Inside Animals - more from Philly

One last carryover Lego picture - because one of those people looks surprisingly familiar...






We also checked out the brain exhibit- that was a lot of fun - I really likes the "steampunkish signs"


This was a weird thing that took a picture of you and then morphed it based on how much of your brain was connected to individual parts.. (that's Angie - of course her brain is probably not normal...)


They had a whole case of books aimed at female scientist/engineers and interested girls..


cold enough for a really cool ice sculpture copy of the Love sign.
 

I'm adding a page break here because some people may not want to see some of the animal pictures.  (7 pictures after the break) We saw the Human exhibit some years ago at the Franklin - and it was much larger, there were more different types of displays, and the animals were a tad bit disappointing.  They take animals that have died (no animals were actually killed for this) and plasticize systems, dissolve the rest and it gives an interesting look at the anatomy of the various animals.  I was somewhat a moron when I first saw this I thought "3 headed camel?" Then the Angie pointed out - it was cut in thirds so you could see different features...

I passed my class!

As some of you may remember - back oh about a hundred years when I was blogging, I took a class that started at the end of November and ended on Sunday.  The class was somewhat mis-named "Intro to Astronomy"  HAH!!  it also said that prior Physics experience was helpful, but not necessary.  HAH! HAH!  and that only basic algebra skills were required.  HAH!  HAH!  HAH!!

The class should have been called  "The Physics of the Universe - buckle your seatbelts, keep hands and feet inside the ride at all times"  It should have said brush up on Physics I & II before the class starts, or be prepared to learn Physics and Astronomy simultaneously.  It should have said - can you ace the AP Algebra test??  No?? start now or jump in the deep end.

 I "thought"  this class would be about constellations, and some basics of stars, nebula, planets, galaxies, black holes.  It was about the EVERYTHING of the Universe!!  The first week of understanding ascension and declination and meridians etc, to navigate the stars you see while looking up was what I expected.  At the end of that week?  my graded homework?  100.  YAY!

Second week, basic Physics  of orbits of planets and stuff.  100 great.

Then the hammer dropped.  I took algebra in high school.  8th & 9th grade to be exact.  I took the AP test and aced it in Calculus my Junior Year in High School.  Seriously people, I wasn't good, I was great at math.  Physics??  I took physics I & II in High School.  Then I took 5 semesters of it in college - not to mention that in ME most things are really applied Physics.  I always saw Physics as an easy A!!  I guess the thing I forgot was the 25 years between college and now.  And the fact that I can do my job without that much cranial exertion.  (it's sad - I rarely use a calculator at work, it's too much of a pain in the ass to pull out my phone, turn it on, get the calc app ... I can do arithmetic in my head faster... and this impresses the crap out of people)

Week 3 - 1. derive an expression....  2.  Use the expression from problem one to calculate...  3.  Use the data calculated in 2 to determine.....
Yeah, get one wrong, the rest are just totally screwed... my grade?? 60.

Then I did great week 4 & 5 100's both weeks.  

Week 6.  Subatomic Physics.  stuff ME's really don't play with much.  Brain hurt from the exercise.  My score... 15.


By the end of week 4, I was spending about 30 hours a week on a class I didn't need, and wouldn't get me anything.  Fortunately, the professor gave a 2 week extension on all homeworks, because people were struggling with week 2's homework and he really wanted people to keep on it until they understood what was going on.  That and the week we had "off" for Christmas.  So that gave me 3 extra weeks time to struggle through.  I even got the Angie to help me with some math - took her like 3 seconds to solve - while she was home for the Holidaze.

I finished my last set of graded homework with 2 hours to spare - and an 2 hours past my bedtime on Sunday night.  I needed a 40 to pass and get a completion certificate.  I got a 53!! I was never so happy to fail a quiz before.

Why did I stick it out?? Why did I let this class basically take over my entire life for 13 weeks??  I had already dropped 2 previous classes in different topics.  First, Astronomy has changed a lot since I used to hang out at an observatory in HS and college.  Black holes were a theory, we couldn't see them or have proof until we launched xray telescope satellites, Can't see this stuff from the ground.  The first planet around another star was discovered in 1992.. Angie was born that January, I was playing Mommy.  SO I had a real passion for a science when I was younger that pretty much  was obsolete.  I wanted to KNOW!!!


The second, biggest reason??  The professor who taught the class was phenomenal!!  Dr. Plesser from Duke University's Physics Dept.  He's not an astrophysicist.  He loves astronomy, and discovered he enjoyed teaching about it when his kids were young in school. so he taught the Intro to AStronomy class at Duke, and enjoyed it, and teaches it whenever he can work it in.  And really?  It shows.  He was always talking to the camera like it was a class, you could hear the enthusiasm and passion as he talked waving his hands around.  He didn't read from a prompter or a tablet or notes like other on line teachers do.  He just talked from his head/heart.  He'd pick up a stylus and show us how a formula was derived, usually I had to watch those pieces a couple times, even when the finished formula was right on the next power point slide.  He really made me  want to finish , want to understand everything he was saying.  Duke is lucky to have a teacher like him, a true teacher.  One of my friend's kids is considering Duke, I told him if he ever got a chance to take this guy in person he must!!  

Avoiding Brain Atrophy

Every once in a while, I decide I don't use my brain enough and it is in danger of atrophy. ( I wouldn't want to start rooting for the Chefs - sorry randy or gasp Jr -)   I had heard about Coursera on TED.  Coursera gives free online classes in a huge range of subjects by faculty of top universities. ( I believe it was co-founded by Stanford and Princeton - but didn't check so don't quote me on that) I kept meaning to check it out (much like I kept meaning to blog - and you see how that went for 3 months).   Then one of my friends (Fe's mom) said she was taking Intro to Logic.  I decided to take it with her - the only requirements were Algebra and Set Theory.  It was taught by a Stanford professor.

 I ended up dropping the class for a few reasons. 
1.  It was taking WAY WAY more than the 2-3 hours a week that it estimated.
2.  While I did get higher than an 80 on the homework (required to get a certificate of completion) it was by the skin of my teeth, 
3.  Here is my biggest complaint about the class:  I really feel that after the hard deadline for turning in the homework (there is the due date and if you are late you lose points for every day you are late - the hard deadline is when you get a 0 anyway) the professor should have posted the correct answers and some sort of explanation as to how one would arrive at that answer.  So if you say got 9 points out of 20 for a question (yup 9) there is nothing other than to ask in the discussion forums how to get the right answer.  Some students got the right answer but in different ways and you don't know which is the correct way.  In a live class you can ask the professor or see him after class.  And since clearly the next week is only going to build on something that you only grasp 45% of - you are going downhill quickly.
4.  Set theory wasn't discussed in the classes, but showed up in the homework and there was never an explanation of how set theory ties into Logic equations ( he did explain how Algebra rules translated to Logic) and you are left out there trying to figure it out on your own.

I haven't given up on Coursera.  I may even try another math class at some point in the future.  I am currently signed up for one class that will start at the end of November and one that will start in April.  They are both nutrition based classes, which given my newfound weird diabetes have a real relevance in my life.  I really encourage other people to check out their course offerings.