Continuing finger arithmetic from Part Eight. This one is called Part Nine. It is the tenth part in the series. It introduces subtraction.
Subtraction is the opposite of addition. It's sort of addition backwards. You might be able to figure it out, using what you've learned from addition. Indeed, i was unable to teach my eight year old subtraction. I announced that i would teach him, and he just went ahead and did it. Now, if he'd done it wrong, i'd have corrected him. And when he makes mistakes, i walk him through the steps. But he really seemed to go through all nine lessons in reverse, taking about ten seconds. I don't hold him back. The correct direction is forward to the goal.
In lesson zero, we had counting. Count from nine to zero. It was then pointed out that counting was adding one. Counting down is the same as subtracting one. Remember to say the answers out loud. Try counting from twenty to zero.
Now we'll subtract small numbers. Consider 4 - 3. Set four fingers and subtract three fingers. Read the result: One. This covers 1 - 1, 2 - 1, 3 - 1, 4 - 1, 2 - 2, 3 - 2, 4 - 2, 3 - 3, 4 - 3, 4 - 4. Practice these.
Some big numbers with small numbers are easy. Consider 9 - 3. Set nine. Take away three fingers. Read the answer: six. This covers 9 - 1, 9 - 2, 9 - 3, 9 - 4, 8 - 1, 8 - 2, 8 - 3, 7 - 1, 7 - 2, 6 - 1.
Next is a half carry, using Five's Compliments. Recall that the Five's Compliment of 1 is 4, and 4 is 1, and 2 is 3 and 3 is 2. Consider 7 - 3. Set seven. Note that there aren't three fingers to subtract. We're going perform this by observing that 7 - 3 is the same as 7 + 2 - 5. Remember that the Five's Compliment of three is two, so you add two and subtract five. Add two fingers. Subtract the thumb. Read the answer: four.
Subtracting five is easy. Consider 7 - 5. Set seven. Take away the thumb. Read the answer: two. This covers 9 - 5, 8 - 5, 7 - 5, 6 - 5, and 5 - 5.
Subtracting bigger numbers. Consider 9 - 7. Set nine. Seven is five plus two - thumb and two fingers. You have two fingers to take away, so do it. You have a thumb to take away, so do it. Read the answer: two. This covers 9 - 9, 9 - 8, 9 - 7, 9 - 6, 8 - 8, 8 - 7, 8 - 6, 7 - 7, 7 - 6, 6 -6. Need you be reminded to practice?
Next lesson: two digit subtraction. Bring your thinking caps.
Again, you are referred to the example generator, which can provide you with an infinite number of examples. Each time you click here, you get a new page. Use your back button to get back to the lesson. This link provides two digit examples. As this lesson hasn't taught two digit subtraction, feel free to ignore any problems involving two digits anywhere.
You might just want to go to the web site, so you can ask the generator yourself. Addition, subtraction or mixed problems, how many digits, more than just two numbers per problem? Answers on the same page or another page? Maybe you want one hundred pages to get you through vacation.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
All Wet
When Oxygen Tech played Hydrogen U.
The Game had just begun,
when Hydrogen scored two fast points
And Oxygen still had none.
Then Oxygen scored a single goal
And thus it did remain,
At Hydrogen 2 and Oxygen 1
Called because of rain.
The Game had just begun,
when Hydrogen scored two fast points
And Oxygen still had none.
Then Oxygen scored a single goal
And thus it did remain,
At Hydrogen 2 and Oxygen 1
Called because of rain.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Finger Arithmetic Part Eight
Continuing finger arithmetic from Part Seven. This one is called Part Eight. It is the ninth part in the series.
Back in Part Seven, we finished up addition of single digit numbers. We took care of carries with Ten's Compliments and Five's Compliments. In this lesson, we continue forward with two digit addition.
For example, how does one add 13 + 21? Set thirteen by making two fists, set three fingers on the right hand and one finger on the left hand. The twenty-one can be added in either order. Add twenty, then add one, or add one, then add twenty. These lessons always proceed from right to left. To add one to the three on the right hand, just add one more finger. To add twenty, just add two fingers to the left hand. Read the answer: 34.
The last example was easy. There were no carries. Consider adding 34 + 35. Set thirty four by making two fists, setting three fingers on the left hand and four fingers on the right hand. Add five (of 35) to the right hand by adding the thumb. Still no carry. Then consider adding thirty. You would add three fingers to the left hand, but there aren't three fingers to add. So, subtract the Five's Compliment of three, which is two fingers, and add five, which is the thumb. Read the answer: 69. This example added five, and also added using a Five's Compliment.
Consider 26 + 48. Set twenty six by starting with two fists. Set two fingers on the left and a finger and thumb on the right. We need to add eight. Eight is five plus three. You can add the three by adding three fingers. You can't add the five, so you must subtract five by subtracting the right thumb, and adding ten, which is adding one finger on the left hand. To add forty, you'd want to add four fingers to the left hand. However, there aren't enough fingers to add. So, you subtract the Five's Compliment of four, which is one, and add five, which is the thumb, to the left hand. Read the answer: 74. This example has a carry from the unit's digit (hand) to the ten's digit (hand), and also has a Five's Compliment add.
Consider 19 + 27. Set nineteen by making two fists, setting one finger on the left hand and all fingers and thumb on the right hand. To add seven, note that seven is five plus two. There aren't two fingers to add, so you use Ten's Compliment. Subtract the Ten's Compliment of seven, which is three, and add ten, which is one finger on the left hand. To add twenty, add two more fingers on the left hand. Read the answer: 46. Use Ten's Compliments for numbers over five, and Five's Compliments for numbers less than five.
Consider 46 + 14. You might still have 46 on your hands, or set 46. To add four, recognize that there aren't four fingers to add. Subtract the Five's Compliment of four, which is one, and add five. You already have the thumb up, so you subtract five (the thumb) and add ten. You don't have a finger to add to the left hand, so you subtract the Five's Compliment of one, which is four, and add five, which is the thumb. That was just to add the four of the fourteen. To add the ten of the fourteen, add one finger to the left hand. Read the answer: sixty. You would think that this is as complicated as carries get for finger addition. However, there is one more case.
Consider 37 + 63. Set thirty seven on your hands. You want to add three, but can't, as there are only two available fingers. So, you subtract two and add five. You can subtract two, but can't add five, as there is already a thumb set. You add five by subtracting five and adding ten, which is one finger on the left hand. Now you need to add sixty. Considering that sixty is 1 + 5, you note that you can't add one finger. So, you subtract the Ten's Compliment of six, which is four, and add ten - which is one hundred. Well, most people don't have another hand, so you'll have to remember it. Perhaps your nose. Read the answer. Remembering the one hundred, you find that the answer is: 100.
In the previous example, we used the Five's Compliment of three to add it to the existing seven. There were a number of confusing steps to get through adding just the one digit. While this method works, you could instead use the Ten's Compliment of three, which is seven. Here's how that works. Set thirty seven on your hands. To add three, subtract the Ten's Compliment of three, which is seven, and add ten. You can add the ten, so you just do it. I find it conceptually easier to use Five's Compliments for digits less than five, and Ten's Compliments for digits more than five. This always works, though it leads to extra steps now and then. As your proficiency improves, feel free to experiment with Ten's Compliments where they make sense.
You might spend a few weeks on this before moving on to subtraction.
Again, you are referred to the example generator, which can provide you with an infinite number of examples. Each time you click here, you get a new page. Use your back button to get back to the lesson. This isn't the same link as in the Part Six. This link provides two digit examples.
The example generator is the same, with different parameters. This is the form that lets you select the parameters you might want. For example, if you have a Japanese Abacus, called a Soroban, you'll have more than two hands, as each hand is basically one rod of this device. Let's say that you have a child in elementary school. If they're reading for enjoyment, then handing them some books to read over the summer will allow them to advance, or at least not backslide too much. What about arithmetic? It is estimated that children backslide an average of about two and a half months over the summer. This problem generator can help. I try to work in five minutes with my son every day. There is also a problem generator for multiplication on my site. Feel free to use it for division problems as well.
Back in Part Seven, we finished up addition of single digit numbers. We took care of carries with Ten's Compliments and Five's Compliments. In this lesson, we continue forward with two digit addition.
For example, how does one add 13 + 21? Set thirteen by making two fists, set three fingers on the right hand and one finger on the left hand. The twenty-one can be added in either order. Add twenty, then add one, or add one, then add twenty. These lessons always proceed from right to left. To add one to the three on the right hand, just add one more finger. To add twenty, just add two fingers to the left hand. Read the answer: 34.
The last example was easy. There were no carries. Consider adding 34 + 35. Set thirty four by making two fists, setting three fingers on the left hand and four fingers on the right hand. Add five (of 35) to the right hand by adding the thumb. Still no carry. Then consider adding thirty. You would add three fingers to the left hand, but there aren't three fingers to add. So, subtract the Five's Compliment of three, which is two fingers, and add five, which is the thumb. Read the answer: 69. This example added five, and also added using a Five's Compliment.
Consider 26 + 48. Set twenty six by starting with two fists. Set two fingers on the left and a finger and thumb on the right. We need to add eight. Eight is five plus three. You can add the three by adding three fingers. You can't add the five, so you must subtract five by subtracting the right thumb, and adding ten, which is adding one finger on the left hand. To add forty, you'd want to add four fingers to the left hand. However, there aren't enough fingers to add. So, you subtract the Five's Compliment of four, which is one, and add five, which is the thumb, to the left hand. Read the answer: 74. This example has a carry from the unit's digit (hand) to the ten's digit (hand), and also has a Five's Compliment add.
Consider 19 + 27. Set nineteen by making two fists, setting one finger on the left hand and all fingers and thumb on the right hand. To add seven, note that seven is five plus two. There aren't two fingers to add, so you use Ten's Compliment. Subtract the Ten's Compliment of seven, which is three, and add ten, which is one finger on the left hand. To add twenty, add two more fingers on the left hand. Read the answer: 46. Use Ten's Compliments for numbers over five, and Five's Compliments for numbers less than five.
Consider 46 + 14. You might still have 46 on your hands, or set 46. To add four, recognize that there aren't four fingers to add. Subtract the Five's Compliment of four, which is one, and add five. You already have the thumb up, so you subtract five (the thumb) and add ten. You don't have a finger to add to the left hand, so you subtract the Five's Compliment of one, which is four, and add five, which is the thumb. That was just to add the four of the fourteen. To add the ten of the fourteen, add one finger to the left hand. Read the answer: sixty. You would think that this is as complicated as carries get for finger addition. However, there is one more case.
Consider 37 + 63. Set thirty seven on your hands. You want to add three, but can't, as there are only two available fingers. So, you subtract two and add five. You can subtract two, but can't add five, as there is already a thumb set. You add five by subtracting five and adding ten, which is one finger on the left hand. Now you need to add sixty. Considering that sixty is 1 + 5, you note that you can't add one finger. So, you subtract the Ten's Compliment of six, which is four, and add ten - which is one hundred. Well, most people don't have another hand, so you'll have to remember it. Perhaps your nose. Read the answer. Remembering the one hundred, you find that the answer is: 100.
In the previous example, we used the Five's Compliment of three to add it to the existing seven. There were a number of confusing steps to get through adding just the one digit. While this method works, you could instead use the Ten's Compliment of three, which is seven. Here's how that works. Set thirty seven on your hands. To add three, subtract the Ten's Compliment of three, which is seven, and add ten. You can add the ten, so you just do it. I find it conceptually easier to use Five's Compliments for digits less than five, and Ten's Compliments for digits more than five. This always works, though it leads to extra steps now and then. As your proficiency improves, feel free to experiment with Ten's Compliments where they make sense.
You might spend a few weeks on this before moving on to subtraction.
Again, you are referred to the example generator, which can provide you with an infinite number of examples. Each time you click here, you get a new page. Use your back button to get back to the lesson. This isn't the same link as in the Part Six. This link provides two digit examples.
The example generator is the same, with different parameters. This is the form that lets you select the parameters you might want. For example, if you have a Japanese Abacus, called a Soroban, you'll have more than two hands, as each hand is basically one rod of this device. Let's say that you have a child in elementary school. If they're reading for enjoyment, then handing them some books to read over the summer will allow them to advance, or at least not backslide too much. What about arithmetic? It is estimated that children backslide an average of about two and a half months over the summer. This problem generator can help. I try to work in five minutes with my son every day. There is also a problem generator for multiplication on my site. Feel free to use it for division problems as well.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Finger Arithmetic Part Seven
Continuing finger arithmetic from Part Six. This one is called Part Seven. It is the eighth part in the series.
Ten's Compliments. Back in Part Six, we added 7 + 8. We set 7, and added 8 by adding 3 then 5. Adding 3 involved a carry, generating an addition of 5 while remembering that we still have to add 5. Very complicated. This Ten's Compliments idea reduces the steps, and having to remember upcoming steps. It is similar to Five's Complements, introduced in Part Three.
The Ten's Compliment of a number is the number you add to get ten. For now, we'll only use the Ten's Compliment of numbers greater than five. So, the Ten's Compliment of six is four. The Ten's Compliment of seven is three. The Ten's Compliment of eight is two. And the Ten's Compliment of nine is one.
So how does this help? Let's return to the dreaded seven plus eight example. Start with two fists, then set two right hand fingers and the thumb. You'd like to add eight, which is five plus three, but you don't have three to add. Eight is ten minus two (the Ten's Compliment of eight is two). Subtract the Ten's Complement, which is done by subtracting both right fingers. Then add ten by adding a finger to the left hand. Read the result: fifteen. That's ten (the left finger), plus five (the right thumb) and zero (the right fingers). Again, we added 7 + 8, which is 7 - 2 + 10.
How about six plus seven from the last lesson? You do this the same way it was done in the previous lesson. When you have six set, you don't have three fingers to subtract, and you do have two fingers to add. The way it works is that you always have exactly one of these options.
The relevant examples are 6 + 9, 7 + 9, 8 + 9, 9 + 9, 7 + 8, 8 + 8, 9 + 8, 8 + 7, 9 + 7, 9 + 6.
Again, you are referred to the example generator, which can provide you with an infinite number of examples. Each time you click here, you get a new page. Use your back button to get back to the lesson. This is the same link as in the previous lesson.
Technically, we really introduced the Ten's Compliment of five, which is five in Part Five. It wasn't called that, and it just seems simpler to treat it as a special case.
Stay tuned for the introduction of two digit addition.
Ten's Compliments. Back in Part Six, we added 7 + 8. We set 7, and added 8 by adding 3 then 5. Adding 3 involved a carry, generating an addition of 5 while remembering that we still have to add 5. Very complicated. This Ten's Compliments idea reduces the steps, and having to remember upcoming steps. It is similar to Five's Complements, introduced in Part Three.
The Ten's Compliment of a number is the number you add to get ten. For now, we'll only use the Ten's Compliment of numbers greater than five. So, the Ten's Compliment of six is four. The Ten's Compliment of seven is three. The Ten's Compliment of eight is two. And the Ten's Compliment of nine is one.
So how does this help? Let's return to the dreaded seven plus eight example. Start with two fists, then set two right hand fingers and the thumb. You'd like to add eight, which is five plus three, but you don't have three to add. Eight is ten minus two (the Ten's Compliment of eight is two). Subtract the Ten's Complement, which is done by subtracting both right fingers. Then add ten by adding a finger to the left hand. Read the result: fifteen. That's ten (the left finger), plus five (the right thumb) and zero (the right fingers). Again, we added 7 + 8, which is 7 - 2 + 10.
How about six plus seven from the last lesson? You do this the same way it was done in the previous lesson. When you have six set, you don't have three fingers to subtract, and you do have two fingers to add. The way it works is that you always have exactly one of these options.
The relevant examples are 6 + 9, 7 + 9, 8 + 9, 9 + 9, 7 + 8, 8 + 8, 9 + 8, 8 + 7, 9 + 7, 9 + 6.
Again, you are referred to the example generator, which can provide you with an infinite number of examples. Each time you click here, you get a new page. Use your back button to get back to the lesson. This is the same link as in the previous lesson.
Technically, we really introduced the Ten's Compliment of five, which is five in Part Five. It wasn't called that, and it just seems simpler to treat it as a special case.
Stay tuned for the introduction of two digit addition.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Finger Arithmetic Part Six
Continuing finger arithmetic from Part Five. This one is called Part Six. It is the seventh part in the series.
Single Digit Addition. No new concepts. That's not really true. We're going to combine previous concepts to handle more complicated carries. You'll need to be able to do this eventually, but these examples will be simplified in the next lesson.
We'll start with an easy example: six plus seven. Start with two fists. Set six by adding a finger and the thumb to the right hand. Seven is two plus five. Add the two of the seven by adding two fingers. You want to add the thumb, but the thumb is already set. So subtract five (the thumb) and add ten (a finger on the left hand). Read the answer: thirteen.
Let's add eight plus nine. Two fists, then set three fingers and the thumb on the right hand. Nine is five plus four. You want to add the four, but you don't have four fingers to add. So, you subtract the Five's Complement of four, which is one. You want to add the five (from the Five's Complement), but you already have that set. So, you must subtract five (the thumb) and add ten (a finger on the left hand). Then, you must go back and add the five from the nine. So add the right thumb. Read the result: seventeen.
Now, let's do the really hard one. That's right, the dreaded seven plus eight. Start with two fists, then set the two right hand fingers and the thumb. Eight is three plus one. You want to add three, but can't, so you subtract the Five's Complement of three, which is two - which is done by subtracting both right fingers. You want to add five, but already have a thumb set. So, you subtract five (the thumb) and add ten (a finger on the left hand). Now you need to go back and add the five from eight (the right thumb). Read the result: fifteen. That's ten (the left finger), plus five (the right thumb) and zero (the right fingers).
At this point, you can add any two single digit numbers. There are a few examples to try below. But none of the books have enough examples. Since you can't have too many examples, you are referred to an example generator, which can provide you with an infinite number of examples. Each time you click here, you get a new page. Use your back button to get back to the lesson. Bookmark the link.
Single Digit Addition. No new concepts. That's not really true. We're going to combine previous concepts to handle more complicated carries. You'll need to be able to do this eventually, but these examples will be simplified in the next lesson.
We'll start with an easy example: six plus seven. Start with two fists. Set six by adding a finger and the thumb to the right hand. Seven is two plus five. Add the two of the seven by adding two fingers. You want to add the thumb, but the thumb is already set. So subtract five (the thumb) and add ten (a finger on the left hand). Read the answer: thirteen.
Let's add eight plus nine. Two fists, then set three fingers and the thumb on the right hand. Nine is five plus four. You want to add the four, but you don't have four fingers to add. So, you subtract the Five's Complement of four, which is one. You want to add the five (from the Five's Complement), but you already have that set. So, you must subtract five (the thumb) and add ten (a finger on the left hand). Then, you must go back and add the five from the nine. So add the right thumb. Read the result: seventeen.
Now, let's do the really hard one. That's right, the dreaded seven plus eight. Start with two fists, then set the two right hand fingers and the thumb. Eight is three plus one. You want to add three, but can't, so you subtract the Five's Complement of three, which is two - which is done by subtracting both right fingers. You want to add five, but already have a thumb set. So, you subtract five (the thumb) and add ten (a finger on the left hand). Now you need to go back and add the five from eight (the right thumb). Read the result: fifteen. That's ten (the left finger), plus five (the right thumb) and zero (the right fingers).
At this point, you can add any two single digit numbers. There are a few examples to try below. But none of the books have enough examples. Since you can't have too many examples, you are referred to an example generator, which can provide you with an infinite number of examples. Each time you click here, you get a new page. Use your back button to get back to the lesson. Bookmark the link.
| 6 + 4 10 | 3 + 3 6 | 4 + 6 10 | 8 + 5 13 | 4 + 8 12 | |||||||||||||||
| 9 + 8 17 | 6 + 2 8 | 7 + 8 15 | 4 + 3 7 | 5 + 8 13 | |||||||||||||||
| 1 + 5 6 | 7 + 9 16 | 3 + 6 9 | 6 + 1 7 | 5 + 6 11 | |||||||||||||||
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Charter School
I went to public schools through high school. I was offered the chance to go to a private high school, but turned it down. I could only see disadvantages. I wasn't interested enough to investigate the alternative.
I did OK at public school, though i can't say i was very enthusiastic. One day at home, my Dad asked me for my report card. I remembered using it as a bookmark, and went to fetch it. My Dad looked at it, then said that he'd have rather seen it than read about it in the newspaper - the honor roll. Why was that news? I was always on the honor roll. I said i'd try to show him the report card, but knew that i had so little interest in it that it would likely slip my mind.
The pace at school was slow, but i didn't mind - i was patient. Teachers saw i was bored, and gave me extra stuff to do. It did not bother me that i didn't get any credit for it. It wasn't enough. I bought a computer (in 1975, about as powerful as your watch) and taught myself machine language programming. I picked up a Japanese abacus (Soroban) and taught myself mental arithmetic. After three months, I computed a 10 digit sin(x) in my head using Taylor series. I was the only junior in the new high school calculus course.
But i would have done OK anywhere. I probably wasn't an average child after all. But where could i have excelled?
My son is in a charter school, and just finished 3rd grade. You get to go to a charter school if a parent fills out the forms and the school isn't already full.
He doesn't just get it like i did. And he won't stick with it forever like i would. So his mom and i help him out every day, and all weekend, and all summer. When the teacher calls one of us, we take it very seriously. I've gotten him through addition and subtraction. It took four years, but i've gotten him to read for enjoyment (meaning all the time). I've helped him with fractions and concepts of perimeter and area. We quiz him relentlessly on spelling, social studies and Spanish. His Mom has been, uhm, instrumental in getting him to be without peer on violin and piano.
The charter school has parents who care about their kids. After dropping their kids to the school in the morning, they'll often have discussions about school for an hour or so. I can't imagine that there is a single parent there who doesn't return a teacher's phone call right away.
I was very excited about this school after a 'parents day'. I got an appointment to sit in on a class for an hour, while my son was still in preschool. The teacher read a story to the kids, who all sat quietly in rapt attention. Even my son. Then, the kids each got out a rug, and some materials, and sat for at least twenty minutes working with them. Even my son. One child came over to the table i was sitting at. Soon a teacher came over and also sat down. The child began reading a book, out loud, fluently. It had to be 2nd grade level or better. But this was preschool.
OK, so when i was in 1st grade, i could read that well, probably better. But i was not encouraged to do so. No one else was doing it. We could pick any book out of the school's library to read, but they kept shepherding me to the See Jack Run section. So i read my older brother's books at home. Things happened in those books. You know, like real stories. At my son's charter school, it's OK to excel. This is Very exciting.
I did OK at public school, though i can't say i was very enthusiastic. One day at home, my Dad asked me for my report card. I remembered using it as a bookmark, and went to fetch it. My Dad looked at it, then said that he'd have rather seen it than read about it in the newspaper - the honor roll. Why was that news? I was always on the honor roll. I said i'd try to show him the report card, but knew that i had so little interest in it that it would likely slip my mind.
The pace at school was slow, but i didn't mind - i was patient. Teachers saw i was bored, and gave me extra stuff to do. It did not bother me that i didn't get any credit for it. It wasn't enough. I bought a computer (in 1975, about as powerful as your watch) and taught myself machine language programming. I picked up a Japanese abacus (Soroban) and taught myself mental arithmetic. After three months, I computed a 10 digit sin(x) in my head using Taylor series. I was the only junior in the new high school calculus course.
But i would have done OK anywhere. I probably wasn't an average child after all. But where could i have excelled?
My son is in a charter school, and just finished 3rd grade. You get to go to a charter school if a parent fills out the forms and the school isn't already full.
He doesn't just get it like i did. And he won't stick with it forever like i would. So his mom and i help him out every day, and all weekend, and all summer. When the teacher calls one of us, we take it very seriously. I've gotten him through addition and subtraction. It took four years, but i've gotten him to read for enjoyment (meaning all the time). I've helped him with fractions and concepts of perimeter and area. We quiz him relentlessly on spelling, social studies and Spanish. His Mom has been, uhm, instrumental in getting him to be without peer on violin and piano.
The charter school has parents who care about their kids. After dropping their kids to the school in the morning, they'll often have discussions about school for an hour or so. I can't imagine that there is a single parent there who doesn't return a teacher's phone call right away.
I was very excited about this school after a 'parents day'. I got an appointment to sit in on a class for an hour, while my son was still in preschool. The teacher read a story to the kids, who all sat quietly in rapt attention. Even my son. Then, the kids each got out a rug, and some materials, and sat for at least twenty minutes working with them. Even my son. One child came over to the table i was sitting at. Soon a teacher came over and also sat down. The child began reading a book, out loud, fluently. It had to be 2nd grade level or better. But this was preschool.
OK, so when i was in 1st grade, i could read that well, probably better. But i was not encouraged to do so. No one else was doing it. We could pick any book out of the school's library to read, but they kept shepherding me to the See Jack Run section. So i read my older brother's books at home. Things happened in those books. You know, like real stories. At my son's charter school, it's OK to excel. This is Very exciting.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Finger Arithmetic Part Five
Continuing finger arithmetic from Part Four. This one is called Part Five. It is the sixth part in the series.
In Part Three, we introduced the idea that sometimes you want to add something, but you have no fingers left to add. This part does that for the thumb. Here, we add five when the thumb is already set.
The first example is adding seven plus five. First, set seven. Do that by starting with a fist on both hands, adding two fingers to the right hand, then adding the right thumb. Now we want to add five. You want to add a right thumb, but your right thumb is already set. To do this, remember that 5 + 5 is the same as 5 + (10 - 5), which is rearranged as 5 - 5 + 10. Still have zero / seven on your hands? Good. Subtract five by tucking the right thumb down. Add ten by adding a finger to the left hand. Look at your hands. Read twelve.
The next example is adding six and five. First start with both fists. Set six on the right hand by adding a finger and thumb. Add five by subtracting the right thumb, and adding a finger on the left hand. Read the result: eleven.
The final example is adding nine and five. Start with both fists. Add all fingers and thumb on the right hand for nine. Subtract the right thumb and add a finger on the left hand. Read fourteen.
All examples: 5 + 5, 6 + 5, 7 + 5, 8 + 5, 9 + 5.
During the week, go over the previous lesson's examples. Stick to short practices every day. You don't have to do all the examples from all the lessons in one go. But you should sneak in all the examples for all the lessons over the course of the week. And every day should have this newest lesson.
The next lesson will get you started on single digit addition. It won't be the last word there, however. It seems that there is always something more to say.
In Part Three, we introduced the idea that sometimes you want to add something, but you have no fingers left to add. This part does that for the thumb. Here, we add five when the thumb is already set.
The first example is adding seven plus five. First, set seven. Do that by starting with a fist on both hands, adding two fingers to the right hand, then adding the right thumb. Now we want to add five. You want to add a right thumb, but your right thumb is already set. To do this, remember that 5 + 5 is the same as 5 + (10 - 5), which is rearranged as 5 - 5 + 10. Still have zero / seven on your hands? Good. Subtract five by tucking the right thumb down. Add ten by adding a finger to the left hand. Look at your hands. Read twelve.
The next example is adding six and five. First start with both fists. Set six on the right hand by adding a finger and thumb. Add five by subtracting the right thumb, and adding a finger on the left hand. Read the result: eleven.
The final example is adding nine and five. Start with both fists. Add all fingers and thumb on the right hand for nine. Subtract the right thumb and add a finger on the left hand. Read fourteen.
All examples: 5 + 5, 6 + 5, 7 + 5, 8 + 5, 9 + 5.
During the week, go over the previous lesson's examples. Stick to short practices every day. You don't have to do all the examples from all the lessons in one go. But you should sneak in all the examples for all the lessons over the course of the week. And every day should have this newest lesson.
The next lesson will get you started on single digit addition. It won't be the last word there, however. It seems that there is always something more to say.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Finger Arithmetic Part Four
Continuing finger arithmetic from Part Three. This one is called Part Four. It is the fifth part in the series.
Bigger numbers are added to small numbers. It's an easy lesson that introduces thinking of bigger numbers as the sum of two smaller numbers. One of the smaller numbers is always five. In fact, when you set one of these numbers on a hand, the thumb is the five, and the fingers represent the other small number.
Let's say you have one, and want to add seven. For the moment, set seven on one hand. Make a fist. Add two fingers. Add the thumb. Seven is five plus two. So we can add these parts one at a time. Here are the steps. We're adding one plus seven. Set one by making a fist on the right hand, then add one finger. Add the 'two' of the seven by adding two fingers. Then add the five of the seven by adding the thumb. Read the answer. Uhm, let's see. There's a thumb. There are three fingers. That's eight.
Now we'll add three plus six. Set three by making a fist and adding three fingers. Six is five plus one. Add one by adding a finger. Add five by adding a thumb. Read the answer. Nine.
Try two plus seven. Set two. Add the two. Add the five. Read the result (nine). You did say it out loud, right?
Three plus five. Make a fist. Add three fingers. Add the thumb.
All of the examples: 0 + 5, 0 + 6, 0 + 7, 0 + 8, 0 + 9, 1 + 5, 1 + 6, 1 + 7, 1 + 8, 2 + 5, 2 + 6, 2 + 7, 3 + 5, 3 + 6, 4 + 5. Try them all.
Keep practicing Part Three during the week. It takes a bit for the Five's Complements to stick in your head. We'll need to expand on this idea soon. We're trying to keep it down to one new idea a week. However, you need to remember all the old lessons to get it all together.
Bigger numbers are added to small numbers. It's an easy lesson that introduces thinking of bigger numbers as the sum of two smaller numbers. One of the smaller numbers is always five. In fact, when you set one of these numbers on a hand, the thumb is the five, and the fingers represent the other small number.
Let's say you have one, and want to add seven. For the moment, set seven on one hand. Make a fist. Add two fingers. Add the thumb. Seven is five plus two. So we can add these parts one at a time. Here are the steps. We're adding one plus seven. Set one by making a fist on the right hand, then add one finger. Add the 'two' of the seven by adding two fingers. Then add the five of the seven by adding the thumb. Read the answer. Uhm, let's see. There's a thumb. There are three fingers. That's eight.
Now we'll add three plus six. Set three by making a fist and adding three fingers. Six is five plus one. Add one by adding a finger. Add five by adding a thumb. Read the answer. Nine.
Try two plus seven. Set two. Add the two. Add the five. Read the result (nine). You did say it out loud, right?
Three plus five. Make a fist. Add three fingers. Add the thumb.
All of the examples: 0 + 5, 0 + 6, 0 + 7, 0 + 8, 0 + 9, 1 + 5, 1 + 6, 1 + 7, 1 + 8, 2 + 5, 2 + 6, 2 + 7, 3 + 5, 3 + 6, 4 + 5. Try them all.
Keep practicing Part Three during the week. It takes a bit for the Five's Complements to stick in your head. We'll need to expand on this idea soon. We're trying to keep it down to one new idea a week. However, you need to remember all the old lessons to get it all together.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Make Mine a Double
Yesterday, i had a headache. It's a rare thing for me. I asked around at the office, and someone had some Motrin. It did the trick. In retrospect, it is possible i just needed a drink of water. Next time, i'm going to try the new double strength placebo.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Phone Cord
I've run a research project to determine the answer to a question burning in the hearts of many: What is the minimum number of strings or ropes or cords that it takes to create a tangled spaghetti mess?
The answer appears to be one.
And you may have evidence of this within a small number of inches from where you sit. Look at the nearest phone cord. If it is anything like mine, it is a tangled mess. Every few days, i take the phone off the hook, dangle it by the cord, and let it unwind. Despite low use, and always putting it down without twisting it once, the cord is basically always a twisted mess.
But not at home. It's a cordless phone there.
I had to look up the spelling in a dictionary. Apparently, a phone chord is some sort of musical idea. It's an idea that rings a Bell.
The answer appears to be one.
And you may have evidence of this within a small number of inches from where you sit. Look at the nearest phone cord. If it is anything like mine, it is a tangled mess. Every few days, i take the phone off the hook, dangle it by the cord, and let it unwind. Despite low use, and always putting it down without twisting it once, the cord is basically always a twisted mess.
But not at home. It's a cordless phone there.
I had to look up the spelling in a dictionary. Apparently, a phone chord is some sort of musical idea. It's an idea that rings a Bell.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Caffeine
A few years ago, i developed arthritis in my shoulders. Call it bursitis. I could not raise my right arm higher than level. Cured, but now years later, i still reach for high shelf items with my left arm.
I was cured by stopping my intake of caffeine. I used to drink nearly a half gallon of Mt. Dew a day, though not on weekends. As my symptoms got worse, i noticed that it wasn't as bad on Sunday night as the rest of the week. As an experiment, i switched to Sprite and things improved. A month later, i had a cup of coffee, and it hurt for four days. No doubt about it. Caffeine. After ten months of abstinence, my symptoms rapidly vanished. Caffeine is a very stable chemical.
I asked around, and even doctors told me that there was no connection. Feh. Eventually i learned that caffeine can interfere with the body's intake of calcium. Now, the joints are affected first. Then the bones. So, i wondered if caffeine was big in osteoporosis.
It International Osteoporosis Foundation recently held a big congress (convention). Lots of risk factors for osteoporosis were enumerated. Their web site has a page on prevention. Caffeine is mentioned once, along with salt. You could easily miss it. At least it's mentioned.
The thing is, when i've talked to people at risk for osteoporosis, like older women, they can't imagine giving up caffeine. They say that they drink decaf, but they have no idea how much caffeine is in it. And, it can vary by a factor of ten. And, products with caffeine don't have to say how much is in it. And, i'm pretty smart, but i have no idea how to perform a test to find out. I got through high school chemistry (with an A), but haven't had much since.
Caffeine is addictive. It's subtle. It won't let go of you, even after years of abstinence. The effects appear to be cumulative.
So i had this problem with my right foot. I thought my shoes were causing discomfort. I thought it was the way i was walking. But now i know that it is just taking longer to heal than other parts of my body. It's arthritis.
I was cured by stopping my intake of caffeine. I used to drink nearly a half gallon of Mt. Dew a day, though not on weekends. As my symptoms got worse, i noticed that it wasn't as bad on Sunday night as the rest of the week. As an experiment, i switched to Sprite and things improved. A month later, i had a cup of coffee, and it hurt for four days. No doubt about it. Caffeine. After ten months of abstinence, my symptoms rapidly vanished. Caffeine is a very stable chemical.
I asked around, and even doctors told me that there was no connection. Feh. Eventually i learned that caffeine can interfere with the body's intake of calcium. Now, the joints are affected first. Then the bones. So, i wondered if caffeine was big in osteoporosis.
It International Osteoporosis Foundation recently held a big congress (convention). Lots of risk factors for osteoporosis were enumerated. Their web site has a page on prevention. Caffeine is mentioned once, along with salt. You could easily miss it. At least it's mentioned.
The thing is, when i've talked to people at risk for osteoporosis, like older women, they can't imagine giving up caffeine. They say that they drink decaf, but they have no idea how much caffeine is in it. And, it can vary by a factor of ten. And, products with caffeine don't have to say how much is in it. And, i'm pretty smart, but i have no idea how to perform a test to find out. I got through high school chemistry (with an A), but haven't had much since.
Caffeine is addictive. It's subtle. It won't let go of you, even after years of abstinence. The effects appear to be cumulative.
So i had this problem with my right foot. I thought my shoes were causing discomfort. I thought it was the way i was walking. But now i know that it is just taking longer to heal than other parts of my body. It's arthritis.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Finger Arithmetic Part Three
Continuing finger arithmetic from Part Two. This one is called Part Three. It is the forth part in the series. Five's Complements are introduced. Clear as mud? Let's get started!
The Five's Complement of a number is the number you add to get five. So, the Five's Complement of one is four. That's because one plus four is five. Likewise, the Five's Complement of four is one. The other pair is two and three. The Five's Complement of two is three. Two plus three is five. And the Five's Complement of three is two.
Armed with this new knowledge, we tackle adding slightly bigger numbers. The very first example is 3 + 3. Start with a fist on the right hand. Put up three fingers. You want to add three fingers, but you don't have three fingers that can be added. The idea is to add five, and subtract the Five's Complement of three - which is two. So 3 + 3 = 3 + 5 - 2. However, do it in this order: 3 - 2 + 5. You have three fingers up on your right hand. Subtract two fingers, and add the thumb (five). That leaves you with your thumb (five) and one finger (one), for a total of six. Say six out loud.
The reason that the subtraction should be done first will become apparent in a later lesson. That lesson involves carries from one hand to the other. By performing the steps in this order, you can avoid ever having more than one pending operation. It is less confusing, and more reliable. Handling carries is the single biggest reason for error in traditional pencil and paper arithmetic.
Another example: 4 + 2. Start with a fist and set four fingers. The Five's Complement of two is three. So subtract three fingers. Then add the thumb for five. Read the answer out loud. Six.
Another example: 2 + 3. Start with a fist and set two fingers. The Five's Complement of three is two. Subtract two fingers and add the thumb (five). Read the answer: five. Note that you have no fingers up - just the thumb. You have five (the thumb) plus zero (no fingers). Zero is very important. Zero may mean nothing, but it isn't meaningless.
All of the examples: 1 + 4, 2 + 3, 2 + 4, 3 + 2, 3 + 3, 3 + 4, 4 + 1, 4 + 2, 4 + 3 and 4 + 4. Try them all. Don't forget to read the answer out loud.
When you are done with this lesson, practice some of the examples from previous lessons. Add small numbers. Do some counting. Remember to read the answers out loud. Practice five minutes a day. Five minutes each day for a week is worth more than twenty minutes each day for two days. And, five minutes can be squeezed into just about any schedule.
The Five's Complement of a number is the number you add to get five. So, the Five's Complement of one is four. That's because one plus four is five. Likewise, the Five's Complement of four is one. The other pair is two and three. The Five's Complement of two is three. Two plus three is five. And the Five's Complement of three is two.
Armed with this new knowledge, we tackle adding slightly bigger numbers. The very first example is 3 + 3. Start with a fist on the right hand. Put up three fingers. You want to add three fingers, but you don't have three fingers that can be added. The idea is to add five, and subtract the Five's Complement of three - which is two. So 3 + 3 = 3 + 5 - 2. However, do it in this order: 3 - 2 + 5. You have three fingers up on your right hand. Subtract two fingers, and add the thumb (five). That leaves you with your thumb (five) and one finger (one), for a total of six. Say six out loud.
The reason that the subtraction should be done first will become apparent in a later lesson. That lesson involves carries from one hand to the other. By performing the steps in this order, you can avoid ever having more than one pending operation. It is less confusing, and more reliable. Handling carries is the single biggest reason for error in traditional pencil and paper arithmetic.
Another example: 4 + 2. Start with a fist and set four fingers. The Five's Complement of two is three. So subtract three fingers. Then add the thumb for five. Read the answer out loud. Six.
Another example: 2 + 3. Start with a fist and set two fingers. The Five's Complement of three is two. Subtract two fingers and add the thumb (five). Read the answer: five. Note that you have no fingers up - just the thumb. You have five (the thumb) plus zero (no fingers). Zero is very important. Zero may mean nothing, but it isn't meaningless.
All of the examples: 1 + 4, 2 + 3, 2 + 4, 3 + 2, 3 + 3, 3 + 4, 4 + 1, 4 + 2, 4 + 3 and 4 + 4. Try them all. Don't forget to read the answer out loud.
When you are done with this lesson, practice some of the examples from previous lessons. Add small numbers. Do some counting. Remember to read the answers out loud. Practice five minutes a day. Five minutes each day for a week is worth more than twenty minutes each day for two days. And, five minutes can be squeezed into just about any schedule.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Finger Arithmetic Part Two
Continuing finger arithmetic from Part One. This third part is called Part Two. We start addition. It may seem as if the lesson moves slowly. Take your time. The harder stuff builds on this easy stuff.
First, we'll add one and one. Start with a fist on your right hand. Put out a finger to represent one. Add another finger. Read the answer out loud: two.
You might think we've already covered this. And you'd be right. We have added one repeatedly in order to count. In some sense, this is nothing new.
Next example. Add one plus two. Start with a fist on your right hand. Put out a finger to set one. Add two fingers to it. Read the answer out loud: three.
Next example. Add two plus two. Start with a fist on your right had. Put two fingers out to set two. Add two fingers to it. Read the answer out loud: four.
The whole set of possible examples here are: 0 + 1, 0 + 2, 0 + 3, 0 + 4, 1 + 1, 1 + 2, 1 + 3, 2 + 2, 3 + 1. Practice these all week.
Extra credit. Add ten plus twenty. Start with a fist on your left hand. Put out a finger to set ten. Add two fingers to it. Read the answer out loud: thirty.
That's small number addition. Remember to practice the drills every day. Don't forget to bring your fingers with you, everywhere. Do you have five minutes? What are you waiting for?
First, we'll add one and one. Start with a fist on your right hand. Put out a finger to represent one. Add another finger. Read the answer out loud: two.
You might think we've already covered this. And you'd be right. We have added one repeatedly in order to count. In some sense, this is nothing new.
Next example. Add one plus two. Start with a fist on your right hand. Put out a finger to set one. Add two fingers to it. Read the answer out loud: three.
Next example. Add two plus two. Start with a fist on your right had. Put two fingers out to set two. Add two fingers to it. Read the answer out loud: four.
The whole set of possible examples here are: 0 + 1, 0 + 2, 0 + 3, 0 + 4, 1 + 1, 1 + 2, 1 + 3, 2 + 2, 3 + 1. Practice these all week.
Extra credit. Add ten plus twenty. Start with a fist on your left hand. Put out a finger to set ten. Add two fingers to it. Read the answer out loud: thirty.
That's small number addition. Remember to practice the drills every day. Don't forget to bring your fingers with you, everywhere. Do you have five minutes? What are you waiting for?
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Finger Arithmetic Part One of Many
Continuing finger arithmetic from part zero. The second part is called part one. Just as the century with the years numbered mostly in the 1900's is called the twentieth century. What a nuisance. But thinking about these issues can prepare one to be capable of dealing with all sorts of off by one errors, such as fence post errors. And, zero is the most important number. Nothing is more important than all of mathematics. Nothing.
Each hand is one digit of a two digit number.
Your right hand is the one's digit. It can count from zero to nine. Your left hand is the ten's digit. It can count from zero to ninety, by tens. This isn't a left handed or right handed thing. It's just that when you look at Arabic numbers, the least significant digit is on the right.
Make a fist with both hands. That's zero (00). Say it.
Put up a finger on your left hand. Say 'ten'. Say it out loud.
Add another finger on your left hand. Say 'twenty'. Don't by shy.
Add another finger on your left hand. Say 'thirty'. I can't hear you.
Add another finger on your left hand. Say 'forty'. Shout if you must.
Make a fist with your left hand and stick out the thumb. Say 'fifty'. That's right. Your left thumb, all by itself, is the most valuable.
Add a finger to your left hand. Say 'sixty'. It is just as important to learn to read your hands as it is to get the movements right.
Add a finger to your left hand. Say 'seventy'. If you can't read your fingers, why move them?
Add a finger to your left hand. Say 'eighty'.
Add a finger to your left hand. Say 'ninety'. That's that.
Now we'll represent some two digit numbers.
Set twenty nine. Start with zero - two fists. Stick out two fingers on the left hand. Stick out your right thumb and all four fingers. Say 'twenty nine'.
Add one. Since you have twenty nine you have to make a fist with the right hand and add a finger to the left hand. Say 'thirty'.
Set forty nine. Start with zero - two fists. Stick out four fingers on the left hand. Stick out your right thumb and all four fingers. Say 'forty nine'.
Add one. Since you have forty nine, you have to make a fist with the right hand, and add one to the left. Since you don't have one to add, make a fist and stick out your thumb. Say 'fifty'.
Now count from zero to nineteen. That's right, you start by counting from zero to nine on your right hand. Then you make a fist with the right hand and add one finger on your left hand, to get ten (10). With the left hand showing one finger, count to nine with your right hand. That's ten to nineteen. You were counting out loud, right?
More exercises. Count from zero to twenty. Count from forty to sixty. Count backwards from sixty to forty. You were counting out loud, right?
Extra credit: count by tens backwards from ninety to zero.
That's two digit counting. Remember to practice the drills every day. Don't forget to bring your fingers with you, everywhere. Do you have five minutes? What are you waiting for?
Another hint. If you have something to put your fingers on, like a table, or your knee, you can have a finger or thumb be active when it is touching. That way you don't have to look. Tactile feedback is a good thing. But remember not to get lazy and rest your hand - it messes up the current number.
An aside. I can count from zero to one thousand twenty three on my ten fingers. I don't find it handy. There are ten kinds of people in the world. Those that understand binary, and those that don't.
Each hand is one digit of a two digit number.
Your right hand is the one's digit. It can count from zero to nine. Your left hand is the ten's digit. It can count from zero to ninety, by tens. This isn't a left handed or right handed thing. It's just that when you look at Arabic numbers, the least significant digit is on the right.
Make a fist with both hands. That's zero (00). Say it.
Put up a finger on your left hand. Say 'ten'. Say it out loud.
Add another finger on your left hand. Say 'twenty'. Don't by shy.
Add another finger on your left hand. Say 'thirty'. I can't hear you.
Add another finger on your left hand. Say 'forty'. Shout if you must.
Make a fist with your left hand and stick out the thumb. Say 'fifty'. That's right. Your left thumb, all by itself, is the most valuable.
Add a finger to your left hand. Say 'sixty'. It is just as important to learn to read your hands as it is to get the movements right.
Add a finger to your left hand. Say 'seventy'. If you can't read your fingers, why move them?
Add a finger to your left hand. Say 'eighty'.
Add a finger to your left hand. Say 'ninety'. That's that.
Now we'll represent some two digit numbers.
Set twenty nine. Start with zero - two fists. Stick out two fingers on the left hand. Stick out your right thumb and all four fingers. Say 'twenty nine'.
Add one. Since you have twenty nine you have to make a fist with the right hand and add a finger to the left hand. Say 'thirty'.
Set forty nine. Start with zero - two fists. Stick out four fingers on the left hand. Stick out your right thumb and all four fingers. Say 'forty nine'.
Add one. Since you have forty nine, you have to make a fist with the right hand, and add one to the left. Since you don't have one to add, make a fist and stick out your thumb. Say 'fifty'.
Now count from zero to nineteen. That's right, you start by counting from zero to nine on your right hand. Then you make a fist with the right hand and add one finger on your left hand, to get ten (10). With the left hand showing one finger, count to nine with your right hand. That's ten to nineteen. You were counting out loud, right?
More exercises. Count from zero to twenty. Count from forty to sixty. Count backwards from sixty to forty. You were counting out loud, right?
Extra credit: count by tens backwards from ninety to zero.
That's two digit counting. Remember to practice the drills every day. Don't forget to bring your fingers with you, everywhere. Do you have five minutes? What are you waiting for?
Another hint. If you have something to put your fingers on, like a table, or your knee, you can have a finger or thumb be active when it is touching. That way you don't have to look. Tactile feedback is a good thing. But remember not to get lazy and rest your hand - it messes up the current number.
An aside. I can count from zero to one thousand twenty three on my ten fingers. I don't find it handy. There are ten kinds of people in the world. Those that understand binary, and those that don't.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Counting On Your Fingers - arithmetic part zero of several
An Anonymous reader asked about teaching children how to add on their fingers. Adding and subtracting on one's fingers undisciplined can lead to off by one errors - in either direction. This leads to a reliability (getting the right answer) of less than 33%. In the world of math, off by one is as good as off by a million - it is just as wrong. The student is discouraged, then afraid of failure. No wonder we're so bad at math. One of my high school peers walked out of the SAT exams unfinished. It was so sad. Not a damned thing to do about it then. Maybe this will help now.
Correcting simple counting isn't anything magic, it's just being careful. I won't attempt a description. What follows is a description of a technique with the power of rocket science, brought down to the simplicity of a kindergartener. It isn't dumbed down. Instead, it is broken up into consumable chunks for the student. The goal is seven second lessons. Each post is a lesson. I won't go further than partial differential equations with boundary value problems (the math that is rocket science).
Q: How high can you count on the fingers of one hand? Five?
A: You can count from zero to nine on the fingers of one hand.
Each of the four fingers are worth one. Make a fist. That is zero. For now, use your right hand. Count to four with one finger each. Some people find it easier to put the pinky up first. I use the index finger first. It doesn't matter.
Make the fist again, and stick out your thumb. The thumb is worth five. Five is just with the thumb out. You can think of this as five and zero. Add a finger with the thumb - that's six. Count from there until you have the thumb and all the fingers out. That's nine. You've just counted from zero to nine on one hand.
Now, every day for a week, perform this exercise. Don't hurry. Don't skip ahead. Stay with this exercise longer if you need to.
Start with a fist, say 'zero'. Say it out loud.
Add a finger. Say 'one'. I can't hear you.
Add a finger. Say 'two'. Shout if you must.
Add a finger. Say 'three'.
Add a finger. Say 'four'.
Make the fist again, and stick out the thumb. Say 'five'.
Add a finger. Say 'six'.
Add a finger. Say 'seven'.
Add a finger. Say 'eight'.
Add a finger. Say 'nine'.
Extra credit. Count down from nine to zero.
An aside. Zero is a number. It is perhaps the most meaningful of the numbers. After all, nothing is more important than math. We will return to zero again and again for infinity, and beyond.
Correcting simple counting isn't anything magic, it's just being careful. I won't attempt a description. What follows is a description of a technique with the power of rocket science, brought down to the simplicity of a kindergartener. It isn't dumbed down. Instead, it is broken up into consumable chunks for the student. The goal is seven second lessons. Each post is a lesson. I won't go further than partial differential equations with boundary value problems (the math that is rocket science).
Q: How high can you count on the fingers of one hand? Five?
A: You can count from zero to nine on the fingers of one hand.
Each of the four fingers are worth one. Make a fist. That is zero. For now, use your right hand. Count to four with one finger each. Some people find it easier to put the pinky up first. I use the index finger first. It doesn't matter.
Make the fist again, and stick out your thumb. The thumb is worth five. Five is just with the thumb out. You can think of this as five and zero. Add a finger with the thumb - that's six. Count from there until you have the thumb and all the fingers out. That's nine. You've just counted from zero to nine on one hand.
Now, every day for a week, perform this exercise. Don't hurry. Don't skip ahead. Stay with this exercise longer if you need to.
Start with a fist, say 'zero'. Say it out loud.
Add a finger. Say 'one'. I can't hear you.
Add a finger. Say 'two'. Shout if you must.
Add a finger. Say 'three'.
Add a finger. Say 'four'.
Make the fist again, and stick out the thumb. Say 'five'.
Add a finger. Say 'six'.
Add a finger. Say 'seven'.
Add a finger. Say 'eight'.
Add a finger. Say 'nine'.
Extra credit. Count down from nine to zero.
An aside. Zero is a number. It is perhaps the most meaningful of the numbers. After all, nothing is more important than math. We will return to zero again and again for infinity, and beyond.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Escape
I've mentioned my hour long commute, in each direction, minimum. I fill the time listening to podcasts, music and books. There are reviews of some of these books here. My previous car has an MP3 CD player, but now an IPod Shuffle is mostly used.
This is a review of my new favorite podcast. It is a cross between books and the radio show style podcasts you might be used to. About once a week, the show presents a story with an introduction. While billed as Science Fiction, which brings to mind Captain Kirk or Asimov's three robotics laws, it also includes fantasy and even a little horror. I'd like it to be pure Science Fiction, just as i was horrified to see that other stuff on the SciFi channel. In general, i'm not a big horror fan. However, the host, Stephen Eley (whose name barely appears on his site - at least he gives himself credit when he reads), exercises some discretion. He says that the stories have to be entertaining. Yes, he more or less admits that he doesn't know what that means, but he does seem to have the same idea i have on that topic.
Episodes aren't exactly some preset length, but tend to be under 40 minutes. OK, the most recent is the longest, at 53 minutes. This fits my commute really well. Long shows are harder to consume, which was the reason i stopped listening to the Pod Father. There are also FLASH episodes, often under five minutes, and reviews of other SciFi - movies and books mostly. I really like the FLASH episodes. The format is so short that there isn't time to be bored. They tend to be very, very dense. The ideas are packed together. Why water the garden with a squirt gun if you can get a fire hose?
Maybe it's the sound quality. But I'm not reminded of the 50's radio shows, like The Green Hornet. This is better. And, unlike radio, one can listen to a show when one has the time, pause it if needed, back up and re-listen to a bit one missed, due to traffic or something.
I haven't listened to all the back issues yet. I'm still catching up. Sometimes i'll start a show, get on the treadmill and do a run until the show is over. Don't bother checking the time or distance. It'll be enough, whatever it turns out to be.
Feeling trapped? There's no escape? Try Escape Pod.
This is a review of my new favorite podcast. It is a cross between books and the radio show style podcasts you might be used to. About once a week, the show presents a story with an introduction. While billed as Science Fiction, which brings to mind Captain Kirk or Asimov's three robotics laws, it also includes fantasy and even a little horror. I'd like it to be pure Science Fiction, just as i was horrified to see that other stuff on the SciFi channel. In general, i'm not a big horror fan. However, the host, Stephen Eley (whose name barely appears on his site - at least he gives himself credit when he reads), exercises some discretion. He says that the stories have to be entertaining. Yes, he more or less admits that he doesn't know what that means, but he does seem to have the same idea i have on that topic.
Episodes aren't exactly some preset length, but tend to be under 40 minutes. OK, the most recent is the longest, at 53 minutes. This fits my commute really well. Long shows are harder to consume, which was the reason i stopped listening to the Pod Father. There are also FLASH episodes, often under five minutes, and reviews of other SciFi - movies and books mostly. I really like the FLASH episodes. The format is so short that there isn't time to be bored. They tend to be very, very dense. The ideas are packed together. Why water the garden with a squirt gun if you can get a fire hose?
Maybe it's the sound quality. But I'm not reminded of the 50's radio shows, like The Green Hornet. This is better. And, unlike radio, one can listen to a show when one has the time, pause it if needed, back up and re-listen to a bit one missed, due to traffic or something.
I haven't listened to all the back issues yet. I'm still catching up. Sometimes i'll start a show, get on the treadmill and do a run until the show is over. Don't bother checking the time or distance. It'll be enough, whatever it turns out to be.
Feeling trapped? There's no escape? Try Escape Pod.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Lawn Mower Man
A couple years ago, there was a set of tips for saving gas. It started with giving your lawn mower a tune up. I don't know about you, but last year my lawn mower used a gallon of gas - for the entire season. So, even if a tune up resulted in increasing fuel efficiency by 100%, at most, a gallon of gas per year could be saved. This is totally negligible, even if every lawn mower in the nation received such a tune up. Now, there's nothing wrong with maintenance. I'm all about that.
Or am i? This season, my six year old lawn mower has given up the ghost. It's some sort of carburetor problem. I can squirt gas directly into the carburetor, and it will start, and run for may fifteen seconds. And, it will mow grass that whole time. Who knows what the problem is. It could be a fuel pump, or fuel filter, or any of a dozen other things. While, i could have looked at the problem over the winter (there were signs of this coming last fall), the fact is, the lawn needed mowing today, and there just isn't time to do anything about it.
I went to the store. For $100, one can get a 3.5 hp mower like the one that died. For $100, one can get a non-motorized push reel mower. So, what are the pros and cons of each?
Well, the gas powered mower is easier to use. Pull the chord, push it around, and it will do most of the work actually cutting the grass. For the most part, it cuts everything. And who cares if there are branches or rocks or whatever - the mower will chop it up and continue on.
The push reel mower provides more exercise. When the grass is very high (as it was this morning), it takes multiple passes to get the job done. Further, aren't very good when there is more than one species of grass, and in particular, it isn't very good with dandelions. I'm cool with that - i'd rather have dandelions than grass anyway. The push reel mower is also quieter. One can wear an iPod and listen to music or podcasts while mowing the lawn. One can mow early in the morning without irritating the neighbors. Maybe even late a night. Though it should be cleaned and oiled, it doesn't have to be fueled - ever. So, that once a summer trip to the gas station with the gas can is a thing of the past. Oh, yes, it saves that one gallon a year. The entire gallon. The push reel mower is also slightly smaller. It takes up a little less room in the garage for storage. There are more corners it will fit into than a gas mower. It is a simpler device. So there is a better chance
that if it breaks, it will be obvious what is wrong with it, and it will be more likely to be fixable.
And this last bit is the main reason i bought it. Six years isn't enough. It isn't the money. $17 a year rent on a mower is cheap. But if we're going to do this throw away economy concept, we've got to have some sort of reasonable recycling system. Where are the lawn mower refurbishment organizations? Can the thing just be melted down and made into cars? Or does the whole thing get tossed into the land fill, gas, oil, caked on grass and everything? No one told me what to do with the old beast.
So, maybe i'll find the original instructions. Maybe i'll call them up and order a few parts. Maybe i'll get her operational again. Maybe the new push reel mower will be the backup - patiently waiting until some kid offers to cut my lawn for $10. Or maybe, due to laziness (some call it prioritization), the gas mower will collect dust for a bit until the garage space is needed for something else.
Or am i? This season, my six year old lawn mower has given up the ghost. It's some sort of carburetor problem. I can squirt gas directly into the carburetor, and it will start, and run for may fifteen seconds. And, it will mow grass that whole time. Who knows what the problem is. It could be a fuel pump, or fuel filter, or any of a dozen other things. While, i could have looked at the problem over the winter (there were signs of this coming last fall), the fact is, the lawn needed mowing today, and there just isn't time to do anything about it.
I went to the store. For $100, one can get a 3.5 hp mower like the one that died. For $100, one can get a non-motorized push reel mower. So, what are the pros and cons of each?
Well, the gas powered mower is easier to use. Pull the chord, push it around, and it will do most of the work actually cutting the grass. For the most part, it cuts everything. And who cares if there are branches or rocks or whatever - the mower will chop it up and continue on.
The push reel mower provides more exercise. When the grass is very high (as it was this morning), it takes multiple passes to get the job done. Further, aren't very good when there is more than one species of grass, and in particular, it isn't very good with dandelions. I'm cool with that - i'd rather have dandelions than grass anyway. The push reel mower is also quieter. One can wear an iPod and listen to music or podcasts while mowing the lawn. One can mow early in the morning without irritating the neighbors. Maybe even late a night. Though it should be cleaned and oiled, it doesn't have to be fueled - ever. So, that once a summer trip to the gas station with the gas can is a thing of the past. Oh, yes, it saves that one gallon a year. The entire gallon. The push reel mower is also slightly smaller. It takes up a little less room in the garage for storage. There are more corners it will fit into than a gas mower. It is a simpler device. So there is a better chance
that if it breaks, it will be obvious what is wrong with it, and it will be more likely to be fixable.
And this last bit is the main reason i bought it. Six years isn't enough. It isn't the money. $17 a year rent on a mower is cheap. But if we're going to do this throw away economy concept, we've got to have some sort of reasonable recycling system. Where are the lawn mower refurbishment organizations? Can the thing just be melted down and made into cars? Or does the whole thing get tossed into the land fill, gas, oil, caked on grass and everything? No one told me what to do with the old beast.
So, maybe i'll find the original instructions. Maybe i'll call them up and order a few parts. Maybe i'll get her operational again. Maybe the new push reel mower will be the backup - patiently waiting until some kid offers to cut my lawn for $10. Or maybe, due to laziness (some call it prioritization), the gas mower will collect dust for a bit until the garage space is needed for something else.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Life on one end of the Belle curve
According to the BBC news, aspartame (Nutrasweet) does not cause cancer. This is is according to a report by the EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority).
For me, that's like saying that Twinkies are fat free, or that lard has no sugar. It misses the point. I'm real down on aspartame for two reasons. One is that it appears everywhere, and is often difficult to avoid. It seems that someone thinks that everyone on Earth needs it. The other is that i get what amounts to an allergic reaction to it. If my tongue becomes just wet with a diet Coke, i get a six hour migraine headache. That's a day ruining event.
That's if i'm lucky. So far, i've been lucky. I've heard that this stuff can cause strokes for some people. This is easy enough to believe, from my perspective.
So, when i'm not at home, my diet drink of choice is water. But i have to make sure it doesn't go through one of those multi button spigots. Any residual diet drink in the spigot would get into my drink, ruining my day.
This issue is bigger than me, and bigger than aspartame. The real problem is that mass production markets like to push narrow sets of products on the entire population. It seems OK to ignore the ten or fifteen percent of the population for which the product is useless. And entire industries think this way. So, something like 15% of the population is left handed. Yet 95% of camcorders are very much right handed only. The other 5% are sort of awkward ambidextrous designs. There aren't any left handed camcorders available. At the store, there may be 30 camcorder models to choose from. Presumably, each model gets about 3% of the market. While a left handed model could sweep up 15% of the market, there aren't any. People are built from a code that produces variation. The belle curves are wide. So there are adults who are too short or tall or fat for any production car. They're stuck.
For me, that's like saying that Twinkies are fat free, or that lard has no sugar. It misses the point. I'm real down on aspartame for two reasons. One is that it appears everywhere, and is often difficult to avoid. It seems that someone thinks that everyone on Earth needs it. The other is that i get what amounts to an allergic reaction to it. If my tongue becomes just wet with a diet Coke, i get a six hour migraine headache. That's a day ruining event.
That's if i'm lucky. So far, i've been lucky. I've heard that this stuff can cause strokes for some people. This is easy enough to believe, from my perspective.
So, when i'm not at home, my diet drink of choice is water. But i have to make sure it doesn't go through one of those multi button spigots. Any residual diet drink in the spigot would get into my drink, ruining my day.
This issue is bigger than me, and bigger than aspartame. The real problem is that mass production markets like to push narrow sets of products on the entire population. It seems OK to ignore the ten or fifteen percent of the population for which the product is useless. And entire industries think this way. So, something like 15% of the population is left handed. Yet 95% of camcorders are very much right handed only. The other 5% are sort of awkward ambidextrous designs. There aren't any left handed camcorders available. At the store, there may be 30 camcorder models to choose from. Presumably, each model gets about 3% of the market. While a left handed model could sweep up 15% of the market, there aren't any. People are built from a code that produces variation. The belle curves are wide. So there are adults who are too short or tall or fat for any production car. They're stuck.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
What A Gas
In February, i was paying about $2.10 per gallon of gas, and now it's over $2.75, and that makes me pissed (it's a 30% hike in two months). Yet, i just entered the recent entries into my gas program, and discovered that my most recent three tanks of gas delivered over 43 miles per gallon (18 km/liter). What's my secret?
Start with an efficient car. My 2000 Saturn SL is a smallish 4 door sedan with a smallish 1.9 liter engine and a 5 speed manual transmission. I got it cheap because it had some damage, and over 140,000 miles (225,000 km), and my friend wanted to get rid of it. I fixed up the bumpers myself, and though they are now mostly attached with bailing wire, this job has survived two accidents already (neither was my fault - in fact, i parked the car out of the way so this sort of thing wouldn't happen). The bumpers held, and the plastic quarter panels bounced back with hardly a scratch.
Then, drive a little slower. Though the speed limit is 70 MPH (112 km/hr) in much of Michigan, it is perfectly legal to drive at 60 mph (100 km/hr). So this car, which has an EPA rating of 32 MPG (13.6 km/liter) highway, normally achieves over 40 MPG (17 km/liter). Going a little slower might be thought to cost me as much as 7 minutes in my daily commute, but with traffic jams, accidents and construction, it turns out to be hard to measure. It just doesn't matter.
Since i drive about 35,000 miles (56,000 km) a year, that would be 1,094 gallons (4,141 liters) of gas per year at 32 MPG (13.6 km/liter). But at 43 MPG (18km/liter) it's only 814 gallons (3,081 liters) - a savings of 281 gallons of gas. At yesterday's $2.799 per gallon, that would be a savings of $786.50. What would you do with an extra tax free $786.50? I'd buy a telescope.
Start with an efficient car. My 2000 Saturn SL is a smallish 4 door sedan with a smallish 1.9 liter engine and a 5 speed manual transmission. I got it cheap because it had some damage, and over 140,000 miles (225,000 km), and my friend wanted to get rid of it. I fixed up the bumpers myself, and though they are now mostly attached with bailing wire, this job has survived two accidents already (neither was my fault - in fact, i parked the car out of the way so this sort of thing wouldn't happen). The bumpers held, and the plastic quarter panels bounced back with hardly a scratch.
Then, drive a little slower. Though the speed limit is 70 MPH (112 km/hr) in much of Michigan, it is perfectly legal to drive at 60 mph (100 km/hr). So this car, which has an EPA rating of 32 MPG (13.6 km/liter) highway, normally achieves over 40 MPG (17 km/liter). Going a little slower might be thought to cost me as much as 7 minutes in my daily commute, but with traffic jams, accidents and construction, it turns out to be hard to measure. It just doesn't matter.
Since i drive about 35,000 miles (56,000 km) a year, that would be 1,094 gallons (4,141 liters) of gas per year at 32 MPG (13.6 km/liter). But at 43 MPG (18km/liter) it's only 814 gallons (3,081 liters) - a savings of 281 gallons of gas. At yesterday's $2.799 per gallon, that would be a savings of $786.50. What would you do with an extra tax free $786.50? I'd buy a telescope.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Comment Spam
Well, this blog has gotten its first comment spam. One, of all things, promotes software to remove adware, of all things. At the moment, the policy is to just delete such nonsense. You might see such spam if you have some program scan the forum via an automated RSS feed checker, or if you just happen to read such comments soon after they're posted. It isn't a perfect world. There's always some jerk out there to mess things up. On the other hand, if you simply disagree with me, but manage to stay on topic, even remotely, it stays. In Monty Python's movie Life of Brian, Brian tells the crowd whose following him You don't have to follow anybody. You're all individuals!, to which the reply was from one guy who says I'm not. Or something like that. For a favorite scene, it is always a little different when i see it compared to how i remember it. Anyway, there are a few out there who will agree with me on some topics, but at those times, this blog isn't for you.
Monday, April 03, 2006
$7,834 per year
AAA has found it's costing the average person an average of $7,834 annually to drive their car.
My car costs me about $3,300 per year, about 42% of the average. My commute is just about 35,000 miles per year, which 2.3 times farther than the 15,000 miles used by AAA. So, my per-mile cost is under a fifth of the average. Is there something wrong with my math? You decide.
Well, for one, there has never been a new car in my driveway. Purchase price is a significant fraction of the cost of operating a car. Some people buy a new car every five years, and make car payments the whole time. No payments for me. After five years, these cars have little resale value, perhaps 10% on the dollar. They still often have five years or more of service left in them, just without new car smell. If new car smell is what you want, you can buy it in spray can form cheaply.
My cars get reasonably good gas mileage. They aren't hybrids - these are used cars, after all. The old car was getting 37 Miles Per Gallon (MPG), and the new one is getting 42 MPG. What cars are these? Well, in both cases, the EPA rating is 32 MPG on the highway. My trick is to drive a little slower. How much? Drive 65 MPH rather than 70 MPH. For the new car, this saves me $500 every year, in gas alone. As a bonus, speeding tickets aren't issued for people driving slightly under the limit.
Used cars are cheaper to insure. There is no need to insure a car against theft if no one wants it, and your $500 deductible exceeds the retail value of the vehicle. Getting a car with air bags, and anti-lock breaks can reduce your liability insurance as well. Why? It's safer. Buying a safer car is a feature. Using your insurance carrier to help you buy a safe car is a good idea. Crumple zones work - just look at the insurance rates. Insurance rates, unlike statistics, don't lie.
While some car manufacturers have been saying that their new automatic transmissions are just as efficient as manual transmissions, no evidence of this has crossed my path. Efficiency means more power to the ground for a given engine, and more miles per unit fuel. Both are good. Further, there is ample evidence that manual transmissions last longer than automatic transmissions. So, it is no surprise that my last three vehicles have five speed manuals.
While some car manufacturers say that their new engines are 20% more efficient than older versions, the evidence is still that 4 cylinder engines are always more efficient than 6 or 8 cylinder engines. Smaller is more efficient. That's because cruising down the highway requires less than twenty horsepower (HP), and a 100 HP peak engine delivers twenty HP more efficiently than a 300 HP peak engine.
Many of the 4 bangers have more than enough power to get you where you need to go. For example, 135 HP is more than enough to tow a boat when the car has a 5 speed manual transmission, and the driver drives conservatively. My 1988 Mazda achieved 27 MPG towing a 1700 lb boat at 55 MPH over two tanks of gas on a trip. So it is that i'm not impressed with vehicles that get less than 27 MPG with less capability. The advantage of trailers is that you don't pay for the capability when you aren't using them. This same car routinely achieves 40 MPG on highway trips.
Perhaps none of this is for you. The really cheap way to live with old cars is to know how diagnose them. This isn't easy. It takes education, observation, and more education. Doing work yourself on cars can save two thirds of the costs, sometimes much more. For example, an engine overhaul might take 20 hours, and a $150 head kit (gaskets and such). The primary cost is time. If you count your time as zero (it's a hobby), then a $1,000 job costs $150. The hidden cost is that your garage is tied up with broken vehicles rather than with keeping your car frost free through Winter and dry in the Spring. I've paid for my garage already.
At some point, the car is just too worn out to be worth further effort. When is that? Certainly, it was long ago for my 18 year old 290,000 mile Mazda. Or is it? The cost to get it on the road again may be a few hundred dollars. That's perhaps one monthly car payment for my neighbors, and much less than getting a new one. The question is will the money buy enough time? The value of the vehicle to me is much higher than it is to anyone else. I know what's wrong with it, and what it can be depended on to perform.
Yet, at some point, there is no longer value in fixing the vehicle, even for me. What then? Donate the carcass to charity? The tax incentives are small, since the book value of the car is small. There is always dismantling it, part by part, and selling the parts on EBay.
My car costs me about $3,300 per year, about 42% of the average. My commute is just about 35,000 miles per year, which 2.3 times farther than the 15,000 miles used by AAA. So, my per-mile cost is under a fifth of the average. Is there something wrong with my math? You decide.
Well, for one, there has never been a new car in my driveway. Purchase price is a significant fraction of the cost of operating a car. Some people buy a new car every five years, and make car payments the whole time. No payments for me. After five years, these cars have little resale value, perhaps 10% on the dollar. They still often have five years or more of service left in them, just without new car smell. If new car smell is what you want, you can buy it in spray can form cheaply.
My cars get reasonably good gas mileage. They aren't hybrids - these are used cars, after all. The old car was getting 37 Miles Per Gallon (MPG), and the new one is getting 42 MPG. What cars are these? Well, in both cases, the EPA rating is 32 MPG on the highway. My trick is to drive a little slower. How much? Drive 65 MPH rather than 70 MPH. For the new car, this saves me $500 every year, in gas alone. As a bonus, speeding tickets aren't issued for people driving slightly under the limit.
Used cars are cheaper to insure. There is no need to insure a car against theft if no one wants it, and your $500 deductible exceeds the retail value of the vehicle. Getting a car with air bags, and anti-lock breaks can reduce your liability insurance as well. Why? It's safer. Buying a safer car is a feature. Using your insurance carrier to help you buy a safe car is a good idea. Crumple zones work - just look at the insurance rates. Insurance rates, unlike statistics, don't lie.
While some car manufacturers have been saying that their new automatic transmissions are just as efficient as manual transmissions, no evidence of this has crossed my path. Efficiency means more power to the ground for a given engine, and more miles per unit fuel. Both are good. Further, there is ample evidence that manual transmissions last longer than automatic transmissions. So, it is no surprise that my last three vehicles have five speed manuals.
While some car manufacturers say that their new engines are 20% more efficient than older versions, the evidence is still that 4 cylinder engines are always more efficient than 6 or 8 cylinder engines. Smaller is more efficient. That's because cruising down the highway requires less than twenty horsepower (HP), and a 100 HP peak engine delivers twenty HP more efficiently than a 300 HP peak engine.
Many of the 4 bangers have more than enough power to get you where you need to go. For example, 135 HP is more than enough to tow a boat when the car has a 5 speed manual transmission, and the driver drives conservatively. My 1988 Mazda achieved 27 MPG towing a 1700 lb boat at 55 MPH over two tanks of gas on a trip. So it is that i'm not impressed with vehicles that get less than 27 MPG with less capability. The advantage of trailers is that you don't pay for the capability when you aren't using them. This same car routinely achieves 40 MPG on highway trips.
Perhaps none of this is for you. The really cheap way to live with old cars is to know how diagnose them. This isn't easy. It takes education, observation, and more education. Doing work yourself on cars can save two thirds of the costs, sometimes much more. For example, an engine overhaul might take 20 hours, and a $150 head kit (gaskets and such). The primary cost is time. If you count your time as zero (it's a hobby), then a $1,000 job costs $150. The hidden cost is that your garage is tied up with broken vehicles rather than with keeping your car frost free through Winter and dry in the Spring. I've paid for my garage already.
At some point, the car is just too worn out to be worth further effort. When is that? Certainly, it was long ago for my 18 year old 290,000 mile Mazda. Or is it? The cost to get it on the road again may be a few hundred dollars. That's perhaps one monthly car payment for my neighbors, and much less than getting a new one. The question is will the money buy enough time? The value of the vehicle to me is much higher than it is to anyone else. I know what's wrong with it, and what it can be depended on to perform.
Yet, at some point, there is no longer value in fixing the vehicle, even for me. What then? Donate the carcass to charity? The tax incentives are small, since the book value of the car is small. There is always dismantling it, part by part, and selling the parts on EBay.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Using Pricewatch Effectively
Summary: I ordered a disk drive from a small distributer, and got what i wanted, when it was expected, at the price offered - roughly half the costs elsewhere, and without rebates or other nonsense. Can't beat that with a stick.
Last week, i ordered a 160 GB hard disk through Pricewatch. I settled on an offering from a company called 3btech. They had the low bid, and are reasonably nearby. Next day delivery from a big name on-line store would have been twice as costly, as was a local store (a big chain). The idea is that instead of buying into a nationwide distribution chain, go with a mom and pop shop within the range that UPS ground can cope. 3btech happens to be about two hours by car from my house. Indeed, the disk drive was ordered on Friday afternoon, and arrived on Tuesday, as expected, and hoped.
The disk drive itself does not come from a big name company. I had never heard of White Label Magnetic Data Tech. The disk drive comes with a six month warranty, so infant death can be avoided. That's as much or more than expected elsewhere.
It turns out that i already own a Western Digital 160 GB hard disk. It's about three years old, and it has been fine. Two ideas are of note. First, disk drives are really reliable for about the age of this WD drive for 24x7 use. Second, only a small fraction of my data is on backed up somewhere. So, either the new drive will be production and the old drive the mostly-offline backup, or i'll implement software mirroring. For now, i'll use the mostly-offline backup idea.
OEM drives come with zero documentation. A sticker on the drive shows the drive selection jumper settings. Once the WD drive was set to master, and this new drive to slave, the BIOS saw them both, and Linux was happy. That's all that matters.
The new drive is identical to my Western Digital 160 GB drive in size. It has the same disk geometry. This will allow easy mirroring.
The new drive appears to be the same speed as my old one. I set them both to use 32 bit DMA transfers in my system startup with a command like:
hdparm -c 1 /dev/hda
On 3btech's web site, this White Label drive says it has a 2 MB on-disk cache, rather than the WD's 8 MB cache. Will this be an issue? No. On-drive cache hit ratios are tiny under Unix systems. The OS checks its own cache first and has much more RAM. I ran studies of this in the 1980's. On-drive caches were new, and software could query the drives for cache hit statistics. On a 9 MB RAM Unix system, a 1 MB RAM on-disk cache got quite poor cache hit ratios. One could think of the on-disk cache as the 2nd MB of cache in a 2 MB cache system. The first MB gives you most of the advantage. My Linux box has 512 MB RAM, and typically allocates over 250 MB to the disk cache. After 250 MB of cache, it matters little if there is an additional 2 MB or 8 MB. The important thing for the drive is that is has RAM for track reads and writes, and perhaps read ahead and write behind (if power reserves allow guaranteed writes through power failure). Consider that after traversing an entire mounted CD, further accesses are instant, and the drive light doesn't even light up. On-disk caches were very important for DOS, and probably important for Windows 3.x, 95, 98, and Millennium. They are probably unimportant for Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista. For best speed, go with a 15000 RPM SATA or SCSI drive, buy lots of RAM for your system, and consider RAID options. If you need speed, be prepared to pay for it. I just want space and reliability at low cost.
My requirements are for maximum space per dollar, not maximum speed. The tune2fs -l /dev/hda1 command can be used to find out how the old filesystem was built. Then, an examination of the mke2fs man page can yield other ideas. For years, my filesystems have had zero bytes reserved for root. The 5% default space requirement is, in my opinion, a pointless tax. On a 160 GB filesystem, that amounts to 8 GB. The reserve seems to be a holdover from the 4.2 BSD filesystem development studies from the early 80s. Performance tests under Linux have shown that filesystem performance is approximately the same speed when using the last 5% as it is for the rest of the drive. Another holdover is logical disk block size. The Red Hat 9 default block size is 4 KB. However, mke2fs supports the creation of filesystems with 1 KB blocks. As files are generally completely contiguous, and performance generally comes from track reads and writes, it seems reasonable that block size is irrelevant. Smaller blocks waste less space at the ends of files. The more files, the more wasted space. Finally, a quick check of the number of files (inodes) actually used can help you tune the new filesystem. Use df -i. My filesystem had 18,000,000 inodes, but used just over 1,000,000. Inodes take up space, weather used or not. Journaling is a cheap way to gain reliability. So, the command for generating the new filesystem was:
mke2fs -j -b 1024 -m 0 -N 2000000 /dev/hdb1
Once the data was copied from the old drive to the new identically sized partitions, the 6 GB partition had 1 GB more free space, and the 145 GB partition had 3 GB more free space. Compared with default values, these options yield about 7% more space, or 12 GB.
Conclusion
Great deals can be had through services like Pricewatch and low overhead vendors. Just be sure that the overhead you skip isn't overhead you need. Maybe you really need overnight delivery, vendor support, manufacturer support, or documentation. If so, my advice is to buy it. However, if you can manage to educate yourself, you can get what you want cheaper. As Harry Potter fans know, knowledge is power.
Last week, i ordered a 160 GB hard disk through Pricewatch. I settled on an offering from a company called 3btech. They had the low bid, and are reasonably nearby. Next day delivery from a big name on-line store would have been twice as costly, as was a local store (a big chain). The idea is that instead of buying into a nationwide distribution chain, go with a mom and pop shop within the range that UPS ground can cope. 3btech happens to be about two hours by car from my house. Indeed, the disk drive was ordered on Friday afternoon, and arrived on Tuesday, as expected, and hoped.
The disk drive itself does not come from a big name company. I had never heard of White Label Magnetic Data Tech. The disk drive comes with a six month warranty, so infant death can be avoided. That's as much or more than expected elsewhere.
It turns out that i already own a Western Digital 160 GB hard disk. It's about three years old, and it has been fine. Two ideas are of note. First, disk drives are really reliable for about the age of this WD drive for 24x7 use. Second, only a small fraction of my data is on backed up somewhere. So, either the new drive will be production and the old drive the mostly-offline backup, or i'll implement software mirroring. For now, i'll use the mostly-offline backup idea.
OEM drives come with zero documentation. A sticker on the drive shows the drive selection jumper settings. Once the WD drive was set to master, and this new drive to slave, the BIOS saw them both, and Linux was happy. That's all that matters.
The new drive is identical to my Western Digital 160 GB drive in size. It has the same disk geometry. This will allow easy mirroring.
The new drive appears to be the same speed as my old one. I set them both to use 32 bit DMA transfers in my system startup with a command like:
hdparm -c 1 /dev/hda
On 3btech's web site, this White Label drive says it has a 2 MB on-disk cache, rather than the WD's 8 MB cache. Will this be an issue? No. On-drive cache hit ratios are tiny under Unix systems. The OS checks its own cache first and has much more RAM. I ran studies of this in the 1980's. On-drive caches were new, and software could query the drives for cache hit statistics. On a 9 MB RAM Unix system, a 1 MB RAM on-disk cache got quite poor cache hit ratios. One could think of the on-disk cache as the 2nd MB of cache in a 2 MB cache system. The first MB gives you most of the advantage. My Linux box has 512 MB RAM, and typically allocates over 250 MB to the disk cache. After 250 MB of cache, it matters little if there is an additional 2 MB or 8 MB. The important thing for the drive is that is has RAM for track reads and writes, and perhaps read ahead and write behind (if power reserves allow guaranteed writes through power failure). Consider that after traversing an entire mounted CD, further accesses are instant, and the drive light doesn't even light up. On-disk caches were very important for DOS, and probably important for Windows 3.x, 95, 98, and Millennium. They are probably unimportant for Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista. For best speed, go with a 15000 RPM SATA or SCSI drive, buy lots of RAM for your system, and consider RAID options. If you need speed, be prepared to pay for it. I just want space and reliability at low cost.
My requirements are for maximum space per dollar, not maximum speed. The tune2fs -l /dev/hda1 command can be used to find out how the old filesystem was built. Then, an examination of the mke2fs man page can yield other ideas. For years, my filesystems have had zero bytes reserved for root. The 5% default space requirement is, in my opinion, a pointless tax. On a 160 GB filesystem, that amounts to 8 GB. The reserve seems to be a holdover from the 4.2 BSD filesystem development studies from the early 80s. Performance tests under Linux have shown that filesystem performance is approximately the same speed when using the last 5% as it is for the rest of the drive. Another holdover is logical disk block size. The Red Hat 9 default block size is 4 KB. However, mke2fs supports the creation of filesystems with 1 KB blocks. As files are generally completely contiguous, and performance generally comes from track reads and writes, it seems reasonable that block size is irrelevant. Smaller blocks waste less space at the ends of files. The more files, the more wasted space. Finally, a quick check of the number of files (inodes) actually used can help you tune the new filesystem. Use df -i. My filesystem had 18,000,000 inodes, but used just over 1,000,000. Inodes take up space, weather used or not. Journaling is a cheap way to gain reliability. So, the command for generating the new filesystem was:
mke2fs -j -b 1024 -m 0 -N 2000000 /dev/hdb1
Once the data was copied from the old drive to the new identically sized partitions, the 6 GB partition had 1 GB more free space, and the 145 GB partition had 3 GB more free space. Compared with default values, these options yield about 7% more space, or 12 GB.
Conclusion
Great deals can be had through services like Pricewatch and low overhead vendors. Just be sure that the overhead you skip isn't overhead you need. Maybe you really need overnight delivery, vendor support, manufacturer support, or documentation. If so, my advice is to buy it. However, if you can manage to educate yourself, you can get what you want cheaper. As Harry Potter fans know, knowledge is power.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Caffeine
I have a high tolerance to pain. I don't even notice it. When noticed, i look for some cause and solution. Observation. Almost five years ago, the pain in my right shoulder was bad enough that I could not extend the arm higher than horizontal. I still reach for things on high shelves with my left hand. I didn't complain, but did notice that it was somewhat better on Sundays, and best on Monday mornings. What could that mean? Well, i'd experienced caffeine withdrawal on Sundays. I didn't just get headaches because i was at church. And when my Mt. Dew consumption was reduced, they went away. So, i went cold turkey, and 10 months later, was restored to full movement and the pain was gone. Arthritis in the hands and feet which i'd barely noticed, back pain, shoulder pain, all of it.
And i won't go back. Why would i grab a Dew if it will cause such misery? The reason is that caffeine is rather addictive after all, and by comparison, i have no will power to speak of. But i'm back on the wagon again, and though my hands are better, i know my right foot won't recover until August.
The current additional experiment is to see if non-impact exercise will accelerate the healing process.
And i won't go back. Why would i grab a Dew if it will cause such misery? The reason is that caffeine is rather addictive after all, and by comparison, i have no will power to speak of. But i'm back on the wagon again, and though my hands are better, i know my right foot won't recover until August.
The current additional experiment is to see if non-impact exercise will accelerate the healing process.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Weapons of Math Instruction
~(AP Newswire)
At New York's Kennedy airport today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator.
At a morning press conference, the attorney general said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.
"Al-gebra is a fearsome cult," a Justice Department spokesman said. "They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'there are 3 sides to every triangle'."
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes"
At New York's Kennedy airport today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator.
At a morning press conference, the attorney general said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.
"Al-gebra is a fearsome cult," a Justice Department spokesman said. "They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'there are 3 sides to every triangle'."
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes"
Thursday, March 09, 2006
The GNU patch disk
Feh. A database import process at work has been failing on a record that some upstream user has found a way to corrupt. They've managed to pick the delimiter that the file format uses to separate fields in a data record. The delimiter in question is the seldom used ASCII character '~' (tilde). It has been used to indicate the German language double 's' character. At least this is my guess, and even this guess strains the limits of my knowledge of the German language. I confess to being one of those Americans who only really knows one language, and, by the way, thinks that the word American refers only to citizens of the United States. If i meant Western Hemispherian then that's what i'd have said. Thank you very much.
Back to the problem. It is a large multinational corporation that i work for. So finding who can fix this in the upstream feed is going to take some time. In the mean time, i need a fix for my users. Fortunately, there is a very unique string in the broken field, and the data does not change from day to day. A quick substitution filter might provide a temporary fix.
So, i copied the data file to my development box, wrote and tested a quick Unix sed script - and it worked like a champ. I had the foresight to test this script on the production machine, but not installed in the production area. It failed. The new file differed from the original file by more than just the one record. Many, many records were changed. Further, it wasn't immediately clear what exactly was different about the records. A quick check of the file sizes showed that the converted file was much smaller than the original.
Feh. The original file contains null characters (the ASCII code is zero), and the Unix command, sed, was silently stripping them. No one asked it to do this.
So, why did it work on my development system? Simple. The production machine is a big expensive Sun box running Solaris. The development machine is a PC that is so old that it doesn't run modern Windows very well, and so no one wanted it. I installed Linux on it. The Linux version of sed has no bug dealing with nulls. It has no line length limitations. The version of grep on Linux was easily capable of finding the offending record. It would be the one with 43 tilde characters in it, scattered here and there. The Solaris version doesn't even get started.
As an aside, i've been asked, by managers, etc., why i have two PCs. Well, i need Linux to get any actual work done. Multiple times per day i perform tasks under Linux that would take days under Windows, at best. Look at my bill rate and figure out how many such days pays for a PC. I'd like to get rid of Windows, really. But, last i checked, the version of Lotus Notes for Linux doesn't have all the functionality that the Windows version has (is IBM listening?). And, the corporation has a few other tools that are only supported on Windows. In particular, many of the internal web sites are optimized for Internet Explorer, the only single platform browser (now that the Mac version has been orphaned). Why the corporation has an explicit policy of locking itself into using the buggiest and least secure operating system in common use anywhere on Earth is beyond me. Was there a golden handshake somewhere in the past? Is Microsoft marketing that good?
Production is on Solaris 8. Yes, i know, version 10 of Solaris is out, and the corporation has started using it for new projects. This system could be upgraded, but such upgrades are expensive in time and effort, and this production system is being rewritten from scratch piece by piece. In another year, the plug will be pulled on this system. We called it a Sundown.
One of the things that i really like about Solaris is the backward compatibility delivered. Utilities like grep and sed seem to have undergone zero changes since the early eighties. In an industry where six months is also an eternity, this is software from the previous millenia. So scripts that worked back then still work. This is a good thing. But, the bugs haven't been fixed. This behavior with nulls is a bug. I know, Rich Kulawiec said that Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature. This feature has many legs. The grep bug where it never finishes compiling the regular expression is also a bug. The easy fix would be to use the versions of these utilities that come with Linux. They are open source, and freely usable. Sun could easily simply use them. Why don't they? For one, they have been rewritten, from scratch, and may not have the exact behavior of the old versions. For example, the new regular expressions have been expanded in power. Can it be proven that all old valid regular expressions will perform as the old versions performed? A dozen years or so of experience with the GNU utilities shows that these fears are largely unfounded. The new utilities have many new features, and people will come to depend on them. This could make moving scripts from newer to older systems more difficult. A minor point, and progress can't be made allowing this point.
When one does not have backward compatibility, for example when using a language that keeps changing, like Visual Basic, or the early days of Java, one eventually finds that one is spending so much time upgrading, that no new code can be written. This is unacceptable. In contrast to MicroSoft, Sun does not require a forced march of frequent upgrades on their customers. If it were my decision, the first time such an upgrade was forced, i'd upgrade off of Windows. That would have been before 1995. Yet companies follow this logic all the time. They'll even lease systems rather than buy them, forcing multiple data and code migrations for production systems that do not require the expanded performance and capacity of the newer systems. What a waste of time and money.
Sun does offer installation packages that have the Linux utilities. They work. My company hasn't installed them. I don't have permission to install them.
The last version of Solaris that i used that i really liked was version 7 Solaris running on a Pentium II (Solaris x86). It wasn't better than version 8. It is just that i had administrative rights to the box (root), and over the course of a year, i installed almost all the open source utilities that i had come to expect from Unix (from Linux use). Sun provided handy packages for painless installation (and still does - thanks, Sun). The Solaris x86 system had the feature that when i compiled something and got it to run, it would compile and run on a Sparc based Solaris system without modification, every time. However, the time it took to get all this stuff installed was aggravating, and i often wished i'd just installed Linux from the start.
Without upgrades of some kind, any product stagnates. Frequent upgrades are expensive in support. So, infrequent upgrades is the current goal. Backward compatibility is important. However, the bugs really need to be addressed. And, no, it isn't good enough to load Solaris, then apply theGNU patches GNU versions of these utilities, perhaps having path order dependent behavior. Solaris needs to make a clean break from the hoards of bugs and limitations of the old utilities, in the name of reduced customer headaches. These bugs include arbitrary line length limits, troubles handling characters with the high bit set, troubles handling null characters, problems coping with complicated, or just long, regular expressions, and on, and on, and on.
The solution, by the way, was to use Perl. But Perl is one of those new fangled open source products. Though it is non-standard for this company, it is required for the application, and so was available. It may not be there next time.
Back to the problem. It is a large multinational corporation that i work for. So finding who can fix this in the upstream feed is going to take some time. In the mean time, i need a fix for my users. Fortunately, there is a very unique string in the broken field, and the data does not change from day to day. A quick substitution filter might provide a temporary fix.
So, i copied the data file to my development box, wrote and tested a quick Unix sed script - and it worked like a champ. I had the foresight to test this script on the production machine, but not installed in the production area. It failed. The new file differed from the original file by more than just the one record. Many, many records were changed. Further, it wasn't immediately clear what exactly was different about the records. A quick check of the file sizes showed that the converted file was much smaller than the original.
Feh. The original file contains null characters (the ASCII code is zero), and the Unix command, sed, was silently stripping them. No one asked it to do this.
So, why did it work on my development system? Simple. The production machine is a big expensive Sun box running Solaris. The development machine is a PC that is so old that it doesn't run modern Windows very well, and so no one wanted it. I installed Linux on it. The Linux version of sed has no bug dealing with nulls. It has no line length limitations. The version of grep on Linux was easily capable of finding the offending record. It would be the one with 43 tilde characters in it, scattered here and there. The Solaris version doesn't even get started.
As an aside, i've been asked, by managers, etc., why i have two PCs. Well, i need Linux to get any actual work done. Multiple times per day i perform tasks under Linux that would take days under Windows, at best. Look at my bill rate and figure out how many such days pays for a PC. I'd like to get rid of Windows, really. But, last i checked, the version of Lotus Notes for Linux doesn't have all the functionality that the Windows version has (is IBM listening?). And, the corporation has a few other tools that are only supported on Windows. In particular, many of the internal web sites are optimized for Internet Explorer, the only single platform browser (now that the Mac version has been orphaned). Why the corporation has an explicit policy of locking itself into using the buggiest and least secure operating system in common use anywhere on Earth is beyond me. Was there a golden handshake somewhere in the past? Is Microsoft marketing that good?
Production is on Solaris 8. Yes, i know, version 10 of Solaris is out, and the corporation has started using it for new projects. This system could be upgraded, but such upgrades are expensive in time and effort, and this production system is being rewritten from scratch piece by piece. In another year, the plug will be pulled on this system. We called it a Sundown.
One of the things that i really like about Solaris is the backward compatibility delivered. Utilities like grep and sed seem to have undergone zero changes since the early eighties. In an industry where six months is also an eternity, this is software from the previous millenia. So scripts that worked back then still work. This is a good thing. But, the bugs haven't been fixed. This behavior with nulls is a bug. I know, Rich Kulawiec said that Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature. This feature has many legs. The grep bug where it never finishes compiling the regular expression is also a bug. The easy fix would be to use the versions of these utilities that come with Linux. They are open source, and freely usable. Sun could easily simply use them. Why don't they? For one, they have been rewritten, from scratch, and may not have the exact behavior of the old versions. For example, the new regular expressions have been expanded in power. Can it be proven that all old valid regular expressions will perform as the old versions performed? A dozen years or so of experience with the GNU utilities shows that these fears are largely unfounded. The new utilities have many new features, and people will come to depend on them. This could make moving scripts from newer to older systems more difficult. A minor point, and progress can't be made allowing this point.
When one does not have backward compatibility, for example when using a language that keeps changing, like Visual Basic, or the early days of Java, one eventually finds that one is spending so much time upgrading, that no new code can be written. This is unacceptable. In contrast to MicroSoft, Sun does not require a forced march of frequent upgrades on their customers. If it were my decision, the first time such an upgrade was forced, i'd upgrade off of Windows. That would have been before 1995. Yet companies follow this logic all the time. They'll even lease systems rather than buy them, forcing multiple data and code migrations for production systems that do not require the expanded performance and capacity of the newer systems. What a waste of time and money.
Sun does offer installation packages that have the Linux utilities. They work. My company hasn't installed them. I don't have permission to install them.
The last version of Solaris that i used that i really liked was version 7 Solaris running on a Pentium II (Solaris x86). It wasn't better than version 8. It is just that i had administrative rights to the box (root), and over the course of a year, i installed almost all the open source utilities that i had come to expect from Unix (from Linux use). Sun provided handy packages for painless installation (and still does - thanks, Sun). The Solaris x86 system had the feature that when i compiled something and got it to run, it would compile and run on a Sparc based Solaris system without modification, every time. However, the time it took to get all this stuff installed was aggravating, and i often wished i'd just installed Linux from the start.
Without upgrades of some kind, any product stagnates. Frequent upgrades are expensive in support. So, infrequent upgrades is the current goal. Backward compatibility is important. However, the bugs really need to be addressed. And, no, it isn't good enough to load Solaris, then apply the
The solution, by the way, was to use Perl. But Perl is one of those new fangled open source products. Though it is non-standard for this company, it is required for the application, and so was available. It may not be there next time.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
COSMOS
I'm currently watching the 2000 DVD version of Sagan's (1980) COSMOS. As an educated layman defending science and debunking stupidity, i have to say that Sagan was really good at this stuff, and having a pro do it is a good thing. Further, it is in the scientist's own interest to make sure science is understood by the masses. Much of the funding for science comes from the public.
Of late, i've come to be of the opinion that i've been quite ineffectual in debunking the stupid. Coming down like a ton of bricks has the same effect that Bible thumpers had on me while i was growing up - which is none. I have to admit that all i've done is look like i'm trying to sound smart, when the smartest i've ever been was when i was asking stupid questions. What does seem to work is teaching using the audience's vocabulary, and using compassion. What you really need to avoid doing is saying, "i'm really smart, and these are the fact." You need to say, "This is the process that scientists find works the best." So, when an ID'er says that Carbon 14 dating isn't any good for talking meaningfully about T-Rex, i agree, and state that there are several lines of evidence that, though they include radio dating techniques that aren't Carbon dating, they also include stratification and other techniques, which, when combined, yield answers that are consistent with each other, and lend confidence to the results. Then i use an example i really know about: that the 1998 result in which the team states that the Universe we live in is accelerating apart at an increasing rate was delayed while they rechecked their process in several ways to avoid saying something that was wrong. It was an extraordinary claim, and such things demand extraordinary evidence. And it was extraordinary. It wasn't one of the three Freedman models that the Universe must be. And, yes, this result could be wrong. And yes, there is continuing study.
Easy ways for scientists to promote their causes are to write blogs, and when they complete some task, do a phone interview with a podcaster. Many of the science podcasts are made by educated laymen who have the time to figure out how to assemble podcasts and distribute them. They need content. The scientist has content that needs to get out.
Of late, i've come to be of the opinion that i've been quite ineffectual in debunking the stupid. Coming down like a ton of bricks has the same effect that Bible thumpers had on me while i was growing up - which is none. I have to admit that all i've done is look like i'm trying to sound smart, when the smartest i've ever been was when i was asking stupid questions. What does seem to work is teaching using the audience's vocabulary, and using compassion. What you really need to avoid doing is saying, "i'm really smart, and these are the fact." You need to say, "This is the process that scientists find works the best." So, when an ID'er says that Carbon 14 dating isn't any good for talking meaningfully about T-Rex, i agree, and state that there are several lines of evidence that, though they include radio dating techniques that aren't Carbon dating, they also include stratification and other techniques, which, when combined, yield answers that are consistent with each other, and lend confidence to the results. Then i use an example i really know about: that the 1998 result in which the team states that the Universe we live in is accelerating apart at an increasing rate was delayed while they rechecked their process in several ways to avoid saying something that was wrong. It was an extraordinary claim, and such things demand extraordinary evidence. And it was extraordinary. It wasn't one of the three Freedman models that the Universe must be. And, yes, this result could be wrong. And yes, there is continuing study.
Easy ways for scientists to promote their causes are to write blogs, and when they complete some task, do a phone interview with a podcaster. Many of the science podcasts are made by educated laymen who have the time to figure out how to assemble podcasts and distribute them. They need content. The scientist has content that needs to get out.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Growing up
What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to become so old that i can plan my own surprise birthday party.
I want to become so old that i can plan my own surprise birthday party.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Shadows
Orson Scott Card's books Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Giant continue the Enderverse's Bean fork. Card continues to have good ideas at a reasonable rate. Have i mentioned that what seems to draw me to a story is the ideas? Dense is good. The story changes as the characters age. Bean had already saved the Earth in Ender's Shadow, and now helps the Hegemon unite the world under a peaceful democratic government. Don't expect a surprise ending - that is repeatedly telegraphed. The surprises happen during the stories, early and often. Though Shadow of the Giant has huge ties to some future story, which Card seems to have designed, i'm not aware of any such story. OK, so Shadow of the Giant came out in 2005, which wasn't that long ago. All I have yet to read of the series are Children of the Mind, First Meetings, and perhaps the short story version of Ender's Shadow. This last, since it is available in clear text, is something that my computer can read to me in the car. It has already been rendered as audio, and awaits a slot between podcasts.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Back Pain
My experience with real quacks had its crescendo when my wife was looking for relief from chronic back pain. She bought books, a very bright light, various medicines, etc. I wasn't too critical, since my HMO was paying for most of it. Finally, she got a membership in a health club and tried every exercise they offered. This, unfortunately, was NOT paid for by the HMO. After six months, it turned out that twenty minutes on a treadmill gave her 'good back days'. All other days were 'bad back days'.
When the membership was about to expire, she complained that it was expensive, and it consumed the whole morning. Drive to the club. Wait for one of the treadmills to free up, run, shower, drive home. Feh. It made me tired to just hear it. I asked how much the membership was, and decided to check treadmill prices at Sears. Sears was the low bid. A new treadmill cost less than a six month membership. It has been over ten years, we wore out the belt (it was replaceable). Amazingly, I recently picked up a completely working exercise unit that a neighbor left in the trash.
We never had a doctor of any kind suggest exercise.
When the membership was about to expire, she complained that it was expensive, and it consumed the whole morning. Drive to the club. Wait for one of the treadmills to free up, run, shower, drive home. Feh. It made me tired to just hear it. I asked how much the membership was, and decided to check treadmill prices at Sears. Sears was the low bid. A new treadmill cost less than a six month membership. It has been over ten years, we wore out the belt (it was replaceable). Amazingly, I recently picked up a completely working exercise unit that a neighbor left in the trash.
We never had a doctor of any kind suggest exercise.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Shopgirl
Steve Martin's Shopgirl is available at the local library on audio CD. The cover says something about a movie. Perhaps they seeded libraries with the audio to promote the movie. You know, generate excitement, and word of mouth advertising. Word of mouth is very powerful. Did you know that Star Wars was released as an audio book before the first movie? I'm not sure that I know this still, but there is evidence that it played out that way.
The book is short. It comes on only four CDs, and of a possible total run length of over five hours, it comes to three hours, thirty seven minutes and nineteen seconds, give or take. By comparison, most of the Tarzan books are eight hours, and the Dune prequels total eighty hours. So this book will only yield a couple days entertainment. However, the book is mercifully short. Not because it is dull, quite the opposite. The humor comes at machine gun speed, every few seconds. The humor is all irony and biting sarcasm. The sarcasm bites all the harder because it seems impossible for the listener to avoid identifying with the worst aspects of each character in turn. Though, if asked if I identify with anyone, I'll deny it. And I've never told a lie in my entire life. If pushed, there's always plausible deniability - how would I know if I identified with it?
The story itself is mostly about character and relationship and sex. Despite graphic descriptions of intimate encounters, it manages to avoid being racy. That might be the sarcasm, or the constant pounding on the theme that these people are all nearly unbelievably pathetic. Only nearly unbelievable because, well after all, one must identify with just these traits.
Mr. Martin reads the book in an entirely competent way. Not a surprise, he wrote it, and he has demonstrated time and again that he is a competent actor. Though humor is everywhere, there are no belly laughs. While listening, I wear a vague smirk which could just as easily be interpreted as a smile or a wince. The whole thing would be preaching, but the humor just manages to prevent it from taking itself too seriously. The narration isn't full of life. The subject is pathetic, which prevents that sort of delivery.
So who would sit there and take it? I would. Show me cartoons lampooning the most sacred bits of my religion, and rather than riot, I'll likely respond, thank you. And who knows if Mr. Martin would take that as the compliment it is intended as, or if he'd be deeply insulted as if wounded in kind. It doesn't matter. I can't hear your response either, and I'm not bothered that I get so few comments on the blog. I don't care if it is because no one reads it, or if it is because no one thinks it is a conversation opener. If you think this is a review, know that I don't care if you like it, just that you know if it is for you. The surprise ending isn't here, so you are still free to read it yourself. In fact, i haven't yet heard the surprise ending, so i haven't accidentally given anything away.
Even I couldn't just sit there and listen to the whole thing at one go. At breaks, I imagine where the story will go, and some of my guesses are reasonably accurate, even when they completely miss the mark. It should be predictable, but fails. In this case, failure is a good thing.
I'm not offended. I take the book personally, but am not offended. Perhaps that is why it is so difficult to cause me offense. It is hard to imagine how that might be done. The amazing thing is that it has been done, once or twice.
The book is short. It comes on only four CDs, and of a possible total run length of over five hours, it comes to three hours, thirty seven minutes and nineteen seconds, give or take. By comparison, most of the Tarzan books are eight hours, and the Dune prequels total eighty hours. So this book will only yield a couple days entertainment. However, the book is mercifully short. Not because it is dull, quite the opposite. The humor comes at machine gun speed, every few seconds. The humor is all irony and biting sarcasm. The sarcasm bites all the harder because it seems impossible for the listener to avoid identifying with the worst aspects of each character in turn. Though, if asked if I identify with anyone, I'll deny it. And I've never told a lie in my entire life. If pushed, there's always plausible deniability - how would I know if I identified with it?
The story itself is mostly about character and relationship and sex. Despite graphic descriptions of intimate encounters, it manages to avoid being racy. That might be the sarcasm, or the constant pounding on the theme that these people are all nearly unbelievably pathetic. Only nearly unbelievable because, well after all, one must identify with just these traits.
Mr. Martin reads the book in an entirely competent way. Not a surprise, he wrote it, and he has demonstrated time and again that he is a competent actor. Though humor is everywhere, there are no belly laughs. While listening, I wear a vague smirk which could just as easily be interpreted as a smile or a wince. The whole thing would be preaching, but the humor just manages to prevent it from taking itself too seriously. The narration isn't full of life. The subject is pathetic, which prevents that sort of delivery.
So who would sit there and take it? I would. Show me cartoons lampooning the most sacred bits of my religion, and rather than riot, I'll likely respond, thank you. And who knows if Mr. Martin would take that as the compliment it is intended as, or if he'd be deeply insulted as if wounded in kind. It doesn't matter. I can't hear your response either, and I'm not bothered that I get so few comments on the blog. I don't care if it is because no one reads it, or if it is because no one thinks it is a conversation opener. If you think this is a review, know that I don't care if you like it, just that you know if it is for you. The surprise ending isn't here, so you are still free to read it yourself. In fact, i haven't yet heard the surprise ending, so i haven't accidentally given anything away.
Even I couldn't just sit there and listen to the whole thing at one go. At breaks, I imagine where the story will go, and some of my guesses are reasonably accurate, even when they completely miss the mark. It should be predictable, but fails. In this case, failure is a good thing.
I'm not offended. I take the book personally, but am not offended. Perhaps that is why it is so difficult to cause me offense. It is hard to imagine how that might be done. The amazing thing is that it has been done, once or twice.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Education
Richard Cohen of the Washington Post wrote this essay. I won't debate Richard here. He knows the problems with his arguments. He conveys sympathy.
In response, Gary Stix, at Scientific American wrote this less sympathetic one.
For me, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be - not half full or half empty.
One can blame the student for not working hard enough or being smart enough all one wants. One can blame the teachers too. One can blame the system, the President, the school board. It doesn't change anything. However, it turns out that there are superior teaching techniques. My math skills happen to be excellent, and as an engineer, I depend on them. But when I was a kid I took piano lessons for three years before dropping it. I had no idea why I was making so little progress. I didn't even know that was happening, I was just frustrated, and quit.
In my forties, it became partly my job to help my son with his education. When his arithmetic was falling behind, I taught him the Soroban (Japanese abacus) and a variant of finger math where one can add and subtract two digit numbers on one's fingers. His math came up to snuff in a couple months, and permanently. This is a technique that, when I was in high school, allowed me to perform twenty digit mental arithmetic - for example, it took about a minute to multiply two ten digit numbers and get a twenty digit answer. And, without the technique, I couldn't remember twenty digits.
My wife got my son into Suzuki Violin, and more recently Suzuki Piano. As a parent teacher for both, it has become clear that the general teaching methods and techniques are clearly superior to what I struggled through as a kid. There's nothing wrong with my dexterity or aptitude, and if I'd had the opportunity to learn music this way, I have no doubt I'd be considered a music savant now. Even now, it's clear that just a few years of study will improve my performance to much more enjoyable levels. It isn't too late, and I expect thirty or more years of enjoyment to come.
There are two keys to these teaching and performance techniques. And they are the same as each other. The first is that the material is broken down into very short consumable parts. That allows steady progress with minimal frustration. The barrier to entry is lower. More students will be able to get it. Everyone will get it faster, and learn it better. The second is that the techniques themselves are made up of these simple ideas, put together. They really work.
For example, in the Soroban, there are ten lessons to learn addition. Each takes about five minutes and can be explained in one or two sentences. There is then about a week's worth of practice, maybe twenty minutes a day. In the resulting addition, there is a simple set of steps. When there is a carry to handle, it is handled right away, and the procedure mechanically takes care of it. At any moment, there is only one thing to remember, and one next thing to do, and it is obvious. The result is addition that is quick and reliable. It isn't that important that it be quick. What is important is that it is reliable. If the answer is off by one, it is still wrong. The student knows if their answer is wrong, and it is frustrating, which leads to failure, which leads to more failure. So, this technique is simple, produces the right result every time that the procedure is followed, at least in contrast to doing arithmetic on paper as taught in school. So, it is easier to learn and less frustrating to use. So, fear of math vanishes.
Algebra is built on arithmetic. If the arithmetic is easy, algebra becomes that much easier.
These techniques have been available for more than fifty years. They are already in wide spread, but not universal, practice. They invariably show their superiority. By comparison, the teaching techniques used today for nearly all education looks like the teachers are doing whatever the first things that come into their heads. It's stupid. As great as these techniques are for subjects such as music and math, the general concepts are applicable to a wide variety of fields of study. If this has been done, I'm not aware of it. We need to be smart about teaching, and not just for math.
It is my opinion that algebra should be a high school diploma requirement. The diploma should mean something.
In response, Gary Stix, at Scientific American wrote this less sympathetic one.
For me, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be - not half full or half empty.One can blame the student for not working hard enough or being smart enough all one wants. One can blame the teachers too. One can blame the system, the President, the school board. It doesn't change anything. However, it turns out that there are superior teaching techniques. My math skills happen to be excellent, and as an engineer, I depend on them. But when I was a kid I took piano lessons for three years before dropping it. I had no idea why I was making so little progress. I didn't even know that was happening, I was just frustrated, and quit.
In my forties, it became partly my job to help my son with his education. When his arithmetic was falling behind, I taught him the Soroban (Japanese abacus) and a variant of finger math where one can add and subtract two digit numbers on one's fingers. His math came up to snuff in a couple months, and permanently. This is a technique that, when I was in high school, allowed me to perform twenty digit mental arithmetic - for example, it took about a minute to multiply two ten digit numbers and get a twenty digit answer. And, without the technique, I couldn't remember twenty digits.
My wife got my son into Suzuki Violin, and more recently Suzuki Piano. As a parent teacher for both, it has become clear that the general teaching methods and techniques are clearly superior to what I struggled through as a kid. There's nothing wrong with my dexterity or aptitude, and if I'd had the opportunity to learn music this way, I have no doubt I'd be considered a music savant now. Even now, it's clear that just a few years of study will improve my performance to much more enjoyable levels. It isn't too late, and I expect thirty or more years of enjoyment to come.
There are two keys to these teaching and performance techniques. And they are the same as each other. The first is that the material is broken down into very short consumable parts. That allows steady progress with minimal frustration. The barrier to entry is lower. More students will be able to get it. Everyone will get it faster, and learn it better. The second is that the techniques themselves are made up of these simple ideas, put together. They really work.
For example, in the Soroban, there are ten lessons to learn addition. Each takes about five minutes and can be explained in one or two sentences. There is then about a week's worth of practice, maybe twenty minutes a day. In the resulting addition, there is a simple set of steps. When there is a carry to handle, it is handled right away, and the procedure mechanically takes care of it. At any moment, there is only one thing to remember, and one next thing to do, and it is obvious. The result is addition that is quick and reliable. It isn't that important that it be quick. What is important is that it is reliable. If the answer is off by one, it is still wrong. The student knows if their answer is wrong, and it is frustrating, which leads to failure, which leads to more failure. So, this technique is simple, produces the right result every time that the procedure is followed, at least in contrast to doing arithmetic on paper as taught in school. So, it is easier to learn and less frustrating to use. So, fear of math vanishes.
Algebra is built on arithmetic. If the arithmetic is easy, algebra becomes that much easier.
These techniques have been available for more than fifty years. They are already in wide spread, but not universal, practice. They invariably show their superiority. By comparison, the teaching techniques used today for nearly all education looks like the teachers are doing whatever the first things that come into their heads. It's stupid. As great as these techniques are for subjects such as music and math, the general concepts are applicable to a wide variety of fields of study. If this has been done, I'm not aware of it. We need to be smart about teaching, and not just for math.
It is my opinion that algebra should be a high school diploma requirement. The diploma should mean something.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Ipod Shuffle
Just recently, I've started listening to podcasts with an IPod Shuffle. This is a very low end device. I picked mine up for $80. I considered getting an iRiver for $150, that also has a microphone and FM tuner, but funds have been low. The device is tiny. It looks like a pack of gum. It comes with a cord attached to a USB cap, so you can hang it around your neck, but there is also a cap without a chord, making the chord optional.
The Shuffle has no display. Well, there is an led that glows green, yellow or red, showing the current battery state. Green for full charge, red for nearly dead, and yellow for in between. The non-replaceable lithium ion battery is supposed to last 18 hours on a charge. The battery is charged by plugging it into a computer USB port. The Shuffle goes from empty to full charge in three or four hours. The 512 MB should give you about ten hours of high quality mp3 music. I get more audio, because the books I listen to are in mono, and spoken text compresses better than music, probably because silence compresses so well. I've had 28 hours of podcasts on it.
The end of the shuffle comes off, revealing a USB port. Plug the shuffle into your computer, and use the computer to copy data onto it, and delete stuff from it. The shuffle mounts as a disk drive, and arbitrary files can be placed there for data movement. I still carry a USB drive for moving data, but have used the Shuffle for this once or twice. The upshot is that you need a computer for the user interface for putting stuff onto the drive and removing it. There isn't space enough on it to put your entire CD collection, so you'll need to do this fairly frequently. For me, there is something to do every day, as I'm not listening to a daily podcast.
There are some buttons on the Shuffle. There is the off/sequential/shuffle switch. The device is either off, plays tracks sequentially, or plays them in random order. There is a play/pause button. That is, if it is currently playing, this button causes it to pause, and if it is paused, it will play. Of course, you can't tell if it is playing or not if the sound file has silence. Many of the podcasts and audio book tracks start with a few seconds of silence, and therefore, it isn't clear if it is playing or not. You just have to listen longer. It helps if the volume is high enough to hear it.
There is a four switch circular button. Press left to go to the previous track. Press left and hold it for a second or so to rewind in chunks. The Shuffle plays little snippets, each chunk further back in time. Press right to get to the next track. If you are in shuffle mode, it goes to a new random track. Press right and hold for a few seconds, and the Shuffle fast forwards, playing little snippets. Press up and the sound volume increases. Press down and the sound volume decreases.
And that would be it for the pack of gum. But this totally trivial user interface has some hidden unexpected behavior. For example, you can not play audio on the Shuffle while it is connected to a computer. This isn't much of an issue. My Linux computer OS has a utility that can play the mp3 tunes from the Shuffle while it is mounted. So, while the Shuffle can't play, the host computer can play those tunes right where they are.
One typically pauses the audio, then turns the Shuffle off. Since I often listen to books sequentially, it is important that I get back to where I was when I turn it back on. Sometimes, it forgets where I ended up, and it starts at the same place it started the last time. This can be many tracks ago, and I have no idea how many tracks. In particular, if the tracks have no silence at the start or end, there is no break between tracks in playback. There can be no indication at all that you are now on a new track. Also, when it forgets where you were, it also forgets what the volume setting you had was. So, if you had it on loud for the car, it can blast you at your desk. The guess is that one should wait a few seconds between pausing the audio and turning the unit off. That seems to reduce the frequency of this odd behavior to acceptable levels.
Since there is such a limited user interface, it is not a good device if you have more than one thing to listen to. For example, if you have 100 tracks of a book, and three podcasts to listen to, it can be maddening to listen to a podcast, and then try to navigate to track 56. I periodically delete tracks from my current book so that this isn't a problem. I also arrange the tracks so that the book is all the first tracks, and the podcasts are at the end. There are usually only a few.
The fast rewind feature stops at the beginning of the track. It will not proceed to the previous track. This is good if you want to find the beginning of the current track. Finding the beginning of the track can be done by skipping to the previous track, then skipping forward to the beginning of the current track. So this isn't as handy as it sounds. Still, it isn't entirely redundant, especially, if you've never heard the tracks in question. It isn't so hot if what you want to do is get toward the end of the previous track. In fact, you must go to the beginning of the previous track and fast forward to near the end. But there is no way to know that you are near the end if you've never heard it before.
The Shuffle is an odd sort of duck. The user interface is minimalistic, and a computer is required. There is no A/C charger, a computer is required to charge it. It is incredibly small. Even ear bud headphones are bigger. What makes it awesome is that what it does, it does very well. The sound quality is great. You may take this for granted, but for example, typical PC sound cards vary from useless to pretty good, and even sound cards on name brand computers can have erratic quality. From Apple, however, the sound is good or it doesn't go out the door. I suspect that they perform some sort of quality control test. What a concept.
I plug it into my stereo and listen to it over breakfast. Then I plug it into my car stereo's aux port, and continue where i left off. Then I plug headphones into it and walk across parking lots to work. So why didn't I do all this with my Walkman? Well, mainly because it takes a few seconds to fill it with hours of audio, where it takes an hour to record an hour of audio on a tape. Yet, I never spent an hour writing about the Walkman. I did use the Walkman in the car, through the aux port in the car stereo. That let me listen to something other than CDs. And, it was more convenient than ripping the tapes to CD by playing the tapes into my computer's sound card.
The upshot is that I no longer want a CD or tape player in my car. A simple AM/FM radio with an Aux port for my shuffle will do fine. But, you say, what about the round trip from Michigan to Florida? That's 19 hours each way. Well. I guess I'll just have to hook up to a computer when I get there.
The Shuffle has no display. Well, there is an led that glows green, yellow or red, showing the current battery state. Green for full charge, red for nearly dead, and yellow for in between. The non-replaceable lithium ion battery is supposed to last 18 hours on a charge. The battery is charged by plugging it into a computer USB port. The Shuffle goes from empty to full charge in three or four hours. The 512 MB should give you about ten hours of high quality mp3 music. I get more audio, because the books I listen to are in mono, and spoken text compresses better than music, probably because silence compresses so well. I've had 28 hours of podcasts on it.
The end of the shuffle comes off, revealing a USB port. Plug the shuffle into your computer, and use the computer to copy data onto it, and delete stuff from it. The shuffle mounts as a disk drive, and arbitrary files can be placed there for data movement. I still carry a USB drive for moving data, but have used the Shuffle for this once or twice. The upshot is that you need a computer for the user interface for putting stuff onto the drive and removing it. There isn't space enough on it to put your entire CD collection, so you'll need to do this fairly frequently. For me, there is something to do every day, as I'm not listening to a daily podcast.
There are some buttons on the Shuffle. There is the off/sequential/shuffle switch. The device is either off, plays tracks sequentially, or plays them in random order. There is a play/pause button. That is, if it is currently playing, this button causes it to pause, and if it is paused, it will play. Of course, you can't tell if it is playing or not if the sound file has silence. Many of the podcasts and audio book tracks start with a few seconds of silence, and therefore, it isn't clear if it is playing or not. You just have to listen longer. It helps if the volume is high enough to hear it.
There is a four switch circular button. Press left to go to the previous track. Press left and hold it for a second or so to rewind in chunks. The Shuffle plays little snippets, each chunk further back in time. Press right to get to the next track. If you are in shuffle mode, it goes to a new random track. Press right and hold for a few seconds, and the Shuffle fast forwards, playing little snippets. Press up and the sound volume increases. Press down and the sound volume decreases.
And that would be it for the pack of gum. But this totally trivial user interface has some hidden unexpected behavior. For example, you can not play audio on the Shuffle while it is connected to a computer. This isn't much of an issue. My Linux computer OS has a utility that can play the mp3 tunes from the Shuffle while it is mounted. So, while the Shuffle can't play, the host computer can play those tunes right where they are.
One typically pauses the audio, then turns the Shuffle off. Since I often listen to books sequentially, it is important that I get back to where I was when I turn it back on. Sometimes, it forgets where I ended up, and it starts at the same place it started the last time. This can be many tracks ago, and I have no idea how many tracks. In particular, if the tracks have no silence at the start or end, there is no break between tracks in playback. There can be no indication at all that you are now on a new track. Also, when it forgets where you were, it also forgets what the volume setting you had was. So, if you had it on loud for the car, it can blast you at your desk. The guess is that one should wait a few seconds between pausing the audio and turning the unit off. That seems to reduce the frequency of this odd behavior to acceptable levels.
Since there is such a limited user interface, it is not a good device if you have more than one thing to listen to. For example, if you have 100 tracks of a book, and three podcasts to listen to, it can be maddening to listen to a podcast, and then try to navigate to track 56. I periodically delete tracks from my current book so that this isn't a problem. I also arrange the tracks so that the book is all the first tracks, and the podcasts are at the end. There are usually only a few.
The fast rewind feature stops at the beginning of the track. It will not proceed to the previous track. This is good if you want to find the beginning of the current track. Finding the beginning of the track can be done by skipping to the previous track, then skipping forward to the beginning of the current track. So this isn't as handy as it sounds. Still, it isn't entirely redundant, especially, if you've never heard the tracks in question. It isn't so hot if what you want to do is get toward the end of the previous track. In fact, you must go to the beginning of the previous track and fast forward to near the end. But there is no way to know that you are near the end if you've never heard it before.
The Shuffle is an odd sort of duck. The user interface is minimalistic, and a computer is required. There is no A/C charger, a computer is required to charge it. It is incredibly small. Even ear bud headphones are bigger. What makes it awesome is that what it does, it does very well. The sound quality is great. You may take this for granted, but for example, typical PC sound cards vary from useless to pretty good, and even sound cards on name brand computers can have erratic quality. From Apple, however, the sound is good or it doesn't go out the door. I suspect that they perform some sort of quality control test. What a concept.
I plug it into my stereo and listen to it over breakfast. Then I plug it into my car stereo's aux port, and continue where i left off. Then I plug headphones into it and walk across parking lots to work. So why didn't I do all this with my Walkman? Well, mainly because it takes a few seconds to fill it with hours of audio, where it takes an hour to record an hour of audio on a tape. Yet, I never spent an hour writing about the Walkman. I did use the Walkman in the car, through the aux port in the car stereo. That let me listen to something other than CDs. And, it was more convenient than ripping the tapes to CD by playing the tapes into my computer's sound card.
The upshot is that I no longer want a CD or tape player in my car. A simple AM/FM radio with an Aux port for my shuffle will do fine. But, you say, what about the round trip from Michigan to Florida? That's 19 hours each way. Well. I guess I'll just have to hook up to a computer when I get there.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Diesel PT Cruiser
On the 9th of February, 2006, I had an opportunity to test drive a diesel PT Cruiser. This vehicle option is not currently offered for sale in the United States. The car is has the Route 66 bundle of options, which probably means that it is loaded with features I personally wouldn't order on a new car. These might include the Moon roof, electric windows, the five disc mp3 CD changing stereo, tilt steering wheel, and brilliant yellow paint. I'd go with a stripped car with A/C and cruise control. At this point, I'd go with an AM/FM radio with Aux in - so I could plug in my iPod. Then I'd stick a Velcro patch on the dash to hold the iPod. Still, 5 mp3 encoded CDs can give you a total of about 70 hours of high quality music without fiddling with it. Great for those road trips to Argentina. The glove compartment is very roomy, and could easily hold the audio cable when not in use.
This car has a 5 speed manual transmission that is very forgiving and easy to operate. The 2.2 liter turbocharged diesel generates 150 hp, which is more than enough to make this sized vehicle very responsive. The steering and suspension make it agile. Most of my real driving is highway, and the 42 MPG highway rating would be very welcome to my 35,000 mile per year commute. The long range of the car would allow me to fill the tank less often, which would be a real time saver.
The car started instantly. Though it was a cold winter day, the car had just been driven. It would be interesting to see how it behaves on a cold winter morning after sitting out in the cold all night. This is an historic problem for diesel engines, but it isn't clear that it is a problem for this one. In any case, my house has an attached garage, so even if this is a problem for this vehicle, it likely would not be much of an issue for me.
I left the moon roof open. The windshield glare which such systems often generate did not materialize. I have no idea why not.
The clutch engagement travel is slightly shorter than my own car, but the feedback was clear, and after that first engagement, I didn't have to think about it again. The brakes are slightly more sensitive than my own car, but again, driving was very natural after the first minute. We'll see how my own car behaves when I go home. In particular, my own car does not have power steering...
The route I used put me onto the highway almost at once. For a moment, I was startled to be doing 100 on the ramp! However, the big numbers are in Kilometers Per Hour, not Miles Per Hour, so all it meant was that it could get up to 60 MPH to match highway speed with a significant margin. Once I realized where the MPH numbers were, it was easy enough to read without further thought. This car is clearly built for Europe, so, of course, the big numbers are KPH. The car drives smooth enough that it isn't that clear if you are doing 100 MPH or 100 KPH. Acceleration at highway speed is smooth, and there isn't any doubt that the rated top speed of 114 MPH is achievable. One of the reasons I haven't gotten a traffic ticket in years is that I obey the law.
I coasted to an exit, and followed around to get back on the highway for the return trip. This gave an opportunity to check out steering, turn signals, visibility, brakes, shifting and suspension in turns. The car gets high marks everywhere.
Back on the highway, I checked out the cruise control. A dash light tells you it is engaged, and it was able to smoothly accelerate and coast. I reset the Average Fuel Economy (which, despite the European target, read in Miles Per Gallon), and the numbers quickly climbed. The trip was too short to show EPA estimates, however.
The route then included some stop and go, and turns you might find in city driving. Since I'd just reset the Average Fuel Economy gauge, I watched the numbers go lower while idling at a stop light. That's to be expected. My house gets really bad gas mileage too.
My biggest complaint would probably be that though the steering wheel is on the left, the fuel door is on the right. Clearly, the fuel door should be on the driver's side of the car, as God intended. That way people don't end up facing each other at busy gas stations. Speaking of which, several gas stations near my house sell diesel, so there would be no fear of not being able to find it. Also, the generous range is also a welcome feature. Since diesel is safer than gasoline, I might consider carrying a small spare amount in a sealed container in the hatch. This is not something I do with gasoline cars.
My youngest vehicle has 150,000 miles. With luck, it will hold out until the diesel PT Cruiser, or maybe the diesel Caliber are sold in the States. If not, the there's always the diesel Jeep Liberty.
This car has a 5 speed manual transmission that is very forgiving and easy to operate. The 2.2 liter turbocharged diesel generates 150 hp, which is more than enough to make this sized vehicle very responsive. The steering and suspension make it agile. Most of my real driving is highway, and the 42 MPG highway rating would be very welcome to my 35,000 mile per year commute. The long range of the car would allow me to fill the tank less often, which would be a real time saver.
The car started instantly. Though it was a cold winter day, the car had just been driven. It would be interesting to see how it behaves on a cold winter morning after sitting out in the cold all night. This is an historic problem for diesel engines, but it isn't clear that it is a problem for this one. In any case, my house has an attached garage, so even if this is a problem for this vehicle, it likely would not be much of an issue for me.
I left the moon roof open. The windshield glare which such systems often generate did not materialize. I have no idea why not.
The clutch engagement travel is slightly shorter than my own car, but the feedback was clear, and after that first engagement, I didn't have to think about it again. The brakes are slightly more sensitive than my own car, but again, driving was very natural after the first minute. We'll see how my own car behaves when I go home. In particular, my own car does not have power steering...
The route I used put me onto the highway almost at once. For a moment, I was startled to be doing 100 on the ramp! However, the big numbers are in Kilometers Per Hour, not Miles Per Hour, so all it meant was that it could get up to 60 MPH to match highway speed with a significant margin. Once I realized where the MPH numbers were, it was easy enough to read without further thought. This car is clearly built for Europe, so, of course, the big numbers are KPH. The car drives smooth enough that it isn't that clear if you are doing 100 MPH or 100 KPH. Acceleration at highway speed is smooth, and there isn't any doubt that the rated top speed of 114 MPH is achievable. One of the reasons I haven't gotten a traffic ticket in years is that I obey the law.
I coasted to an exit, and followed around to get back on the highway for the return trip. This gave an opportunity to check out steering, turn signals, visibility, brakes, shifting and suspension in turns. The car gets high marks everywhere.
Back on the highway, I checked out the cruise control. A dash light tells you it is engaged, and it was able to smoothly accelerate and coast. I reset the Average Fuel Economy (which, despite the European target, read in Miles Per Gallon), and the numbers quickly climbed. The trip was too short to show EPA estimates, however.
The route then included some stop and go, and turns you might find in city driving. Since I'd just reset the Average Fuel Economy gauge, I watched the numbers go lower while idling at a stop light. That's to be expected. My house gets really bad gas mileage too.
My biggest complaint would probably be that though the steering wheel is on the left, the fuel door is on the right. Clearly, the fuel door should be on the driver's side of the car, as God intended. That way people don't end up facing each other at busy gas stations. Speaking of which, several gas stations near my house sell diesel, so there would be no fear of not being able to find it. Also, the generous range is also a welcome feature. Since diesel is safer than gasoline, I might consider carrying a small spare amount in a sealed container in the hatch. This is not something I do with gasoline cars.
My youngest vehicle has 150,000 miles. With luck, it will hold out until the diesel PT Cruiser, or maybe the diesel Caliber are sold in the States. If not, the there's always the diesel Jeep Liberty.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Astronomical Gas Mileage
My new (well it is new to me) 2000 Saturn SL is proving to be more efficient than expected. The EPA mileage is 32 MPG highway, much less than the 37 MPG my 1988 Mazda 626 was getting before it started seriously needing a ring job. In the first few trips, this Saturn was getting about 31 MPG, and until the Mazda is repaired, it was expected that gas bills would be higher, and that would be that. Part of the reason that the vehicles perform better than the EPA estimates is that the vehicle isn't driven at 70 MPH, even if the speed limit sign says so. The speedometer seldom goes above 65 MPH. Tests on the Mazda shows that this can save 10% to 15% in fuel while costing 10% in time. That is, an hour commute might take an extra six minutes. However, given congestion, it is probably much less time than that.
Computers can do more than just allow one to write a blog and edit email. They can also assist in computing. So, it is somewhat of a surprise to find that this Saturn is clearly achieving 40 MPG, on average.
My commute is long, and mostly highway. Apparently, it simply required a small number of tanks of gas to learn how to drive it efficiently. Perhaps this young stallion is learning how it is being driven as well. It is gratifying to learn that not only was the acquisition of this vehicle cheap, but running it is cheap as well. That it will save the burning of 200 gallons of fuel a year is a bonus. A 10% savings is a significant amount of fuel and money.
It also solves the problem of why this Saturn, which is younger and smaller than the Mazda, with the same kind of 5 speed manual transmission, would not achieve better fuel economy. The answer is simple. It does.
The US president has declared that we have an addiction to oil. He called on technology to save us. Presumably he meant hybrid vehicles, solar and wind power, etc. He also seems determined to drill for oil in Alaska. Frankly, we don't need it. Drilling in Alaska will take more than five years, and could possibly contribute 6% of the US energy needs. Hybrids and light diesels are just starting to come on the market, and will take years to make much difference. On the other hand, driving a little slower has an immediate effect. Sizing your next vehicle a little smaller takes effect as soon as it is purchased.
So far, this Saturn has held up quite well. If it makes it to 250,000 miles (another 100,000 miles), it will have clearly been worthwhile. If the engine holds up that long without emitting blue clouds out of the tailpipe, then it will clearly have lived up to its name: The Lord of the Rings.
Computers can do more than just allow one to write a blog and edit email. They can also assist in computing. So, it is somewhat of a surprise to find that this Saturn is clearly achieving 40 MPG, on average.
My commute is long, and mostly highway. Apparently, it simply required a small number of tanks of gas to learn how to drive it efficiently. Perhaps this young stallion is learning how it is being driven as well. It is gratifying to learn that not only was the acquisition of this vehicle cheap, but running it is cheap as well. That it will save the burning of 200 gallons of fuel a year is a bonus. A 10% savings is a significant amount of fuel and money.
It also solves the problem of why this Saturn, which is younger and smaller than the Mazda, with the same kind of 5 speed manual transmission, would not achieve better fuel economy. The answer is simple. It does.
The US president has declared that we have an addiction to oil. He called on technology to save us. Presumably he meant hybrid vehicles, solar and wind power, etc. He also seems determined to drill for oil in Alaska. Frankly, we don't need it. Drilling in Alaska will take more than five years, and could possibly contribute 6% of the US energy needs. Hybrids and light diesels are just starting to come on the market, and will take years to make much difference. On the other hand, driving a little slower has an immediate effect. Sizing your next vehicle a little smaller takes effect as soon as it is purchased.
So far, this Saturn has held up quite well. If it makes it to 250,000 miles (another 100,000 miles), it will have clearly been worthwhile. If the engine holds up that long without emitting blue clouds out of the tailpipe, then it will clearly have lived up to its name: The Lord of the Rings.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Comment Spam
Father Roderick doesn't like TypeKey because visually impared people can't post. His solution is to make his forum wide open to spammers. He has a big fan following, and a small army of volunteers from around the world check his forum for spam, approximately hourly.
On my own Yahoo Groups, I have moderated registration. In the registration, the prospective new member must pass the Turing test. They have to answer the question, "What is this group about, and why do you want to join it?". If they answer 'I love this group', then they don't get to join. Not all humans are able to act as if they are indistiguishable from a human at a teletype, and they don't get to join. Oh well. So I'm more restrictive than I'd like to be. And yet, I try to have more than one moderator on my groups so that if I get hit by a bus (or something) the group goes on. It's not an army, it's just another active group member or three.
My blogspot and LiveJournal blogs both have open comments. I've not had any spam, which suggests that no one knows these blogs exist. If you're reading this, you've found one of them.
My favorite spammer story is that when a spammer was taken to court and convicted, his home address became part of the public record. Someone (anonymously) wrote a little script to sign him up for 100,000 snail mail catalogs... poetic justice.
On my own Yahoo Groups, I have moderated registration. In the registration, the prospective new member must pass the Turing test. They have to answer the question, "What is this group about, and why do you want to join it?". If they answer 'I love this group', then they don't get to join. Not all humans are able to act as if they are indistiguishable from a human at a teletype, and they don't get to join. Oh well. So I'm more restrictive than I'd like to be. And yet, I try to have more than one moderator on my groups so that if I get hit by a bus (or something) the group goes on. It's not an army, it's just another active group member or three.
My blogspot and LiveJournal blogs both have open comments. I've not had any spam, which suggests that no one knows these blogs exist. If you're reading this, you've found one of them.
My favorite spammer story is that when a spammer was taken to court and convicted, his home address became part of the public record. Someone (anonymously) wrote a little script to sign him up for 100,000 snail mail catalogs... poetic justice.
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