Xref: csiph.com rec.arts.sf.written:424344 sci.physics:525335 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,sci.physics Path: csiph.com!optima2.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!news.glorb.com!border1.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!border2.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!kithrup.com!djheydt From: djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) Subject: Re: green stars Message-ID: Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2015 22:19:51 GMT References: <560E3D7D.3AA6@ix.netcom.com> Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ld. X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test77 (Sep 1, 2010) Lines: 119 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? -- Dorothy J. Heydt Vallejo, California djheydt at gmail dot com Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the gmail edress. Kithrup's all spammy and hotmail's been hacked.