October 24, 2014--Midcoast: Just Talk

After a complicated breakfast with Jim, during which a nuanced and balanced conversation about affirmative action and same-sex relationships descended into indiscriminate Obama bashing (Jim whispered conspiratorially as we were leaving, after I confessed disappointment in Barack Obama's presidency, "Don't you agree that he's working to bring down America?") over anniversary dinner later in the evening with other friends, we got to talking about how in small towns such as this one, where people depend upon, even need each other to get through life's perils, we generally find ways to disagree and often those with whom we have the sharpest disputes are the very ones we call on when things are most urgent; and, if we are honest about that and, more important about ourselves, we discover that our differences almost always amount to just words.

They amount to just words because, in truth, most of us are not actively or directly engaged in working to bring about social or political change (no matter its ideological direction or content) and are not that active in fraternal or civic organizations. Rather we talk. Talk passionately about things we believe in while remaining relatively unengaged.

Is this too cynical a view?

In some ways yes. In other cases maybe not. Like so much here this too can be complicated.

It is not cynical when it comes to holding accountable many of my fellow liberals (me as well) who are especially adept at the talking while this cynical view is unfair for many of those of more conservative persuasion who tend to be more actively and directly involved in the life of the community.

They are more likely to be volunteer firemen or, as a member of the EMS squad, are the ones likely to come in the middle of a stormy night to race us to the local ER. Or active on the Town Board. Or lead discussions about why source separation of trash is important--not necessary as liberals would have it to preserve the environment but because the Town can make money selling recyclables and thereby lower taxes.

About that, Rona wondered out loud if our environmentalist-minded friend, Peggy (to pick on her), back in New York City recycles as much or as assiduously as Jim in Bristol, Maine.

"No way," I said, agitated by my awareness of Peggy's hypocrisy as well as mine.

Jim, who is 81, is active on the local school board even though his youngest is in her thirties. "I have grandchildren, you know," he shrugs as if that explains it all.

And though he's not so sure about including a lot about climate change in Earth Science or referring too much to Evolution in Biology, he's out there in the middle of winter determined not to miss even one meeting while I talk, talk, talk about how we can't ignore the lessons of science, not only if we want to try to repair our planet but also to prepare our youngsters to be competitive in the global world of the 21st century. And though the signboard by the school I drive by at least twice a day says "All Are Welcome" to board meetings I haven't made it to one yet though every year I intend to make them all.

When I confess this to him, to help alleviate my guilt, he reminds me that I was an educator for more than 40 years and I do write and publish my views on schooling. That I've "paid my dues," and--

"But," I say before he can finish making excuses for me, "Yes, but still . . . I know. . . Maybe next . . .

He smiles to let me off the hook but . . .

Bottom line--a lot of things seem to work better here because at the most fundamental level we all know it is our relating and caring for each other that counts more than the talk, which in spite of various forms of inflation, is still cheap.

July 9, 2014--Weight of the World

We needed some crushed rock to fill empty patches in one of our garden paths. I went to the contractor's yard where we bought some last year. I brought an empty five-gallon bucket since it comes loose and has to be shoveled into something to be able to transport it.

It was a hot morning and I took my time filling the pail. When topped out I attempted to lift it and slide it into the back of our station wagon. Last year it was difficult, this year nearly impossible.

"This weighs a ton," I grunted to Rona who was getting out of the car to help me hoist it.

"Not exactly," she said, always the literalist.

"It feels like one, but if it's not a ton, then how much does it weigh?" I gasped.

"Maybe 50 pounds."

"Could be," I said now soaked with sweat.

"Maine is pretty much solid rock," Rona noted. "I wonder how much the whole state of Maine weighs."

"I'm not sure we can find that out but I do remember some years ago when Googling that I stumbled on how much the entire Earth weighs."

"How much?"

"I don't remember the specifics but we can look it up when we get home."

Which we did.

"It's an amazing amount," I said. "I don't know how to translate it into a number, like x-gazillion, but the actual number is 13,170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds.

"How do they know? I mean determine that?"

"Good question. Let me see if I can find out."

"Making it particularly complicated," Rona added, "the Earth's not made of a single substance. I remember from high school Earth Science that there's the mantle, the molten core composed, I think, of iron and so forth."

I turned to Scientific America for guidance, believing it was my original source some years ago.

Sure enough, from March 2004, "How Can the Weight of Earth Be Determined?" which begins with a version of scientific metaphysics--like, what is weight anyway?

If you weigh yourself on a bathroom scale, the article noted, and you're 190 pounds, on the Moon, because of its smaller mass, you weigh only one-sixth of that. And then in deep space you'd weigh nothing at all. And for that matter, neither would Earth.

So where does that leave you? Actually nowhere useful because the issue is not how much the Earth (or you) weigh beyond our solar system but right here on, well, Earth.

So how do we figure out how much Earth weighs on Earth?

As you might imagine there are fancy, mathematical ways to do this (which I used to but no longer understand), or one can use that bathroom scale in an unorthodox manner.

Open the bathroom window, preferable one on at least the second floor, and throw the scale out of it. Count how long it takes to hit the sidewalk. Then measure the distance from the window to the street and with these figures you can compute the acceleration (g) of the scale. The answer you will get is 9.8. meters per second (s^-2)  Knowing this value of g for Earth's surface, along with the gravitational constant G and the 6,731-kilometer distance to Earth's center, you have enough information to calculate Earth's mass--it will be 6 x 10²⁴ kilograms.  Or, 13,170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds.

When I explained all this to Rona (I mean, attempted to), she rolled her eyes up in her head and said, "Can we just go to the quarry now and get the crushed rock we need? I mean . . ."