...no, let's cover the moon with Quark!
no, let's go find Quarks!
no, let's find the Higgs boson, the Holy Grail!
Showing posts with label Carol Herman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carol Herman. Show all posts
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thanks Again, Carol!
Carol Herman wrote in the comments here:
I don't see it as a mistake--just being very analytical with the world. No more harm than taking the letters of a sentence and reordering them. For example, the letters of "SEE SPOT RUN" become E2NOPRS2TU
The converse of analysis in chemistry is synthesis, but reverse engineering "E2NOPRS2TU" back into SEE SPOT RUN requires creativity, insight (and the use of spaces).
A novel's story is defined by a very long sequence of characters set down neatly on a series of pages. A chemist could chop that novel up into a "formula" having just 24 unique characters. Each novel would have a unique formula.
Humans are analytically defined by their DNA, which also is a sequence of encoded information, like a series of characters in a book. But humans are much, much more than just their sequence of base pairs, don't you think?
Ironically, it is a very "Jurassic" question.
Added: Jason, in the comments, pointed out that I neglected the "T" in my formula, so I fixed it.
I guess chemists mistake the fact that you can line elements up in a row ... with the same sort of detail you could do with human beings.
I don't see it as a mistake--just being very analytical with the world. No more harm than taking the letters of a sentence and reordering them. For example, the letters of "SEE SPOT RUN" become E2NOPRS2TU
The converse of analysis in chemistry is synthesis, but reverse engineering "E2NOPRS2TU" back into SEE SPOT RUN requires creativity, insight (and the use of spaces).
A novel's story is defined by a very long sequence of characters set down neatly on a series of pages. A chemist could chop that novel up into a "formula" having just 24 unique characters. Each novel would have a unique formula.
Humans are analytically defined by their DNA, which also is a sequence of encoded information, like a series of characters in a book. But humans are much, much more than just their sequence of base pairs, don't you think?
Ironically, it is a very "Jurassic" question.
Added: Jason, in the comments, pointed out that I neglected the "T" in my formula, so I fixed it.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Poppycock!
What's a "poop" deck? How did it get its name? asked Carol Herman in a comment back here.
Etymology has long been a hobby of mine so I looked up the origin of the term in the trusty online OED of Etymology:
I found this word origin quite unsatisfying if not incomplete. I recalled a discussion once with my Dutch father-in-law. We were chatting about ships and he translated poop deck as something that resonated with poop deck but which I promptly forgot.
*looks up term*
The Dutch term for "poop deck" is kak dek. Now isn't that strange--the Dutch slang term for feces is kak* which seems to suggest that the "poop" in poop deck should have a more vulgar origin than let on by the OED.
___________
* cf. the origin of the term "poppycock" 1865, probably from Du. dialect pappekak, from M.Du. pappe "soft dung" (see pap) + kak "dung," from L. cacare "to excrete." link
Etymology has long been a hobby of mine so I looked up the origin of the term in the trusty online OED of Etymology:
"stern deck of a ship," c.1400, from M.Fr. poupe "stern of a ship," from It. poppa, from L. puppis "poop, stern," of uncertain origin. Poop deck attested by 1779. link
I found this word origin quite unsatisfying if not incomplete. I recalled a discussion once with my Dutch father-in-law. We were chatting about ships and he translated poop deck as something that resonated with poop deck but which I promptly forgot.
*looks up term*
The Dutch term for "poop deck" is kak dek. Now isn't that strange--the Dutch slang term for feces is kak* which seems to suggest that the "poop" in poop deck should have a more vulgar origin than let on by the OED.
___________
* cf. the origin of the term "poppycock" 1865, probably from Du. dialect pappekak, from M.Du. pappe "soft dung" (see pap) + kak "dung," from L. cacare "to excrete." link
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