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2011-01-11
INDY Poll: What's your favorite section of a library or bookstore?
What's your favorite section of a library or bookstore?
2011-01-13.
2011-01-01
2011: The year of 7 billion [reference link]
Link to the original post, published 2010-12-31 17:00:00 MST (2011-01-01 0:00:00 UTC)
2011: The year of 7 billion
2010-12-31
2011: The year of 7 billion
2011-01-01 0:00:00 UTC
Welcome to the year 2011*!
This year, the human population of our planet will reach 7 billion.
That fact alone is immensely significant, considering our population was only 2 billion 81 years ago.
National Geographic is launching a seven part series "Population 7 Billion" to draw attention to the impact of our species' growth on Earth. (I've embedded the 3 minute promo video in this post.)
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4HxPxNrZ0
As the promo points out, it's not that there isn't enough space; it's that we, as a species, lack a balance for our planet to sustain us at our current growth rate. Allow me to paraphrase it another way....
If we were the essential bacteria within one's digestive tract, we've long passed the point of helping our host with necessary process of digestion and have become an internal infection: We would be killing our host. (Mutualism vs. Parasitism [wikipedia])
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Welcome to the year 2011*!
This year, the human population of our planet will reach 7 billion.
That fact alone is immensely significant, considering our population was only 2 billion 81 years ago.
National Geographic is launching a seven part series "Population 7 Billion" to draw attention to the impact of our species' growth on Earth. (I've embedded the 3 minute promo video in this post.)
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4HxPxNrZ0
As the promo points out, it's not that there isn't enough space; it's that we, as a species, lack a balance for our planet to sustain us at our current growth rate. Allow me to paraphrase it another way....
If we were the essential bacteria within one's digestive tract, we've long passed the point of helping our host with necessary process of digestion and have become an internal infection: We would be killing our host. (Mutualism vs. Parasitism [wikipedia])
In the year 2011, resolve to becoming an organism who seeks the balance of a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with Earth and the other approximately 6,999,999,999 people on it.
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* 2011 actually began for Earth 14 hours ago in Kiritimati, Christmas Island, Kiribati [Time and Date.com]; Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the standard international time reference, therefore I'm using it.
2010-12-22
Winter solstice lunar eclipse
Two nights ago, people across North and South America, as well as some parts of Europe and the Pacific islands, had eyes on the sky watching a lunar eclipse. To make things even more exciting, one could note that it was also the Northern hemisphere's winter solstice. Those two events occur in every year, but the last time they occurred at the same time was in 1638; a fact documented in-person by Galileo.
I enjoy observing the moon frequently throughout the year, especially during a lunar eclipse; Monday night was no different. I made my way to one of my favorite locations in Fort Collins, Colorado: Horsetooth Reservoir. Once there, I set up my telescope and settled in for a 2-3 hour show. I wasn't the only person looking up from Horsetooth Reservoir that night; the lot was packed with people of all ages, there individually or with their family and/or friends.
Initially, I was somewhat worried that cloud cover would prevent Fort Collins from having a clear view of the moon, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the clouds dissipate just prior to the start of the eclipse.
It's quite common for the full moon to appear a different color during an eclipse. For this one it was a blood red; almost taking on the appearance of Mars. Throughout the night, I invited people to look through my telescope at the moon as the Earth passed between it and the Sun. Some people commented that they "had never seen the moon up close before" nor in "so much detail"; I was happy that I could give them an opportunity to appreciate the wonders of our universe that much more.
The night was beautifully lit under the full moon, almost as if twilight had come again, but the darkness fell as the eclipse progressed and I was stunned to see so many stars; more stars visible than I have ever seen from that location before. Beneath the moon's spectacle, you could clearly see the constellation Orion; his arm seemed to be reaching out to touch the moon. Stretching across the sky I could barely make out the Milky Way. Adding even more wonderment to the sky, the trails of meteors flashed here and there and the faint waves of Aurora were visible along the Northern horizon.
As the moon began to leave the Earth's shadow, the clouds began to gather again; acting as a closing curtain on the celestial stage. I packed up my things and turned on the radio to hear one of my favorite songs begin to play: "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve; a calming end to a extraordinary evening.
"A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes behind the earth so that the earth blocks the sun's rays from striking the moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle." [Lunar eclipse article - Wikipedia].
"The winter solstice occurs exactly when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'. Though the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, the term is also a turning point to midwinter or the first day of winter to refer to the day on which it occurs. More evident to those in high latitudes, this occurs on the shortest day and longest night, when the sun's daily maximum position in the sky is the lowest." [Winter solstice article - Wikipedia].
I enjoy observing the moon frequently throughout the year, especially during a lunar eclipse; Monday night was no different. I made my way to one of my favorite locations in Fort Collins, Colorado: Horsetooth Reservoir. Once there, I set up my telescope and settled in for a 2-3 hour show. I wasn't the only person looking up from Horsetooth Reservoir that night; the lot was packed with people of all ages, there individually or with their family and/or friends.
Initially, I was somewhat worried that cloud cover would prevent Fort Collins from having a clear view of the moon, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the clouds dissipate just prior to the start of the eclipse.
It's quite common for the full moon to appear a different color during an eclipse. For this one it was a blood red; almost taking on the appearance of Mars. Throughout the night, I invited people to look through my telescope at the moon as the Earth passed between it and the Sun. Some people commented that they "had never seen the moon up close before" nor in "so much detail"; I was happy that I could give them an opportunity to appreciate the wonders of our universe that much more.
The night was beautifully lit under the full moon, almost as if twilight had come again, but the darkness fell as the eclipse progressed and I was stunned to see so many stars; more stars visible than I have ever seen from that location before. Beneath the moon's spectacle, you could clearly see the constellation Orion; his arm seemed to be reaching out to touch the moon. Stretching across the sky I could barely make out the Milky Way. Adding even more wonderment to the sky, the trails of meteors flashed here and there and the faint waves of Aurora were visible along the Northern horizon.As the moon began to leave the Earth's shadow, the clouds began to gather again; acting as a closing curtain on the celestial stage. I packed up my things and turned on the radio to hear one of my favorite songs begin to play: "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve; a calming end to a extraordinary evening.
2010-12-08
New INDY Gallery Features
Beginning today INDY members can now enjoy some new features in the INDY Gallery.
After many months of work tweaking and testing, I'm finally making keyword searches available to all members with access to the Gallery. As of right now, the search function will look for images containing all of the keywords (or directory/filename). To exclude a specific keyword, precede it with NOT.
Examples:
Adding the keywords to images is a very time consuming process; I've barely scratched the surface of the Gallery's contents so far. I do hope you will enjoy the new features; personally, I've found it extremely useful over the past year in which I've been testing it.
After many months of work tweaking and testing, I'm finally making keyword searches available to all members with access to the Gallery. As of right now, the search function will look for images containing all of the keywords (or directory/filename). To exclude a specific keyword, precede it with NOT.
Examples:
indy fedora
This will find any image with both "indy" and "fedora" in its keywords or directory/filename.
indy fedora
(excluding directory names)
This will find any image with both "indy" and "fedora" in its keywords (only).
fedora NOT indy
This will find any image with "fedora" in its keywords or directory/filename, but will ignore any image which contains "indy" in its keywords or directory/filename.
Adding the keywords to images is a very time consuming process; I've barely scratched the surface of the Gallery's contents so far. I do hope you will enjoy the new features; personally, I've found it extremely useful over the past year in which I've been testing it.
2010-10-20
Investing in futures
I am quite impressed and encouraged by the positive response I've received over the last ten days regarding my posts on the International System of Units (SI). I admit that I presented a lot of information; I hope I succeeded in presenting it in a simple - and more importantly - considerate manner.
The concept of "key conversion points" should be beneficial to many people. Personally, I kept a laminated copy of points in my pocket while I retrained my brain a few years ago. Additionally, I found it extremely helpful to make changes to SI (or both) wherever possible (e.g. HVAC thermostat, weather reports, websites, GPS, etc.). Finally, I prepared myself for the long haul of making the change.
There are certainly those who will roll their eyes or ridicule you for using SI, but know this.... You are the one who can travel internationally with ease; you are the one whose superiors will look to when you need to interface with a team overseas; you are "bilingual" in measurements.
Congratulations. Let us hope that soon those who use SI in the USA are not the exception, but the rule.
Index of Ultimate Metrication Day articles:
The concept of "key conversion points" should be beneficial to many people. Personally, I kept a laminated copy of points in my pocket while I retrained my brain a few years ago. Additionally, I found it extremely helpful to make changes to SI (or both) wherever possible (e.g. HVAC thermostat, weather reports, websites, GPS, etc.). Finally, I prepared myself for the long haul of making the change.
There are certainly those who will roll their eyes or ridicule you for using SI, but know this.... You are the one who can travel internationally with ease; you are the one whose superiors will look to when you need to interface with a team overseas; you are "bilingual" in measurements.
Congratulations. Let us hope that soon those who use SI in the USA are not the exception, but the rule.
Index of Ultimate Metrication Day articles:
2010-10-10: The Ultimate Metrication Day - Recognizing the "Ultimate Metrication Day"
2010-10-11: Getting in the Metric Mind-set - Changing mental habits
2010-10-12: It's still cold whether °C or °F - Temperature measurements
2010-10-13: Covering all our bases - SI prefixes and their use
2010-10-14: Going the distance - Measures of length (meters, miles, feet, etc.)
2010-10-15: Mass makes the world go 'round - Calculating mass/weight (kilograms, pounds, etc.)
2010-10-16: Not loud, just spacious - Volume units (liters, gallons, fluid ounces, etc.)
2010-10-17: Conversation and display - How to fit SI units into daily use
2010-10-18: Diverting for a time - A short introductory presentation about "Decimal Time" (which has no official tie to the International System of Units)
2010-10-19: Compatibility and consistency - Presenting the importance of moving toward a Metric America
2010-10-19
Compatibility and consistency
Since the "Ultimate Metrication Day", I've written a lot about HOW to adopt the International System of Units (SI). I think it's time I address the WHY....
In that initial post, I mentioned the fact that the United States of America is one of only three countries which has not adopted SI. I'll repeat what I said then, this fact does not bode well for the USA (nor Burma and Liberia). We are at significant risk of falling behind and out of touch with our global partners. To use a very crude and cruel metaphor, we are quickly becoming the creepy guy who is awkwardly without taste or the skills necessary for effective communication.
The United States of America is a leader in technological development, business incubation, and social innovation; how then can we lag so behind every other country in something as significant as measurement. We risk losing our lead and respect in every area I just listed; in fact, we already have damaged our reputation in some areas thanks to confusion with using US customary units.
In 1998, the US space agency NASA (a clear leader in space exploration) "lost" a Mars orbiter because every team, in every firm, used SI except one. One team made the mistake of using US customary units; this was the direct cause of mission failure at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. [JPL NASA]
There have been (and continue to be) cases where confusion over units has resulted in injury and death because medication was incorrectly administered in the wrong dose. (I'm not even going to cite a specific example because of the sheer number; simply Google "wrong dose medication" and see how many are due to the use of incorrect units.)
Some people have chosen to hold to US customary units for the sake of "tradition" or because "it's not worth the expense of changing". All things WILL change, even "tradition". Furthermore, the expense of making a change is becoming notably less relative to the expense of converting/communicating/coordinating the difference between "us" and "them".
In that initial post, I mentioned the fact that the United States of America is one of only three countries which has not adopted SI. I'll repeat what I said then, this fact does not bode well for the USA (nor Burma and Liberia). We are at significant risk of falling behind and out of touch with our global partners. To use a very crude and cruel metaphor, we are quickly becoming the creepy guy who is awkwardly without taste or the skills necessary for effective communication.
The United States of America is a leader in technological development, business incubation, and social innovation; how then can we lag so behind every other country in something as significant as measurement. We risk losing our lead and respect in every area I just listed; in fact, we already have damaged our reputation in some areas thanks to confusion with using US customary units.
In 1998, the US space agency NASA (a clear leader in space exploration) "lost" a Mars orbiter because every team, in every firm, used SI except one. One team made the mistake of using US customary units; this was the direct cause of mission failure at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. [JPL NASA]
There have been (and continue to be) cases where confusion over units has resulted in injury and death because medication was incorrectly administered in the wrong dose. (I'm not even going to cite a specific example because of the sheer number; simply Google "wrong dose medication" and see how many are due to the use of incorrect units.)
Some people have chosen to hold to US customary units for the sake of "tradition" or because "it's not worth the expense of changing". All things WILL change, even "tradition". Furthermore, the expense of making a change is becoming notably less relative to the expense of converting/communicating/coordinating the difference between "us" and "them".
2010-10-18
Diverting for a time
Have you ever pondered the logic behind our base 6 counting system for time? Or been confused by trying to figure out how many minutes or seconds are in two hours? four hours? six? If you have, you're not alone. To put it bluntly, our system of tracking time is messed up. It's confusing, weird to explain, even unnatural.
It's not really "metric" in the official International System of Units (SI) way - as I've been blogging for the last week - but there is at least one alternative to our current system of tracking the passage of time: decimal time.
The system of Decimal Time divides a day into 10 hours; where 0 is "midnight", making 5 "noon". It's an extremely simple concept to explain. Think of each moment as ticking away a percentage of that day. Noon is halfway through the cycle of the day, so 50% or 5:00.
Furthermore, each hour is divided into 100 minutes (00 through 99); again this gives us an extension on that percentage concept. The seconds of those minutes are the same. Fun fact, a "decimal second" is just about the resting heart rate of the average human being; meaning, you could almost keep time using your heart.
I, personally, use decimal time wherever I can, but - due the risk of confusing those around me - it tends to only be in specific instances where only my eyes are reading the display.
I'd like to demonstrate how natural decimal time is through some very simple exercises. Ready? (I guarantee you already know this as if you learned it as a child.)
Again, this is not related directly to the International System of Units nor would it be something which would be a part of the adoption of SI, but decimal time does demonstrate the strength and natural feel of a base 10 system.
It's not really "metric" in the official International System of Units (SI) way - as I've been blogging for the last week - but there is at least one alternative to our current system of tracking the passage of time: decimal time.
The system of Decimal Time divides a day into 10 hours; where 0 is "midnight", making 5 "noon". It's an extremely simple concept to explain. Think of each moment as ticking away a percentage of that day. Noon is halfway through the cycle of the day, so 50% or 5:00.
Furthermore, each hour is divided into 100 minutes (00 through 99); again this gives us an extension on that percentage concept. The seconds of those minutes are the same. Fun fact, a "decimal second" is just about the resting heart rate of the average human being; meaning, you could almost keep time using your heart.
I, personally, use decimal time wherever I can, but - due the risk of confusing those around me - it tends to only be in specific instances where only my eyes are reading the display.
I'd like to demonstrate how natural decimal time is through some very simple exercises. Ready? (I guarantee you already know this as if you learned it as a child.)
If the sun rises at 2:50 and sets at 7:50, what percentage of the day was it transiting the sky?Some of those were pretty tough, but I would guess that you figured them out with a little thought. Here are the answers: 50%; 200 minutes, 20000 seconds; 77 minutes.
How many minutes have passed between 5:00 and 7:00? How many seconds?
It's currently 9:23. How many minutes until it's 0:00?
Again, this is not related directly to the International System of Units nor would it be something which would be a part of the adoption of SI, but decimal time does demonstrate the strength and natural feel of a base 10 system.
2010-10-17
Conversation and display
As I've mentioned before, the tricky thing about the adoption of the International System of Units (SI) in the US is getting more people to readily use its units in their everyday lives. You can assist with this process by presenting SI in a natural and logical way. (Avoid talking about SI with arrogance, as that will most likely cause the listener to stop caring all-together.)
Conversation, in our modern age, can be had in at least two ways: verbally and textually. Presenting SI equivalents textually is relatively easy. For example, 5 km (approx. 3 mi); 20 C (approx. 70 F); etc. Using SI equivalents in verbal communication can be a little more complex; especially if you haven't already performed the conversion.
Here are some ways in which I've managed to sneak SI into my everyday communication....
Conversation, in our modern age, can be had in at least two ways: verbally and textually. Presenting SI equivalents textually is relatively easy. For example, 5 km (approx. 3 mi); 20 C (approx. 70 F); etc. Using SI equivalents in verbal communication can be a little more complex; especially if you haven't already performed the conversion.
Here are some ways in which I've managed to sneak SI into my everyday communication....
"Could I get a 10 meter cable from you? .... That's about 32 feet."Try it out. I think you'll find that people readily accept your use of SI, if you provide the necessary context WITHOUT coming off as arrogant or pushy.
(In the pause, I was able to convert to feet for the gentleman. It also allowed the "10 meter" statement to sink in and give the "32 feet" more relevance in relation.)
"I try to drink about 2 liters of water while on that 40 km ride. 2 liters is pretty decent; it's about a half gallon, but I really should be drinking more than that on a ride that's nearly 25 miles." (Basically, I just repeated the same information two different ways.)
"Wow! It is warm in here! It's got to be at least 25 Celsius.... What do you think? Is it about 80 in here?"
2010-10-16
Not loud, just spacious
"Yesterday" I looked at mass; in a few places within that article I mention volume, so I'd like to proceed in that direction "today".
The official SI unit of volume is the cubic meter (m3), but the common unit accepted for use along side SI is the liter (1 L = 1 dm3; reference prefixes for assistance). I'm going to choose to focus on the liter when it comes to the comparison to US customary units of volume.
US customary units are horribly overrun with measures of volume (even more so than the complications in measures of length): gallons, fluid ounces, cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, etc.! I'm going to only deal with gallons and fluid ounces; I'll let you handle the process of getting to those from the others. (Maybe it'll be extra incentive to simplify with down to consistent measures.)
Key conversion points for Volume (gallons / liters):
For example, if you were trying to estimate how many Liters were in 20 gallons.... 20 gal = 4 gal * 5 ≈ 15 L * 4 = 60 L. Obviously, the approximation takes us off a bit, but you can see how this gets us in the same conceptual neighborhood.
Key conversion points for volume (ounces / milliliters):
The official SI unit of volume is the cubic meter (m3), but the common unit accepted for use along side SI is the liter (1 L = 1 dm3; reference prefixes for assistance). I'm going to choose to focus on the liter when it comes to the comparison to US customary units of volume.
US customary units are horribly overrun with measures of volume (even more so than the complications in measures of length): gallons, fluid ounces, cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, etc.! I'm going to only deal with gallons and fluid ounces; I'll let you handle the process of getting to those from the others. (Maybe it'll be extra incentive to simplify with down to consistent measures.)
Key conversion points for Volume (gallons / liters):
1 gal ≈ 3.8 LWith this I wanted to show the approximate relationship between 4 gallons and 15 L. Multiples of four can be easy to calculate and, as I've mentioned before, multiples of 5 are natural; which makes this match up almost clean.
2 gal ≈ 7.5 L
* 4 gal ≈ 15 L
8 gal ≈ 30 L
16 gal ≈ 60 L
For example, if you were trying to estimate how many Liters were in 20 gallons.... 20 gal = 4 gal * 5 ≈ 15 L * 4 = 60 L. Obviously, the approximation takes us off a bit, but you can see how this gets us in the same conceptual neighborhood.
Key conversion points for volume (ounces / milliliters):
* 1 fl oz ≈ 30 mLUnfortunately, the approximation of 1 fl oz to 30 mL will quickly get out-of-hand as you multiply it out; therefore, I've included common fl oz measurements to help get the L equivalents into your memory. Keep in mind that 100 mL = 10% of a liter.
8 fl oz ≈ 237 mL
16 fl oz ≈ 473 mL
20 fl oz ≈ 591 mL
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