What is the value of time?

I apologize for a last blog this week. It's been a little busy and I was unable to really decide upon and topic and get it researched as much as I like. I've got one on the works about the importance of irrigation and am still working on the evolution of the music industry. Unfortunately neither one of those is ready. I also need to write a book review for my other blog, Grandfather's Wish. I just finished Time of the Twins, the first in the Dragon Lance Legends by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. (sign) So much I'd like to do and I just need to find the time.

Time is an interesting thing though. There are 168 hours in a week. The average human is said to need 8 hours of sleep a night (even though that's not entirely true), so that's 56 hours for sleep. "The typical" work week is 40 hours a week, but often that's 8 hours of work with an hour lunch  so lets call it 45 hours. That leaves 67 hours for everything else. The average commute in the US is 25.4 minutes, with drastic changes based on region, so subtract 5 more hours (on average). Eating and drinking can be upwards of 67 minutes a day, not including when we are multitasking with food. So there goes another 7+ hours a week But wait, that doesn't take preparing food - which takes another 33 minutes at day on average (p. 27), and don't forget shopping. Take down another 5 hours we'll call it. The average bath/shower time is about 65 hours a year, so call it and hour + a week. And don't forget dressing, and all those other little things that just add up. It's not uncommon for people to get to the end of the day and ask, "Where did time go?" Why, into the past of course!

Time truly is precious. I got this quote from Board of Wisdom.com, but have seen it before elsewhere. I've changed it from the source to how I remember seeing it - cause I like it better.

To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of  ONE Day, ask a hourly wage worker with a family to feed.
To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a  person who just missed their flight.
To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask someone who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of One MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

My mother encouraged me watch a lecture given by Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He gave a lecture on time management and started it by showing a picture of the pancreatic cancer that was killing him as he stood there before the audience. I now encourage others to watch it if they are interested in learning about time management. Obviously I need to work on it myself.

Randy is also known for giving another lecture, titiled "the Last Lecture." I recommend that one as well.

Oh, and case you were wondering: time to turn an intended apology into a decent blog post on time management - 25 minutes.

The modern Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Working in education gives me a lot of opportunities to meet, talk with, and learn more about students. Over the last couple of years I have seen a real trend that is disturbing. One of my colleagues compared it to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Like the odious potion in the book it can literally transform students from gentle, inspiring persons into hate filled, aggressive, belligerent alter-egos. It is considered the ultimate four letter word of academia and is the most infamous curriculum ever imposed upon students. It is math.

I have heard math referred to as "the bane of [a student's] existence," "impossible," "useless," "a waste of time," and "[a student's] worst subject." When talking about math or asking why they have to take it many students are rude, angry, upset, and demanding. I know of no other topic in academia that has such a negative stigma as math. I've seen cases when students would rather wait an hour to have an opportunity to complain to someone, try to work around the system, or rant to a person then perform a simple task (such as watching a 30 minute online presentation) in relation to their math requirement. I have seen people turn from Jekyll to Hyde because of math. I want to know why!

This is a conversation I've had with one of my coworkers several times. She helps keep me grounded because we have had different experiences, have opposing views, and have different perceptions on math and math education. With that said we do agree on a variety of things relating to math (how it might be improved, difficulties in the system, etc) but we do approach it from two very different starting positions. It was she that described her own experiences as Jekyll and Hyde and found herself puzzled by the fact. I won't try to recreate our conversations here, but I do want to express some of the musings that resulted from them. The overarching question that I want to know is: Why do people hate math so much?

Is it because math is difficult? Math is an abstract concept used to describe our real world. You don't see the number three in nature, the same way you don't see the letter A going for a walk. Just as letters are used to provide a visual component to our spoken language, math is used as a medium to express real world patterns and systems. There is plenty of debate on if numbers actually exist, or if math is humans attempting to explain the universe or is it a natural part of the universe we discover, but the bottom line is that it may not be a natural way to think for many people. It is not often intuitive to think in terms of x and y. And because it is difficult to see how the quadratic equation relates to anything you deal with in daily life, many people question it's practicality. Without a clear objective use of it people lose interest, don't remember it well, and generally struggle with learning it. Yet, many people do hard things all the time and continue doing them despite them being hard. Athletes train in rough conditions, computer techs debug code to get their programs working, musicians practice long hours, artist and writers struggle through blocks of creativity. People run marathons, hike mountains, fight wars, win noble prizes, discover stars, cure plagues, go to law school. Our society holds people who overcome difficulty in high honor. Couches tell players to push past pain. Therapists tell clients to work through their problems. And heroes of all kinds tell children to reach for the stars. Yet if the difficulty is math, people are prone to give up, give in, and accept the idea that "I can't do it." So, I think we can discount it being difficult as a reason why it is so hated. Most things are difficult and we get through just fine.

Maybe it is the"impractical" nature of mathematics? As I've described above, it is not a natural way for many people to think and because you will rarely ever see a situation that calls for a logarithmic function there is little use in remembering it, even for the test you have on Friday. However, a couple of years ago a law maker in Utah argued that a liberal arts degrees was a "degree to nowhere." And thinking back on your own education when have you ever used those facts you learned about the Civil War in high school or college history? When have you ever listed the romantic era composers or painters? Since when has world geography, to quote Fred son of Fanny sister to Ebenezer, "put a scrap of money in [your] pocket?" There are many other "impractical" topics out there. In fact, if you talk to enough people you will find that every topic is impractical in one way or another, yet people have studied them for years many times without complaining, and many times while complaining, but rarely with the vim and vigor of the utter detestation that people have for math. Now I've mentioned how it is the facts that are often impractical and I stand by it, but I firmly state that the skills students learn in the classes that I disparaged above are very important. Yet, math contains both skills and facts that are relevant to everyday life. From telling time to figuring out a tip you use small math facts and skills everyday. So, not only are people studying "impractical" topics all the time, but math is more practical than many others. As Adam Savage would say, I think this one is busted.

I've heard lots of students say that they've had negative experiences with math. Generally a good health (or rather unhealthy) dose of negativity will jade most people. This is one that I can't necessarily disagree with, but I can claim that it is not also the case, nor do I believe it can be the only cause. My own experience with math in junior high is not a positive one. I failed it in seventh grade and was required by my mother to lug a math text home and new an set of problems every day before I could do anything else. An entire summer of doing pre and beginning algebra before I could enjoy the nice weather outside or books and games inside. Also, for both my seventh and eight years my calculators broke early in the school year. Any advanced computations I had to work on on paper with pencil. I went through learning my basic algebra without technical assistance. Geometry  was the same until we got to sine/cosine/tangent. I didn't have a list of ratio tables, or I'm sure I would have had to do that by hand too. Despite this, I never hated math. I hated homework, but I had to do that for all of my classes. I didn't begin to really enjoy math and become an advocate for it until college, during which ironically I never had a math class, but my negative experiences in seventh and eight grades did not cause me to despise math. Now I fully acknowledge that my experience and me as a person is far different from everyone else. Again, I do feel that a sever or series of negative experiences this may cause people to hate math. But what is it can causes many students to have those negative experiences? As part of the Jekyll and Hyde transformation many students are not hesitant to complain about math instructors. Out of all of the instructors I'm told about, math teachers rank the highest in the number and extend of "bad teachers." Not that they are the only source of negative experiences, but they appear to be a big one. Let's look at them for a second.

I think it is very clear that math teachers have an effect on whether students enjoy math or hate it. Students that enjoy math often refer to a teacher that supported and helped them through difficult parts or "made math fun." Students that turn into Mr. Hyde at the mention of math often will complain about the quality of math teaching or refer to a particular instructor as being useless, unhelpful, bad, etc. I have to point out that many students are unwilling or do not want to claim responsibility for their grades which leads to statements like "the teacher failed me" or "he teacher was bad," but I don't want to dismiss teachers and instructors that are not good teachers. While there are students that do not understand that they are required to participate in the learning process there are also teachers that do not provide the support necessary to give students a fighting chance of learning the material. My wife, Angel, who coordinates math tutors at a branch campus of the university we work for felt that the lack of support from instructors is the biggest part. A supportive instructor can help students through difficult times, find practicality and creative means within math, and tends to provide more positive experiences than negative. Angel's own experience was negative and then positive. In sixth grade she was told that she would never succeed in math and to choose something that wouldn't require it. This simply hardened her resolve to prove that teacher wrong. In junior high she had an instructor that supported her in math and helped her learn it. Since then she has completed multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations which is the math base for a degree in mechanical engineering. She loves math, even though she's always had difficulty with it. Instructors have an undeniable effect on their students.

And this leads to what I ultimately believe is the reason that math is such a hated topic. We hate it because we have been taught to hate it. One of the criticisms I've heard of an education program I once worked for was that students who dislike math went into elementary education. Those students became teachers who then went on to teach math. Because they did not like it themselves they instilled that dislike into their students. Math was a chore for them, so it because a chore for the children. etc. Also, think about the perception that people who are good at math have. They are seen as nerd, geeks, or out of touch. There are very few positive perceptions of mathematicians. Anti-social, awkward, shy, naive, unpopular, etc. Who would want to be good at math when there are very few positive role models. Even the discussion of a student having excessive negative experiences in math is a classic example of psychological conditioning. To boot you have stereotypes associated with math - "women and minority populations are bad at math," "math is hard," "math is useless," etc. Ironically, the government is clamoring for more nerds. Industry is calling for more engineers, computer programmers, scientist,  mathematicians. From what I can see, society is both begging for and discouraging people who like math. Generally it's not the same people doing both, but both messages are getting across.

I do know of groups that are doing cool things with math and science. Numberphile, ViHart, Smarter Every Day, Veritasium, Sixty Symbols, Periodic Videos, Minute Physics, Purple Math, Khan Academy and many other discuss math and science (often with the math) and show some really cool things. I'm glad these folks are out that there are resources available to help students learn. I've watched some of their videos with my children (ages 5 and 3). I think the best way to end the hate (and thus increase the "nerds") is to teach that math is not bad. Yes, it can be hard but it can also be interesting, practical, and even (heaven forbid) fun. Math is a critical skill that develops our creative and critical thinking abilities and helps us make sense of abstract and concrete ideas. Stop the negative self talk. Stop the hate. Stop the blogger from harping on this again. 

The great Iron Horse

Not long ago my wife went and saw The Lone Ranger in the theater with my sister, M, and her husband, Moose. The discussion since has been varied, and I will say that I enjoyed it. No, this will not be a review. I will mention a few things about it here, but I don't consider it spoiling it because anybody who has seen the trailer should know these things. First, it features trains. Second, there is a train wreck. It is on trains that my musing takes me.

One of the scenes in the film is outlining the significance of the railroad and steam power. If you think about it, before steam power, the most efficient way to move goods and people was via water. Over land you had to use people (which required large amounts of people and food) or animals (which required people to watch the animals, and consequently food). There is also a very strict weight to speed ratio for animals and people. Increase the weight and you decrease the speed. Increase the speed and you have to decrease the weight. So if you had goods you could either move them quickly in small amounts or more slowly in large amounts. In the book Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman describes the difficulty in dealing with packing food for a trip:

The object of the expedition was to place two men on the summit of Rum Doodle. This necessitated the establishment of a camp at 39,000 feet stocked with a fortnight's supplies for two, so that in the event of adverse weather conditions the party could wait in comfort for an improvement. The equipment for this camp had to be carried from the railhead at Chaikhosi, a distance of five hundred miles. Five porters would be needed for this. Two porters would be needed to carry the food for these five, and another would carry the food for these two. His food would be carried by a boy. The boy would carry his own food. The first supporting party would be established at 38,000 feet, also with a fortnight's supplies, which necessitated another eight porters and a boy. In all, to transport tents and equipment, food, radio, scientific and photographic gear, personal effects, and so on, three thousand porters and three hundred and seventy-five boys would be required..."

While this statement is made in humor, it does demonstrate some real things to consider when it comes to traveling.

Ships require men as well, but the size of the load that a group of nautically trained men can take with them is vastly bigger then a Sherpa's. Even the Volga boatmen and their equivalents in other cultures could move more than if they didn't have the boat or raft to store the stuff in. This is one reason why civilization tends to stick to rivers and coasts. Not just for the fresh water, but also the transportation. Also, look at the difference between cultures that existed with water transportation verses overland. Arabia, the American Midwest, and Siberia were not known for their large, inland cities. So, what do you do when there are no rivers, seas, or lakes, or oceans?

The steam powered locomotive was an answer to that question. Like boats the ratio between the amount of goods and the number of people required was high. Also, they could travel at speeds that exceeded people's or animal capabilities (early engines were between 13 and 29 MPH without a load). It took a number of years to go from the early commuter train "The Best Friend of Charleston" to the transcontinental railroad project, but rail had an effect on the country unlike any other. Instead of towns forming next to large rivers where the paddle boats could bring supplies, they began to pop up everywhere. Many of these towns began as support for the railroad. Often these towns were full of "weekend entertainment" and were called "Hell on Wheels." To this day many "railroad" towns are considered to have unsavory reputations and being known for being rough around the edges. This also meant that if the railroad changed, the town often dried up. I've camped at Terrence, UT which was a town that was bypassed with the Southern Pacific Railroad cut across the Great Salt Lake. I was there 15 years ago all we found was broken china, building supplies and some holes in the ground that were old foundations, root cellars, etc. It is amazing how quickly things can change.

Interestingly enough trains are still one of the most efficient ways to move goods. I as fascinated to learn that diesel locomotives use diesel engines to power electric generators for toque motors and as such are really hybrid vehicles. In Russia I saw a lot of electric trains used for both commuter and freight. I believe this picture is from Russia showing power poles put in between the rails. I say it's Russia because of the prefabricated concrete ties and the general situation. .You kind of have to be there to get it. You can see the lack of use on the rails, so don't get bent out of shape about the people doing it being idiots.

In addition to how trains are powered, you have the different kinds of trains. I've personally ridden on cross country passenger, commuter, light rail, and even a cog train. Cog trains are fun because they have a third rail (not the electric kind) that has places for a cog wheel to fit. They use cog trains to climb steep inclines and mountains. I took the cog up Pike's Peak with a school trip and I remember them saying that the train could literally stop in a very few seconds. This is simply because if they lock that cog wheel there is no slippage on the rail. You can see the third, crenelated rail in this picture of the Pike's Peak cog train.

Trains have always been fascinating to me and I wish I could spend more time on discussing them and researching them more indepth, but this blog has go on long enough. I would like to end with what is considered on of the greatest silent movies which also is considered a fabulous train movie - The General, featuring Buster Keaton. One of the things that makes this movie so incredible is that, like The Lone Ranger, there is a train crash. However, unlike its modern want-a-bees, Buster Keaton actually crashed an honest-to-goodness, fully-working, legitimate steam locomotive into a river. It was obviously done in one take and is impressive by any standard.

Happy 4th of July!

Quick! Answer the question: How many countries have a 4th of July?


All of them, of course. Those of us commonly referred to as Americans are just the only ones that celebrate it as Independence Day. It turns out that a good number of things took place on the 4th of July all across history. And a couple of other countries celebrate holidays on July 4th including: Liberation Day (Rwanda), Republic Day (Philippines) and a half dozen Christian Feast Days (Catholic and Orthodox). Yet, despite this I find myself referring to the holiday as "The Forth of July," not Independence Day. I wouldn't say the actual date has supplanted the official name of the holiday, but it has certainly become synonymous with it.

So, what does one blog about on Independence Day? I originally had a post about music and the evolution of the recording industry, but decided that would not be the best for such a popular holiday. That and as a history major I felt that there needed to be something with a little weight for the day. Granted, having said that, my minor was in Russian and I studied a lot of fascist groups (League of the Archangel Michael, Mussolini and Hitler, and The AntiCommunist Committee of Russian Immigrants in Northern China), so I'm sure that McCarthy would have questioned my patriotism. Good thing he's no longer witch hunting.

Granted, McCarthyism would be a very relevant topic for the 4th of July as he did everything in the name of patriotism. Many have said that Americans are known for their aggressive patriotism and nationalism. I can certainly say that Americans are more nationally aware then the Russians I met when I was there. Or rather - you can often find American homes displaying the national flag, I never saw a Russian home display one. I've heard a similar report about England, but haven't been there myself. I can say that my father has several different historical American flags he likes to fly including a Betsy Ross and the Bennington flag. He generally flies the current flag at the same time as the historical flags, so don't get uptight with him for not flying a "valid" flag.


The topic that I decided to briefly discuss was our National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, which is also the name of the flag that was flying at the time of the original poem was written. (Incidentally, my father has one of those too - 15 stars, 15 stripes). There are some, if not many, who do not know the origin of the song. Briefly, during the war of 1812 Francis Scott Key was sent to the British to secure the release of American prisoners. Fearing Key and the prisoners would divulge the plan for attack on Fort McHenry, the British refused to release any of them until after they utterly destroyed the fort from off the face of the earth. Key was allow to watch and reported the action to those below decks. Key wrote the poem on the back of a letter he had on him. The British were unsuccessful in their attempt to remove the Star Spangled Banner from Fort McHenry and later deposited Key and the prisoners in Baltimore. Key went on to put the poem to a well known song (which at the time happened to be associated with drinking), ultimately becoming the national anthem in 1931.

We generally sing only the first verse, traditionally people will sing up to three, but there were four verses originally written. I had heard about this mysterious fourth verse from my mother. I don't know how she knew about it, but I was given to understand that it was a rather scandalous verse - something not to be sung in public. With the advent of Independence Day I thought I would try to find that missing verse. It is actually the third verse of the song, and it goes something like this:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

I think I have to agree that such lines would not be best to sing in public, nor particularly at any event where our British allies would be in attendance - seeing how Key was writing about them.

Anyway you slice it, Independence Day is a marvelous holiday to celebrate. The ideals of freedom and safety are something to obtain. Regardless of the holiday, it's always great to celebrate something. Granted, you can take it too far. I knew Russians that claimed to only drink alcohol on holidays. Then we found out how many holidays Eastern and Russian Orthodoxy had. What ever you do on July 4th, enjoy yourself!