RipStik waves

Strong gusty winds and near continuous blowing rain coupled with an increasingly leaky covered sidewalk are going to force this exercise back into the A101 classroom. There is no outside option. Exploration of the partially available health center sidewalk was ruled out - the wind is a ninety degree crosswind there with rain blowing in across the width of the sidewalk. The surface is combed cement, rough and offers resistance to uphill swizzling. 

The width of the classroom is insufficient. The plan is to circle into the south aisle from the north aisle and hope to be somewhat stable, steady, and on a linear centerline. 


New this term is an unbranded stop watch with a third decimal place in the time, auto power off, and a case with an access hatch to replace the battery. 


The Amazon web site alleges that the watch is a Xinko, but the stop watch box is devoid of any branding mark. Clicking on the brand name leads to nothing related to the stopwatch or any company. The stop watch itself has no language markings other than two Chinese characters that translate as "Sun." 

The floor was too smooth to imprint on the paper. Only the dirt on the wheels left any sort of msrk


And by the end of the run there was no mark. The run was wobbly, off center, veering precipitously left and right, with an uneven rhythm.



The paper was moved to the board, but the wheel marks were made no clearer. The right side was as much guess and golly as actual tread track tracing.


An average wavelength had to be calculated as the wavelength was not even close to the same along the run. 


The centerline was wobbly, the amplitudes were highly variable, and the wavelength lengthened down the paper. 


The end of the run included an off-balance wobble that can be seen in the swoop to the right (down) with a loss of a significant swizzle to the left (up). All told the run was a fail. A lot of hand waving arguments had to be made - the number of waves, the wavelength, the variable amplitude. The track was hard to see and a mess. Indoor just doesn't work. The health center may provide better rainy day options in upcoming terms. 

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