Tuesday 10 March 2009

Quotes and Questions 42 - 3 Mar 09

Quotes

Observations not only disturb what is to be measured, they produce it."
Pascual Jordan

You've got to bumble forward into the unknown.
Frank Gehry

Questions

For the answers go to The 2nd QuestioN! blog at SLCN

P:1) This is a teaching and learning style in which learning takes place by the student actually carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or merely watching a demonstration. Some people are visual learners, some auditory learners and some are these. It is when someone learns things from doing or being part of them. They make up about 15% of the population and have very high hand-eye co-ordination and very quick receptors. They use phrases such as "I can see myself doing that" and "It's starting to come alive" What kind of learners are these?

H:2) Swiss-based company Katadyn began in 1926 when its founder found a way of harnessing the disinfectant qualities of silver and began pioneering work in portable water purification units. The company’s core business is still mobile water sterilization but over the last decade it has used its dominant global market share to diversify into a range of other products servicing the special requirements of adventure travelers. Given that its products will be found in the kit of any international relief organization, military Special Opps unit or extreme adventure athlete, it is somewhat of an irony that this company should produce the world’s first what?
P:3) For half a century, the friendliest face of space travel was Laika the space-dog, launched into Earth orbit aboard Sputnik II. Now Britain has challenged Laika’s supremacy by launching these into the stratosphere. They were strapped to a helium weather balloon, which rose to an altitude of 100,000 feet before bursting. The total flight time was two hours and nine minutes, long enough to gather data on the effects of sub-zero conditions on the custom-designed space suits. The balloon landed 50 miles from the launch site, and the astronauts were successfully retrieved. The astronauts were..?

H:4) New analysis suggests that those traveling in bear territory may be better off leaving the guns at home and packing something else instead.. 71 bear incidents over 20 years in Alaska, were studied where there are an estimated 150,000 bears. Findings showed this was effective in deterring aggressive bear behavior in 92 percent of the cases. Smith's previous research showed that guns were effective only about 67 percent of the time. Understandable, this is in part this is due the fact that in trying to shoot straight with a 1200 pound grizzly bearing down on you is not an easy task, particularly when it takes an average of four hits to stop the attack. What should you pack instead of a gun in bear territory?

P:5) Faust Part One is a complex story. It takes place in multiple settings, the first of which is heaven. Mephistopheles makes a bet with God: he says that he can deflect God's favorite human being (Faust), who is striving to learn everything that can be known, away from righteous pursuits. The next scene takes place in Faust's study where Faust, despairing at the vanity of scientific, humanitarian and religious learning, turns to magic for the showering of infinite knowledge. He suspects, however, that his attempts are failing. Frustrated, he ponders suicide, but rejects it as he hears the echo of nearby Easter celebrations begin. He goes for a walk and is followed home by what?

H:6) Delirious New York set the pace for his career where the "chance-like" nature of city life is celebrated: "The City is an addictive machine from which there is no escape. With the rise of modernism in the 20th century the "Program" became key. The notion of the Program involves "an act to edit function and human activities" as the pretext of architectural design: epitomized in the maxim Form follows Function, he also built S,M,L,XL, and put running tracks in skyscrapers and (unsuccessfully) proposed the inclusion of hospital units for the homeless into a Seattle public Library. His think-tank suggested the development of a visual language. This idea inspired the "Barcode". The barcode seeks to unite the flags of the EU member countries into a single, colorful symbol. Who is this famous architect?
P: 7) As in previous editions of this game, each player takes on a role. True identities are kept secret as players work independently to complete missions by using clues from the game and real-time tips. The use of this to enhance a traditional board game experience is a true innovation in the board game category and CLUE Secrets & Spies Edition, is pioneering it, What will be used to turn an every day device into world saving technology?

H:8) The Dow Jones dropped below 7,000 yesterday for the first time since when?

P: 9) This is a system of conveying information by means of visual signals, using towers with pivoting shutters, also known as blades or paddles. Information is encoded by the position of the mechanical elements; it is read when the shutter is in a fixed position. These systems were popular in the late 18th - early 19th century. In modern usage, "the optical telegraph" may refer to a relay system using flags. These were a precursor of the electrical telegraph. They were far faster than post riders for bringing a message over long distances, but far more expensive and less private than the electrical telegraph lines which would replace them. What is this means of relaying information called?.
H: 10) Set in an alternate history 1960, this first person shooter game places the player in the role of a plane crash survivor named Jack, who must explore the underwater city of Rapture, and survive attacks by the mutated beings and mechanical drones that populate it. The game incorporates elements found in role-playing and survival horror games, and is described by ken Levine as a "spiritual successor" to their previous titles. What game is it?

P: 11) A Möbius strip, an object with only one surface and one edge; such shapes are an object of study in this field, but the discipline was first properly founded toward the end of the 19th century, at which time it was called geometria situs (Latin geometry of place) and analysis situs (Latin analysis of place). From around 1925 to 1975 it was an important growth area within mathematics and grew out of geometry and set theory, and is the study of both the fine structure and global structure of space. What is this field of mathematics called?

H:12) From a topological viewpoint they are the same. Roughly speaking, a topological space is a geometric object, and this represents is a continuous stretching and bending of the object into a new shape. Thus, a square and a circle are this to each other, but a sphere and a donut are not. An often-repeated joke is that topologists can't tell the coffee cup from which they are drinking from the donut they are eating, since a sufficiently pliable donut could be reshaped to the form of a coffee cup by creating a dimple and progressively enlarging it, while shrinking the hole into a handle. What is this called, what is the word for how the donut & the coffee cup can become each other?

P:13) The terms Renaissance Man and, less commonly, Homo Universalis (Latin for "universal man" or "man of the world") are related and used to describe a person who is well educated or who excels in a wide variety of subjects or fields. Thus the gifted men of the Renaissance sought to develop skills in all areas of knowledge, in physical development, in social accomplishments and in the arts. There is another word to describe this sort of person. Poincare, DaVinci, Newton, Goethe, Jefferson, Aristotle and Leibnitz could all said to have been one. What term is used to describe them?

H:14) Quantum theory tells that all things that have ever interacted are forever connected. For example, your friend’s freely made decision of what to do in Moscow (or on Mars) can instantaneously influence what you find in Manhattan. And this happens without any physical force being involved. Einstein called such influences “spooky actions.” They have now been demonstrated to exist. These two quantum phenomena are technically called “wave function collapse” and “entanglement.” They are NOT hard to understand–even with zero physics background. But they are almost impossible to believe. When someone tells you something you can’t believe, you might well think you don’t understand. But believing might be the real problem. This is the basis of a book on physics & consciousness; Can you believe physical reality to be created by our observation of it? Physicists were forced to this conclusion by what they observed in their laboratories. What is the name of the 2008 book that sets this forth?

P:15) He is considered to be the first engineer, architect and physician in history known by name. He was one of very few mortals to be depicted as part of a pharaoh's statue. He was one of only a few commoners ever to be accorded divine status after death. The center of his cult was Memphis. Not Tennessee and he may have been responsible for the first known use of columns in architecture. And said to have been 'Father of Medicine' and the film original and rebake of The Mummy are loosely based on his life story. Who was this ancient Polymath?

H:16) An examination of several early medieval monastic medical manuscripts reveals that ancient herbal recipes dating back to as early as 500 B.C. could have effectively treated kidney disorders, known today as diabetes. A plant mixture of ales and cinnamon bark, for example, has a blood glucose lowering effect. Studies in journals indicate ancient recipes may be alternative treatments for insulin resistance in adult-onset diabetes Name one of the herbs those recipes included?

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