eevBLAB #57 - Critical Thinking & Solar Freakin' Cruise Ships! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 01:21:02 am
content: Beach time rant. The value of critical thinking in schools and the community, and Solar Freakin' Cruise Ships!

author: johnlsenchak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 06:15:08 am
content: It would be nice if Dave would go back to Mailbag Monday, Tear Down Tuesday and Fundamental Friday's instead of doing these types of videos

author: Barny
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 08:53:12 am
content: Why not?A healthy mixture of all toppics keeps the videos interesting.And if Dave earns more money with debunking, its even better and helps financing of fundamental friday and similar toppics.Manny videos the same type in a short amount of time gets boring realy fast.

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 10:11:45 am
content: Quote from: Barny on January 19, 2019, 08:53:12 amHe's standing on a nice beach for starters. Making a rant video is top of the list of things to do? Camera down, feet up.

author: Barny
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 10:52:23 am
content: Sorry.I wanted to write:"Why not rant- & lab vidos ?"It look slike I gooved something up.

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 11:26:16 am
content: Back on subject...Solar has its applications in ships (the batteries on our life boats are 100% solar charged) and having more uses in the future (trickle charging the bridge APSses, simplifying wiring of hard to get sensors/cameras etc).But the Solar Freaking Deck is quite silly.My current vessel has 3 x 6000 kW engines, 10000kW of power usage is routine.A m2 of solar is 200W...If a rectangular "solar deck was added in the style of a Chitose-class aircraft carrier,It would get 140x28x200 watts or 784kW in ideal conditions, and with Solar Roadways junk tech much lower efficiency, it's useless.As for large cruises ships, the Symphony of the seas (might as well go big, and made in my home town) has:- 4 × 14,400 kW (19,300 hp) Wärtsilä 12V46F- 2 × 19,200 kW (25,700 hp) Wärtsilä 16V46FShe probably needs, at minimum, 70% of the capacity of two of the smaller engines at standstill with passengers onboard (she most probably has those engines split in pairs with automatic blackout recovery) and 80% on the total capacity on the larger engines cruising (those engines don't like low loads).In any case, it becomes clear how insignificant a few 100 square meters of partially shaded silly sun tech is...And how crazy cruise ships have gotten.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 12:13:27 pm
content: The problem is: in English speaking countries, the history of science and science in history is badly taught. Therefore students have little exposure to critical thinking and the use of the scientific method for assessing evidence from anything larger than a bench-top experiment, and documentary research is virtually unknown to school students and students of science and technology in further education up to undergraduate level. The humanities students that do get the research training, rarely have the scientific skills to go with it.We probably all have some knowledge ofEratosthenesand his experiment to determine the radius of the Earth, and we've all been taught about the 'discovery' of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, but if you readhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_the_flat_Earthyou'll see exactly how badly you were taught.

author: max_torque
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 02:18:43 pm
content: Dam Dave you are lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world

author: Barny
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2019, 03:10:19 pm
content: Its that beautiful that the asphalt starts to melt and nearly every animal wants to kill you.And the weather forecast says that its getting hotter.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2019, 04:36:31 pm
content: If they are talking about embedding LED's in them I don't want to see them in all angles especially when they can be brightness issues with them.They say it is for safety but I can see it being used for advertising on the floors that can distract and annoy some people if it flourishes.I can no longer stand to just see British football and on television. I try to avoid looking at it when I hear it (someone watching it) due to how annoying I find it. They started off putting images on the grass which wasn't as bad but now they surround the whole pitch the lcds/leds and show the same adverts on all of them and they make them flash a lot and show moving images on it that stands out brighter than the actual football pitch or game.It seems that the game is so important that they don't notice but I do.

author: Cliff Matthews
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2019, 10:32:00 pm
content: Quote from: Barny on January 19, 2019, 03:10:19 pmHas to be really hot if asphalt melts. OTH I just checked, and places like Cobar NSW are reporting 50 degrees! That not too far off many world records. We should be asking Dave to vacation even longer.. who can work through that?

author: Basstrom
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 21, 2019, 01:35:02 am
content: The big idea in the video of critical thinking and the question of where does it get taught I might be able to have some input to.As a high school teacher, primarily digital technology but also trained in mathematics and science (Physics), we don't have a separate class for critical and creative thinking in any of the school I've been in and haven't heard of it in other schools. Also undertaking an Associate Degree in Engineering with a focus on ElectronicsThe screenshot from the Australia Curriculum website, link below, is what we're supposed to embed into each individual subject as it falls under general capabilities, anything under general capabilities we have to embed into each subject. How much policing of what goes into each subject is very dependent on the school and the governing body of the school, ie state governments, Catholic education etc..Now here's where the issue lies, what training do teachers have to be able to teach critical and creative thinking? Unless they've been to some training for it or have a naturally curious mind it's hard to say if they have the critical and creative thinking skills themselves.Luckily I was able to attend an excellent workshop on Critical and Creative thinking last year which was full of real classroom activities and I found I always like to think about the information presented to me.Could I personally be teaching these skills better within my own classrooms? Sure, and that's something I hope to work on this year.At the end of the day I agree with Dave, we need to be promoting more critical thinking within schools, but also impart that these are skills for life, even if you don't remember the content being taught.https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/critical-and-creative-thinking/

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2019, 01:44:22 am
content: Quote from: Cliff Matthews on January 20, 2019, 10:32:00 pmIt does need to be "a tad warm", especially as Australian asphalt uses a different formula to that in some other countries.I remember as a kid in Western Australia, that the old style roads would melt fairly easily in mid Summer.After the establishment of the Kwinana Oil Refinery, the different formula became widely used in WA, & "melted roads" became a rarity.I assume the same formula is used in other States, as melting asphalt is rare enough to be a news item, anywhere in Oz.Back in the '70s, I went through a British Summer--- all week or so!It was quite warm, about 31C, & I was surprised to see what to me was "a blast from the past"---- melting asphalt.It seems there are some advantages to the "easy melt" formula for countries with cooler climates, otherwise, they would not have retained it.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2019, 03:01:37 am
content: More on topic, I think a lot of the problem is the "Entrepreneurship" teachings of the present day, where whoever comes up with a grandiose scheme is lauded by Management, & those who point out thebasic failings of the idea (usually those who are expected to implement the whole heap of merde) are derided as "naysayers"."Naysayers" are an important part of society, as they act as a filter to stop huge amounts of effort being expended upon things with no chance of ever working, & indeed, in many cases harmful results.Without them, you end up with stupid ideas like "The Children's Crusade" of 1212, or the importation of foreign fauna into Australia, which almost universally, became feral scourges of the natural ecosystems."Solar Freakin' Cruiseliners?"If only indirectlly, there are such things (only little ones), in the form of a number of sailing vessels which run cruises in various parts of the world.Before someone quibbles, it goes like this:-Solar makes wind, wind moves boat------I did say "indirectly".

author: FatalError3141
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 21, 2019, 04:52:16 pm
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on January 21, 2019, 03:01:37 amSolar also made (makes?) fossil fuels. So, in essence, we already have solar freaking cruise ships!

author: IanMacdonald
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2019, 05:47:02 pm
content: Dave, you are absolutely right about critical thinking and the need to verify things for yourself. CC and renewable energy have become politically charged subjects, and this has created a situation where no secondhand information can be trusted.I'm currently putting together a page for our site which goes into the cost versus performance of wind turbines and solar panels for the whole world, over the couple of decades that we've been deploying them in substantial numbers. The figures so far look just as far off the mark as those for solar roadways - To go 100% renewable with wind and solar would take upwards of 1000 years at current expenditure rates, and increasing the expenditure to where it could be achieved by 2050 would make the cost of other big experimental projects like ITER, NIF or LFTR seem like peanuts by comparison.The important thing here is that the figures I'm using are all readily available, and some are actually quoted by businesses promoting wind and solar. Thing they don't do of course is the arithmetic, to see if the ideas make sense. When you do the math, you see they don't.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2019, 12:07:36 pm
content: My nieces initially attended a private (church-owned) primary school. I recall them one day, as young as they were, describing with genuine incredulity an event that occurred at their school. A fuss was made over some allegedly important, but silly looking old bloke dressed in a frock, who came to visit to wave some artifacts and silly words around so as to bless the newly installed play equipment. It was explained to them that this was done so that everyone from then on would be extra safe when playing on the new equipment.How exactly do you teach critical thinking skills in an environment such as this where such faculties on the other hand are expected (demanded) to be left at the door?Fortunately their parents eventually came to their senses and stuck them into a public school.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2019, 12:57:04 pm
content: Quote from: IanMacdonald on January 21, 2019, 05:47:02 pmYep, this is why nuclear is the onlyrealisticoption right now.

author: IanMacdonald
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2019, 05:07:53 pm
content: Quote from: GK on January 22, 2019, 12:07:36 pmThat's nothing. I was the target of a campaign of hatred by the catholic headmistress of the primary school because I commented that I didn't think Satan was responsible for the bad things in the world, that it was simply bad people who did them. I was savvy enough to realise that saying I didn't believe in the Magic Man in the Sky and his Nailed-up Sonwould likely get me into trouble, but saying Satan didn't exist? Surely that was OK?Nope, it wasn't.My parents should maybe have warned me that it's best not to expressanyopinions on religion when the religious fruitcake in question has the power to make your life a misery.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2019, 06:16:50 pm
content: Quote from: IanMacdonald on January 24, 2019, 05:07:53 pmThat's Christian Values for you...