic, a chamber ensemble based in New York which has also accompanied Paul Simon.

Netherlands Limes

Within the bounds of the modern Netherlands, the frontier of the Roman Empire lay along the line river, though for some decades it may have also embraced some lands to the north.  Over three centuries, the Roman army constructed earthworks, roads, fences, and fortifications in the area.  These fortified boundary zones were known as "limes" and existed on many of the empire's frontiers.

The Netherlands has now constructed walkways and bikeways linking the remnants of the limes.  This video shows the limes.  I'd sure like to travel along that path.

Very Large Array

In October we drove from Maine to Arizona.  I always like taking different routes so instead of following I-40 into Arizona from New Mexico as we usually do, we took a left at Albuquerque and headed south on I-25.  Exiting at Socorro our plan we to take US 60 into Arizona and stay in Show Low that evening.

US 60 in New Mexico takes you through very sparsely inhabited areas, a mixture of plains with expansive views and mountains.  About 40 miles west of Socorro we came over a pass and beginning our descend to a large flat plain noticed some very odd-looking structures scattered in the distance across the landscape.  Coming closer we realized they were radiotelescopes and the highway went right through the center of them.  We stopped and took the photos you see here.

A quick check told us we were in the midst of the Very Large Array (VLA) of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.  As we drove from Socorro I'd noticed occasional small roadside signs announcing "VLA 30 Miles", "VLA 20 Miles," but had no idea what they meant.  Now I did.

At an altitude of 6,790 feet, the precise name of the facility is the Karl G Jansky Very Large Array, which is part of the NRAO (itself headquartered in Virginia).  Built in the 1970s, though modified extensively since, the VLA consists of 27 radio telescopes in a Y array over a large area.  Designed to detect radio emissions from quasars, pulsars, supernova remnants and black holes as well as search for powerful signals from any advanced civilizations, the VLA evokes its own aura of mystery standing in its remote location.

It was also used as one of the settings for the 1997 film Contact, starring Jodie Foster, about our first encounter with an advanced civilization.  According to Wikipedia:

"Shooting at the VLA was, of course, spectacular but also one of the most difficult aspects of our filming", producer Steve Starkey said. "It is a working facility, so in order for us to accomplish shots for the movie, we had to negotiate with the National Science Foundation for 'dish control' in order to move the dishes in the direction we needed to effect the most dramatic shot for the story."

The VLA also appeared in Terminator Salvation (2009) as an evil Skynet facility. 

The facility is usually open for tourists and has regularly scheduled guided tours but is closed now due to covid.  We plan on returning when it reopens.

Education




The problem is not people being uneducated.
The problem is that people are educated just enough to believe what they have been taught, and not educated enough to question anything from what they have been taught. 🧠 pic.twitter.com/cxbtlR3cTn

— Richard Feynman (@ProfFeynman) January 7, 2021

From the teachings of physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88).  He's this guy.