Apollo BBS Archive - April 1990

Apollo BBS Archive - April 18, 1990

Public & Free Bulletin Board command:$C

Message: 64827
Author: $ Paul Savage
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: John Cummings
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 05:32:22

 Thank you for the applause. Those were thoughts I have had for several
years, having been raised with a professional educator of the "old school",
and having seen the decline of quality education, it is not too difficult to
see the real problems inherent in the present system. All one needs to do is
evaluate the present systemic priorities. Politics is #1, with sports a
close second. Education is somewhere way down the list.
 While communication is an all-important factor in the maturing process, it
might be a good idea if our children began their educational adventure with
the most fundamental of all abilities, reading. If a child can read with a
high degree of comprehension, he can learn anything. Without that basic, he
can learn nothing else. I am strongly in favor of an ungraded primary for
the first 5 years of schooling, with nothing being taught for the first 2
years except reading. Only when a child can read at an acceptable level and
speed, with an acceptable degree of comprehension, is any other subject
introduced.
 Do youhave any thoughts on such a cirriculum?

Message: 64828
Author: $ Roger Mann
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: jeff/b&a
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 08:37:44

And just what is that supposed to mean ? Einstein also said that "God
does not play dice with the Universe". Is this some sort of Gospel according
to St. Einstein that true believers are to swallow without a complaint
because the great Einstein said it. Also, the quote is out of context. What
does "convinced physicist" mean ? Why does Einstein think there that the
distinction between past, present and future is an illusion ? And for that
matter, how does Einstein define past, present, and future ? Does Einstein
think that a world-line is an illusion ?

Message: 64829
Author: $ Roger Mann
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: solitons
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 08:41:02

I still don't know what a soliton is.

Message: 64830
Author: $ Melissa Dee
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: solitons
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 14:08:06

It's a soul that weighs a ton.
(Thought it was worth a try...)

Message: 64831
Author: $ Melissa Dee
Category: Answer!
Subject: Gordon/Learning
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 17:05:10

I finally got a chance to read your posts on learning.  I couldn't agree
more.  I often feel that going to college is keeping me from learning.  I
have only 21 credits left to graduate but only 5 of them have anything to do
with my major.  I have to finish taking Spanish, which I would probably
enjoy learning if I didn't feel it was something I HAVE to do; I have to
take enough upper division classes, regardless of what they are about, just
to show that I took 50 credits of 400 level classes.  It's so frustrating. 
I could've been out of school and started on my work by now if it weren't
for their arbitary rules.  Granted, part of it is my fault for not KNOWing
all the rules and planning correctly but I did go for help and the advisors
didn't know $h!+ and I ended up taking 3 classes that I could have taking at
upper division level.  
My morale each semester is getting worse and worse.  If I could take less
classes (I started out with 18 this semester) and didn't have to work... no
I think it's just the added stress of worrying about the money.  
In any case, one way or the other, I have a year left.  

Message: 64832
Author: John Cummings
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: Learning/Paul Savage
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 19:22:22

So far, I have 10 grandchildren (more on the way) all under 1st grade, so
yes, I have thoughts on the subject. One is--check out the Peoria School
District and what they are doing to teach reading to "underpriveleged" or
even "bi-lingual" farm laborer kids--and after kindergarted to 3rd grade,
they score higher than 70% of the rest of the state! THEY TEACH READING!

Message: 64833
Author: John Cummings
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: Politics/Rod
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 19:32:08

Communism/Socialism has failed around the world because it is inefficient
and because it denies private ownership and therefore stultifies enterprise.
        Capitalism succeeds (comparatively) because it grants the rewards of
enterprise to the worker-entrepreneur; the more he makes, the more he keeps.
        The more we take (tax) from the entrepreneur, the less likely he is
to take the risks and make the effort to build more. (The Laffer curve is
not perfect, but it does illustrate the situation.) How, then, does a
decent Christian capitalist (Rod) structure the system so that it takes
care of the homeless and helpless while still motivating the entrepreneur to
continue taking the risks and investing the speculative capital to guarantee
the growth of the system?
        I suggest: 1. Reward charity. Motivat the entrepreneur to give to
the underpriveleged--even if to develop a market.
        2. Clean up "charities." I feel good about writing a check for
Mother Theresa's order, ripped off by the sheriff's office phone beg.
        3.Improve welfare bureaucracy. Does the state spend $3 to get $1 to
benefit the poor? It should be the other way.
        4.Mental health to the poor sick, jobs to the poor unemployed.
Any comments? Rod?

Message: 64834
Author: $ Jeff Beck
Category: Answer!
Subject: Roger/before & after
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 21:06:57

I don't know.  I merely thought it was an interesting statement and
tangentially relevant to your remark.  Perhaps you can ask him someday,
when you reach "Christian-agnostic" heaven.

Message: 64835
Author: $ Jeff Beck
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: solitons
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 21:09:24

"I was observing the motion of a boat which was rapidly drawn along a
narrow channel by a pair of horses when the boat suddenly stopped; not so
the mass of water in the channel which it had put in motion; it accumulated
round the prow of the vessel in a state of violent agitation, then suddenly
leaving it behind, rolled forward with great velocity, assuming the form of
a large solitary elevation, a rounded, smooth and well defined heap of
water which continued its course along the channel apparently without
change of form or diminution of speed.  I followed it on horseback and
overtook it still rolling on at a rate of some eight or nine miles an hour,
preserving its original figure some thirty feet long and a foot to a foot
and a half in height.  Its height gradually diminished, and after a chase
of one or two miles I lost it in the windings of the channel."
 
-- Scottish engineer and ship designer John Scott Russell, upon an
experience had while riding his horse along the Union Canal near
Edinburgh in August 1834.
 
A complex wave can be described as made up of a number of sine waves, each
of a different frequency.  In water, waves of different frequencies travel
at different speeds.  Because there is nothing to hold these different
frequencies together, a wave would ordinary break up into smaller
disturbances and finally the chaos of dispersion.  Waves suffer dispersion
because in a linear world individual sine waves are independent of each
other.

The wave Russell observed owed its stability to nonlinear interactions
binding the individual sine waves together.  These nonlinearities caused
individual sine waves to feed back into each other, in such a manner as to
create the reverse of turbulence.  Instead of smoothly oscillating water
becoming increasingly fragmented, at a critical value the sine waves
coupled.  As one sine wave tried to escape from the wave, its interaction
with the others held it back.  Russell called this wave a "wave of
translation," which today is called a soliton, or solitary wave.
Russell began experiments, and noticed that the speed of such waves was
related to their height.  A tall, thin wave could catch up to a short
fat one.  He was able to use soliton principles to show that the sound
of a distant cannon is always heard before the order to fire because
the cannon sound moves as a soliton and so travels faster.  He was also
able to use soliton principles to correctly calculate the depth of the
atmosphere.  Ten years after Russell's death in 1882, the Dutch
mathematicians D.J. Kortweg and C. de Vries wrote down the nonlinear
equation, called the KdV equation, which contains Russell's wave as its
solution.  This equation confirmed Russell's observations about what
happens when two solitons collide.  This is backed by modern water tank
experiments and computer modeling.

A high, thin, soliton catches up with a shorter, fatter soliton, and the
two waves meet and coalesce.  The combined soliton separates so that the
faster, higher one travels on at its original rate of motion, leaving the
short fat wave behind.  Where the two soliton waves cross, there is no
separation of one wave from the other, yet the two waves emerge intact.
In the 1970s, Henry Yuen and Bruce Lake from the TRW Defense and Space
Systems Group realized that back in 1890, physicist and mathematician
Sir George Stokes' theoretical investigations indicated that it was an
oversimplification to apply the principle of linear dispersion to very
deep water because in the ocean nonlinearity must be taken into account
in such factors as the effect of gravity at various depths.  Using Stokes'
nonlinear terms, Yuen and Lake derived a cousin of the KdV equation; it
shows that while solitons in deep water don't exhibit the simple
relationship between height and speed observed in Russell's solitons, they
can nonetheless move for great distances without any change in shape and
can survive collisions.  Photographs of these solitons have been taken by
satellites.
A tsunami is another type of water soliton.  However, because of its
enormous wavelength and this relationship to the ocean's depth, it
is treated mathematically like a soliton in shallow water.  Tsunamis, only
a few inches or feet in height in the ocean, can travel intact for
thousands of miles.  When it reaches the continental shelf, nonlinear
effects at the seabed act to shorten the wavelength of the wave and
increase its height.

Atmospheric solitons have been observed.  The first recorded atmospheric
soliton was a mass of cold air that moved across Kansas on June 19, 1951.
A sudden change in air pressure proceeded along a temperature inversion at
a height of over a mile.  Records show that the soliton front was more than
a hundred miles long and travelled at about 12 mph for several hundred
miles.  In recent years meteorologists have learned that atmospheric
solitons occur in two forms: an E-soliton (elevated, and analogous to
Russell's water wave) and a D-soliton, or "wave of depression."  Near the
Tharis Ridge on Mars, the properties of the atmosphere change slightly in
the early morning hours of late spring and early summer.  This results in
a soliton disturbance that sweeps along the ridge.  According to some
theories the Great Red Spot on Jupiter (actually, several spots on Jupiter
and one on Saturn) is an enormous E-soliton trapped between two D-solitons.
A boost for the soliton theory came from observations of Jupiter's South
Tropical Depression, which appears to be a D-soliton.  In the 1950s this
disturbance approached the red spot, appeared to enter into it and vanish,
and then slid out intact and unchanged on the other side.  Scientists at
the University of Texas have succeeded in producing a "red spot" in the
laboratory using a rapidly rotating cylindrical tank into which fluid
could be pumped from an inner ring and withdrawn from an outer ring.  When
the right pumping rate and speed of cylinder rotation was used, some of the
fluid began to rotate in the opposite direction and produce a region of
shear where vortices appeared, began to merge, and formed a much larger and
more stable "red spot."

In the 1950s a study of electron movement in vibrating metal lattices gave
evidence of solitons in solids.  The field of statistical mechanics deals
with the relationships of energy to change at the molecular and atomic
level.  A central assumption of statistical mechanics is the equipartition
of energy.  It had always been assumed that when a system is given a little
extra energy (a bit of heat, for example) that this energy will rapidly
become distributed over the whole system.  Whenever energy is concentrated
in a particular part of a system then that system has the potential to do
work.  According to the principle of equipartition, this energy will tend to
dissipate.  Shortly before his death, physicist Enrico Fermi, aided
by the mathematicians Stanislav Ulam and J. Pasta, decided they would
look at the vibrations in metal using the then state of the art Maniac I
computer. The internal structure of metal contains a stable pattern, called
a lattice, of atoms.  When energy, in the form of heat, is given to the
metal it causes the atoms to vibrate in a collective way.  There are many
different modes of vibrations within a lattice, and each of
these is associated with a characteristic energy.  According to the
principle of equipartition, if all of the heat energy were to be given to
a particular vibration of the lattice the energy would soon distribute
itself to the other modes.  The plan was to feed one mode with energy and
watch how this energy obeyed the strictures of thermodynamics by
distributing itself through the other modes.

Fermi, Pasta and Ulam set up a model containing five modes.
In order to mathematically represent this sharing of energy it was
necessary to add a tiny extra term; a nonlinear term representing this
sharing of energy between modes.  If it was not added there was no way
that energy in the model could pass from one mode to another.  However,
this tiny additional term dominated the whole system and transformed it
from a linear, well-behaved lattice into an arena for solitons.
When the Fermi-Ulam-Pasta calculation was carried out no one was seriously
thinking about solitons, so the three were quite confident that once the
system had settled down from its initial burst of energy, the energy would
soon be parceled out among all the other vibrational modes.  As expected,
after a few hundred cycles of the calculation, mode 1 began to fall rapidly
in energy and modes 2,3,4 and 5 began to gain.  After 2,500 iterations of
the equation, everything was still going according to plan.  Then,
something wonderlandish occurred.  While vibrational mode 1 continued to
lose energy, mode 4 began to gain energy at the expense of all the other
modes.  By 3,500 cycles mode 4 had peaked and now mode 3 was beginning to
gather energy.  To their complete surprise, energy was not being shared out
equally but was bunching itself together in one or another of the modes.
By the end of 30,000 cycles energy was not equipartitioned at all but had
returned and gathered itself again in the first mode.  The result was
especially shocking because it was found that this concentration of energy
doesn't depend on the strength of the nonlinear interaction; even a very
weak coupling of feedback will cause this coherent wave of energy.

Magnetic fields can exhibit soliton behavior as well, in the form of
"tunneling."  Ordinarily a magnetic field can go through a piece of metal
quite easily.  In a superconducting metal, magnetic transparency is
switched off.  At the critical temperature at which the metal converts
into a superconductor (itself a soliton) the magnetic field finds itself
suddenly unable to enter.  However, if the magnetic field is increased,
there comes a point when solitonlike vortices of magnetism are created that
penetrate or tunnel into the superconductor.  In effect, one soliton passes
through another.  Soliton vortices are also found in superfluids, which can
flow without creating turbulence.
Another type of soliton penetration called "self-induced transparency"
occurs when light and matter engage in certain nonlinear interactions.
Certain solids reflect and absorb all the light that falls on them.  In
these absorbing systems any light energy that manages to penetrate into
the solid is immediately absorbed by its atoms.  This absorbed energy leaks
away in the form of atomic vibrations (heat).  The only effect of trying to
force light through an opaque surface is to heat its surface.  However, if
the light falling on the solid becomes particularly intense, as in a very
high energy burst from a laser, then the solid becomes transparent and the
light pulse passes through unabsorbed.  With a sharp laser burst, all atoms
in the lattice are excited and interact nonlinearly with the light so that
the two are momentarily fused to form a whole system along which its wave
front operates collectively.  This soliton is not strictly light nor atomic
excitation.  It is a complex nonlinear combination called a polariton.

Solitons are also important in biological systems.  Until the development
of soliton theories, the problem of understanding how packets of energy are
transported down very long molecules was called "the crisis in
bioenergetics."  In the world of linear molecules energy always tends to
spread out so that the right concentration would never get to the right
site.  Russian scientist A.S. Davidov proposed that nonlinear interactions
would help transport energy along the helical coils of a protein molecule.
Davidov theorized that below a certain threshold, energy is carried by the
normal vibrations of the helix "backbone" and tends to dissipate across the
whole molecule.  Past a critical point, nonlinearity balances the forces of
diffusion and allows a bound packet of energy to travel along the helix at
just over a thousand meters per second.  
Solitons are also employed in biological systems for movement of signals
along nerves.  After WW II Alan Hodgkin, with the help of his student
Andrew Huxley (half-brother of Aldous the novelist), Hodgkin determined
that nerve transmission involves a localized pulse that travels down the
nerve at constant speed and without dissipation.  In addition, each pulse
is generated only when a certain critical threshold of energy is reached.
This research earned Hodgkin, Huxley, and John Eccles the Nobel prize.
A whole new area of study developed to investigate how solitons collide,
pass over irregularities in the nerve fiber, and interact at junctions.

Message: 64843
Author: $ Dean Hathaway
Category: Entertainment/Movies
Subject: Concert
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 22:44:25

************************************************************************
*                        LIBERTY ROCKS Presents:                       *
*                                                                      *
*                             RANDY HANSEN                             *
*                               Performs                               *
*                             JIMI HENDRIX                             *
*                                                                      *
*                             GIN BLOSSOMS                             *
*                                                                      *
*                      CHUCK HALL & THE BRICK WALL                     *
*                                                                      *
*                              HANS OLSON                              *
*                                                                      *
*                 Saturday, April 21st 3:00 to 9:00 PM                 *
*                          Mesa Amphitheater                           *
*                                                                      *
************************************************************************
*                               TICKETS                                *
*                $5.00 Advance, available from Dillards                *
*                          $7.00 Day of Show                           *
*     Save $2.00 on your Day of Show admission when you register       *
*                 to vote at the Mesa Amphitheater!                    *
*                      CHILDREN UNDER 12 FREE                          *
************************************************************************

Message: 64844
Author: $ Dean Hathaway
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: Last
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 22:55:41

  This thing is being put on by Arizona Libertarian Party to encourage voter
registration and hopefully garner some new Libertarians. I will be there as
a Deputy Registrar. I distributed publicity posters to record stores today
and have a few complimentary tickets left over from bribing store managers.
If anyone would like to go and can't afford a ticket, let me know.
  See You There,
    Dean H.

Message: 64845
Author: $ Dean Hathaway
Category: Get-Togethers (GTs)
Subject: Shoot-out
Date: 04/18/90  Time: 22:56:47

  Maybe we should start talking specifics about where we are going to meet
on the 28th and so on.
   See You Later
      Dean H.

Message: 64846
Author: $ Rod Williams
Category: Chit Chat
Subject: John
Date: 04/19/90  Time: 01:31:27

I am an atheist, not a Christian.  I am only a capitalist because in this
present-day land it takes paper money to survive.

Mankind is not ready for a system that will work because we are still to
ignorant of an animal for it to.

Neither am I a communist or a socialist.

However, judging from what I see in this system, I'd say it sucked.

The average person in this country will work from January 1 to May 5 in
order to pay taxes.  That's up several days from last year and it keeps
rising.

As a famous person once said, "Taxation without representation is tyranny,
and taxation with representation ain't so hot either.