Path: csiph.com!au2pb.net!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder01.blueworldhosting.com!border2.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!Xl.tags.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.earthlink.com!news.earthlink.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2015 18:16:56 -0500 Message-ID: <5616F969.713B@ix.netcom.com> Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2015 16:16:57 -0700 From: The Starmaker Reply-To: starmaker@ix.netcom.com X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.04Gold (WinNT; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,sci.physics Subject: Re: green stars References: <560E3D7D.3AA6@ix.netcom.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 118 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 45.49.183.72 X-Trace: sv3-uZ4pIQD5CG2SxfQQDytvHf2roeoeyeEvmiJtGtX4fpTxqcgyslRVR8rRMRGQjYEZGGdEBrxYe9MlmZy!gEtwAwt9VHPybmgxppT6TvIuDH9coouFIzxZMybF/bddQuGkZZu/OvCdP5j0uq1sd3oT/sVoh9NH!ysUrhLSC X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 X-Original-Bytes: 7299 Xref: csiph.com rec.arts.sf.written:424351 sci.physics:525341 Dorothy J Heydt wrote: > > In article , > Wayne Brown wrote: > >In rec.arts.sf.written J. Clarke wrote: > >> In article , djheydt@kithrup.com says... > >>> > >>> In article , > >>> J. Clarke wrote: > >>> >In article , djheydt@kithrup.com says... > >>> >> > >>> >> In article <561313c8$0$1658$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>, > >>> >> Dimensional Traveler wrote: > >>> >> >On 10/5/2015 6:02 AM, jmfbahciv wrote: > >>> >> >> Dorothy J Heydt wrote: > >>> >> >>> In article , > >>> >> >>> jmfbahciv wrote: > >>> >> >>>> Dorothy J Heydt wrote: > >>> >> >>>>> In article , > >>> >> >>>>> William December Starr wrote: > >>> >> >>>>>> In article , > >>> >> >>>>>> djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) said: > >>> >> >>>>>> > >>> >> >>>>>>> I managed to get an A in my one physics course (Physics 10, aka > >>> >> >>>>>>> Bonehead Physics), but I do not understand anything past Newton. > >>> >> >>>>>>> I haven't had to. I take it on faith. > >>> >> >>>>>> > >>> >> >>>>>> Did you drop a '1' off the end of that, or was the course really > >>> >> >>>>>> "Physics [ten]?" > >>> >> >>>>> > >>> >> >>>>> Yes. > >>> >> >>>>> > >>> >> >>>>> Its official title, I think, was "physics for Humanities Majors". > >>> >> >>>>> Everybody enrolled in the College of Letters and Sciences, who > >>> >> >>>>> wasn't actually majoring in a science, had to take it. In a > >>> >> >>>>> similar way, those majoring in math or sciences, if they couldn't > >>> >> >>>>> pass a basic entrance exam in written English (in which case > >>> >> >>>>> they'd take the standard lower-division English courses like the > >>> >> >>>>> rest of us) would take English 10, which of course was called > >>> >> >>>>> Bonehead English. > >>> >> >>>>> > >>> >> >>>>> Mind you, this was nearly sixty years ago; I don't know what they > >>> >> >>>>> do now. > >>> >> >>>>> > >>> >> >>>> When I went to college, we were required to take an Honors Physics > >>> >> >>>> course which was real physics without using calculus. The art > >>> >> >>>> majors were not interested in the course until they figured out > >>> >> >>>> it helped them with their art which was mostly drawing and > >>> >> >>>> painting. > >>> >> >>> > >>> >> >>> We did not, thank heaven, have to use calculus. Just algebra. > >>> >> >>> At which I was not very good either. > >>> >> >>> > >>> >> >>> I know I've told this story before, but it's been a while. If > >>> >> >>> you remember it from last time, hit 'n' now. > >>> >> >>> > >>> >> >>> I was living in a rooming house where we did our own cooking. > >>> >> >>> There was a kitchen on the ground floor and another (small) > >>> >> >>> kitchen on the third floor, where I lived. One of my housemates > >>> >> >>> was not only taking Physics 10 when I was, but we had the same > >>> >> >>> section with the same TA. So we got the same problem sets, which > >>> >> >>> the TA handed out at the Tuesday section and got back at the > >>> >> >>> Thursday section. > >>> >> >>> > >>> >> >>> So every Wednesday evening she and I would settle down in the > >>> >> >>> third-floor kitchen and do the problem sets. She had, and knew > >>> >> >>> how to use, a slide rule. I didn't. > >>> >> >>> > >>> >> >>> So we would both read the problem, and I would set up the > >>> >> >>> equation, and she would solve it with her slide rule. We would > >>> >> >>> thus have exactly the same answers on our problem sets, and get > >>> >> >>> the same grades on them. We got some credit toward our final > >>> >> >>> grade from the problem sets, more from the midterm, and a lot > >>> >> >>> more from the final. > >>> >> >>> > >>> >> >>> Came the final, and we were put into a much larger room than we'd > >>> >> >>> taken the class in, so we could be separated from one another by > >>> >> >>> several seats; standard procedure. Memory tells me now that > >>> >> >>> there were several hundred problems to solve; it was probably > >>> >> >>> more like 100. And there I sat, with no slide rule, just basic > >>> >> >>> arithmetic, at which I have always stunk. (And there were no > >>> >> >>> electronic calculators, back in the early 1950s.) > >>> >> >>> > >>> >> >>> After a moment of despair, I reasoned, "Well, this is a physics > >>> >> >>> class, not a math class, so if I set up all the equations and > >>> >> >>> then solve as many as there's time for by brute force and scratch > >>> >> >>> paper, I'll get at least partial credit." So I did that. > >>> >> >> > >>> >> >> That's how engineers do it :-). Crunching numbers is left > >>> >> >> as an exercise for computers. I always thought that computers > >>> >> >> were invented so engineers didn't have to do arithmetic. ;-) > >>> >> >> > >>> >> >No, the ORIGINAL computers were kept around because the male engineers > >>> >> >liked having pretty girls to look at and hit on. > >>> >> > >>> >> You mean, like, Grace Hopper? > >>> > > >>> >Grace Hopper built computers, she wasn't one herself. > >>> > >>> Oh, I see, you're using "computer" meaning "the person who does > >>> calculations." E. E. Smith used that too, only his computers > >>> were all guys. > >> > >> People today don't realize that "computer" used to be a job title. > >> Although rather than "cute girls", the people I knew who remembered that > >> era usually described them as "little old ladies in green eyeshades". > > > >Here are some of those computers at work: > > > >http://creative-automata.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/humancomputer.jpg > > > > Gosh. Do you know the date of that photograph? The hairstyles > look sort of 1930s, but their skirts reach to the ground. 1910s > maybe? 1920 http://www.shorpy.com/node/5993?size=_original#caption