Magic

One of the most poignant moments in class was when one of my students insisted her name was "Jamie".

Pronounced as "Jay-Mee".

She spelt it as "Jammie".

In the UK, it is slang for either something with lots of "Jam" (as in the fruity sticky stuff), or someone who is really lucky (Jammy).

Pronounced "Jam-ee"

My sense of humor took over, and I referred to her in class as "Jam-ee" thereafter.

A few days later, I noticed that she had become sullen and unresponsive in the classes.

She would not speak to me, nor even look at me.

I asked her in Korean was she ok.

Emma, a younger (and sassy) student then spoke up. She explained that Jamie was hurt about my making fun of her name. Jamie still looked at the floor.

So, I did the necessary.

I got down on both knees in front of her desk and bowed my head and asked her forgiveness. The entire class (15 kids, boys and girls) were in silence.

I cried tears and I wrung my hands. I begged her to forgive me by banging my forehead on her desk.

Jamie still refused to look at me.

I then handed her my marker pen with a tearful eye. I urged Emma to tell her to write on the board her feelings.

Jamie just about managed to suppress her smile as she stood up. She stalked past me to the front of the class and scrawled, on the board, in big letters, this:

"I love you , Teacher".

"Darkness Falls Across the Land..."

WARNING! - SUBJECTIVE POST!!

Princess Di, Elvis, Karen Carpenter......We will all remember where we were when we learned that they had gone.

And now, Michael Jackson.

Given that he in his later years was, shall we say, a little "Off the Wall", there is no denying that his contribution to the music business was nothing short of phenomenenal.

John Landis recognised the potential when he was asked to direct the video "Thriller". Upon hearing the music, his immediate remark was "Why not make it into a two-reeler?", and subsequently a legend was born.

And now he is gone.

I was never a particular Jackson fan, but it has to be said, "he could dance a little".

I choose "Smooth Criminal" (long version) here as the obvious would have been well, obvious. His last best video and the climax to his movie "Moonwalker".

I loved his Persona. I loved his Style. I loved his Dancing. I loved the Coin.



This is my downloaded version.

Here you can watch in fullscreen on YouTube



His videos will now be collectors items.

It was in this light I decided to download Smooth Criminal and Thriller three hours after the news broke.

I expect the YouTube versions to be deleted in about six weeks (the probable date that the Post Mortem result will be revealed)

Whether it be Atmospheric or Not...

Predicting the weather is almost a mystery, but not quite.

It is true that the weathermen are, for the most part, fairly accurate. The truth is, it is an inexact science, in that it is quite difficult to make completely accurate forecasts.

A good starting point is to go over what we DO know.

Atmospheric pressure is a good indicator, and yes, here comes the blessed calculus again, because it is the rate at which it changes that gives us more of a clue as to what will happen.

On many weather charts you see "high" and "low" often with a number under it. So what is this number? Well, the answer is that it is how much the atmosphere is pressing down on the earth, and on us.

The normal number, that is, "normal" atmospheric pressure, the pressure that equals normal blood pressure, is 1016 mb (millibar). The numbers to look out for (in the normal northern hemisphere, in winter) are 990, 980, and, in rare cases, 970, the last being a really low pressure system. Expect typhoons.

For good weather, (in the northern hemisphere, in summer)look out for 1020, 1030, and in rare cases , 1035. Watch out for heat waves.

The key to further understanding in knowing whether the pressure is falling or rising. A "barometer" is an old-fashioned device for measuring this. For the most part, there is a box inside with no air in it. The box's size is determined by how much atmosphere there is above it. The weight of this bends the box and the bending is mechanically transmitted to a needle. To really find out what is happening, lightly tap the glass front. Most times the needle on the dial moves one way or another, indicating "rising" (good weather) or "falling" (bad weather) pressure.

Thermometers in the modern era are made from bimetallic strips. These consist of two different metals welded together to look like a single piece. The metals are chosen to have different expansion rates as the temperature rises. The upshot is that the thing bends the hotter it is. Attached to a needle, this registers the temperature.

Now, there are digital thermometers using temperature sensitive liquid crystals.

The World is divided into several climate "types".

America is classed as "Continental" and is influenced by the fact that the land heats up and cools quickly. Result, (for the interior) is hot summers and cold winters.

Almost the opposite is the Philippines, sometimes classed as "Tropical", and is influenced by the fact that the water all around the islands takes time to heat up and cool down. Result, temperatures are fairly constant all year round and hot. Because of the moist air, Typhoons (US: Hurricanes) are common.

In between, are countries like the UK, which is classed as "Cool Temperate Western Margins", and is influenced by the North Atlantic Drift (warm water) and the Jet Stream. Result, lots of mild rain from the moisture of the Atlantic.

As for Korea, it is similar to America only by virtue of the fact that it attached to China, and the climate here is influenced by the "Continental" climate of that huge land mass, with the added effects of Siberian (cold) winds in Winter, and Asian (warm) winds in the summer. Korea often gets the tail ends of Philippine Typhoons in the summer.

Of course, the tilt of the earth affects these effects also, the more northerly the country, the bigger the effect.

For instance, in England in summer, darkness falls at about 10 pm, and dawn breaks at around 4 am. Latitude is about 55.5 degrees. In Winter, it gets dark at 4 pm, and does not get light until 8.30 am.

In contrast in the Philippines, Latitude from 6-15 degrees, darkness falls at about 6 pm, and dawn breaks at 4 am, with almost no variation all year round.

In Korea, the sky is almost always cloudless blue. In London, if the sky is grey, it will be cold and maybe rainy. In the Philippines, if the sky is grey, it will still be blisteringly hot.

However, there are different kinds of heat. In Korea in summer, it is as hot as the Philippines, but because the air is so dry, the heat comes directly from the sun (it is cooler in the shade). In the Philippines, the heat comes from the air temperature, as the air is humid, often coming from across the sea. Standing in the shade makes no difference at all!

In Los Alamos, elevation 3500 m, the air is so dry that the snow evaporates without melting at all!

The Ultimate Thermometer

The substance, water, without which life would be impossible, has been used to measure all temperatures, in effect.

When science, serious science began, it was realised that some sort of temperature scale would be necessary. Mr Faranheit came along with an arbitrary system. Then Mr Celsius saw common sense and invented another system, first calling it "Centigrade" before being modified to "Celsius".

He defined it very simply; with water.

"At normal temperature and pressure, let pure melting ice be zero Centigrade, and pure boiling water be one hundred Centigrade."

Just to make things easy. To convert from one to the other was fairly easy:

Celsius to Fahrenheit (°C × 9/5) + 32 = °F
Fahrenheit to Celsius (°F - 32) x 5/9 = °C

Or, in words,

°F to °C Deduct 32, then multiply by 5, then divide by 9
°C to °F Multiply by 9, then divide by 5, then add 32

Most Americans use Deg F (except for the scientists), whilst almost everyone else uses Deg C (because Celsius is the Universal unit of temperature as adopted by the Scientific Community - it is simpler).

One may have noticed that in the definition of zero and one hundred Celsius, zero is not simply "ice", nor is one hundred simply "steam".

There is a very good reason for this. Thermodynamics again. If you take a block of ice and heat it, it's temperature goes up like this:



There are five bits to it: three sloping bits and two flat bits. The sloping bits are easy. Over time, as more heat gets put into the substance, the temperature rises, the first slope is the temperature of ice rising, the second slope, that of water, the third, that of steam, as more and more heat is supplied.

But what about the flat bits? This is the interesting part. The flat parts of the graph are where the temperature stays constant because all the heat (therefore energy) is used in breaking chemical bonds, the first flat bit from ice to water (solid to liquid), the second flat bit from water to steam (liquid to gas).

Celsius used this simple fact to define his fixed points, the two flat bits, where the temperature is always the same.

So, if you want something to be cooled to EXACTLY zero degrees Celsius, stick it in a bag of MELTING ice, or if you want something to be EXACTLY 100, put it into a container of boiling water.

That is why water could be called "The Ultimate Thermometer"

( It is quite clear that the bigger the sample of ice, the more heat you have to put in to break the two types of chemical bonds. There is a measure for this was well, it is called "Specific Heat Capacity", but that is another story. )