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Test Submission #2
#999

1. Drawing from the movie "we are all scientists" describe several incidents in your own life where you thought and acted scientifically. Be sure to detail how your thoughts or actions were scientific.

It's not that we are all scientists by development and growth; it is that we are all born scientists. From the early ages of being a toddler, we learn by testing hypothesis and analyzing evidence subconsciously. It is human nature. The value of research is the most important component in the development of scientific thinking. An example that I feel fits this question, is when I would play basketball at this neighbors, stand up hoop. I would always, for fun, be launching rainbow shots, and to my surprise I would make a ton of them. Shots that should never have gone in. My own hypothesis was that, depending at the angle and the launch, height that the shot had an extremely good chance of getting nothing but net, compared to actually shooting normally. I felt, that I was just good at making unreal shots, but that there had to be something more to it. Mentally measuring each time that I shot from the release of the ball from the distance I was standing, I was able to see that I would have to develop a shot to stay consistent with a high soaring ball. It had to be shot almost exactly the same way to give me the result that I was looking for. It was more scientific for me in order to find out why I was able to make these shots, after it was not just a one day occurrence.

2. Using the movie "voodoo voodoo" as your prompt, have you in your life ever used a "magical formula" (from prayers to mantras to chants to childhood rhymes, etc.) to secure what you wanted or to protect yourself, etc? Feel free to tell your recollections in story form. How would you today rationally explain how and why it worked?

I remember growing up, we would always play "Step on a crack and break your mommas back". I would always make sure that I would try to avoid stepping on the crack while wondering if it were ever to come true. I would never want to break my mommas back of course, but there were plenty of times where you wouldn't realize that the game exists until someone points it out in general, or when they see you stepping on a crack on the sidewalk. I specifically remember a red headed childhood friend named Ben, who would refuse to step on a crack on the sidewalk in fear of breaking his mothers back. I cannot truthfully say in fact if it was him wanting to see how long he could go overtime without stepping on a crack as a personal game, in order to boast to those around him, or if he literally believed that stepping on a crack would in fact, break his mammas back.

3. Calvino's shuffle is an important metaphor. Why should it be a guiding principle when claiming something for certain? Give examples.

Accepting that you are wrong is never an easy task. Claiming that what you know is truth and later proves to be false, isn't an easy pill to swallow. Calvino's shuffle shows us the flipping of a card being one road down life, when others can easily be flipped to derail or set us on another path. From making a hypothesis, to having your hypothesis proved incorrect. One person perception of what your perception on a particular situation may be completely different. The best example to use in this question is when you are adamant about a certain thing that is true. You seriously believe that you are right and you end up being proven wrong. The example that I am going to use is the Superbowl hosting the Broncos and the Seahawks. I have been a Broncos fan since birth, thanks to my dad, and I was seriously convinced, that there was no way that the best offense in NFL history was going to lose to a team, with no potent offense, just a very good defense. To me, I am still convinced that the game was rigged, regardless of Manning's post seasons history. It was unbelievable the way that the game ended. I could not believe that it was no even close. The greatest offense statistically in the history of the NFL only scored 8 point against a good defense. Nothing special about their defense history wise. I was proven wrong and took the heat every day for a weeks from people at work, especially with all of the smack I talked.

Extra Credit response
Brandonterpstra,
I definitely agree with your first response of how “we are all born scientists” because I have firsthand seen even babies act like scientist. They are always exploring their surroundings and as they grow up they ask questions about just about everything. In addition, I can also relate to how you were careful of not stepping on a crack on the street. When I was little I also did not want to take any chances so I avoided any kind of superstition that I heard of. However, now as an adult it’s become obvious to me that its nonsense.

1. Thinking scientifically has been something I have done many times throughout my life. I remember a specific occasion when I was about 9 or 10 and could not understand the concept of receiving change back after buying something. I thought in a scientific way in the sense that I was confused when someone gace a cashier a $100 bill and got back $60 after they bought something. For me I could not fathom why the person who go the change back with the store still having their whole $100 bill. Of course I soon learned that having $60 and a item worth $40 was the same as having a single $100 bill.


2. A superstition I would often use as a child was to avoid splitting poles as to not get bad luck. If someone did split a pole we had to say “bread and butter.” These two things went together which made the splitting of the pole acceptable. We could say any two things that coincided with one another to cancel out ou action. We were convinced that splitting a pole would cause us bad luck, and we would ultimately say the chant to protect ourselves from any bad luck that might have come our way. Today I would rationally explain that saying this worked simply because there was never any bad luck coming our way in the first place so we didn’t need any protection from it. I have long since stopped saying this whenever I split a pole, and nothing has happened to me yet.


3. Calvino’s shuffle should be a guide when claiming something for certain because you can be wrong. There are so many cards that are revealed s you get older, and at any time something else can change what you thought to be true. For example I firmly believed that cutting split ends had no effect on hair growth. One search on Google and I was proved wrong, because cutting split ends allows oxygen to the hair follicle allowing the hair to actually grow. What we know is a fraction of what there is to know. There are so many new things being discovered each and every day. What I know is that I ultimately don’t know anything. There will always be a card that I have not yet uncovered, and therefore anything I say is statistically wrong.

Enrique Poveda
Film Test 2

1. Drawing from the movie "we are all scientists" describe several incidents in your own life where you thought and acted scientifically. Be sure to detail how your thoughts or actions were scientific.

In my photography program at Mt.Sac I came to realize that digital photography has taken over and film has become obsolete in the commercial world. Many instructors and classes are solely based on digital photography, therefore advanced techniques of exposure and development processes have been depleted from the curriculum. As I progressed into the advanced courses, a professor briefly mentioned that "back in the days" there was a technique used to control the contrast of film called "pushing" and "pulling", which either over develops (push) or under develops (pull) the film. He then vaguely went over the basics of Ansel Adams' Zone System, a system that gives a tone a number that defines where it lies between the brightest of highlights and darkest of shadows in the given area that is being photographed. The professor then began to explain that when shooting with a digital sensor, overexposure will lead to loss of detail that you cannot retrieve in post processing. Therefore it is recommended that you expose for your highlights and bring the detail back in the shadows with software. This process with a digital sensor actually opposes the way film shoots.
After ruminating on Adams' theory of the zone system, I began to wonder how one might go about getting the right exposure that will allow highlights, shadows and everything in between to retain detail. I began to experiment with exposure compensation. I figured out, in my mind, that in a very high contrast situation (very bright highlights and very dark shadows) one can retain detail everywhere by calculating the difference of "stops" between the highlights and shadows; expose for shadows and develop for highlights. I wanted to test my hypothesis with very radical differences (in highlights and shadows) to determine whether my theory was correct. Pushing film will increase contrast and pulling film will decrease contrast. I decided to photograph a church at night that was partially lit by the lights above the entry way, the rest of the building was only lit by ambient light. I began to meter and concluded that there were 4 stops difference between the highly lit and dim areas of the church (very high contrast). This means that in order to decrease the contrast enough, I would have to over expose my film by multiplying the time by 4 and and cutting the development time in half! I shot my image, a 30 minute exposure. I inquired about any tips to processing my film with a few instructors before I went into the darkroom and every time I told them I was pulling my film 4 stops they looked at me like I was crazy (many doubted an image would even come out). One professor however advised that I allow my film to sit in the fixer bath longer than usual to retain a fine grain. After processing my film I concluded that my method of obtaining a neutral contrast negative was correct! There wasn't a shadow or highlight lost in the negative.

2. Using the movie "voodoo voodoo" as your prompt, have you in your life ever used a "magical formula" (from prayers to mantras to chants to childhood rhymes, etc.) to secure what you wanted or to protect yourself, etc? Feel free to tell your recollections in story form. How would you today rationally explain how and why it worked?

Over the winter break I'd gone on a fishing trip to Bishop with my aunt, uncle and cousins. As my cousins went for a bike ride, my uncle and I waited at the shores of the reservoir to catch some trout to take back to the camp site. We weren't exactly sure what the fish wanted to eat that day so we set up few lines with different bait and lures to see what we might get lucky with. About an hour or so later one of my cousins came back from his bike ride and asked why we hadn't caught any fish. We explained we had tried different set ups and only got some nibbles on the kastmasters. He then said that it was because the pole needed his "magic touch". He walked over and picked up a pole that had salmon egg power bait on the other end and less than a minute later he was reeling one in. We all got excited. Of coarse my cousin took all the credit having the "magical touch", and proceeded to touch all of the poles we had set up. We continued to catch fish for the next hour. My cousin got bored of fishing and decided to go out for another bike ride. After he left the fish stopped biting. We spent the entire day at the reservoir expecting for the fish to begin to bite again but it seemed our luck had left with the "magic touch". Looking back on why this likely worked was because of the time frame that we began to catch. Fish typically feast in the morning during sunrise and at night during sunset. Once we had found that the powerbait was what the fish wanted and the time my cousin joined us fishing, sunrise, it's rational to say that his magic touch just happened to be at the right time, under the right circumstances.

3. Calvino's shuffle is an important metaphor. Why should it be a guiding principle when claiming something for certain? Give examples.

Calvino's shuffle is an important metaphor because it reminds us that for many questions there are often times multiple ways to get to the same answer. This supplements the fact that some ways of getting such answers might contradict the other and can often times disprove what was initially thought to be true. So when does this allow us to know if we are ever right?
In the past Taco Bell cooked with coconut oil. Nutritionists made a claim that coconut oil has horrible health factors to the public and proclaimed that Taco Bell must change their means of cooking oil to something more healthful. Taco Bell then changed their recipe and in more recent years, nutritionists have discovered the many health benefits of coconut oil. Many people now incorporate coconut oil into their diet and boast about how great it is for your skin, nails, and hair. It's funny to see how one groups claim can persuade masses to believe false accusations to be true that later on will be discovered as beneficial.

John Esquivel
code- 999
Philosophy 8

1. The film "We are all scientists" made me realize how often I use "scientific reasoning" in my everyday life when I make a choice. David Hilbert says that science is an integer or mode where phenomena is reasoned. One example of scientific reasoning I used before is when I see cloudy, grey skies. I make several reasonings that lead me to be cautious of the environment, like wearing a raincoat or carrying an umbrella. I also use scientific reasoning when I choose a city to live in: I decide that a pretty city results in a better standard of living. I also use scientific thought when I buy food: Organic is healthier.

2.The film "We are all scientists" made me realize how often I use "scientific reasoning" in my everyday life when I make a choice. David Hilbert says that science is an integer or mode where phenomena is reasoned. One example of scientific reasoning I used before is when I see cloudy, grey skies. I make several reasonings that lead me to be cautious of the environment, like wearing a raincoat or carrying an umbrella. I also use scientific reasoning when I choose a city to live in: I decide that a pretty city results in a better standard of living. I also use scientifc thought when I buy foood: Organic is healthier.

3. Calvino's metaphor used in the film excerpted from Vlatko Vedral is used to identify contextuality, where we can never be certain of something until we analyze it. Calvino references a tarot-like game, where cards detail an explanation or outcome to describe a certain story. This can be used in real life, where nature and a person are part of the game. The card game in Calvino's metaphor is used to describe a certain outcome according to a group, each part having a different attribute, of cards that tell a story of a person. However, nothing is certain, because a different set of cards, such as theories in science, can disprove something else.

Film Test #2: 999
1. Drawing from the movie “we are all scientists,” describes several incidents in your own life where you thought and acted scientifically. Be sure to detail how your thoughts or actions were scientific.
Growing up, all a child wants to do is play and create experiments out of everything that they find. Hence, making them a “scientist” at some point in their life. I clearly remember that at the age of 12, my aunt’s car was stolen and my cousin and I tried to figure out who stole the car. Previously, my cousins gave me a science kit for Christmas, so we used that to try and investigate the crime scene. We picked up shattered glass and put them in the test tubes where we then used the microscope to try and figure out if there were any fingerprints. Unfortunately, we didn’t find anything with the clues that we had. However, at the time, we both felt like we were doing so well with our investigation. Another event where I felt like a scientist was when I started to bake. I would test out different amounts of ingredients to create a certain consistency with each dessert, whether it would be cupcakes, brownies, or even cakes. I thought that baking was scientific because there was always a process of trial and error. When the texture of the dessert did not satisfy my wants, then I would start over with different amounts or maybe changing some of the ingredients like what scientists would do when they find something wrong with their experiments.

2. Using the movie "voodoo voodoo" as your prompt, have you in your life ever used a "magical formula" (from prayers to mantras to chants to childhood rhymes, etc.) to secure what you wanted or to protect yourself, etc? Feel free to tell your recollections in story form. How would you today rationally explain how and why it worked?
When I first moved to America from the Philippines I had no idea about their transportation system (i.e., stop signs, traffic signals, etc.). So when I was younger I would always tell my cousin to drive slower if we were still far from the light and if we slowed down the light would immediately change from red to green. At a young age, I thought this theory was the answer to my boredom when traveling. Another thing that I lived by was when all the traffic lights were green and someone would call attention to them they would change in an instant. This has happened to me several times and I thought that people were just jinxing the situation. Now that I have thought about the situation, I think that it was all about chance and being at the right place at the right time.

3. Calvino's shuffle is an important metaphor. Why should it be a guiding principle when claiming something for certain? Give examples.
Calvin’s metaphor is important to live by because it shows us that we should not always believe what is told to us. We should always analyze the situation and come up with a logical conclusion based factual information that is being presented to us. We should also consider the context of the situation. For example, in the tarot reference, he states that the meaning of the same card can be different depending on the context of the other cards. In today’s society, a lot of the information that is presented to us can have a different meaning to other people or it could be totally misunderstood. For example, a simple post on social media can create an outburst of responses because someone may have interpreted the post differently and have spread the wrong information to other people. And when we think that something is true we live by those thoughts and nothing can change our position on it.