« Well, that's new. | Main | Minister Ambrose, Heart and Stroke are bloviating. »

The Sound Of Settled Science

By Kate on October 3, 2014 1:21 PM | 10 Comments

Do Cosmic Rays Spark Lightning? (h/t Stephen J)

10 Comments

John Lewis | October 3, 2014 2:39 PM | Reply

Presumably, yes. I would think that the effect is not a big one, as ionisation of the air from
cosmic rays is not a big effect.

John Lewis | October 3, 2014 2:53 PM | Reply

Is it the "cosmic" that is the problem for you, Ms. McMillan?

DSV | October 3, 2014 3:57 PM | Reply

I’m beginning to understand that education needs to return wholly to Reading Writing and Arithmetic. Anything else should be discussed at a separate level because whats being taught is not fact, its just theories masquerading as facts.
I guess like our host I had believed that this was a well researched and well past intrigue fact, something no schoolboy/girl needed to enquire further about.

Ed Minchau | October 3, 2014 4:46 PM | Reply

Yes. Next question?

John Lewis replied to comment from DSV | October 3, 2014 5:19 PM | Reply

Ha. Just try to buy a decent book on arithmetic. My favorite was one I used in the 5th form - a little explanation,
then hundreds of examples. I lost it, unfortunately. British schooling at its best.
When my wife complained that she was a little weak on arithmetic, I attempted to find a similar one.
The best I could find was one intended for British teachers of arithmetic - very good
but it was a little much for its purpose (for example, where students would be taught how to take
square roots manually, this book taught third roots. The intent was to keep the teachers ahead of
their pupils).

DSV replied to comment from John Lewis | October 3, 2014 6:04 PM | Reply

John I feel your pain,
Back in the mid-nieties feeling I needed to brush up on Trig (I’d forgotten everything I was taught and somehow I needed to get back up to speed for some azimuthal stuff for work) I did a similar search. I ended up doing an “Open University math course” that was suppose to be equivalent to the then “A” level. The syllabus promised that it would do Trig and Algebra.
One of the many things that woke me up to what was happening in the country of my birth. By the end of it I was shocked more than saddened, and needless to say I had not increased my knowledge nor aptitude for trig, but much better at using a "scientific" calculator.
Some one needs to start teaching stuff before the generation that can are no more and like the craftsmen trades before them they become lost to the world.

Mike | October 3, 2014 6:58 PM | Reply

People who cannot solve a first order differential equation have no valid opinion about astro-physics, or any kind of physics at all.

Cal2 | October 3, 2014 10:36 PM | Reply

I think I heard this 30 years ago,it explained the jagged yet linear path,pre ionized paths

John Lewis replied to comment from Mike | October 4, 2014 12:01 AM | Reply

I do tend to agree, but make that a second order differential equation, because that is what Newton's
second law yields. As in

d^2 x
----- + \omega^2 x = 0
dt^2

the undergraduate's friend. We pass too easily over the marvellous work done on celestial mechanics
between Newton and 1900, by which time the anomaly in the precession of Mercury's perihelion was
known to be real. It is a 10% effect, after all.

Sgt Lejaune | October 4, 2014 8:32 AM | Reply

SA. Nat Geo. And so many more.
All pathetic PC shadows of what they once were.

Name

Email Address

URL

Remember personal info?

Comments (You may use HTML tags for style)

Best Canadian Blog
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

About Kate

Why this blog?
Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked.

This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me."

homepage
email Kate
(goes to a private mailserver in Europe) I can't answer or use every tip, but all are appreciated!

Katewerk Art

Support SDA

I am not a registered charity. I cannot issue tax receipts.

Reconnaissance Man

Economics for the Disinterested

...a fast-paced polar
bear attack thriller!

Want lies?
Hire a regular consultant.
Want truth?
Hire an asshole.

Weather Shop

Click to inquire about rates.

Dow Jones

What They Say About SDA

"Smalldeadanimals doesn't speak for the people of Saskatchewan" Former Sask Premier Lorne Calvert

"I got so much traffic after your post my web host asked me to buy a larger traffic allowance." Dr.Ross McKitrick

Holy hell, woman. When you send someone traffic, you send someone TRAFFIC. My hosting provider thought I was being DDoSed. - Sean McCormick

"The New York Times link to me yesterday [...] generated one-fifth of the traffic I normally get from a link from Small Dead Animals." Kathy Shaidle

"Thank you for your link. A wave of your Canadian readers came to my blog! Really impressive." Juan Giner - INNOVATION International Media Consulting Group

I got links from the Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Instapundit yesterday - but SDA was running at least equal to those in visitors clicking through to my blog. Jeff Dobbs

"You may be a nasty right winger, but you're not nasty all the time!" Warren Kinsella

"Go back to collecting your welfare livelihood."Michael E. Zilkowsky

Intelliweather

Seismic Map

Comments Policy

Read this

Best Of SDA

Hide The Decline
The Bottle Genie
(ClimateGate links)
You Might Be A Liberal
Uncrossing The Line
Bob Fife: Knuckledragger
A Modest Proposal (NP)
Settled Science Series
Y2Kyoto Series
SDA: Reader Occupation Survey
Brett Lamb Sheltered Workshop
Flakes On A Plane
All Your Weather Are Belong To Us
Song Of The Sled
The Raise A Flag Debacle
(Now on Youtube!)
(.mwv Video)
Abuse Ruins Life Of Girl
Trudeaupiate
Kleptocrat Jeans
Child Labour
I Concede
Small Dead Feminist
Protein Hoser: THK Interview
The Werewolf Extinction
Dear Laura (VRWC)
We Wait
Blogging The Oscars
Jackson Converts To Islam
Just Shut The HELL Up
Manipulating Condi
Gay Equality Rights

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Sgt Lejaune: SA. Nat Geo. And so many more. All pathetic PC read more
John Lewis: I do tend to agree, but make that a second read more
Cal2: I think I heard this 30 years ago,it explained the read more
Mike: People who cannot solve a first order differential equation have read more
DSV: John I feel your pain, Back in the mid-nieties feeling read more
John Lewis: Ha. Just try to buy a decent book on arithmetic. read more
Ed Minchau: Yes. Next question? read more
DSV: I’m beginning to understand that education needs to return wholly read more
John Lewis: Is it the "cosmic" that is the problem for you, read more
John Lewis: Presumably, yes. I would think that the effect is not read more

The Sound Of Settled Science

10 Comments