NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2013 Jun 19, 18:51 -0700
Thanks, Norm.
Feynman's stories about basic science are always terrific. When you know all the names for a bird in all the languages of the world, "you won't know anything about the bird. You'll know about humans in different places and what they call the bird" ...says Feynman paraphrasing his father. And a good scientific lesson it is on two scores.
Score 1: Relevant to this "Supermoon" story, the name tells us nothing about the science of the Moon and just pointing at it and saying "Supermoon" isn't evidence of astronomical knowledge. But people get a big kick out of pointing at the Moon and sticking a name on it, and that cultural phenomenon is also interesting all on its own.
Score 2: Learning "about humans in different places and what they call things" does have a certain value. Especially if that thing is a tall, cold beer. Is that 'cerveza' half empty? Or is that 'birra' half full? Well it depends on your frame of reference... like inertia. :)
Brad, regarding stop-motion Einstein in couples counseling, nsfw, but funny!
-FER
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