Version:
3/4/12

pictures of the week

thought-bite of the week:

isotherms of ocean water temperatures (AvH, 1817)

Humboldt's sketch & data for map of Rio Meta
click on image to see full-size graphic

"I reckoned that it was my duty in this book to record all the data obtained from reliable sources…, investigate the causes and relations, and establish fixed points in the rapid course of time…"
(Humboldt, "Personal Narrative", from Jaguars and Electric Eels, ed. & trans. Wilson, p. 19)

mini-text of the week (start):

"…we forgot that there might be dangers descending steep slopes covered with a smooth, slippery grass in the dark."

Humboldt, "Personal Narrative", from Jaguars and Electric Eels, ed. & trans. Wilson, pp. 17-18 (read more)

(X') = anticipated time in minutes (total=75)

(0001) etc.=item in Humboldt Project document collection

Key to notes added AFTER the class meets:

√ = topic / activity that was adequately dealt with during the class

+ = topic that was started but needs more attention & will be resumed at next / subsequent meeting(s)

- = a topic / activity that was proposed though not begun, but will be taken up later

Struckthrough text like this = a topic / activity that was proposed but not included is not going to be taken up after all

Italic bold green text like this = comments after the meeting

√

(5') Thought-bite of the week: "all the data" - see "pictures of the week: isotherms of ocean water temperatures" and attached article about shooting spotted owls to save spotted owls.

√

(15') Humboldt and "triangulation" for navigation on the exploration and acquisition of data for mapmaking and as a skeleton for organizing and presenting still other data (species info, etc.). See "thought-bite of the week" and "pictures of the week: Humboldt's skech map of Rio Meta". Part 1: right triangles, wrong :-) triangles, congruent triangles, and trigonometry - the basics; measuring distances & directions on the (often very uneven) ground; measuring altitudes with angles & distances (not with barometer). Social implications: interrelationship of land surveying, land ownership, land occupation. Here are directions about getting smart phone apps for the course. For iPhone (all free of charge): "Thedolite", "Elevation", "Trig Solver" (actually does just triangles, but that's what we want), and maybe (advanced users:) "Spyglass". The same or similar apps exist for Android.

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(20') Group project time:

Background music by American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-69) - Wikipedia link. Here (temporary link to comply with © restrictions) are two pieces incorporating musical motifs inspired by his childhood in the American South (French-speaking Louisiana) and his travels in the Caribbean and elsewhere in Latin America. Gottschalk's mother was creole.

Commit to paper & hand in today your working title, goals, audience, outline, timeline, personnel, collective products, individual tasks, and shopping list / budget for supplies. For inspiration about titles, see last meeting's supplement, p. 7. After today, "stragglers" can't expect to join existing teams just by asking. If necessary they will be assigned to projects which will be specified for them. Possibilities (unless taken by teams already at work): Humboldt-themed learning garden (can use species similar to Humboldt-named/related species); plan for Earth Day or Planet under Pressure event, with kit of resources (description or actual kit); plan for half-hour Humboldt presentation (or virtual presentation) at a parent-teacher meeting at a Humboldt-named school.

+

(20') The world Now and in 1600 (-1900+): your probable individual fate, and what you, transported back to then, would find very different (very absent, very present); standards of living for the (decile) range of population; What caused the change, and what did the change cause? How does that relates to social responsibility (activism?) and sustainable environmentalism? See also handout from previous meeting: pictures from Lesy, Wisconsin Death Trip; article from The Economist, about malnutrition in the present.

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(10') More about Writing assignment 4: Describe a Humboldt-related species for a specific audience. What kind of documentation, and for what purpose? What will be your "gimmick" ("eye candy", etc.)? Example of outstanding species description (about 700 words) intended for non-specialist college students.

Value of hands-on learning in math: Why, indeed, is the area of a circle calculated by squaring its radius and multiplying that by pi? A demonstration of hands-on math learning.

√

(5') Checkups & Previews:

Solutions to the calculation problems from the previous meeting (canoe wood volume, longitude error) are now available. If you find mistakes, email us.

Here's the link to student travel grants sponsored by the PSU Institute of Sustainable Solutions.

Next week: More about trust and sources of info: Small groups: Where do you get your own information, opinions, conclusions, solutions, and how do you check it out? If time: So what can the educated citizen read while we wait to see what today's classics will be in the eyes of tomorrow's inhabitants? (periodical press; local, quotidien; long-term knowledge). How do educated citizens become capable writers? (See above: what do educated citizens read? For specific example of a text at the "educated citizen" level, see the handout distributed at the previous meeting, "The nutrition puzzle," The Economist, February 18th, 2012, pp. 82-3)

Next two weeks: Humboldt's influence on the development of systems of land and water measurement and management in the US.

Reminder: Keep your meeting handouts - maybe punch them and put them in a binder. YOu can also print the meeting notes from the links to the meetings on the schedule page of the course website. Where a handout includes extra material added to the printout of the meeting's web page, you'll see an additional link ("su