The L. Maurer Report

2007-01-01T17:10:00.000-05:00

This year's annual letter directed you here, which is silly as I haven't posted here in months. My real website is here.

Two pictures from last week's road race

2006-04-14T21:33:00.000-04:00

One Two

I'm not sure when the two photos were taken. I think the first one was after the first 15mi lap. The second one was either on the finishing hill, or the end of the second lap, which wasn't far before that. Either way, I was certainly feeling more tuckered out than shows in the picture. I'd have expected to have one of these faces. Apparently I wasn't working hard enough...

2006-04-12T10:13:00.000-04:00

My Dartmouth presidential scholarship application is now complete. I just was by Prof Brownell's office and got his signature on the final form.

It's official

2006-04-05T17:22:00.000-04:00

I'm a physics major. I got my cards signed by the department chair at ~10:45 and gave one to the registrar ~2:30. Here's schedule I got approved. I didn't put that much thought was put in to it, because I'm bound to change it anyway.

06F PHYS 19 06W PHYS 48 06S PHYS 44 06X PHYS 42 07W PHYS 41 07S PHYS 72,76 08F PHYS 43 08W PHYS 91 08S PHYS 66

Biking

2006-04-04T21:49:00.000-04:00

This weekend I'll be racing in Boston. Men's D team time trial, road race, and crit. Read more about it.

Most pictures from spring break haven't distributed themselves yet. I've only found one picture of my self. I'll link to more when they're out.

Day 2 part 2

2006-03-30T21:47:00.000-05:00

Physics 44 -- mechanics

This class spent more time going over the syllabus, books, etc. The class is a good size, and by show of hands, contains a similar number of sophomores, junior, and seniors. I also may be the only person for whom this is my first class in the 41-44 sequence. The class looks like it'll be the most math intensive physics class I've taken -- the prof recommended getting a book on mathematics for physics. I already have Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics sitting around, and it looks to cover what I'll need to know. I bought it as part of an amazon order some time ago -- it was well reviewed and cheap thanks to Dover books. After the introduction, we dived into material we'll learn a few weeks from now. We derived newton's second law from the principle of least action. It was ugly, but I followed most of it. Anyhow, classical mechanics is probably the least exciting branch of physics, but the prof seems good and the class looks solid.

Math 38 -- graph theory

There's not much to say about the class so far. The prof is young, spanish, and somewhat soft spoken. From what I can tell, he hasn't done much teaching, which is a mixed bag. After the standard first day of class stuff, he listed a few of the big graph theory problems (Konigsbeg bridges, traveling salesman, four color) and then dived right in to definitions. This was all boring to me, but at this point none of it was new. I recall that day one of graphs in prof Grood's class was full of definitions too, so I was expecting that. The prof seems very laid back, perhaps too much so. He used the phrase "I guess" many times too -- as in "I guess the complement of a graph is..." Although I'm willing to believe he says that because english is his second language, but it's still sort of disconcerting.

Day 2, part 1

2006-03-29T10:58:00.000-05:00

Economics 22 -- macroeconomics

The prof is a very lively guy as reviews advertised. The class didn't dwell on the standard first day staples, so we got to some interesting stuff rather quickly. The class looks to cover the standard material, and we spent some time going over the various economic indicators we'd get intimate with (which I had already had lots of fun with at AEI). There was a discussion of what made an indicator useful: current gdp bad, real gdp better, real gdp per capita best. He did a cool example with gas prices, which when adjusted for inflation are very reasonable when comparing with past prices (gas prices during the 90s were the lowest ever). Moreover, the graphy energy costs as a percent of gdp is downward slopping because, among other things, cars are more efficient and people's wages have gone up even more (the hours worked to pay for a gallon of gas has been dropping).

One of his main goals is to teach people to identify bull shit, and he showed us several news stories (he apparently likes bringing news stories to class). One was a BBC article from 2003 that was mentioned record high gas prices, but that they weren't so high when adjusted for inflation. The story then quoted something like "while it's useful for economists to adjust prices for inflation, consumers pay in current dollars" from a AAA spokesman. Funny. Anyhow, this looks to be another good course.

2006-03-29T07:42:00.000-05:00

Macroeconomics - ECON 022 01
Associated Term: Spring Term 2006
CRN: 30035
Status: **Registered** on Feb 14, 2006
Assigned Instructor: James D. Feyrer
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Credits: 1.000
Level: Undergraduate
Campus: Hanover Campus
Scheduled Meeting Times
Type Time Days Where Date Range Schedule Type Instructors
8:45 am - 9:50 am MWF Carson L02 Mar 28, 2006 - May 31, 2006 Lecture James D. Feyrer (P)
9:00 am - 9:50 am R Carson L02 Mar 28, 2006 - May 31, 2006 Lecture James D. Feyrer (P)

Intro to Hebr & Israel Culture - HEBR 010 01
Associated Term: Spring Term 2006
CRN: 30654
Status: **Web Registered** on Mar 28, 2006
Assigned Instructor: Lewis H. Glinert
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Credits: 1.000
Level: Undergraduate
Campus: Hanover Campus
Scheduled Meeting Times
Type Time Days Where Date Range Schedule Type Instructors
10:00 am - 11:50 am TR Bartlett 105A Mar 28, 2006 - May 31, 2006 Lecture Lewis H. Glinert (P)
Class 3:00 pm - 4:05 pm W Bartlett 105A Mar 28, 2006 - May 31, 2006 Lecture Lewis H. Glinert (P)

Graph Theory - MATH 038 01
Associated Term: Spring Term 2006
CRN: 30098
Status: **Web Registered** on Mar 28, 2006
Assigned Instructor: Sergi Elizalde
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Credits: 1.000
Level: Undergraduate
Campus: Hanover Campus
Scheduled Meeting Times
Type Time Days Where Date Range Schedule Type Instructors
Class 12:30 pm - 1:35 pm MWF Bradley Hall * 104 Mar 28, 2006 - May 31, 2006 Lecture Sergi Elizalde (P)
1:00 pm - 1:50 pm T Bradley Hall * 104 Mar 28, 2006 - May 31, 2006 Lecture Sergi Elizalde (P)

Mechanics - PHYS 044 01
Associated Term: Spring Term 2006
CRN: 30736
Status: **Registered** on Feb 14, 2006
Assigned Instructor: Kristina A. Lynch
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Credits: 1.000
Level: Undergraduate
Campus: Hanover Campus
Scheduled Meeting Times
Type Time Days Where Date Range Schedule Type Instructors
11:15 am - 12:20 pm MWF Wilder Hall* 115 Mar 28, 2006 - May 31, 2006 Lecture Kristina A. Lynch (P)
12:00 pm - 12:50 pm T Wilder Hall* 115 Mar 28, 2006 - May 31, 2006 Lecture Kristina A. Lynch (P)

Day 1

2006-03-29T07:41:00.000-05:00

Hebrew 10/Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 17/Jewish Studies 20.2

While only 16 people were registered according to the registrar's website, many more people showed up. I'd wager that most of the students are jewish because a show of hands revealed that almost all were familiar with the hebrew alphabet, but only 2 could actually read -- as opposed to pronounce -- hebrew (in other words, they had a similar hebrew school experience to my own). The prof is a lively guy -- he and this class got a good review from a cycling team member I talked with -- and fits the stereotypical Israeli/Jewish appearance (even if he weren't wearing a yarmulke). He is also apparently the first "Professor of Hebrew" (or some other title) since his the previous person to hold the post died of tuberculous in 1807 and wasn't replaced.

In addition to the standard first day fare (going over the sylibus, recording peoples names, etc.) he gave a brief overview of the hebrew language (who would have known it when, was it a spoken or written language (like latin), etc.) which was quite interesting. The short answer is that jews mostly stopped speaking it during late antiquities (they started speaking aramaic) at which point it stuck around as a written language pretty much until the creation of Israel. There was also renewed interest in hebrew by many christians around the time of the reformation, but interest (at least in the united states) died out around the time of the previous professor of hebrew.

The prof also went in to the origin of the words "jew" and "hebrew" and why one refers to a language and another to a people. I knew the former came from the kingdom of Judaea. The latter comes from a words that appears 6 times in the bible, a name for the jews that was used when talking with foreigners. How the two words ended up in their current roles is anyone's guess, although at different times and in different languages (eg Russian) they are used differently.

More information on the new term to come

2006-03-28T21:26:00.000-05:00

Sales Receipt
Wheelock Books
2 West Wheelock St./Hanover, NH 03755
643-6567 Wheelock.Books@Valley.net

Receipt #: A45629 12:32 PM 3/28/6

Qty Description Price
--------------------------------------
1 Soul of the Text 11.95
1 Intro to Graph Theory 80.00
1 HebEtlLang Rpt-NoRtns 19.00
1 Hebr 010 Rdr-NoRtns 42.00
1 Classical Mechanics 85.10
1 Macroeconomics Set: Txt 117.50
--------------------------------------
Subtotal 355.55
Totl Tax 0.00
TOTAL 355.55

Amount Tendered: $355.55 Visa

Last Day for Refunds
Wed. Apr 5
Must Show Receipt
NEW Books must be in NEW, resalable Condition
Store Hours: 9-5 Weekdays

Day 1

2006-01-04T21:27:00.000-05:00

Physics 48/Engineering 32

Attendance was very high, probably over 40 people instead of the 33 enrolled last night. The prof is extremely organized, and spent the whole 65 minutes talking about the class: what different people would get out of it, what people needed to know beforehand, how and when we could collaborate (he made up a chart with types of assignments on one axis, and levels of collaboration on the other), etc. He'll also make use of the PRS doohickies to gauge class understanding. The answers of a test run with this devices indicates that most people there were engineering majors of one persuasion or another (%40 non EE, %20 EE, %30 EE and something else, remaining non engineering). Several people from my physics class last term were there, including David Strauss who I did HW with last term, is my year, lives in my dorm, and also bikes. Besides being exceedingly organized, the prof seems to speak well, so I'm looking forward to more lectures.

Math 23

Another class with very high attendance, likely more than the 39 enrolled. The prof, who also taught my calc class, started with general information, and then move to what seems to be one of his favorite things to do: proving that 0=1 (this is the 4th or 5th time he's showed an apparent contradiction in class). He then suggested, that with the basis of logic removed, we'd better rethink our personal philosophies. As with all his "proofs", it took us a while to find his error. Following that, he moved into the material with his usual wit, which is good because the material looks dry.

2006-01-04T20:38:00.000-05:00

Sales Receipt

Wheelock Books
2 West Wheelock St./Hanover, NH 03755
643-6567 Wheelock.Books@Valley.net

Receipt #: Y35329 7:56 PM 1/3/6

Qty Description Price
--------------------------------------
1 Electronics 114.20
1 Strategy: Intro to Game 74.35
1 Elm Diff EQ & Boundry 118.65
--------------------------------------
Subtotal 307.20
Totl Tax 0.00
TOTAL 307.20

Amount Tendered: $307.20 Visa

Last Dat for Refunds
Fri. Jan 13 (Tuck Rtn Dates on Each Line)
Must Show Receipt
NEW Books must be in NEW Condition
Store Hours: 9-5 Weekdays

2006-01-04T20:30:00.000-05:00

Games
& Economic Behavior - ECON 035 01

Associated Term:	Winter Term 2006
CRN:	11527
Status:	Registered on Nov 15, 2005
Assigned Instructor:	Christopher M. Snyder
Grade Mode:	Standard Letter
Credits:	1.000
Level:	Undergraduate
Campus:	Hanover Campus

Scheduled
Meeting Times

Type	Time	Days	Where	Date Range	Schedule Type	Instructors
	2:00 pm - 3:50 pm	TR	Carson L02	Jan 04, 2006 - Mar 15, 2006	Lecture	Christopher M. Snyder (P)
	4:15 pm - 5:20 pm	W	Carson L02	Jan 04, 2006 - Mar 15, 2006	Lecture	Christopher M. Snyder (P)

Differential
Equations - MATH 023 01

Associated Term:	Winter Term 2006
CRN:	10099
Status:	Registered on Nov 15, 2005
Assigned Instructor:	Vladimir Chernov
Grade Mode:	Standard Letter
Credits:	1.000
Level:	Undergraduate
Campus:	Hanover Campus

Scheduled
Meeting Times

Type	Time	Days	Where	Date Range	Schedule Type	Instructors
	1:45 pm - 2:50 pm	MWF	Carson L02	Jan 04, 2006 - Mar 08, 2006	Lecture	Vladimir Chernov (P)
	1:00 pm - 1:50 pm	R	Carson L02	Jan 04, 2006 - Mar 08, 2006	Lecture	Vladimir Chernov (P)

Electronics:Linear&Digital
- PHYS 048 01

Associated Term:	Winter Term 2006
CRN:	10821
Status:	Registered on Nov 15, 2005
Assigned Instructor:	Charles R. Sullivan
Grade Mode:	Standard Letter
Credits:	1.000
Level:	Undergraduate
Campus:	Hanover Campus

Scheduled
Meeting Times

Type	Time	Days	Where	Date Range	Schedule Type	Instructors
	11:15 am - 12:20 pm	MWF	Cummings 200	Jan 04, 2006 - Mar 08, 2006	Lecture	Charles R. Sullivan (P)
	12:00 pm - 12:50 pm	T	Cummings 200	Jan 04, 2006 - Mar 08, 2006	Lecture	Charles R. Sullivan (P)

2005-11-28T20:48:00.000-05:00

I aced my second econ midterm, which was given last Monday. Granted, it was pretty easy and I wasn't alone in getting a perfect score, but let no one say that I could have done better. The curve was +8 points (as opposed to 27? on the last midterm), so I got, in effect, some extra credit. Apparently he calculates the curve so as to make the median grade an 85.

Classes next term

2005-11-02T15:04:00.000-05:00

Course selection started today at 8am and here's what I signed up for:
Economics 35 Games and Economic Behavior
Math 23 Differential Equations
Physics 48 Electronics: Introduction to Linear and Digital Circuits (aka Engineering 32)
Econ 35 has a limit of 35 students, so it's possible that I wont get it (last time enrollment was 20/35, the time before it was 43/35 -- I'm not sure what that means). I'm not sure what I'll do if I don't get in, but I have plenty of options. I contacted the engineering prof and he gave me permission to take the class even though I don't have one prerequisite. The schedule for these classes is not what i've done before. All but one of my classes have be during the 9, 10, 11, or 12 time slots (the exception was a 10A -- meeting Tuesday and Thursday). PHYS 48 is an 11, MATH 23 is a 2, and ECON 35 is a 2a.

Last midterm update

2005-11-01T22:18:00.000-05:00

So on the physics midterm I got 35/40 (aka half credit on one problem and full credit on the others). The class average was 36.53. In econ, my score is somewhat ambiguous, but I think that it's an A. I received half credit on the regular question which I knew I screwed up, lost a few points because I thought there should have been a '-' sign somewhere where there shouldn't have (usually, signs don't effect the answer, but this time they did), and received no credit for the multiple choice question that I uncorrected. The grading ambiguity is because of his curve. The test was out of something like 90 points, but he curved scores up by 27 points and told us to take it out of 100. By that method, I got 100.

Midterm Update

2005-10-28T12:00:00.000-04:00

The prof didn't return the physics today, so I don't know how I did (he said grades would be posted online over the weekend). I also had the first econ midterm today. There were 10 multiple choice questions (where we had to show our work) and two other questions. I was feeling good during the test because none of the questions stumped me. When I checked my work, I changed 2 answers in the multiple choice section, one for the better and one for the worse. After the test I realized that I messed up one of the regular questions in a weird way (I did one thing when I should have done a related thing, but I did it in the way of the related thing which I was supposed to do, which didn't work for the thing I did). On the plus side, I have two more exams and people thought this exam was hard (so my relative score might not be so bad). I also may get partial credit for the multiple choice question that I incorrectly corrected.

Midterm Update

2005-10-27T22:22:00.000-04:00

I got a B+ on my history midterm (which was the class average). My physics midterm was Tuesday. It was short (4 questions) and not very hard although I think I made one mistake by leaving a c out of one answer. I should have the score tomorrow. I have my first econ midterm tomorrow and I'm feeling pretty good about it.

What did the Germans say about Morey?

2005-10-22T20:41:00.000-04:00

It's in German...

Sur un nouveau moyen de produire de la chaleur et de la lumiere

2005-10-11T15:07:00.000-04:00

I found Gay-Lussac's critique of Morey's work! I figured that if the editorial comment in the journal where I first found the article, which mentioned Gay-Lussac, was useful, editorial comments in other journals would also be useful. According to the Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers, three of Morey's six articles were published elsewhere. Dartmouth only has one of these three other sources, the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal (the other two are Journal für Chemie und Physik and The Technical Repository). So, after getting the 1819 volume of this journal out of storage, I found a note about 2/3 of a page long including:

"M. Gay Lussac, in a note in the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, tom. x, p. 124, has examined the theory of this [Morey's] process, and is of the opinion that no advantage can be gained from it."

The wording made me fear that perhaps Gay-Lussac was commenting just on a, perhaps general, process and not on Morey in particular. However, I hurried back to my room where I had volume 10 of Annales de Chimie et de Physique and I found that page 124 is the start of a 3 page long comment that includes Morey's name twice. Now I just need to find out what it says...

Samuel Morey in the news

2005-10-07T18:58:00.000-04:00

I had read about this when it was news, but didn't remember that it was about they guy I'm now doing research on.

2005-10-04T22:17:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to post more, but I've been busy working and biking up a storm. On the bike, I've been introduced to some fun dirt roads including this one which has some spectacular views (especially because the colors are nice now). On the academic side of things, the L tornado just hit the library in search of information on Samuel Morey. I'm trying to figure out if I can somehow include him in my history term paper. To that end I've acquired 6 articles published between 1819 and 1820 in the American Journal of Science and Arts (digitized thankfully), requested one book from storage, and requested one book from Cornell. At the end of one of Morey's articles, the editor remarks: "Mr. Gay Lussac, of Paris, in the Annales de Chimie, &c. for June 1819, has commented on Mr. Morey's method of producing light and heat, and he stated some objections. It was my intention to translate this piece, and give it to the American public, along with Mr. Morey's communications, but the accidental loss of the No. of the Annales de Chimie in question, puts this, for the present, out of my power." I'm trying to track down this article to see if it was directed at Morey or simply a common method that Morey used. If it's the former, that would be interesting because Gay Lussac is much more famous than Morey. Unfortunatly, I don't know French, but if I do get my hands on this article it should be easy to skim for Morey's name as a start.

I'm not afraid of flying: where I disagree with Kuhn

2005-09-23T14:46:00.000-04:00

So I managed to read Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions and although I liked lot of it -- because it contained ideas that I either previously had in a less developed form or ideas which I find agreeable and am now evaluating -- I think it also got a lot wrong. My less major issues are with the rigidity of a paradigm to limit scientific thought and experimentation. Kuhn gives an example of Galileo and an aristotelian observing a pendulum (or a falling rock as he claimed the aristotelian would call it). Kuhn claims that their respective paradigms would limit their measurements and vocabulary in such a way that they would not approve each others' methods and thus be unable to really communicate. The aristotelian would see the rope as arresting the rock's fall and would measure just the rock's height when released and how long it took to come to rest. Galileo would see an oscillator and measure it's period, the length of the rope, the weight of the rock, and so on. In short Galileo measured everything the aristotelian did and then some. If these people met their different paradigms would prevent the aristotelian from seeing any utility in these extra measurements and they would be summarily ignored because they were not useful in seeing some arrested falling. In short, it would be something like this. I just cant see paradigms being that powerful; data is data and the larger quantities and more varied the better. Fudging answers to fit paradigms is for graded labs assignments. If paradigms are so powerful, no one but crackpots should be doing trying to discover antigravity. However respected organizations like NASA, Boeing, and BAE systems are putting money into such research! Where is the all powerful paradigm now? Lastly Kuhn claims that moving from paradigm to paradigm mightn't be progress. Kahn even uses the word faith. It's sort of a coke or pepsi choice. "Oh that new paradigm looks nice. It's such a lovely shade of blue! I'll switch!" However, there has been obvious technical progress, and technical progress is driven by science. At the very least, science must progress from a paradigm which can make create some devices that work, to a paradigm that creates more devices that work. That paradigm that claims nothing heavier than air can fly is replaced by one that claims the opposite. That's progress.

Richard Dawkins provably writes it better:

How should scientists respond to the allegation that our "faith" in logic and scientific truth is just that--faith--not "privileged" over alternative truths? An obvious response is that science gets results. As I once wrote, "Show me a cultural relativist at 30,000 feet, and I'll show you a hypocrite. ...If you are flying to an international congress of anthropologists or literary critics, the reason you will probably get there--the reason you don't plummet into a ploughed field--is that a lot of Western scientifically trained engineers have got their sums right." Science supports its claim to truth by its spectacular ability to make matter and energy jump through hoops, and to predict what will happen and when.

Classes: Day 1

2005-09-22T10:32:00.000-04:00

Physics 19
It's a small class but Yando and I can only recognize ~1/2 the people from our previous classes (Physics 14 and 16). The prof seems good, and the class looks to be a fairly standard physics class. Syllabus

Economics 21
It's a large class filled with (shudder) econ majors. The prof is an old dude who took roll, but neither of those are strikes against him. Math 3: Introduction to Calculus is a prerequisite so hopefully people wont wonder what the slope is. However, the prof demoed what we were going to learn in the class, and it's all finding extreme values with lagrange multipliers. He said in this case we want to maximize this function with this constraint, and in this case it's a different function and another constraint, and so on. Perhaps multivariable calculus would be a useful prerequisite...

History 57
This class looks quite interesting. The prof is dynamic and has done some interesting stuff. For example, apparently Dartmouth has the 3rd largest collection of old scientific instruments in North America (some 3000 pieces) and he just finished a book which examined 100 of them. However, the class also looks to be a lot of work. Yesterday he assigned Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to be done for tomorrow...

2005-09-20T12:13:00.000-04:00

Microeconomics - ECON 021 02
Associated Term: Fall Term 2005
CRN: 90301
Status: **Registered** on May 24, 2005
Assigned Instructor: Alan L. Gustman
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Credits: 1.000
Level: Undergraduate
Campus: Hanover Campus
Scheduled Meeting Times
Time Days Where
10:00 am - 11:05 am MWF Silsby Hall* 113
12:00 pm - 12:50 pm R Silsby Hall* 113

Scientific Revolutn&Mod Soc - HIST 057 01
Associated Term: Fall Term 2005
CRN: 90866
Status: **Web Registered** on Aug 11, 2005
Assigned Instructor: Richard L. Kremer
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Credits: 1.000
Level: Undergraduate
Campus: Hanover Campus
Scheduled Meeting Times
Time Days Where
12:30 pm - 1:35 pm MWF Wilder Hall* 102
1:00 pm - 1:50 pm T Wilder Hall* 102

Introd Physics III - PHYS 019 01
Associated Term: Fall Term 2005
CRN: 91024
Status: **Registered** on May 24, 2005
Assigned Instructor: Miles P. Blencowe
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Credits: 1.000
Level: Undergraduate
Campus: Hanover Campus
Scheduled Meeting Times
Time Days Where
8:45 am - 9:50 am MWF Wilder Hall* 102
9:00 am - 9:50 am R Wilder Hall* 102

Subj Num Sec WC Dist Lim Enrl Clos
ECON 021 02 N/A SOC 35 34 C
HIST 057 01 W TMV N/A 24
PHYS 019 01 N/A SLA N/A 13