Fireworks

Though I hadn't originally planned on it, my girlfriend and I ended up checking out the fireworks over Mission Bay in San Diego for the 4th of July.  There was a really interesting setup for them; at 9 they had synchronized fireworks from several barges positioned at several places around town.  These were pretty cool, but the best thing was just having more than one location.  The real show came half an hour later with the SeaWorld fireworks. 

Apparently SeaWorld makes a whole lot more money than I would imagine reasonable, because they put on a show that looked like this:

which I guess, by itself, seems just sorta OK, until I heard that this was 'just about the same' as the show they put on every Friday night all summer.  Go figure.  I guess their prices make more sense now.

Happy 4th, er, 5th everyone!

-M

Mt Soledad

Visited Mt Soledad tonight for the sunset. It was very interesting, if only due to the horrible visibility. There was a blanket of smog over nearly the whole county (including an hour inland on a day trip I took). One positive spin on such horrible air quality, though, is it gives amazing colors during sunsets! While up there, I took a few shots.

Hopefully we can get some rain soon though; an interesting sunset isn't worth poor breathing quality, and a hazy sunset, though interesting, doesn't lend to the most interesting sunset photography.  The light sure does though.

Beach Photos

In my lab, we have been doing overnight experiments occasionally as part of our efforts to study aerosol particles produced by wave breaking.  This has presented a nice opportunity for me, as it puts me down by the beach in the middle of the night.  On one of these experiments, I took my camera gear down to the beach and set up some long exposures to see what the Scripps/La Jolla area looks like at night.

This one was looking down a the beach from pier-level.  Wasn't on the pier, but still got some nice light from the pier lights.

On this particular night, there were many people out looking for grunions.  Over the course of my 25 second exposure, their flashlights moved quite a bit down the beach, giving a neat will-o-wisp look to the people on the beach.  There was also a nice cloud layer.

Night photography is fun, and this was evidence that it's always nice to have your camera on hand when doing other things, because you never know when a unique situation will arise.

-M

Photos of Jackie

This past Sunday, Jackie and I went for a drive to the towns to the north of our place.  We pulled off on a side street when passing through Del Mar on a whim, and found a spot with really neat lighting.  I took advantage of it to snap some shots of her.  Very cool spot.  These were a few of my favorites:

You can see the train tracks in the background! There were quite a few trains that passed by, and a surprising lack of fencing to keep people back.

Most serious photo I could find.

Overall, a very nice little drive, with some good souveniers to boot!  Now the goal is to find more time to do stuff like this...

Teaching

Ok, so tomorrow's xkcd comic is about the process of teaching complex material:

This is always an interesting issue that I run into when teaching chemistry to students.  How do you describe the complex inner workings of some scientific concept to people with no familiarity without compromising the scientific integrity of what you are teaching?

I think the bigger and deeper question here is: does it really matter?  As a scientist, I understand the need for precise language and avoiding simplifying analogies when it can do harm to your discussion.  Simple analogies, though useful as a pedagogical tool, can often backfire when students get further along in their studies.

My philosophy is that this isn't as big of an issue as we'd like to make it.  Sure, these simplifications can fail when viewed too rigorously.  It can even cause issues to students advancing further in the field.  I think these risks are outweighed by the possible benefits of spreading appreciation of science.  Too often, science is viewed through this lens of mystification, where those non-initiated view it as a sort of 'magic', and the people who study it are typically socially awkward at best, if not downright mad.

Quiz: How many  times have you seen a scientist or mathematician on TV who follows a sports team, or goes to a bar to hang out?  Answer: Will Hunting.


I think one of the best things we can do is use the forum of the classroom to help people understand that, although it is shrouded in equations and theorems, science can really just be common sense.  That's part of what's so great about it.  It works.


A good analogy can really change how students view a concept.  Sure, it may be a non-rigorous explanation, and sure it can lead to misconceptions down the road for scientists-but people interested in science will get past this!  We will read papers and books detailing the inner workings of a system, and obtain a full understanding.  But to a student that will not become a physicist or chemist or biologist, this rigor is not what is important.  What is important is looking at problems and thinking about them analytically, and using our minds to accomplish our goals.  For these students, a good analogy can really bring about a shift in thought and encourage growth, whereas the rigorous explanation may just turn them off altogether.  Science begins to make sense, based simply on everyday experiences.

And once it begins to make sense, science isn't really that scary.