Noesis
The Journal of the
Mega Society
September 2004 Issue 173
Officers
Editor and Publisher: Ron Yannone
Administrator: Jeff Ward
Internet Officer: Kevin Langdon
Founder: Ronald
K. Hoeflin
no·e·sis – Greek Þ understanding – to perceive. Psychology
Þ
the cognitive process
The Mega Society was founded in 1982
and has been documented in the GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS
during the 1980s as the most exclusive society.
Mega means million and denotes the one-in-a-million status of its
members. Presently, the only viable
adult-level admissions test is the Titan Test, developed by its founder, Ron
Hoeflin – where 43/48 correct answers corresponds to the minimum accepted IQ
level of 176. See www.megasociety.org Since
its GUINNESS
“distinction” in the 1980’s, the Mega Society with its 99.9999 percentile
member status, remains “the most elite
ultra-high IQ Society.”
Editorial
Introduction to NOESIS Issue #173 – September
2004
Greetings
avid readers of Noesis – the exciting,
ever-changing, journal of the Mega
Society!
The
closing issues for 2004 of Noesis
will be “thinner.” This is due to (a) my
increased professional work
activities; (b) scheduled travel to
I
entreat our readers to submit their enticing articles to me for Noesis using Microsoft WORD – preferably
by email. The alternative would be a floppy diskette, ZIP diskette, or CD via
Pony Express. I do not have a scanner –
and local print shop prices are high.
Scanning a simple color photo, for example, cost $10.
I
plan to merge the last two issues
of
Noesis - #174 (October) and #175 (November) – and I hope to distribute
this combined compilation some time in November – covering the
Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
We “open” the time for members to
either vote for responsible members, or to volunteer for, the new Editor and/or Publisher of Noesis for fiscal year 2005! We certainly would feel bad if January and
February came around and we did not have these vital positions filled. To expedite information dissemination
to members, email will be used to thwart dependence and delays upon the journal
to do this and because there is one last
‘combined’ issue of Noesis to be
distributed in November.
We
should also vote on the positions of Administrator and Internet Officer. Presently,
Jeff Ward and
▶ Now let’s
move on to Noesis issue #173 –
September!
We open this historical issue of Noesis by congratulating our newest
member into the Mega Society – Mr. Glen Wooten from
Next, we look at a startling problem
that engulfs the world – commercial aircraft defense! With the proliferation of man-portable
weapons today around the world, commercial aircraft are ‘easy’ targets. We introduce one “solution” for this
perplexing problem via the article “Flying the Unfriendly Skies: Missile
Defenses for Civilian Aircraft.”
In
a timely recent announcement August
26th, in partial “answer” to the above commercial aircraft dilemma,
we present “BAE
SYSTEMS IEWS wins $45M Counter-MANPADS Award.”
Next,
courtesy of
Next, we introduce our readers to Dr. Nancy Melucci’s new book titled “Psychology – The
Eugene
Jackson and Adolph Geiger purport they have a forty-year record of making it
easy to learn the German language in their book titled: “German Made Simple.” In the
article “ ‘German Made Simple’ – let’s test it!,” we “test” their claim
via a ‘matching test’ version of one of their lessons for our readers to try.
We want to remind our
readers of the staggering “hiring frenzy”
due to the 9/11 event, the war in
Stumbling
on neet ideas by accident – isn’t always by accident. You will recall Mega Society member Richard
May’s short biography in Noesis issue
#172 (August). It turns out the
biography presented was ‘all’ there – but partially visible to our astute
readers! The unveiling process of Richard’s full biography will amaze you as you
read “Sending
Secrets without Sophisticated Encryption.”
Theoni
Pappas is committed to giving mathematics greater exposure and making it more
approachable to people – young and old.
In the article “Math-a-Day” we present a few sample
problems and quotes by famous people in Theoni’s book titled “Math-a-Day.”
We’ve
heard the phrase “A swarm of bees.” Here we challenge our nearly-omniscient
readers to fill in the blank for different “groups” of animals. Don’t
be surprised if you have considerable difficulty – as you sharpen your mental pencils, reading “Animal
Group Names.”
The
editor is a pack-rat and collects many odds-and-ends. Of these are math puzzles from a number of
sources. We share the problem statements
(only) in this issue for our enthusiastic puzzle-masters to crunch and meditate
on – in the article “Challenging Math Puzzles from the Editor’s Treasure Chest.”
After the conference in
My
favorite wrist watch happens to be a Glashutte
Original ‘Senator Watch with
Panorama Date and Moon Phase Display – 18kt rose gold case.’ Although I’ve never owned one, I am pleased
to append the above article with “Watch of the Year 2000” to give you
a peek.
N. E. Genge is author of the very readable book titled “The Forensics Casebook: The Science of
Crime Scene Investigation (CSI).”
The editor has been intrigued by forensics via television programs Quincy and CSI – Las Vegas. The use of
DNA is critical in crime scene investigations.
Here, the reader will learn interesting facts of the use of DNA in the
article titled: “Forensics –
the DNA Fingerprint.” The editor also shares
a few job descriptions referenced in Genge’s book – for our readers to consider
– for themselves or someone they know.
Did you know that an Associate
Chief Medical Examiner can earn up to $170,000 a year!
We close this intriguing issue of Noesis with the educational article “Quotes on Learning” by Joe Griffith – author of “Speaker’s Library of Business Stories, Anecdotes, and Humor.”
NOESIS Journal – September 2004 –
Issue #173
CONTENTS
|
|||
|
# |
TITLE
|
AUTHOR |
PAGE |
|
1 |
Let’s Welcome our Newest Member to the Mega Society! |
Mega
members |
5 |
|
2 |
FLYING THE UNFRIENDLY SKIES: Missile Defenses for Civilian Aircraft |
Military.com |
6 |
|
3 |
BAE SYSTEMS IEWS wins
$45M Counter-MANPADS Award |
DHS |
9 |
|
4 |
Summertime Tax Tips From IRS |
Hudson/Litchfield News |
10 |
|
5 |
Thinking, Language, and Intelligence |
Nancy
Melucci |
11 |
|
6 |
“German Made Simple” – let’s test it! |
Editor/Jackson/Geiger |
16 |
|
7 |
National Security Agency To Hire 1,500 People by September 2004 |
NSA |
17 |
|
8 |
Thinking, Language, and Intelligence - Answers |
Nancy
Melucci |
18 |
|
9 |
Sending Secrets without Sophisticated Encryption |
Editor
& R. May |
21 |
|
10 |
Math-a-Day |
Theoni Pappas |
23 |
|
11 |
Math-a-Day
- Answers |
Theoni Pappas |
24 |
|
12 |
Math-a-Day Û Selected
Quotes |
Theoni Pappas |
25 |
|
13 |
Animal
Group Names |
Editor |
27 |
|
14 |
Challenging Math Puzzles from the
Editor’s Treasure Chest |
Editor |
28 |
|
15 |
A Visit to the Glashuette
Original Factory |
Marcus
Hanke |
30 |
|
16 |
"Watch
of the Year 2000" |
Glashutte
Original |
33 |
|
17 |
Forensics – the DNA Fingerprint |
N.
E. Genge |
36 |
|
18 |
Animal
Group Names |
Editor |
40 |
|
19 |
Quotes
on Learning |
Joe Griffith |
41 |
|
20 |
“German Made Simple” – let’s test it! - Answers |
Editor/Jackson/Geiger |
45 |
From Mega
Society Member [Chris Harding] (
Let’s Welcome our
Newest Member to the Mega Society!
Glen Wooten – from
▶
Frisbee ▶
▶
Psychometrics ▶
Life Extension Science ▶
Nutrition ▶
Weigh Lifting ▶
Mathematics ▶
B.A. Psychology ▶
Philosophy/Economics
Glen
Wooten resides in
Congratulations Glen! The newest member of the Mega Society Wunderbar! I’m an undergraduate student at UNLV presently
majoring in mathematics (with minors in philosophy and economics). I already have a Bachelor of Arts degree
in psychology. I’m a perennial
bachelor by choice, though I do have an amazing daughter named
Jennifer. I’m a self-taught musician
and especially enjoy playing guitar.
Among my innumerable interests are Frisbee, reading, psychometrics,
life extension science, nutrition, and lifting weights.
FLYING THE UNFRIENDLY SKIES: Missile
Defenses for Civilian Aircraft
(http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,SoldierTech_MissileDef,,00.html?ESRC=soldiertech.nl
)
It's the ultimate traveler's nightmare -- a
defenseless, unprotected civilian aircraft being targeted by terrorist
missiles. But a new project may finally provide some much needed protection for
non-military planes.
|
The
Brightening Project. Israeli authorities have decided how they're going to
stop attacks from shoulder-fired missiles: by zapping them with high-energy
lasers. |
It's
a scenario that may have seemed far-fetched a few decades ago, but in the age
of terrorism, and in the wake of 9/11, it seems too chillingly plausible:
terrorists using surface-to-air missiles (SAM) to take out unprotected civilian
aircraft. Want some stats? Rotor & Wings magazine states that during the
1991 Persian Gulf War, 12 of the 29 American aircraft lost during combat
operations were believed to have been shot down by man-portable Iraqi SA-16
Iglas. During their conflicts in
Israel has had the misfortune of encountering this problem on numerous
occasions, including two recent notable attacks against Israeli aircraft -- one
in Kenya in 2002, and one in Mozambique in 2003 -- by terrorists using shoulder
fired short range IR guided surface to air missiles.
With an obvious vested interest in protecting against such attacks, the Israeli
government, through Raphael, a research branch of the Israeli Defense Ministry,
has begun developing the technology necessary to protect civilian aircraft from
these threats -- technology that may be applied universally to all civilian
airlines in the future. One such device is the Britening project.
|
Britening the Skies |
On the face of it, you might think that equipping civilian aircraft with
missile defense systems is a bit absurd -- if an aircraft needs a missile
defense system, wouldn't it be more prudent, not to mention cheaper, for it to
avoid war-torn areas where it is likely to get shot at? But as recent events
have shown us, shoulder fired infrared (IR) missiles are easily transportable,
simple to operate, and, against undefended aircraft like a 747, brutally
lethal. There are very few airports worldwide where it is not possible to
attack an aircraft with one. So other than just praying, the obvious option is
to develop a defensive system to protect civilian aircraft. These defensive
systems need not be as sophisticated as those currently in service on military
aircraft (shoulder fired SAM such as the Stinger and the soviet made SA-7 are
not nearly as sophisticated as radar-guided missiles such as the Patriot or the
SA-6 Gainful), but rather, they are specifically meant to meet the threat posed
by short-ranged IR weapons.
|
Brightening Project:
The Skinny |
|
Name: Brightening Project
|
So how to provide adequate
countermeasures against enemy SAMs?
The key is the aircraft's infrared signature, which an enemy missile's seeker
acquires and locks onto. Variations in IR signature are different among
different aircraft -- Wright Patterson AFB has stated that if a helicopter
(AH-64) has an IR signature of 1, a turboprop transport (C-130) would be 10, a
tactical fighter (F-16) would be 35, and a large jet transport (C-17) would be
100. The other important point is to provide adequate protection for when an
aircraft is most vulnerable - during takeoff, landing, and taxiing.
Enter Britening, a laser based IR missile decoy system with two central
components: a Missile Warning and Tracking system (MWTS) that includes four
electro-optic infrared sensors, and a Directional IR Counter-measures System
(DIRCM) that contains a laser turret. The MWTS detects and tracks incoming
missiles thanks to the four IR/UV sensors located around the aircraft. These missile
launch warning sensors detect the thermal "bloom" associated with the
missile's rocket motor. The system is passive rather than active, cutting down
on microwave interference with other systems on board and on the ground. Once
it supplies an accurate direction of the threat's location, the MWTS data is
processed by the system controller, which verifies the threat and operates the
directional IR countermeasures.
That's
when the DIRCM system and its solid-state, turret-mounted laser comes in. Once
the MWTS' telemetry is fed to the turret-mounted laser, the laser fires a beam
of energy into the missile's guidance system, in effect "blinding"
it. Britening can also steer the missile off axis by moving the laser within
the missile's field of view, in effect giving the missile a "hotter"
target to track than the aircraft.
Sounds like an awful lot to process, especially when an enemy missile is
bearing down on you, but thanks to its advanced control and sensor systems,
Britening is capable of handling multiple threats within a fraction of a
second. The Brightening system is expected to be operational in 2005 and
available for retrofitting into existing airframes.
These capabilities certainly come at a cost -- the Britening system is expected
to cost $2 million a unit, and studies conducted by American defense
contractors forecast similar prices for a
|
|
|
Some
lower-cost options include a "low-tech" version of Britening, in
which flares are launched to attract the missile. However, those systems would
need to depend on advance warning to the cockpit. Another way to mitigate costs
would be to determine what areas present the greatest risk, and concentrate on
equipping aircraft that fly those routes. Yet another is to make the system
completely modular and require that all future aircraft constructed be built to
accept such a defensive system, so that as airframes are retired or otherwise
taken out of service the missile defense components can be easily unplugged
from one aircraft and plugged into another.
Finally,
one other option would be to build dedicated defensive aircraft which would
patrol the airspace over selected airports. These dedicate SAMCAP aircraft,
since their sole function would be defending the airspace from IR missiles,
could carry even more sophisticated and powerful defensive systems (to include
counter-attack capabilities) than would be practical for civilian passenger
aircraft. The bottom line is that the threat to civilian
aircraft is real and until the situation is addressed, they will continue to be
at risk to shoulder fired IR missiles.
BAE
SYSTEMS IEWS wins $45M Counter-MANPADS Award
by Department of Homeland
Security
In an early issue of Noesis
I presented a condensed list of world-level issues and topics: the same-sex
marriage issue, the Martha Stewart ordeal, the war in
IEWS Proceeds to Phase II for
|
Summertime Tax Tips
From IRS
Courtesy of
Summertime
may be get away time, but you can't get away from the tax implications that accompany
most financial matters. Being aware of
the tax issues - and preparing yourself for some tax breaks - sure beats
putting your head in the sand, even if you are at the beach. So check out these tips for newlyweds,
working students, and parents with children at day camp - and have a good
summer!
Advice for Newlyweds: Being,
or marrying, a June bride may be a "Cloud Nine" experience, but there
are some practical things to attend to when the honeymoon's over and you get
your feet back on the ground.
· Report any name change to the Social Security
Administration, so your name and social security number will match when you
file your next tax return.
· Report any address change to the U.S. Postal Service
- they'll forward your mail and let IRS know.
You may also notify the IRS directly by filing Form 8822, Change of
Address.
· Consider whether you'll file joint or separate
returns,
· If you're buying a home, find out which expenses may
be deductible and which are not.
Tips for
Working Students: All employees have income tax withheld from their
pay, right?
Not
necessarily. You may be exempt from
withholding if:
· you can be claimed as a dependent (usually on a
parent's return),
· your total 2004 income will not be over $4,850,
· your unearned income (interest, dividends, etc.) will
not exceed $250, and
· you had no income tax liability for 2003.
You'll
still have to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, but skipping unnecessary
income tax withholding will put more money in your pocket now. Read Form W-4 carefully before filling it out
for your employer.
If
customers tip you, those tips are taxable.
You must keep track of the amounts, include them on your tax return, and
- if they total $20 or more in a month - report them to your employer by the
middle of the next month.
See
the IRS Web site: IRS.gov for more information, also check out Publication 531,
Reporting Tip Income, Publication 1872, Tips on Tips (for food or beverage
industry workers), and Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate
(with worksheets to figure how many allowances to claim).
Summer Day Camp: Many
working parents must arrange for care of their younger children during the
school vacation period. A popular solution - with favorable tax consequences -
is a day camp program. Unlike overnight
camps, the cost of day camp counts as an expense towards the child and
dependent care credit. Of course, even
if your childcare provider is a sitter at your home, you'll get some tax
benefit if you qualify for the credit.
You
figure the credit on up to $3,000 of expenses, $6,000 for two or more children.
The credit rate ranges from 20% to 35% of expenses, depending on your income.
The 35% rate applies if your income is under $15,000; the 20% rate, if your
income is over $43,000.
See
the IRS Web site: www.IRS.gov for more
information, also check out Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses.
Thinking, Language,
and Intelligence
by Dr.
Nancy Melucci –
Barron’s Educational Series continue to lead the industry in helpful study
guides in a myriad of subjects. A new
Barron’s “The
Each chapter in Dr. Melucci’s well-written book has
very helpful review sections:
▶
Self-Test
Connection: Part A – Completion (fill in the sentence with key words of the chapter)
▶
Part B –
Multiple Choice
▶
Part C –
Modified True-False
▶
Part D –
Matching (with several sections on the key topic concepts for the chapter)
▶
Connecting to
Concepts – a set of thought/discussion questions
▶
Connecting to
Life/Job Skills – excellent job-related material with URLs
▶
What’s
Happening! – invigorating and contemporary section with URLs
▶
Other Useful Web
Sites – up-to-date issues and URLs
▶
References –
relating specifically to the chapter at hand
We start with a matching
test – using some of the words
from the table below.
|
abstraction |
hereditability |
primary mental abilities |
|
algorithmic |
heuristic |
prototype |
|
anchoring |
insight |
psychometric approach |
|
Army Alpha/Beta tests |
intelligence |
reliable |
|
artificial concepts |
IQ |
representativeness |
|
attention |
linguistic determination |
representativeness bias |
|
availability bias |
linguistic relativity |
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis |
|
behaviorist |
mean |
savant syndrome |
|
cognition |
memes |
standard deviation |
|
cognitive map |
mental representations |
standardization |
|
cognitive task |
mental retardation |
Stanford-Binet Test |
|
compensatory |
mental set |
stereotypes |
|
concepts |
multiple intelligences |
symbols |
|
confirmation bias |
nativist |
syntax |
|
construct |
natural concepts |
test construction |
|
controlled task |
normal (bell-shaped) curve |
trial and error |
|
crystallized intelligence |
norms |
triarchic theory of
intelligence |
|
fluid intelligence |
observational learning |
utilitarian |
|
Flynn effect |
overconfidence |
valid |
|
functional fixedness |
polygenic |
William’s syndrome |
|
g |
poverty of stimulus |
¾ |
Self-Test Connection
Part
A. Completion (fill in the sentence with key words of the chapter)
1.
Another term for mental processes is _____.
2.
_____ are mental categories, collections of events, people, objects, or other
entities that share some important quality or feature.
3.
How to play piano requires _____ memory.
4.
_____ concepts are learned from experience.
5.
_____ decision making involves the consideration of aspects or features of the
different possible solutions or choices.
6.
_____ are referred to as rule-of-thumb strategies that can help us make
judgments and solve problems efficiently.
7.
_____ heuristic (or bias) involves using the information that comes to mind
first.
8.
Our own overestimating of the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments and
exaggerating the number of other people who see things the same way as we do is
referred to as _____.
9.
A(n) _____ effect occurs if we are given a “hint” or are supplied with
information while making our decision or choice, which may influence our answer
and which may make it more or less accurate.
10.
_____ is your collection of beliefs, assumptions, and perspectives used to
organize your thoughts.
11.
The rules for using the symbols of language is _____ ; it is also known as
grammar.
12.
_____ is a score produced by tests that purport to measure intelligence.
13.
_____ created the first intelligence test.
14.
Charles Spearman produced the single-factor model of intelligence referred to
as _____ - the general factor important for all intellectual tasks.
15.
_____ developed one of the most widely administered intelligence scales in
current use. The test comes in a
preschool, children’s, and adult version.
16.
A person who is mentally retarded, but has an extraordinary ability for
multiplication, is likely to have _____.
17.
Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence includes three types of
intelligence, including analytic skills, practical skills, and _____.
18.
Studies of infants raised in orphanages demonstrate the influence of _____ on
the development of intelligence.
19.
_____ refers to the extent to which differences among people are attributable
to genes.
20.
Research that suggests that different cultures have different notions of what constitutes
intelligence would support the idea that intelligence is culture-_____.
21.
Research that suggests that intelligence in certain domains is important in all
cultures would support the notion that intelligence is context-_____.
22.
A test can be reliable but not _____ ; if it is not reliable, it cannot
possibly be _____.
23.
A test that appears to measure what it claims to measure has high _____
validity.
24.
_____ developed the IQ tests for the
25.
A score in the range of _____ to _____ would be considered low average.
Part
B. Multiple Choice
Circle
the letter of the item that correctly completes the statement. (Editor:
we use several of the questions posed.)
1.
Cognitive maps allow for which of the following types of cognition?
(a) Creating (b)
Remembering (c) Interpreting (d) Problem-solving
2.
Which of the following is not one of
the five categories of decision-making and problem-solving strategies?
(a) Compensatory (b)
Trial and error (c) Heuristic (d) Prototype
3.
Which is a special feature of language that makes human language unique?
(a) Symbols (b) Abstraction (c) Syntax
(d) All of the above
4.
Which is an example of crystallized intelligence?
(a) Reasoning (b) Problem
solving (c) Social rules (d) Applying new knowledge
5.
Who of the following did not develop
a theory of multiple intelligences?
(a) Sternberg (b) Thurstone (c)
6.
What is another word for reliable?
(a) Consistent (b) Independent (c) Dependent (d) Generalizable
7.
A test of mathematical achievement should have questions that actually test all
of the following except _____ . (a) addition (b) engineering (c) subtraction (d) calculus
8.
The test that includes examples of all problems or items in the domain it
purports to assess has good ____ validity.
(a) construct (b) content (c) predictive (d) face
9.
Why did Binet and Simon develop the first IQ tests?
(a) To provide “evidence” to parents
as to why their children were being held back in school
(b) To help the public schools
identify students who would require special educational interventions
(c) To identify youth who needed
accelerated classrooms
(d) To keep low-achieving youth out
of school
10.
Who was responsible for updating the Binet-Simon IQ test to the Stanford-Binet
IQ Test?
(a) Terman (b) Simon (c) Binet (d) Freud
11.
Which of the following tests is the most culture-free?
(a) Stanford-Binet
IQ Test
(b) The Wechsler
Scales
(c) Scholastic
Assessment Test
(d) Raven’s
Progressive Matrices
Part
C. Modified True-False
If
the statement is true, write “T” for the answer. If the statement is incorrect, change the underlined
expression to one that will make the statement true. (Editor: we use several
of the questions posed.)
1.
Mental representations are symbols, language, concepts, and images.
2.
Remembering what you wore yesterday requires procedural memory.
3.
The behaviorist view assumes that mental abilities allow one to learn
from experience and function successfully in one’s environment.
4.
Thurstone’s concept of g was based on seven intellectual skill groups.
5.
Raymond Cattell, in his multiple intelligences theory, suggested that
there are seven separate types of intelligence.
6.
Most scientific evidence suggests that intelligence is stable from about age 18
onward.
7.
The controversial book The Bell Curve
(1994) by Richard Herrstein and Charles Murray take a strong nature
stance on intelligence.
8.
The purpose of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) is to predict high
school performance.
Part
D. Matching
Place
a name of the concept related to thinking next to correct example of that
concept. (Editor: we use about half of the questions posed in the next
four sections.)
Thinking
confirmation bias insight atypical example
algorithm prototype representativeness
bias
cognitive map heuristic availability bias
functional fixedness
1.
Someone says “insect,” and you think of a fly. _____
2.
The way from your house to your best friend’s house “in your head.” _____
3.
Someone says “insect,” and you think of a walking stick. _____
4.
Your friend thinks all engineering students are boring and don’t like to
socialize. _____
5.
You could have used your key to cut the tape on a tightly wrapped package if
you’d only thought of it. _____
Language
euphemism symbols phonemes
poverty of stimulus suggestibility syntax
abstraction nativism memes
linguistic determinism
1.
Words, numbers, pictographs, hieroglyphics, sounds, and manual signs are all
examples of these. _____
2.
You can talk about truth and justice using words, although you can’t see them.
_____
3.
Tra-, sho-, and ma- are all examples of these. _____
4.
Children learn an enormous amount of language with very little training. _____
5.
A sin of memory that may be triggered by use of language. _____
Scientists
in the History of Intelligence Theory and Testing
Sternberg Spearman Kamin
Anastasi Binet Guilford
Thurstone Jensen
Cattell
1.
He was one of the two persons who created the first IQ test. _____
2.
She cataloged a vast number of IQ and other psychological tests. _____
3.
He proposed the existence of two types of g – crystallized and fluid. _____
4.
He proposed the existence of eight primary mental abilities. _____
5.
He proposed the theory of multiple intelligences. _____
6.
He wrote the controversial book Bias in
Mental Testing. _____
Intelligence
Theory and Testing
creative valid representative
standard deviation norms psychometric
crystallized g linguistic
hereditability
1.
This is the theory that intelligence can be measured. _____
2.
This is the term for a unitary general intelligence factor. _____
3.
A person who is good at writing and expression through words would have this
kind of intelligence according to
4.
These are the scores that are achieved by the original sample that takes a
test. _____
5.
This is another term for the typical or “average” difference between a score on
a test and the mean score. _____
Connecting To Concepts
– (Editor: one question)
1.
Define heuristic, and give an example of a problem that you face in everyday
life that lends itself to the use of heuristics. Which type(s) of heuristics have you used, or
might you use?
Connecting To Life/Job
Skills
Tips
for better test taking:
www.iss.stthomas.edu/studyguides/tsttak1.html
Collections
of Test Preparation Links –
www.eop.mu.edu/study/index.html
www.osi.fsu.edu/hot/testtaking/skills.html
Improving
Your Test Taking Skills –
www.ericae.net/pare/getvn.asp?v=1&n=2
What’s Happening!
Social
Psychology Network –
www.steele.socialpsychology.org/
Claude
Steele’s Homepage –
www.stanford.edu/~jbonham/steele/
Other Useful Web Sites
Creativity
Web –
www.ozemail.com.au/~cavemen/Creative/ Û This commercial site is a “mental gymnasium”
dedicated to the improvement of problem solving and creative thought.
The
www.indiana.edu/~intell/bellcurve.html
History
of Intelligence Testing – Also sponsored by
References – (Editor – two of six)
1.
Chomsky, N. (1965) Cartesian Linguistics.
2.
Pinker, S. (2000) The Language Instinct:
How the mind Creates Language.
“German Made Simple” –
let’s test it!
by Editor, Eugene Jackson and Adolph
Geiger
With
over ½ million copies sold, the revised (by Robert D. Vanderslice) edition of “German
Made Simple” by Eugene Jackson and Adolph Geiger is purported to have a
forty-year record of making it easy to learn the German language. I
figured we give them a try! I selected one lesson and created a ‘matching
test’ to exercise the Publisher’s stamp: “Made
Simple Books.” The 8½-inch by
11-inch by ½-inch thick, 190-page paperback book is USD $12.95, originally
published in 1965 by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.; ISBN
0-385-19911-2. We hope to present
another ‘matching’ test in the combined
Noesis issue #174 (October)/#175
(November).
|
WER IST HERR CLARK? |
WHO IS MR. CLARK? |
||
|
1 |
Robert Clark ist Kaufmann. |
|
However, he does not live in |
|
2 |
Er ist Amerikaner. |
|
Mr. Clark is married. |
|
3 |
Er ist kein Deutscher. |
|
Mr. and Mrs. Clark have four
children, two boys and two girls. |
|
4 |
Sein Buro ist in |
|
Mr. Clark is forty years old. |
|
5 |
Er wohnt aber
nicht in New York. |
|
Anna does not go to school. |
|
6 |
Der Vorort, wo
die Familie Clark wohnt, ist nicht weit von New York. |
|
His wife is thirty-six years old. |
|
7 |
Herr Clark ist verheiratet. |
|
Charles is twelve years old. |
|
8 |
Seine Frau
heisst Helene Clark. |
|
All except Anna go to school. |
|
9 |
Herr und Frau
Clark haben vier Kinder, zwei Knaben und zwei Madchen. |
|
He is not a German. |
|
10 |
Die Knaben
heissen Karl und Wilhelm. |
|
He is an American. |
|
11 |
Die Madchen
heissen Marie und Anna. |
|
Mary is eight years old. |
|
12 |
Herr Clark ist
vierzig Jahre alt. |
|
She is still too young for school. |
|
13 |
Seine Frau ist
sechsunddreissig Jahre alt. |
|
Anna is five years old. |
|
14 |
Karl ist zwolf
Jahre alt. |
|
Robert Clark is a merchant. |
|
15 |
Wilhelm ist
zehn Jahre alt. |
|
The girls are named Mary and Anna. |
|
16 |
Marie ist acht
Jahre alt. |
|
The suburb where the |
|
17 |
Anna ist funf
Jahre alt. |
|
His wife’s name is Helen Clark. |
|
18 |
Alle ausser
Anna gehen zur Schule. |
|
The boys are named Charles and
William. |
|
19 |
Anna geht
nicht zur Schule. |
|
His office is in |
|
20 |
Sie ist noch
zu jung fur die Schule. |
|
William is ten years old. |
pages
22-23.
|
One of my engineer friends smilingly said at dinner
last May in regards to languages: “German is like a ‘computer’ language, Italian like ‘poetry.’ ” |
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE
NSA Media Advisory
For further information, contact:
NSA Public and Media Affairs,
301-688-6524
National Security Agency
To Hire 1,500 People by September 2004
The
National Security Agency intends to hire approximately 1,500 people by
September 2004 in an effort to meet the increasing needs of the ever-changing
Intelligence Community. Under the direction of the newly appointed chief of
Human Resources, Mr. John Taflan, the Agency is looking to increase the number
of new hires by 1,500 per year for the next five years, which would be an
unprecedented event for NSA.
Mr. Taflan
and his team are looking for people who are experienced in foreign language,
especially in Arabic and Chinese; intelligence analysis; signals analysis; the
technical fields (mathematics, computer science, engineering and physical
sciences); and acquisition. Non-technical jobs are also available, and job
seekers are encouraged to submit their resumes on our web site at www.nsa.gov.
This is the largest recruiting effort since the 1980s, and NSA is averaging
about three new employees a day with an increase to
The
National Security Agency offers outstanding opportunities to its employees
including work affecting national security and working with the latest
technology. Additional benefits include flexible schedules, travel
possibilities, federal benefits, educational opportunities, and the chance to
work with a diverse group of people.
Mr. Taflan
is available for interview by contacting the Public and Media Affairs Office at
301-688-6524 or by emailing nsapao@nsa.gov.
Thinking, Language, and Intelligence - Answers
by Dr.
Nancy Melucci –
Self-Test Connection
Part A. Completion (fill in the sentence
with key words of the chapter)
1. Another term for mental processes is thinking (or cognition).
2. Concepts are
mental categories, collections of events, people, objects, or other entities
that share some important quality or feature.
3. How to play piano requires implicit (or procedural) memory.
4. Natural
concepts are learned from experience.
5. Compensatory
decision making involves the consideration of aspects or features of the
different possible solutions or choices.
6. Heuristics are
referred to as rule-of-thumb strategies that can help us make judgments and
solve problems efficiently.
7. Availability
heuristic (or bias) involves using the information that comes to mind first.
8. Our own overestimating of the accuracy of our beliefs and
judgments and exaggerating the number of other people who see things the same
way as we do is referred to as overconfidence.
9. A(n) anchoring
effect occurs if we are given a “hint” or are supplied with information while
making our decision or choice, which may influence our answer and which may
make it more or less accurate.
10. Mental set is
your collection of beliefs, assumptions, and perspectives used to organize your
thoughts.
11. The rules for using the symbols of language is syntax ; it is also known as grammar.
12. IQ is a score
produced by tests that purport to measure intelligence.
13. Binet and Simon
created the first intelligence test.
14. Charles Spearman produced the single-factor model of
intelligence referred to as g - the
general factor important for all intellectual tasks.
15. The Wechsler
scales developed one of the most widely administered intelligence scales in
current use. The test comes in a
preschool, children’s, and adult version.
16. A person who is mentally retarded, but has an extraordinary
ability for multiplication, is likely to have savant syndrome.
17. Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence includes
three types of intelligence, including analytic skills, practical skills, and creative skills.
18. Studies of infants raised in orphanages demonstrate the
influence of environment on the
development of intelligence.
19. Hereditability
refers to the extent to which differences among people are attributable to
genes.
20. Research that suggests that different cultures have
different notions of what constitutes intelligence would support the idea that
intelligence is culture-bound.
21. Research that suggests that intelligence in certain
domains is important in all cultures would support the notion that intelligence
is context-free.
22. A test can be reliable but not valid ; if it is not reliable, it cannot possibly be valid.
23. A test that appears to measure what it claims to measure
has high internal validity.
24. Goddard
developed the IQ tests for the
25. A score in the range of 80 to 89 would be
considered low average.
Part B. Multiple Choice
Circle the letter of the item that correctly completes the
statement. (Editor: we use several of the questions posed.)
1. Cognitive maps allow for which of the following types of
cognition?
(a) Creating (b) Remembering (c) Interpreting (d) Problem-solving
2. Which of the following is not one of the five categories of decision-making and
problem-solving strategies?
(a) Compensatory (b) Trial and error (c) Heuristic (d) Prototype
3. Which is a special feature of language that makes human
language unique?
(a) Symbols (b) Abstraction (c) Syntax
(d) All of the above
4. Which is an example of crystallized intelligence?
(a) Reasoning (b) Problem solving (c) Social
rules (d) Applying new knowledge
5. Who of the following did not develop a theory of multiple intelligences?
(a) Sternberg (b) Thurstone (c)
6. What is another word for reliable?
(a) Consistent (b) Independent (c) Dependent (d) Generalizable
7. A test of mathematical achievement should have questions
that actually test all of the following except _____ . (a) addition (b) engineering (c) subtraction (d) calculus
8. The test that includes examples of all problems or items
in the domain it purports to assess has good ____ validity. (a) construct (b) content
(c) predictive (d) face
9. Why did Binet and Simon develop the first IQ tests?
(a) To provide “evidence” to parents
as to why their children were being held back in school
(b) To help the public schools identify students who would require special
educational interventions
(c) To identify youth who needed
accelerated classrooms
(d) To keep low-achieving youth out
of school
10. Who was responsible for updating the Binet-Simon IQ test
to the Stanford-Binet IQ Test?
(a) Terman
(b) Simon (c) Binet (d) Freud
11. Which of the following tests is the most culture-free?
(a) Stanford-Binet
IQ Test
(b) The Wechsler
Scales
(c) Scholastic
Assessment Test
(d) Raven’s Progressive Matrices
Part C. Modified True-False
If the statement is true, write “T” for the answer. If the statement is incorrect, change the underlined
expression to one that will make the statement true. (Editor: we use
several of the questions posed.)
1. Mental representations are symbols, language,
concepts, and images. [True]
2. Remembering what you wore yesterday requires procedural
memory. [False – declarative (or
explicit)]
3. The behaviorist view assumes that mental abilities
allow one to learn from experience and function successfully in one’s
environment. [True]
4. Thurstone’s concept of g was based on seven
intellectual skill groups. [False –
primary mental abilities]
5. Raymond Cattell, in his multiple intelligences
theory, suggested that there are seven separate types of intelligence. [False – Howard Gardner]
6. Most scientific evidence suggests that intelligence is
stable from about age 18 onward. [False
– age 7]
7. The controversial book The Bell Curve (1994) by Richard Herrstein and Charles Murray take
a strong nature stance on intelligence. [True]
8. The purpose of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) is to
predict high school performance. [False
– college]
Part D. Matching
Place a name of the concept related to thinking next to
correct example of that concept. (Editor: we use about half of the
questions posed in the next four sections.)
Thinking
confirmation bias insight atypical
example
algorithm prototype representativeness
bias
cognitive map heuristic availability
bias
functional fixedness
1. Someone says “insect,” and you think of a fly. prototype
2. The way from your house to your best friend’s house “in
your head.” cognitive map
3. Someone says “insect,” and you think of a walking stick. atypical example
4. Your friend thinks all engineering students are boring
and don’t like to socialize. representativeness
bias
5. You could have used your key to cut the tape on a tightly
wrapped package if you’d only thought of it. functional fixedness
Language
euphemism symbols phonemes
poverty of stimulus suggestibility syntax
abstraction nativism memes
linguistic determinism
1. Words, numbers, pictographs, hieroglyphics, sounds, and manual signs are all
examples of these. symbols
2. You can talk about truth and justice using words,
although you can’t see them. abstraction
3. Tra-, sho-, and ma- are all examples of these. phonemes
4. Children learn an enormous amount of language with very
little training. poverty of stimulus
5. A sin of memory that may be triggered by use of language.
suggestibility
Scientists in the History of Intelligence Theory and Testing
Sternberg Spearman Kamin
Anastasi Binet Guilford
Thurstone Jensen
Cattell
1. He was one of the two persons who created the first IQ
test. Binet
2. She cataloged a vast number of IQ and other psychological
tests. Anastasi
3. He proposed the existence of two types of g –
crystallized and fluid. Cattell
4. He proposed the existence of eight primary mental
abilities. Thurstone
5. He proposed the theory of multiple intelligences.
6. He wrote the controversial book Bias in Mental Testing. Jensen
Intelligence Theory and Testing
creative valid representative
standard deviation norms psychometric
crystallized g linguistic
hereditability
1. This is the theory that intelligence can be measured. psychometric
2. This is the term for a unitary general intelligence
factor. g
3. A person who is good at writing and expression through
words would have this kind of intelligence according to
4. These are the scores that are achieved by the original
sample that takes a test. norms
5. This is another term for the typical or “average”
difference between a score on a test and the mean score. standard deviation
Sending Secrets without Sophisticated Encryption
by Editor
and Mega Society Member Richard May
The PC-portion (alone) in the
preparation of Noesis issue #172 (August)
involved over 18 hours (sitting at the PC), sustained over 600 revisions, contained
over 950 paragraphs, had a prolific 27,000-plus word count, and was infested
with 3 tons of TLC (tender-loving-care) by the editor. Mega Society member, Richard May, submitted
by email the article “Aphorism” – re-printed below for your convenience. Richard emailed me that about 18 percent of
his biography submitted was missing? The
editor pondered immediately. “Hmm,
I recall the specific copy-paste operations of Richard’s biography. It’s all there.” Within a heartbeat, the editor solved the
apparent ‘mystery.’ The response email below
outlines the solution our readers of “soft-copy” versions of this article can
try out for themselves – either here on this page – or back on page 57 in the Noesis #172 (August) issue. ”HARD copy” owners will find the “resolution”
to this ‘puzzle,’ in stages, on the next page.
Aphorism
by Richard May – Mega
Society Member (page 57, Noesis #172 – August)
|
“The possibility of one's existence is too private to
share with oneself.” |
|
Hello Richard: Thanks so much for
mentioning the lost 18.5 percent loss of your BIO <<<
>>> (100*(1-(163/200)) =
18.50 % I’ll do a short article
in the #173 (September) issue on this – and include your missing 18.5% of the
BIO as well. To help you see “the
trick” – I extract the section in Noesis #172 that contains your “Bio” – as
is. Take a look. Afterwards, 1. “click”
on the BORDER of the “box” that surrounds your BIO. The “box” will then “highlighted” 2. in the “highlighted”
mode, you’ll see small DOTS at the four corners and center parts of the four
sides of the box 3. place your “cursor”
at the center bottom DOT of the “box” – a “double up/down arrow” will appear 4. depress your index
finger (assume your right-handed) on the LEFT button of the mouse, holding it
down 5. while holding it
down, you’ll be able to slide (pull down) the bottom of the “box” – and
walla – there lies the 6. missing 18.5 percent
of your BIO!!!! It was there all the
while! Pretty nifty way to
send SECRET messages!!!! I am thrilled
you alerted me! A really neet
article will result! Sincerely yours! Ron |
And the Editor exclaimed: “It was there all the while!”
Sending Secrets without Sophisticated Encryption – cont’d
by Editor and Mega Society Member
Richard May
We gradually “pull down”
on the ‘center’ ‘circle’ of the highlighted
Text Box at the bottom . . . and . . . walla . . . we begin to find the
missing 18.5% or Richard’s biography!
And as avid readers know, the Editor leans
toward using Arial font – and Richard’s material was submitted in Times
New Roman – and when “pasted” into a Text
Box here – remains as Times New Roman
(the default font in a Text Box).
Math-a-Day
by Theoni
Pappas
Always on the prowl, the editor stumbled on some mental
recreation books – one of which is titled “Math-a-Day”
by Theoni Pappas; publisher is Wide World
Publishing/Tetra, 1999, ISBN 1-88450-20-7, USD $12.95, softbound, 247
pages. Theoni’s biography, a female
math teacher, is given below. The
problems are by day of the year, so in the table we list the day and problem.
Theoni Pappas Biography
http://www.nctm.org/about/met/bio_pappas.htm
Theoni Pappas is committed to giving
mathematics greater exposure and making it more approachable. Pappas
encourages mathematics teachers to share and develop new teaching ideas,
methods, and approaches. Her gift to the Mathematics Education Trust (MET)
helps teachers in grades 9—12 develop mathematics enrichment materials and
lessons complementing a teaching unit implemented in the classroom. Currently, Pappas is a mathematics
educator and consultant. She received her B.A. from the Through her studies and research,
Pappas has developed products that address mathematical ideas, and she has
written numerous books, both for the general public and for educational
audiences. Her books include More Joy of
Mathematics; The Joy of Mathematics; Mathematics Appreciation; Math Talk;
Greek Cooking for Everyone; Fractals, Googols, and Other Mathematical Tales;
Mathematical Footprints; The Magic of Mathematics; Math-A-Day; The Music of
Reason; Mathematical Scandals; The Adventures of Penrose?the Mathematical
Cat; and Math for Kids & Other People Too! |
|
Day |
Problem |
|
1/3 |
The coordinates of A are
(1, y, -3) and of B are (-2, 5, -4) and |AB| = 141/2. Find y so that y > 4 – where |x| denotes
the “magnitude” of the quantity ‘x’ |
|
1/11 |
[(3.62) ¸ (0.079)]0 equals? |
|
1/19 |
A car passed me going 10
mph faster than my car. How many feet
ahead of me will it be in 5 minutes? |
|
2/18 |
If 65 different diagonals
can be drawn on a convex polygon, how many vertices does this convex polygon
have? |
|
2/20 |
(1/5) y = 5 sinq has amplitude equal to? |
|
3/1 |
–1 – 91/2 +
81/3 + 91/2 equals? |
|
3/18 |
– epi /
(log2 (log8 64)) equals? |
|
4/11 |
18 + 6 + 3 + (1/3) + (1/9)
+ (1/27) + (1/54) + . . . = ? |
|
4/16 |
(4i3)4
equals? |
|
4/26 |
2 and 3/8 percent of
$8,400 equals? |
|
5/12 |
435 is the sum of the
first ??? natural numbers? |
|
6/1 |
The microorganisms in a
jar quadruple every 30 seconds. After
1.5 minutes there were 1,472. How many
were in the jar to start with? |
|
7/24 |
The people of Playland
only tell the truth on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Which day of the week is it if a Playlander
says “I told the truth yesterday?” |
|
8/27 |
The plane 3x – 2y + z = –
28 intersects the y-axis at y = ? |
|
10/11 |
How many edges are there
in a truncated dodecahedron? |
|
10/30 |
6, 18, 7, ?, 10, 30, 19,
57, . . . |
|
12/13 |
5 – 8 x 3 ¸ (8 – 2(6 – 3(5 – 4) + 3)) = ? |
|
12/21 |
The equation of a
projectile is y = – 12 x2 + 12 x +17. The maximum height it reaches=? |
Math-a-Day Û Answers
by Theoni
Pappas and Editor descriptions
Always on the prowl, the editor stumbled on some mental
recreation books – one of which is titled “Math-a-Day” by Theoni Pappas, by
Wide World Publishing/Tetra, 1999, ISBN 1-88450-20-7, USD $12.95, softbound,
247 pages. Theoni’s biography, a female
math teacher, is given below. The
problems are by day of the year, so in the table we list the day and problem.
The outline of the book is as follows.
For each day of the year there is a quote, an historical/current note,
and problem.
|
Day |
Problem |
|
1/3 |
The coordinates of A are
(1, y, -3) and of B are (-2, 5, -4) and | AB | = 141/2. Find y so that y > 4 [answer: 7 (use ‘distance’ formula, solve
quadratic for the non-zero root)] |
|
1/11 |
[(3.62) ¸ (0.079)]0 equals? [answer: 1 (any number raised to zero power = 1)] |
|
1/19 |
A car passed me going 10
mph faster than my car. How many feet
ahead of me will it be in 5 minutes? [answer: 4400 ft. (find how far the car goes in 5 minutes at 10 mph)] |
|
2/18 |
If 65 different diagonals
can be drawn on a convex polygon, how many vertices does this convex polygon
have? [answer: 2015 (# diagonals per convex n-gon = (n2
– 3n)/2)] |
|
2/20 |
(1/5) y = 5 sinq has amplitude equal to? [answer: 25 (multiply both sides by 5; y = 25 sin(2q)] |
|
3/1 |
–1 – 91/2 +
81/3 + 91/2 equals? [answer: 1 (-1 -3 +2 + 3 = 1)] |
|
3/18 |
– epi /
(log2 (log8 64)) equals? [answer: 1 (epi = -1,
log8 64 = 2, log2 2 = 1, thus 1/1 = 1)] |
|
4/11 |
18 + 6 + 3 + (1/3) + (1/9)
+ (1/27) + (1/54) + . . . = ? [answer: 27 (sum
of geometric series with 1st term ‘a’ and ratio ‘r’ and r < 1 equals a/(1-r) = 18(1 – 1/3) =
27)] |
|
4/16 |
(4i3)4
equals? [answer: 256 (44
x i12 = 256)] |
|
4/26 |
2 and 3/8 percent of
$8,400 equals? [answer: 199.50 (0.02375 x 8400 = $199.50)] |
|
5/12 |
435 is the sum of the
first ??? natural numbers? [answer: 29 (sum
of first N natural numbers = N(N+1)/2, so that we solve a quadratic N2
+ N = 870 and factor it,
(N+30)(N-29) = 0)] |
|
6/1 |
The microorganisms in a
jar quadruple every 30 seconds. After
1.5 minutes there were 1,472. How many
were in the jar to start with? [answer: 23 (1472/4
= 368, (368/4) = 92, (92/4) = 23 because the amount in the jar had quadrupled
3 times in 1½ minutes)] |
|
7/24 |
The people of Playland
only tell the truth on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Which day of the week is it if a Playlander
says “I told the truth yesterday?” [answer: Saturday (no other day works with this statement “I told the truth yesterday.”)] |
|
8/27 |
The plane 3x – 2y + z = –
28 intersects the y-axis at y = ? [answer: 14 (the
plane at the y-axis, (0,y,0) is 0 – 2y + 0 = -28, thus y = 14)] |
|
10/11 |
How many edges are there
in a truncated dodecahedron? [answer: 32 faces (look at the Schlegal diagram – a flattened
dodecahedron. The 12 pentagonal faces
are present, along with its 20 vertices. If each vertex is truncated, the
resulting solid has 20 + 12 = 32 faces)] |
|
10/30 |
6, 18, 7, ?, 10, 30, 19,
57, . . . [answer: 21 (this
sequence is formed by alternately
multiplying the previous term by 3, and the next by subtracting 11)] |
|
12/13 |
5 – 8 x 3 ¸ (8 – 2(6 – 3(5 – 4) + 3)) = ? [answer: 11 (work “inside out”)] |
|
12/21 |
The equation of a
projectile is y = – 12 x2 + 12 x +17. The maximum height it reaches=? [answer: 26 (use the 1st derivative
to determine where the tangent is zero, which is the maximum height; y’ =
-24x + 12; -24x + 12 = 0; thus x=1/2; y = 12(½)2 + 12(½) + 17 so y
= 26)] |
Selected
quotes supplied in Theoni’s book follow in the next ‘article.”
Math-a-Day Û Selected Quotes
by Theoni
Pappas
“Mathematics consists of
proving the most obvious thing in the least obvious way. George Polya
“The real question is not
whether machines think, but whether men do.” B. F. Skinner
“The mathematician who
pursues his studies without clear views of this matter, must often have the
uncomfortable feeling that his paper and pencil surpass him in intelligence.” Ernst Mach
“Imagination is more
important than knowledge.” Albert Einstein
“An expert
is a man who has made all the mistakes, which can be made, in a narrow field.” Niels Bohr
“’
“Perfect numbers like
perfect men are very rare.” Rene’ Descartes’
“Poetry is as exact a
science as geometry.” Gustave Flaubert
“A man is like a fraction
whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of
himself. The larger the denominator the
smaller the fraction.” Tolstoy
“Logic is the art of going
wrong with confidence.” Morris Kline
“Although the whole of this
life were said to be nothing but a dream and the physical world nothing but a
phantasm, I should call this dream or phantasm real enough, if, using reason
well, we were never deceived by it.” Gottfried Leibniz
“He who loves practice
without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass
and never knows where he may be cast.” Leonardo da Vinci
“A good calculator does not
need artificial aids.” Lao Tze (604-531 B.C.)
“A great truth is a truth
whose opposite is also a great truth.” Thomas Mann
“Logic, like whiskey, loses
its beneficial effect when taken in too large quantities.” Lord Dunsany
“Where there is matter,
there is geometry.” Johannes Kepler
“Finally I am becoming
stupider no more.” Paul Erdos – the epitaph he wrote for himself
“The mathematician may be
compared to a designer of garments, who is utterly oblivious of the creatures
whom his garments may fit.” Tobias Dantzig
“Obvious is the most dangerous word in mathematics.” Eric
“Statistical thinking will
one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and
write.” H.G. Wells
“There is nothing so
troublesome to mathematical practice . . . than multiplications, divisions,
square and cubical extractions of great numbers . . . I began therefore to consider . . . how I might remove those hindrances.” John Napier
“Nothing in Nature is random
. . . A thing appears random only through the incompleteness of our knowledge.”
Spinoza
“You can only find truth
with logic if you have already found truth without it.” G. K. Chesterton
“There is an astonishing
imagination even in the science of mathematics.” Voltaire
“The essence of mathematics
is its freedom.” Georg Cantor
“It is easier to square the
circle than to get round a mathematician.”
Augustus De Morgan
“I make no question but you
will readily allow the square of 16 to be the most magically magical of any
magic square ever made by any magician.” Benjamin Franklin
“God is like a skillful
Geometrician.” Sir Thomas Browne
“The real danger is not that
computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like
computers.” Sidney J. Harris
“If others would but reflect
on mathematical truths as deeply and as continuously as I have, they would make
my discoveries.” Karl Gauss
“Number theorists are like
lotus-eaters – having once tasted of this food they can never give it up.” Leopold Kronecker
“Contradiction is not a sign
of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.” Blaise Pascal
“An equation has no meaning
unless it expresses a thought of God.” Srinivasa Ramanujan
“The profound study of
nature is the most fertile source of mathematical discoveries.” Joseph Fourier
“Music is the pleasure the
human soul experiences from counting without being aware it is counting. Gottfried Leibniz
“The art of asking the right
questions in mathematics is more important than the art of solving them. Georg Cantor
“Mountains are not cones,
clouds are not spheres, trees are not cylinders, neither does lightning travel
in a straight line. Almost everything
around us is non-Euclidean.” Benoit Mandelbrot
“If I were to awaken after
having slept for a thousand years, my first question would be: Has the Riemann hypothesis been proven?” David Hilbert
“It is a capital mistake to
theorize before one has data.” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
“Oh these mathematicians
make me tired! When you ask them to work
out a sum they take out a piece of paper, cover it with rows of A’s B’s and X’s
Y’s . . . scatter a mess of flyspecks over them, and then give you an answer
that’s all wrong.” Thomas Edison
“Everything in nature
adheres to the cone, the cylinder, and the cube.” Paul Cezanne
Animal Group Names
by Editor
We’ve
heard the phrase “A swarm of bees.” Here we challenge our avid readers to fill in
the blank for different “groups” of animals.
Don’t be surprised if you have considerable difficulty!
1. a ______ of badgers
2. a ______ of bears
3. a ______ of boars
4. a ______ of cats
5. a ______ of cattle
6. a ______ of chickens
7. a ______ of crows
8. a ______ of ducks in
flight
9. a ______ of eagles
10. a ______ of eels
11. a ______ of elk
12. a ______ of ferrets
13. a ______ of fish
14. an ______ of frogs
15. a ______ of foxes
16. a ______ of gulls
17. a ______ of hare
18. a ______ of hawk
19. a ______ of heron
20. a ______ of herring
21. a ______ of hummingbirds
22. a ______ of jays
23. a ______ of kangaroos
24. an ______ of larks
25. a ______ of leopards
26. a ______ of mice
27. a ______ of mules
28. a ______ of nightingales
29. a ______ of partridges
30. a ______ of pigs
31. a ______ of porpoises
32. a ______ of quail
33. an ______ of ravens
34. a ______ of rhinoceros
35. a ______ of seals
36. a ______ of sparrow
37. a ______ of squirrels
38. a ______ of starlings
39. a ______ of stork
40. a ______ of swans
41. a ______ of toads
42. a ______ of turkeys
43. a ______ of whales
44. a ______ of wolves
45. a ______ of worms
Challenging Math
Puzzles from the Editor’s Treasure Chest
by Editor
The
Editor is a pack-rat and collects many odds-and-ends. Of these are math puzzles from a number of
sources. We share the problem statements
(only) here for our enthusiastic puzzle-masters to crunch and meditate on. If a solution is truly desired by any avid
reader, please feel free to write me.
The numbering used in the
problem “tracks” with the editor’s Treasure
Chest.
Q14a – Let n be a natural number.
Prove that (a) n has a (nonzero) multiple whose representation (base 10)
contains only zeroes and ones; and (b) 2n has a multiple whose
representation contains only ones and twos.
Q14b – Given a natural number n > 1, add up all the fractions 1/pq, where
p and q are relatively prime, 0 < p < q < n, and p + q > n. Prove that the result is always 1/2.
Q15a – Each number from 1 to 1010 is written out in formal
English (e.g., “two hundred eleven,” one thousand forty-two”) and then listed
in alphabetical order (as in a dictionary, where spaces and hyphens are
ignored). What’s the first odd number in
the list?
Q35a – You have an opportunity to bet $1 on a number between 1 and 6. Three dice are then rolled. If your number fails to appear, you lose
$1. If it appears once, you win $1; if
twice, $2; if three times, $3. Is this
bet in your favor, fair, or against the odds?
Is there a way to determine this without doing any calculations?
Q43a – A solid square-base pyramid, with all edges of unit length, and a
solid triangle-base pyramid (tetrahedron), also with all edges of unit length,
are glued together by matching two triangular faces. How many faces does the resulting solid have?
Q44a – Can you pass a cube through a hole in a smaller cube?
Q58a – A phone call is made from an East Coast state to a West Coast state,
and it’s the same time of day at both ends.
How can this be?
Q59a – What’s the largest city in the
Q96a – In a proposed mechanism for a certain country’s national lottery,
each participant chooses a positive integer. The person who submits the lowest
number not chosen by anyone else is the winner.
(If no number is chosen by exactly one person, there is no winner). If just three people participate, but each
employs an optimal, equilibrium, randomized strategy, what is the largest
number that has positive probability of being submitted?
Q97a – Alice and Bob relax after breakfast with a simple number game. Alternately,
Q122a – A bunch of mathematicians at a conference banquet find
themselves assigned to a big circular table.
On the table, between each pair of settings, is a coffee cup containing
a cloth napkin. As each person sits down, he takes a napkin from his left or
right; if both napkins are present, he chooses randomly. There is no maitre d’; the seats are occupied
in random order. If the number of
mathematicians is large, what fraction of them (asymptotically) will end up without
a napkin?
Q143a – In an unending race, n runners having distinct constant speeds start
at a common point and run laps on a unit length circular track. Prove that each runner will at some moment in
time be at distance at least 1/n from every other runner.
Q144a – Is every polygonal region in the plane, with reflecting edges,
illuminable from some interior point?
Q146a – Suppose that a network (not necessarily planar) of cities and one-way
roads has the following properties: From each city, there are exactly two roads
leading out, and for some n, you can get from any city to any other city in n
steps. Prove that you can color the
roads red and blue in such a way that (a) each city has an exit road of each
color, and (b) there is a set of instructions (e.g., “RBBRRRBRBBR”) that always
ends at the same city, regardless of your beginning point.
A Visit to the Glashuette Original Factory
by Marcus Hanke
Situated on the edge of a
mountainous region called “Erzgebirge”, only some 25 kilometers south of the
famous city of Dresden, the small Saxonian town Glashuette at first sight seems
to be a town in the Swiss Jura: Green mountains and narrow valleys limit the
possibilities of agricultural production and make it clear, that the
inhabitants had to search for alternative ways to earn their money, as had done
their colleagues in Switzerland; producing watches being the most important
one.
Glashuette in Saxonia. The
Glashuette Uhrenbetrieb is located in the large brown building in the
foreground
When
approaching Glashuette, though, one has no difficulties making out differences
from Swiss towns: More than forty years of communist reign did not pass without
leaving traces. The desolate state of both buildings and streets testifies of a
system which allocated most of the available economical resources to the
state’s capital
The huge Glashuette Original factory building is not very attractive, a typical
East German construction. But with its large windows, it offers first insights
into the watch production already from the outside: Many workers, wearing blue
working clothes, can be observed, busily occupied with noisy machinery; nothing
indicates the cloistered working climate commonly attributed to the haute
horlogerie. Indeed the production of watches for the most part is noisy and
even dirty metalworking, only the final stages see the white-clothed
watchmakers on their tables, bent over the delicate assembly of fine
timepieces.
This we learned from our
charming tour guide, the company’s public relations manager Mrs. Boehme. She
told us, that, while cases, crystals and dials are supplied by specialized
companies, the movements are completely built here, the only exceptions being
the springs and the jewels. To illustrate the impressive depth of production,
our tour started with a brief visit to the department in which the factory
makes its own tools. All drillheads, milling cutters, etc. necessary for the
production of watch movements are made in-house as well; and not without pride
we were shown a tiny drillhead not wider than 0.05 millimeters! Before any
production tools can be designed and produced, however, a new watch and
primarily its movement has to be developed. This is the job of the company's
development center.
Its rooms look like technical
offices anywhere else: Big CAD (computer-aided design) screens and drawboards,
people in casual outfit, quietly busy inventing such stunning masterpieces as
the unique PanoRetroGraph or the perpetual calendar. As a contrast, some doors
further we enter the halls in which the baseplates and bridges of the movements
are made. Within one operation, a pallet of 36 movements is milled from a
massive brass sheet, and all the necessary holes which later take screws or
jewels are drilled. The same machinery is used for the production of Glashuette Original and
Before the other parts can be
added to the baseplates, these have to be painstakingly measured by comparing
the actual measurements against a long list of reference points. Of course it
would be enough to simply check but the first and the last plates on the
pallet; if any drillhead were misadjusted or worn out this would be clearly
detected by the electronic equipment. However, the factory management chose to
have every single movement checked to ensure the highest possible degree of
accuracy. If any bad plates are found, they are made into nice keyring pendants
distributed by the public relations department. Unfortunately for them,
however, only very few plates are found to be faulty.
Other doors open to reveal
the facilities where many of the small parts are made: wheels, drives, shafts,
screws and even the balance wheels. Sometimes the parts produced are so tiny,
that it is impossible to tell them apart from the waste material with the naked
eye. With the exception of the springs and the jewels, the Glashuette Original factory is producing all parts of their
movements in-house, which distinguishes the company from most others in the
watch production.
However, one has to
understand that this nowadays highly praised autarchy is the result of a very
peculiar political and economical development completely different from the
Western European standard: As was the case in Switzerland, the Saxonian watch
industry too, originally was highly dispersed and consisted of a multitude of
companies, each dedicated to the production of a single category of parts. Even
before the German Democratic Republic was formally founded in 1949, these
companies were socialized and collectivized into one state-owned company,
bringing together all suppliers under one roof and management.
The communist
A lot more modern are the
huge spark erosion machines we find in another room. Here all the fine and flat
parts, which formerly were stamped or punched, are cut out from the sheets of
raw material by means of a powerful electrical charge. On a monitor nearby we
can follow the wire and the spark, cutting out a delicate swan-neck regulator;
this procedure lasts several minutes, so it is understandable, that with only a
few of these sophisticated machines the production numbers cannot be high.
We leave behind the noisy
production halls, passing long and empty corridors.
Every now and then a door opens and a worker comes into sight, tugging a small
handcart loaded with nothing but some watch parts. After a friendly greeting he
disappears again, continuing his way to another department in need of the parts
he is transporting. Sometimes I have the impression of walking through some
abstruse administration building, in which individual files are carried from
room to room, floor to floor. The lack of an internal transporting system makes
this handwork necessary, Mrs. Boehme explains. But the complete reconstruction
of the building is planned and will take place the following year. A modernized
architecture with a glassy façade will bring the end to this and some other
peculiarities.
The next department we visit
on our tour are dedicated to checking and decorating the parts previously
produced, as well as the production of some subassemblies. While several
employees are checking all wheels for their proper balance, a colleague uses a
microscope to screw the tiny screws into the balance wheels with impressive
routine. At other workplaces the baseplates and bridges are decorated with
special grindings, the Glashuette stripes, which happen to be identical to the
well-known
Finally, we enter the “sacred
halls”, where the traditional watchmaking rules. Here the manifold parts
produced in the other departments are put together, to finally result in
wonderful wristwatches. At the assembly of the mechanical high-end specialities
each watchmaker is completely responsible for one watch, from the first screw
to the final adjustment and the leather strap. Here the best watchmakers of the
company are busy assembling tourbillions, perpetual calendars, and of course
the famous PanoRetroGraph.
During our visit a watchmaker
carried out the final tests on a PanoRetroGraph. Asked, for how long he had
worked on it, he succinctly answered: “Five weeks”. Imagine that, five weeks,
eight hours a day, only for the assembly! Now add the time and effort necessary
to develop and produce all the different watch parts, the time needed to
control each of them, and you no longer wonder about the high price – it even
strikes you as rather inexpensive!
Another, larger room houses
the final assembly of all the “standard” watches of the Glashuette Original and Union labels. Here the only difference to
the “specialities chamber” is that not one watchmaker assembles the complete
watch from the beginning to the end, but each watchmaker is responsible for a
certain group of parts or subassembly. After finishing this work, he transfers
this incomplete movement to a colleague who continues where he had stopped.
Our
tour through the factory finishes here, yet we still have another highlight to
see: the Glashuette museum of watchmaking. Although occupying only two large
rooms, this museum covers the complete history of watchmaking in the city of
I am very happy to have had
the privilege of visit this fascinating factory, and I would like to thank the
Glashuette staff a lot for their friendly cooperation and patience, especially
Mrs. Boehme, who was such a fantastic tour guide.
"Watch of the Year 2000"
by Glashutte Original – the Editor’s favorite watch!
Nowadays,
a watch is more than simply a piece of jewelry. We always expect the highest
degree of precision, whether for private or business purposes. The watches in
the Senator Collection are equipped with 21st century functionality and
accuracy. Manufactured in the Glashütte
Original watch manufactory, they are a perfect combination of modern demands
on precision and aesthetics and long-lasting values embodied by traditional
watchmaking craftsmanship. With a classical silver dial or in a striking
navigator design, a Senator watch is a continual expression of watchmaking
perfection. About USD $19K.
Glashütte is situated in the Weisseritz
district of Saxony, one of the most beautiful low mountain ranges in
Forensics – the DNA
Fingerprint
by N. E. Genge
Years ago I
really enjoyed many television stories.
One of these was a TV series
If the crime
took place several days earlier -- and
If they were
filming Quincy: The New Adventures, we'd probably be seeing computer forensics at work, as experts
try to recover deleted, encrypted, or damaged data. This probably wouldn't relate to the murder
per se, but rather to the motives behind it: blackmail, fraud, or harassment. Today’s contemporary television series (first
aired October 2000) is C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation –
which reveals almost miraculous use of technology and painstaking perseverance
and lateral thinking on the part of
the CSI team.
I was browsing through the bookstore a month ago and was delighted
to find some current, “readable” books on forensics. One I began plowing through is titled “The Forensic
Casebook: The Science of Crime Scene Investigation (CSI)” by N. E.
Genge. Publisher is Ballantine Books,
2002, ISBN 0-345-45203-8; contains 5 chapters, 319 pages; paperback; 7½ inch
wide by 9¼ inch long by ¾ inch thick.
Chapter
3 is the focus of this article – “Working
the Scene of the Body Human” – starting on page 142. I hope the topic of the DNA Fingerprint is
interesting and educational to you, our faithful reader.
“So much evidence is found on and inside the human body that it
constitutes a crime scene unto itself.
After undergoing preliminary examination at the scene, a body is
released into the hands of the coroners or medical examiners, becoming the
landscape that yet another rank of investigators will scrutinize intimately –
right down to its basic molecules, in fact.”
Blood Factors and the DNA
Fingerprint
“Blood’s individual qualities were recognized years ago when
doctors realized some transfusions were successful while others were
immediately fatal. From that observation
came the ABO typing system and the first understanding of the Rhesus factor.”
“While there are extremely rare or exotic blood types, most people
can be classified into the A, B, O, or AB blood types. The fact that an AB type exists at all told
early investigators that every individual actually carries two alleles, or traits that determine blood type – one inherited
from each parent. Further studies proved
that if each parent contributed an O allele, the child would be type O, but if
one parent contributed an A and the other an O, the A dominated. Likewise, if one parent contributed a B and
one an O, then the B dominated.”
“Unlike fingerprints, which were unique to an individual, blood
types could be shared by millions of people. . . . For that kind of
individualization, law enforcement had to wait until DNA analysis – the study
of deoxyribonucleic acid – advanced.
DNA, the physical material that we inherit from our parents when one
sperm finds that one egg, is absolutely individual – with one exception. Identical twins form from one fertilized egg,
so their DNA is identical.”
“While fingerprinting is still the only surefire way to separate
identical twins, DNA testing provides its own advantages:
▶ Every cell in an individual’s body
contains identical DNA. Fingerprints
come only from fingers, but DNA can be found in blood, in urine, in feces, in
saliva, in some hair, in the shed skin cells found in a facecloth or toothbrush
– even in the sweatband of a hat! A
suspect doesn’t have to bleed at the scene to leave DNA. Semen at rape scenes, saliva on the envelope
of a ransom note, skin cells scraped onto a rope while tying a victim – all
provide the opportunity for collection and analysis.
▶ DNA
can survive much longer than a fingerprint. While some few
prints have been collected years after being made, DNA analysis has been
performed on Egyptian mummies! Granted,
not too many mummies are going to be arrested, but the example helps illustrate
DNA’s power as a means of identification.
DNA can provide closure to a victim’s family years later by making it
possible to identify bodies that might have been buried just a decade ago as
John or Jane Does.
▶ DNA
can indicate familial relationships. Though it’s been theorized
that prints in family members might have similarities, it’s unproven. But
because DNA is inherited from two parents, a significant number of matches in a
sample can point to a “first-degree” relative – a mother, father, or sibling. In cases where groups are involved in crimes,
this is important evidence. A Philippine
case involved a murder conducted by two individuals. One was identified by an eyewitness, but the
second man was not. DNA from spit at the
scene didn’t belong to the man already identified, but had so many points in
common with his that investigators suggested a sibling as the second
individual. Brought in on that evidence,
the brother confessed.
▶ DNA
evidence doesn’t combine. Blood evidence at a scene frequently comes
from more than one individual – either the attacker and the attacked or a
number of victims. If one hypothetical
victim is type A and another is type B, a combined sample of their blood might
suggest an AB individual. With DNA, the
traits of both victims would be found
in the sample. But with samples from the
victims available for comparison, it would be possible to prove that it’s a
combined sample possible from only these
two individuals. It makes determining
who was at a specific point in the scene possible. Blood evidence could have suggested the
inclusion of completely fictitious individuals!”
“Before it can be collected, it has to be found. And if one of DNA’s advantages to the
investigator is that small samples are still useful, then one of its
disadvantages is how hard to spot such tiny deposits can be. Two of the aids investigators may use are
chemicals like luminol and alternative light sources (ALS) like UV. Many biological samples fluoresce naturally
in certain wavelengths of light. Semen,
blood, and amniotic fluid are amenable to this method. If it’s not possible to use ALS, a spray of
luminol (which reacts with the iron in blood and any other blood-containing
biological specimens) proves valuable.”
“In the United States, the National Institute of Justice has a
checklist of items investigators should consider in determining where DNA
evidence might be found and suggests the collection of these:
· fingernails or fingernail parings
· tissues, paper towels, napkins, cotton
swabs, ear swabs (bag everything in a
bathroom wastebasket)
· toothpicks, cigarette butts, straws,
anything that might have been in contact with the mouth, like cellular phones
· blankets, pillows, sheets, mattresses,
dirty laundry
·
head gear of any type
· eyeglasses, contact lenses
· used stamps, envelopes
· tapes, ropes, cords, anything else used
as ligatures
· used condoms
· bullets that have passed through bodies”
[Editor] There are many other good tips in this down-to-earth book
by N. E. Genge (pages 142-158) that the energetic, avid Noesis reader can find.
Readers looking for a new profession might consider a Forensic
DNA Analyst/DNA Technical Leader position, like the one cited on page
148 (given below).
|
Forensic DNA Analyst/DNA Technical
Leader IDENTIGENE® is seeking
applicants for Forensic DNA Analyst/DNA Technical Leader positions. Qualifications include a
bachelor’s or master’s degree in biology, chemistry, or forensic science; a
minimum of six months forensic DNA casework experience to qualify for the
Forensic Analyst position; a minimum of three years forensic casework
experience to qualify for the Technical Leader position. Must have completed course work covering
the subject areas of biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology. In addition, course work and/or training in
statistics and/or population genetics is necessary. Experience handling a broad range of
forensic samples, experience giving expert witness testimony, and familiarity
with the ABI PrismTM 377 Automated DNA Sequencer are desirable. These positions report
to the Forensic DNA Laboratory Director. Responsibilities
include performing DNA profiling on biological samples; performing test
result interpretation; giving expert witness testimony for criminal casework;
performing internal validation studies for automated STR systems; and
participating in training. Salary: $35,000 -
$65,000/annual. |
“The earliest DNA typing was the RFLP (restriction fragment length
polymorphisms) method. In this
technique, DNA extracted from the sample is cut into fragments by chemical
‘scissors,’ which separate the long DNA strands at specific spots between any
two of the four proteins that make up DNA.
In chemical shorthand, the four proteins are A, T, C, and G. Because everyone’s DNA is different, the
length between one person’s A’s and T’s or C’s and G’s is different from the
distances between another person’s.”
“The RFLP technique is a detailed, accurate, and precise way of
identifying individual people. On the
downside, RFLP is slow. It can take
anywhere from three weeks to three months to get results. The lab work alone takes nearly a month and,
because it ties up lab facilities, there’s frequently a backlog of work. Not helpful if you’re a law enforcement
officer who needs a lead. And certainly
not helpful if you’re the accused waiting for these results to clear you!”
“PCR (polymerase chain reaction) methods improved on the RFLP
technique by replicating the DNA present in a tiny sample until there was
enough of it to type, making even minuscule samples significant. It works on the principle that DNA replicates
itself naturally each time a cell divides.
PCR creates the same situation chemically by ‘unzipping’ the DNA
molecule into its two halves. . . . The
advantages of PCR are many. To begin
with, it’s fast. Even the longest
testing period should take less than a week, and it’s frequently faster than
that . . . . The whole process takes about two minutes! And it’s repeatable. In less than four hours, it’s possible to
multiply a sample by 5,000 percent.
Also, PCR testing is much less expensive than RFLP methods, making it
possible for more case evidence to get into the system . . . . PCR can also use
‘degraded’ evidence – in other words, older samples recovered at a secondary scene
located some time later, even up to decades after the primary scene has been
worked and – can still produce significant results . . . . Unfortunately, PCR
samples are at higher risk for contamination than are RFLP samples. The copying process can’t distinguish between
DNA left by a suspect and DNA from a criminalist who breathed a little too
heavily – consequently, all DNA present is copied. From a purely statistical perspective,
because of the narrower region of study, the results may not be as detailed as
RFLP. One in millions, or even billions,
are terms associated with RFLP; with PCR, the numbers are more like 1 in 10,000
or 100,000 – impressive, but not of the same order.”
“DNA analysis is a quickly
changing field. Just when PCR was
becoming generally understood, its values and differences from RFLP filtering
down to street-level investigators, new tests – the STR (short tandem repeat)
process in particular - began yielding significant results. STRs are newcomers in court, but have been
used extensively in non-forensic identifications. Victims of TWA Flight 800’s crash in the
We list another job description below – for Forensic Chemist-Biology (DNA)
Specialist.
|
Forensic Chemist-Biology (DNA)
Specialist The Acadiana
Criminalistics Laboratory ( Applicant must possess
knowledge of CODIS, DAB, and ASCLD/LAB regulations, have a strong background
in quality assurance systems within crime laboratories, possess knowledge of
laws governing rules of evidence and courtroom procedures, be able to
communicate effectively orally and in writing, be able to organize and
coordinate laboratory activities, be able to effectively supervise laboratory
support staff, be able to use computer applications as they relate to
laboratory procedures, and possess a valid driver’s license. Responsibilities
include conducting DNA casework analysis using PCR STR ABI 310 CE technology,
acting as liaison with law enforcement officers, selecting probative exhibit
materials, identifying and comparing biological material, writing case
reports, and providing court testimony as an expert witness. ▶
Salary with M.S. degree:
$45,834-$87,259/annual ▶
Salary with B.S. degree:
$40,081-$81,505/annual |
Some of our avid Noesis
readers may have children (nieces, nephews, grandchildren, etc.) exploring the
criminal investigation fields, and certainly the “Associate Chief Medical
Examiner” position is worth aspiring to – with a solid 6-digit salary
range of USD $97,704 - $170,649 per year.
This is a position presented by the North Carolina Office of the Chief
Medical Examiner – seeking applicants. Qualifications include a Doctor of Medicine
degree from an accredited school of medicine; eligibility for the license to
practice medicine in
Animal Group Names -
Answers
Editor
We’ve
heard the phrase “A swarm of bees.” Here we challenge our avid readers to fill in
the blank for different “groups” of animals.
Don’t be surprised if you have considerable difficulty!
1. a cete of badgers
2. a sloth of bears
3. a sounder of boars
4. a clowder/cluster of cats
5. a drove of cattle
6. a brood of chickens
7. a murder of crows
8. a team of ducks in flight
9. a convocation of eagles
10. a swarm of eels
11. a gang of elk
12. a business of ferrets
13. a shoal of fish
14. an army of frogs
15. a shulk of foxes
16. a colony of gulls
17. a drove of hare
18. a flight of hawk
19. a siege of heron
20. a glean of herring
21. a charm of hummingbirds
22. a band of jays
23. a troop of kangaroos
24. an exaltation of larks
25. a leap of leopards
26. a nest of mice
27. a barren/rake of mules
28. a watch of nightingales
29. a covey of partridges
30. a herd of pigs
31. a school of porpoises
32. a bevy of quail
33. an unkindness of ravens
34. a crash of rhinoceros
35. a crash/herd/pod of seals
36. a host of sparrow
37. a dray of squirrels
38. a chattering of starlings
39. a mustering of stork
40. a wedge of swans
41. a knot of toads
42. a rafter of turkeys
43. a gam of whales
44. a rout of wolves
45. a clew of worms
Quotes on Learning
by Joe Griffith
One
of the Barnes & Noble “bargain” books I picked up at Barnes & Noble booksellers
a month ago was Joe Griffith’s “Speaker’s Library of Business Stories,
Anecdotes, and Humor,” dated 1990; ISBN 0-7607-1956-X. A few sections are presented here for
encouragement and development.
LEARNING
“The only person who behaves
sensibly is my tailor. He takes new
measurements every time he sees me. All
the rest go on with their old measurements.”
George Bernard Shaw
“One of the reasons people
stop learning is that they become less and less willing to risk failure.”
John W. Gardner
“Teaching should be full of
ideas, not stuffed with facts.” John Condry, educator
“Anyone who stops learning
is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
Anyone who keeps learning stays young.”
Henry Ford
▶ Everybody can teach you something
“I have learned silence from
the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the
unkind.” Kahlil Gibran
▶ Learn from the mistakes of others
“We ought to be able to
learn some things second-hand. There isn’t
enough time for us to make all the mistakes ourselves.” Harriet Hall
“It is what we think we know
already that often prevents us from learning.”
Claude Bernard
“There’s only one corner of
the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” Aldous Huxley
“You are the same today that
you are going to be five years from now except for two things: the people with
whom you associate, and the books you read.”
Charles “Tremendous”
Jones
▶ Never stop learning
Theodore
Roosevelt died with a book under his pillow, consuming the ideas of others
until the very last.
▶ Search for a positive lesson
“Don’t just learn something
from every experience, learn something positive.” Allen H. Neuharth, founder, USA Today
“If a man will begin with
certainties, he shall end in doubts; but
if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.” Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning
“In the Information Age,
flexibility is the critical foundation for success. Future generations will need more than just
mastery of subject matter, they will need mastery of learning.” Morris Weeks
“You have got to be curious
as to what makes the whole business tick and have the ambition and desire to
fight to get to a place of more responsibility.” Fred Lazarus, Jr., former chairman, Federated Department Stores
“One of the best ways to
learn is to fail. People who are
successful often don’t know why they’re successful. People who have failed a couple of times know
where their weak links are and know exactly what are the things that must be
avoided.” Maurice Kirkpatick
p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p
QUALITY
“The quality
of your work will have a great deal to do with the quality of your life.” Orison
Swett Marden
▶ Quality sells
“My overcoats sell my
overcoats.” Monty Platt, Platt Clothiers
▶ Quality comes from pride
“I consider a bad bottle of
Heineken to be a personal insult to me.”
Freddy Heineken
▶ Sell quality to workers
A sign above each workbench
on the production line of a television manufacturing plant said: “Careful, this may be the one you get.”
“The quality, not the
longevity, of one’s life is what is important.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Quality is a necessity for
survival. It means everything to me, and
I know it when I see it.” Richard D. Brogan
“Quality is meeting customer
expectations at a competitive price.” Thad A. Barrington
“Quality means cultivating a
customer that will come to me the next time.”
Robert Carlson
“Quality in a service or
product is not what you put into it. It
is what the client or customer gets out of it.”
Peter Drucker
▶ Quality must be an obsession
Ray
Kroc was once visiting a Canadian franchise and found a single fly. Two weeks later, the franchisee lost his
McDonald’s franchise.
“Quality is not an act. It is a habit.” Aristotle
Remember the TV commercial: “At Zenith, the quality goes in before the
name goes on.”
“Hewlett-Packard support
services have long been considered ‘products.’ ” Hewlett-Packard
“Quality is viewed more as a
focus of the organization itself than as an attribute of goods or
services.” Warner-Lambert
“At GE, quality is not a
spectator sport – everyone’s involved.” General Electric
“Good quality is cheap; it’s
poor quality that is expensive.” Joe. L. Griffith
“The surest foundation of a
manufacturing concern is quality.” Andrew Carnegie
▶ Quality pays in any business
Alvin
Burger had spent much of his life in the pest control business. He grew dissatisfied with the lack of quality
in his industry and pledged to do something about it. Most of the industry only wanted to control
bugs, but
“There
is an old saying in
“At
Xerox, we’ve replaced that (above quote)
with a saying we have borrowed from the Japanese: ‘If it isn’t perfect, make it
better.’ ” D. T. Kearns, annual meeting of Xerox shareholders – 1989
▶ Don’t ever stop trying to improve
“I’ve never been satisfied
with anything we’ve ever built. I’ve
felt that dissatisfaction is the basis of progress. When we become satisfied in business, we
become obsolete.” Bill Marriott, Sr.
▶ Quality doesn’t come easy; you have to set high standards
Stanley
Marcus’s father, the founder of Neiman-Marcus, was always asking how the
merchandise offered could be improved.
In an effort to eliminate any flaws in the product before it got to the
customer, he established an inspection department – unique in the retail
bisiness – in which every article of apparel was tried on a model form to determine if it was cut
properly and if there were any defects apparent on close inspection.
▶ Concern for quality starts at the top
William
E. Boeing, Boeing’s founder, spotted defective parts coming down the line. He swept them onto the floor and cried, “Now
make me a good one.”
▶ The search for quality can cause short-term problems
Few
people realize that Ford Motor Company was Henry Ford’s third attempt at
making automobiles. He was voted out in
one company and went bankrupt in another.
Henry Ford was ousted from the Henry Ford Company when he insisted on
improving the design of the car instead of thinking of short-term profits. When he was removed by the board of directors,
the name was changed to Cadillac Automobile Company. The Cadillac was originally a Ford. Later, as we all know, Ford’s quest for a
better car paid off.
Management
can communicate its emphasis on quality by paying attention to details. For instance, National Steel requires workers
to clean their work stations instead of leaving the task for the janitors. The Japanese co-owners, who suggested the
policy, reasoned that if workers have enough pride to take care of their work
stations, they might also care more for their product.
▶ A reputation for quality can pay big dividends
Stanley
Marcus told of the time that Jack Massey of
▶ Quality is a conviction. It can
sometimes cost money
Debbie
Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies, said “I’m a cookie person, not a
business person.” She once tossed out
USD $500 worth of cookies and temporarily closed a store because those she
sampled were not up to standard.
▶ Make workers responsible for poor quality
World
War II parachute packers had an unacceptable record: nineteen out of twenty
parachutes opened. The manager
discovered that by allowing the packers the pleasure of testing their
parachutes by jumping from a plane, quality rose to 100 percent.
▶ When cost reduction becomes priority number one, then quality suffers
Sometimes doing things that
are uneconomical can make more sense than cutting costs, such as the
overcommitment to reliability by Caterpillar Tractor who promised
“forty-eight-hour parts service anywhere in the world – or CAT pays.” Maytag’s boast of “Ten years’ trouble-free
operation,” or McDonald’s fetish for cleanliness make no economic sense except
that they work and have created the leaders in their fields.
“German Made Simple” –
let’s test it! - Answers
by Editor, Eugene Jackson and Adolph
Geiger
With
over ½ million copies sold, the revised (by Robert D. Vanderslice) edition of “German
Made Simple” by Eugene Jackson and Adolph Geiger is purported to have a
forty-year record of making it easy to learn the German language. I
figured we give them a try! I selected one lesson and created a ‘matching
test’ to exercise the Publisher’s stamp: “Made
Simple Books.” The 8½-inch by
11-inch by ½-inch thick, 190-page paperback book is USD $12.95, originally
published in 1965 by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.; ISBN
0-385-19911-2. We hope to present
another ‘matching’ test in the combined
Noesis issue #174 (October)/#175
(November).
|
WER IST HERR CLARK? |
WHO IS MR. CLARK? |
||
|
1 |
Robert Clark ist Kaufmann. |
5 |
However, he does not live in |
|
2 |
Er ist Amerikaner. |
7 |
Mr. Clark is married. |
|
3 |
Er ist kein Deutscher. |
9 |
Mr. and Mrs. Clark have four
children, two boys and two girls. |
|
4 |
Sein Buro ist in |
12 |
Mr. Clark is forty years old. |
|
5 |
Er wohnt aber
nicht in New York. |
19 |
Anna does not go to school. |
|
6 |
Der Vorort, wo
die Familie Clark wohnt, ist nicht weit von New York. |
13 |
His wife is thirty-six years old. |
|
7 |
Herr Clark ist verheiratet. |
14 |
Charles is twelve years old. |
|
8 |
Seine Frau
heisst Helene Clark. |
18 |
All except Anna go to school. |
|
9 |
Herr und Frau
Clark haben vier Kinder, zwei Knaben und zwei Madchen. |
3 |
He is not a German. |
|
10 |
Die Knaben
heissen Karl und Wilhelm. |
2 |
He is an American. |
|
11 |
Die Madchen
heissen Marie und Anna. |
16 |
Mary is eight years old. |
|
12 |
Herr Clark ist
vierzig Jahre alt. |
20 |
She is still too young for school. |
|
13 |
Seine Frau ist
sechsunddreissig Jahre alt. |
17 |
Anna is five years old. |
|
14 |
Karl ist zwolf
Jahre alt. |
1 |
Robert Clark is a merchant. |
|
15 |
Wilhelm ist
zehn Jahre alt. |
11 |
The girls are named Mary and Anna. |
|
16 |
Marie ist acht
Jahre alt. |
6 |
The suburb where the |
|
17 |
Anna ist funf
Jahre alt. |
8 |
His wife’s name is Helen Clark. |
|
18 |
Alle ausser
Anna gehen zur Schule. |
10 |
The boys are named Charles and
William. |
|
19 |
Anna geht
nicht zur Schule. |
4 |
His office is in |
|
20 |
Sie ist noch
zu jung fur die Schule. |
15 |
William is ten years old. |
pages
22-23.