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Re: Explaining QM to the layperson -Reply



Phil, Richard,

I finally found the message on the Physics 2000 website
(www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/) you referred to. This past weekend at
home I was unsuccessful catching a time when my teenagers were off both
the home PCs AND the telephone long enough to thoroughly search the site.

The "System Requirements & Troubleshooting" page includes a test Java
applet to determine if a system is running them correctly. When I look at
that spot on the page I see four animated electrons whizzing around a
beryllium nucleus. (This is the site logo applet; within the site electron
cloud models are used.) But when I turned off Java (and waited for the
caffeine to clear the browser) I got the "bogus low technology" message.

I agree it could easily have been taken as insulting. I forwarded your
message to the project director Marty Goldman; that sentence on the
site has already been rewritten. If your high school students like
"insult humor", they will have to look elsewhere.

Michael Thomason, Director of Physics Learning Laboratories
University of Colorado, Dept of Physics, Box 390, Boulder CO 80309-0390
MWF 303 -492-7117 TTh 303 492-8313 thomason@aeinstein.colorado.edu
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/

On Sat, 10 May 1997 PPARKER@TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU wrote:

Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 17:27:39 -0500
From: PHRP@FHSUVM.FHSU.EDU (Roger A. Pruitt)

Gosh, Phil, I sure must be dense. I don't understand your remark at all.

I went and looked at the site, and the first thing I saw was some
obnoxious remarks about my not having a Java-capable browser, thus
using "bogus technology" etc. etc. I found it quite insulting,
especially compared with other, professionally maintained sites I've
visited which told me the same thing in a much more polite manner.
So, if I can't trust the good sense of the producers, why should I
trust the accuracy of their presentation, or its suitability for the
alleged target audience?

---------------------------------------------
Phil Parker pparker@twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu
Random quote for this second:
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.---Nietzsche