danaleeling

In the small hours after midnight on Tuesday 11 January 2011 a good friend, a mentor, and a professor who had practiced and taught the value of outdoor science education for over fifty years passed away. That same Tuesday I had scheduled my ethnobotany class for a hike into the forest to learn about lycopodium and ferns. Although I felt a numbing sense of loss, I already knew what Harvey expected of me. Leaving behind our books, forsaking attendance, the class headed out under the bright tropical sun empty-handed in nature's learning laboratory. We first stopped to look at moss on a tree in the center semi-quad. Moss fits better in this hike, but moving moss to the previous Thursday and covering moss with Nostoc provides more time in valley on the following Tuesday. On the way to the trailhead the class had previously stopped to examine Psilotum nudum located just to the south of the agriculture building in a hidden valley. This was a new addition to the hike spring 2009....

On Monday evening I leaned over his hospital bed and said, "If you would stand up, big guy, it would make moving you to a new bed easier." Harvey leads the PONTEC band circa 1970 "Stand up, stand up, stand up, walk out!" responded Harvey, his eyes still closed but his voice strong and sure. Immediately after his collapse on Friday at home, Harvey had been unresponsive. Over the weekend he had brief periods of wakefulness, and on Sunday evening he could answer a few questions. By Monday evening he was regularly answering questions with short responses. Although his blood pressure remained unstable, by all external appearances he was much better than he had been over the weekend. Harvey instructing Kolonia Elementary School students on Earth Day 1993 The last time I had seen him on his feet was on a visit just after the turn of the new year. He had stood up to do shallow knee bends at his desk. His legs were weak, and he accomplished the knee bends primarily by h...

A convenience sample survey of 72 students in the MS 150 Statistics class at the College of Micronesia-FSM Palikir national campus 07 January 2011 asked about social media membership. FaceBook retained its lead from fall 2010 with 62 of the 72 students using FaceBook. MySpace regained the second slot with 45 students. Bebo slipped slightly to 42 students. Fall 2010 70% of the students used, FaceBook . Bear in mind that in spring 2009 not a single student reported using FaceBook. Spring term 2011 86% of the student report using FaceBook. 89 percent of the students report using social media, only 11% - a new low - report no usage of social media. FaceBook would have to be considered the favored vehicle among social media sites for connecting with students, should faculty and staff wish to use social media in this manner. In part due to the history of MySpace and Bebo having dominated student share, a number of students are members of multiple social networks. The most co...

The Scientists is an interesting read, a once over lightly refresher course on the history of science as told via the personages who made the critical discoveries. The coda explicitly reveals a subtext thesis that the author is quietly arguing. Beyond telling the story, Gribbin is quietly attempting to show that Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions thesis is a result of not paying attention to the details. Gribbin shows that in most instances the "revolutionary" idea was not as revolutionary as it might seem.   Gribbin does a good job of showing that in most cases the ideas were already "out there" in general circulation, ready to be put together. He also argues that had not the person we credit with the discovery made the discovery, other would have made that discovery within a short span of time. At best, a "genius" might simply have made the leap a little earlier than others. Probably the best known example is the non-scientifi...

Christmas break reading included Those Fascinating Numbers by Jean-Marie De Konnick. The plot is simply one to the Skewes number . Many of the concepts are simply beyond me due to my own lack of grounding in number theory. I was, however, introduced to Fermat's Little Theorem and became interested in the Carmichael numbers . The smallest Carmichael number, however, is 561. An attempt, however, to calculate the number 2 560 on a calculator, let alone any other base, caused smoke to come out of my calculator. An error message was all I could achieve. Still desiring to see if indeed 561 divided evenly into ((2^560)-1), I decided to throw the equation at WolframAlpha. I entered ((2^560)-1)/561 and WolframAlpha dutifully returned 6727205748344993497756781784292814422311802531936613954324788413985069808185648577693630526163384612373383912710808992691213163333199273854833216134461133767645980975 and no remainder. Little wonder my calculator failed to get that right. 166 digits. ...

Preparing for a trip down from Kolonia to Wone, Henry sharpens knives. This particular trip took place fall 1992. Every possible weekend the family would pack up and go out to Wone, the original family home. Arrival and unpacking usually occurred at the house of Mayerico Salvador, which is located at Frederico Salvador's place in Wone-Luak, Kitti, on Pohnpei. Frederico's home was apparently originally constructed as a nahs and later walled in. Inside everyone shared a single commons area for sleeping. One really was a member of the family, and not simply a guest. More than anything else, the Salvador family and Wone caused me to decide to stay and work on Pohnpei. Weekend days in Wone were spent working - cutting grass the old fashioned way. With a machete and elbow grease. Meals were often prepared in the nahs by Mayerico's home. Maria Salvador on the hunt. I pity the fool who cut down her apple tree. Bath time in Wone was also play time in the swimming pool. Laund...

A few photos from the Christmas marching in the Kosrae Congregational Church! Sunday school led the marching groups. Mwet mactuh. Star line for the youth group. Senny's group, from the back line of the choir. Senny's uniform for the women. Marching was followed by an all-church dinner. Praise the Lord and pass the fried chicken!