John Colton's blog

I've been reading through student comments most of the day today, regarding the Physics 105 class that just got over. It seems like there are more positive comments and fewer negative comments than ever before, so I must be getting better. Better at maintaining student morale, at least, if nothing else. ;-)

Anyway, I decided I had to post this comment because it just made me smile:

Overall, I think the class was really great. Dr. Colton is a really great teacher who makes physics interesting and easy to understand. Dr. Colton explained the principles of physics really well and class lecture was always really good and helpful to clarify the principles and concepts we were learning. Dr. Colton should teach 105 all the time because he does it really well. Dr. Colton teaches 105 in a manner that is very easy to understand and also many of the principles that we learn are principles we have to use in the next thing we are learning. Dr. Colton is a great teacher which made 105 great class.

Pauline found this test:
http://jakemandell.com/tonedeaf/

It plays a random sequence of tones, then pauses, then plays a second random sequence of tones. You have to say whether or not the second set was the same as the first. Repeat for something like 36 different sequences.

It was much more challenging than I expected. As the website says, "The test is purposefully made very hard, so excellent musicians rarely score above 80% correct." Here are the results from our family:

John - 88.9%
Leslie - 69.4%
Pauline - 63.9%
Emily - 61.1%
(We suspect that Emily's score is more of a reflection of her unfortunate habit of thinking that she already knows everything--and not taking the time to give serious consideration to something--rather than a reflection of her tone memory. In a lot of ways she's better at matching pitches than either Pauline or Leslie.)

Christmas is tomorrow... that means you have just one day to Watch This Video. (I just watched it with Leslie and Emily and it made us all laugh. Said Leslie: "It caught me totally off guard. I did not expect that!"



That's an ad for this longer video...A Christmas Carol told by those four guys. Each one has a set of ten "Taboo" words, which if they say results in a face-slap. The catch is that they are not told their list of words beforehand...so they have to work out which words they aren't allowed to say by noticing when their slaps arrive. Funny stuff!

I guess you can still call it a snowman even if it's not made of snow, can't you?
JSC

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Tiniest Snowman: Hey guys, I'm ... OH MY *** WHAT AM I MADE OF?? National Physics Laboratory

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-12/great-moments-science-worlds-tiniest-snowman

Great Moments in Science: the World's Tiniest Snowman

Physicists use their nano-skills for the greater good, by creating a tiny bit of holiday cheer
By Jeremy Hsu Posted 12.04.2009 at 1:15 pm

What do tiny smiling snowmen mean for science? Not much; these physicists just decided to show off their ability to make really small things.

This little guy measures just 10 micrometers across, or just 1/5th the width of a human hair. Scientists at the National Physics Laboratory in the UK built the snowman body from two tin beads, and milled the eyes and smile in the top bead using a focused ion beam. The snowman also has a platinum nose deposited by said ion beam, which probably beats a silly carrot any day.

By comparison, the tiniest snowflakes might reach a size of 1 millimeter, or 1,000 micrometers. So building the snowman by conventional backyard means was out.

Instead, a system capable of nano-manipulation helped researchers assemble the snowman "by hand." Platinum deposition helped weld all the parts together.

This hardly represents the craziest science taking place on a small scale. Harvard University has used programmed DNA to create little gears, tubes and wireframe balls. Columbia University also created self-assembling nanogears for those future hordes of tiny robots.

Still, the miniature snowman might put a smile on your face despite its apparent lack of scientific value. Just don't accidentally step on him, or else Jack Frost might pay a visit with his sharp icicle knives.

One of my Physics 105 students (Tyler Clive) was the organizer. He gave me a copy of the article, presumably because he knows I'm a singer. If the idea of BYU students renting llamas from a Hare Krishna temple to do Christmas caroling in order to help the food bank doesn't make you smile, there's something wrong with you! :-)


http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/central/provo/article_f2ee6128-be9a-5602-98b7-044f0826db0a.html
Heidi Toth - Daily Herald
Posted: Saturday, December 5, 2009 12:00 am

The toddler who opened the door at Marni Sanft's home in Provo on Friday night came face to face with a llama.

The 20 BYU students and four llamas that came caroling and asking for food for the Utah Food Bank sang a couple of songs to the family, including "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Llama," and to dozens of other families through Provo in the third Carollama event. Yes, that is caroling with llamas.

BYU student Tyler Clive said the idea for the Carollama came up because he noticed llama rental from the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork was inexpensive, and the llamas combined with the Christmas caroling and asking for canned food seemed like a sure winner.

Judging by the reactions when Provo residents open the door to find a group of BYU students and a relative of the camel singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," Clive's early guess was correct. Children come running, the TV goes off and people come to enjoy the show.

"It's actually quite a surprise to find a llama at your door," Clive observed. "I think people welcome surprises like that at Christmas."

This year he's rented more llamas and they're going out for four nights; Friday night was the first. Clive said he expects a bigger haul for the food bank thanks to the larger scale of the project.

Brothers James and Joel Castleton braved the cold Friday night to sing; Christmas caroling is a tradition in their family, so this was an easy choice. The llamas were new, but the rest was familiar.

"It's probably the funnest thing ever," he said.

The other caroling nights are today, Monday and Thursday. The group meets in the parking lot east of the BYU law school at 5:30 p.m. to get a llama, split into smaller groups and start caroling.

• Heidi Toth can be reached at (801) 344-2556 or htoth@heraldextra.com.

I got to review these guys for RARB, and I loved their album Home Brew. It was clear that they were having a lot of fun. As it also is on this video:

Mister Tim is one of the most original people in a cappella these days. You may remember him from the Star Wars tribute to John Williams video. Apparently McAfee picked him to do this web commercial. Enjoy!

Pauline and I saw this at an animated film festival we attended once when we lived in Berkeley (Spike & Mike's). It cracked us up then, and it cracked me up again just now when I ran across it.

This was fairly humorous. Practically the whole country has heard about Sen. Orrin Hatch's Hannukah song he wrote for Jewish people... to return the favor, the Tonight Show's Max Weinberg (Jewish) wrote a song about Mormons. Enjoy!




P.S. Here's the Hannukah song, if you haven't yet heard it. Pretty boring, I thought.

Eight Days of Hanukkah from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo.

I was just reminded of this picture, which I believe someone posted to jazzfanz for the 2008 playoffs. This one always cracks me up!

I'm going to the Jazz/Lakers game tonight. Thanks, Dad, for the tickets! Hopefully it will turn out better than the Jazz/Lakers game earlier this week--that one featured the worst fourth quarter collapse I have ever witnessed (only 6 points in the fourth by the Jazz).

In honor of the game, here's a picture someone posted to jazzfanz; it cracked me up.

I can't remember if I've blogged about this before, but BYU's all-women a cappella group, Noteworthy, was one of just 8 groups nationwide (college & pro) to be selected for NBC's "The Sing-Off" competition that starts on Monday. It should be exciting! Basically an American Idol-like competition for a cappella groups, but the whole season condensed into just about a week and a half.

Here's a very good article about the competition and the groups.
http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2009/12/the-sing-off-a-cappella-nbc.php

...and here's a preview of the opening number!

Every class period I make the Physics 105 students fill out a pre-class quiz on the computer before coming to class. In addition to asking them questions about the reading assignment, I have a spot for open ended comments: "Any other comments?" Today, the last day of class, I was pleasantly surprised to see the majority of the comments, from students who had left comments, were unsolicited compliments about how the semester had gone in our class. Here they are, recorded now for posterity.

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Go physics go physics go! Go physics go physics go!

Thanks for a great semester, Dr. Colton!

Thank you for being an amazing teacher! Go Lakers :)

Thanks for teaching a great class!!! I will miss you next semester!

Thanks for the semester!

Thanks for being such a great teacher. I have never loved Physics as much as I have in this class. Thank you.

Thanks for teaching us this semester Dr. Colton! You rock!

Thanks Dr. Colton! You're a great teacher. My only regret is that you're not teaching 106.

Thanks for all the answers and demos, they were a lot of fun.

:)

Great class, learned alot! Thanks Dr. Colton!

Dr. Colton thank you for being my best physics teacher ever. You are a great professor and I owe you everything that I know about physics. I feel you really care for the students and their success and you are awesome at explaining difficult concepts. Keep up the good work!

I really had a very hard time in this class and I believe I am not going to get the grade I was at least hoping for, but oddly enough, I feel I have a much better understanding of physics now. Thank you.

I'm excited for the final. :)

Thanks for the great semester, difficult class but has been rewarding! Thanks!

This class wasn't half as crappy as I thought it was going to be, thanks for not being a super anal teacher that treats his students like dirty gum that's stuck on the bottom of your shoe.

I liked your class. Thanks for everything this semester!

You have been a great professor this semseter. Thanks for your hard work. You make BYU a great place to learn.

Thanks for everything that you have done in this course! I honestly felt that this class was the most organized class that I have been in at BYU. The organization has helped me learn and love physics, so thank you!

THANK YOU FOR TEACHING US THIS SEMESTER! :)

This was my first physics class ever and i loved it, thanks for the semester!

Thanks you so much. I have enjoyed your class.

last class! thank you, Dr. Colton! it's been fun; i've learned a ton!!

I enjoyed your class and your teaching style. Thank you for your efforts.

This is hard Dr. Colton. I'm gonna miss you man.

Thanks for the class it has been enjoyable

Thank you so much for all your efforts in teaching, you were wonderful!

Thanks for the semester Dr. Colton! You rock!

I've really enjoyed this class. :)

Thanks for everything. You were a great Teacher!

great class!

Last warm-up! Yay! Thanks for being a great teacher. you were completely fair in all your grading and taught me alot! I wish you were teaching physics 106!

Thankyou!

thanks, dr. colton!

Thanks for all you do Dr. Colton! This has been a great, challenging class.

Thanks for a great class!!!!!

Brrr. I finally had to break out my Wisconsin winter coat for the first time since we moved here. I think we've been hitting single digits (deg F) the past 4 days.