Topic: Episode #360

[Trinoc]

The obituary for Ray Bradbury got me thinking about something I'm sure I heard Rod Steiger say in the film of The Illustrated Man. If I remember it correctly, he explains to someone that the woman who created the tattoos has gone "back to the future, beyond our own time again". I wonder whether this was the inspiration for the title of the "Back to the Future" films, and also for the complete quote in the lyrics of the Jefferson Starship album Blows Against The Empire.

[Trinoc]

In relation to the email, does anyone have an example of where peer review failed?  That is where some "discovery" was accepted by the author's peers, but could not be duplicated, assuming it is something that can be duplicated.

For a notorious example, Benveniste on homeopathy. Or Wakefield on vaccination.

But the principle doesn't just apply to cranky papers. Pre-publication peer review simply says a paper is worth releasing to the wider world, otherwise there would be far too much low-quality stuff for anyone to wade through. The real testing of any idea happens after publication. If an idea turns out to be wrong, it doesn't mean it should never have been approved for publication, provided that the paper was of a good enough standard to be worth investigating in the first place.

[Citizen Skeptic]

I live in silicon valley and we just had 3 school bonds up here that all passed. Although I don't have/never had kids, I see the value of education and I'm happy to invest in good schools where people care about good education. The problem is throwing money at bad schools where people don't care about education and assuming that class size is the answer.

I went to LA city schools from 5th grade through high school in the 60's-early 70's. It was in the league that played such wonderful schools as Jordan and East LA. Jordan had barbed wire around their tennis courts and the nets were made of mesh steel. We weren't alowed to go to the bathroom. Stabbings were a regular occurence at football games. At East LA, we were only allowed to go to the bathroom in groups of two or more and were told to take our rackets, deliver a hard whack, and run. It was only partially in jest. I went to schools in huntington park and south gate, which are barrios.

Everyonce in a while we would play at University or Palisades. What a difference. Same school system.

[Evil Eye]

wtn guess- Brian Grenne

[seaotter]

Alabama may be at the bottom in terms of achievement but we do have the four four plan, which requires every graduate to have had four Englishes, histories, math courses, and science.

[alh]

WTN: John Linnell  from They Might Be Giants

In an interview with Astronomy Magazine

John Linnell Interview with Astronomy Magazine, Part Two

at about 1:55

[seaotter]

State College- and Career-Ready High School Graduation Requirements Comparison Table

Seems that we have now been passed by texas in terms of the stricktest graduation standards. They require a half credit of english above Alabama.

21 States + DC Require All Students to Complete a College- and Career-Ready CurriculumAt the time of the National Education Summit on High Schools in 2005, only three states— Arkansas, South Dakota andTexas —had set their requirements at a level that would ensure thatall graduates were prepared for success in college and the workplace. Today, 21 states— Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota,Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee,Texas, Utah 
andWashington  —and theDistrict of Columbia , accounting for nearly half of studentsin the U.S., have elevated their high school diploma requirements to this rigorous level.

Am I missing something. Why do all the backward ass southern states have the highest standards?

[GodSlayer]

not one laugh for 'you never know 'til you open the door'? (circa minute 48)

[Sawyer]

not one laugh for 'you never know 'til you open the door'? (circa minute 48)

I missed that joke, but was also disappointed that they missed a golden opportunity for an easy joke when Evan brought up quantum academy awards.  Until you open the envelope everyone is both winning and not winning.   Jack Pallance could host the show. 

Maybe we should start a "Find the Unappreciated Joke" Project with the podcasts?

[Daws]

Alabama may be at the bottom in terms of achievement but we do have the four four plan, which requires every graduate to have had four Englishes, histories, math courses, and science.

Hmm, so I wonder, does that mean good standards but bad teachers? Or students even? Interesting to see that things aren't so cut and dry...

[secretmuslim]

As a Californian I would love it if there were a four year science requirement for high school students.  But most of California's budget goes to either education or health and human services.  You aren't going to be able to cut environmental protection (about 1% of the state budget), & make up the budget shortfall.  And the last I checked we can't save money by ending our undeclared war with Oregon.  Infrastructure either has to be cut or revenues/taxes have to be raised.  Thanks to proposition 13 the latter has become exceedingly difficult (2/3 supermajority required in both houses).  So when it comes to that four year science requirement, I'm not holding my breath.

WTN guess: Alf Landon

[Trinoc]

On the WTN / They Might Be Giants / plasma thing ...

I've always been suspicious of anything being called "the fourth state of matter". I've even seen the vacuum described that way. If plasma really a distinct state in the same sense as solid liquid and vapour?

The conventional three states have definite state-like characteristics. They are distinct, and there is a transition between them at a particular temperature and pressure where any energy put in or taken out goes into the state change rather than increasing or decreasing the temperature (i.e. latent heat at the freezing or boiling points).

As far as I know, a substance does not entirely convert to plasma at a particular temperature and pressure, nor does the transition involve latent heat. If a plasma physicist out there disagrees about that I'd be happy to be corrected.

We normally think of a plasma state as happening to a gas, since the nuclei and electrons are moving about freely, only transferring energy between themselves by random collisions. But is it possible for a plasma to occur in a sort of liquid state (where particles are close enough together to slide past each other, but not so close as to be locked in place), or even a solid state (particles held in a fixed lattice, only able to vibrate around their current positions)? I'm think of places like deep in the sun (for liquid) or certain types of white dwarf or "diamond star" (very hot solid carbon).

If anything can be called a fourth state it's probably a supercritical fluid (i.e. a permanent gas rather than a condensible vapour). At least that occurs at specific temperatures and pressures, and it is distinct from solid, liquid and vapour in that the definitions of the states don't overlap.

[seaotter]

Alabama may be at the bottom in terms of achievement but we do have the four four plan, which requires every graduate to have had four Englishes, histories, math courses, and science.

Hmm, so I wonder, does that mean good standards but bad teachers? Or students even? Interesting to see that things aren't so cut and dry...

Funny that you say students even. I've seen my share of crappy teachers, but the if we only had fanfrigallytastic teachers like..... seaotter things would be great is one of those great duh ideas. If all the burger king staff were five star chiefs I bet my fish sandwich would taste great. By all means everyone should try to get better at everything, but an average teacher is never going to be me, cause I'm me.

The clearest correlation (not cause) between student achievement and any other factor is mothers income. It's clear in my classes, school, county, state, and country. Give me rich kids and I can jump up and down on one leg and they will have the highest test scores.

[seaotter]

As a Californian I would love it if there were a four year science requirement for high school students.  But most of California's budget goes to either education or health and human services.  You aren't going to be able to cut environmental protection (about 1% of the state budget), & make up the budget shortfall.  And the last I checked we can't save money by ending our undeclared war with Oregon.  Infrastructure either has to be cut or revenues/taxes have to be raised.  Thanks to proposition 13 the latter has become exceedingly difficult (2/3 supermajority required in both houses).  So when it comes to that four year science requirement, I'm not holding my breath.

WTN guess: Alf Landon

As a state with the amongst the lowest funding for schools and the second highest science standards I'm at a loss for why high standards cost more money.

[seaotter]

Plasma is certainly a separate state, but it's the charge characteristics more than its physical behavior. It's an electrically charged gas.