mr f0zi's summer school diary

The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges

Read the excerpts on the back side and answer the following questions. Please use complete sentences, and write at least 3-4 sentences for each answer. If you can’t answer every part of the question, focus on the parts you can answer.

1. What makes something “imaginary”? Can you think of anything we use in science which is imaginary?

2. What do you think Borges means when he writes, “there is something in the dragon’s image that fits man’s imagination”?

Is this type of thinking – coming up with ideas based on our imagination – different from the sort of thinking Scientists do?

3. In the story of the incident of the Chonchon, do you think the Chileans’ ideas were scientific?

In what ways do you think their ideas were unscientific? In what ways do you think their ideas were scientific?

EXCERPT

From the Preface to the 1967 Edition

“The title of this book would justify the inclusion of Prince Hamlet, of the point, of the line, of the surface, of n-dimensional hyperplanes and hypervolumes, of all generic terms, and perhaps of each one of us and of the godhead In brief, the sum of all things — the universe: We have limited ourselves, however, to what is immediately suggested by the words ‘imaginary beings’; we have compiled a handbook of the strange creatures conceived through time and space by the human imagination. We are ignorant of the meaning of the dragon in the same way that we are ignorant of the meaning of the universe; but there is something in the dragon’s image that fits man’s imagination, and this accounts for the dragon’s appearance in different places and periods …”

From a chapter entitled The Fauna of Chile

“Our chief authority on animals incubated by the Chilean imagination is Julio Vicuna Cifuentes, whose Myths and Superstitions collects a number of legends drawn from oral tradition …

The Chonchon has the shape of a human head; its ears, which are extremely large, serve as wings for its flight on moonless nights. Chonchones are supposed to be endowed with all the powers of wizards. They are dangerous when molested, and many fables are told about them. There are several ways to bring these flying creatures down when they pass overhead intoning their ominous tue, tue, tue, the only sign that betrays their presence, since they are invisible to anyone not a wizard. The following are judiciously advised: to recite or sing a prayer known only to a few who stubbornly refuse to divulge it; to chant a certain twelve words twice over; to mark a Solomon's seal on the ground; and lastly, to spread open a waistcoat and lay it out in a specified way. The Chonchon falls, flapping its wings furiously, and cannot lift itself again no matter how hard it tries until another Chonchon comes to its aid. Generally, the incident does not conclude here, for sooner or later the Chonchon wreaks its vengeance on whomever has mocked at it.

Creditable witnesses have told the following story: In a house in Limache where visitors had gathered one night, the disorderly cries of a Chonchon were suddenly heard outside. Someone made the sign of Solomon's seal, and a heavy object fell into the backyard; it was a large bird the size of a turkey and had a head with red wattles. They cut the head off, gave it to a dog, and threw the body up on the roof. At once they heard a deafening uproar of Chonchones, at the same time noting that the dog's belly had swollen as though the animal had gulped down the head of a person. The next morning they searched in vain for the Chonchon's body; it had disappeared from the roof. Somewhat later the town gravedigger reported that on that same day several unknown persons had come to bury a body which, when they had gone away, he found to be headless.”

Jorge Luis Borges (born August 24, 1899 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; died June 14, 1986) is considered one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. In addition to the short stories for which he is famous, Borges also wrote poetry, essays and screenplays and translated English, French and German literature into Spanish. Borges was also a serious and respected scholar of mythology, mathematics and philosophy. Borges' work was known for a universal perspective that reflected a multi-ethnic Argentina: his writing is steeped by influences and informed by scholarship of Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, and Jewish faiths and belittles nationalism and racism.

I understand that I am not expected to know everything or be able to solve every problem, but it is my responsibility to ask V@hid (or another instructor or fellow) for help in answering any question that I am unable to answer.

I understand that in return for my active participation, V@hid will do his utmost to present difficult concepts in as many ways as possible, suggest problem solving methods, help me organize my work, be available in Study Hall (by appointment) any night of the week and provide positive feedback on the work I present in class.

I will be on time and ready to work every day – if I have an open mind and am ready to learn then we can all share in the excitement. I understand that the only definition of an educated person is said to be someone who has an open mind 24 hours a day.

_______________________________________________________________________

(signed and dated)

The Encyclopedia of Imaginary Beings
“How Science Works” Discussion Worksheet

From the time of the Greek and Egyptian civilizations (1000-500 BC), scientists believed that some organisms were created from nonliving matter. Because people observed flies rising from rotten meat, they believed that maggots were created from the meat. The name given to this idea – that life could arise from nonliving matter – was spontaneous generation. Other examples of the theory of Spontaneous Generation were the idea that beetles were created from wet dung and that mice were created from unguarded grain.

These ideas remained unchallenged in Europe until the late 17th century …

I. First Principles

Please define the following terms below, using complete sentences.

Hypothesis:

Controlled Variable:

Manipulated Variable:

Positive Control:

Negative Control:

Responding Variable:

Conclusion:

II. Redi’s Experiment

In 1668, and Italian doctor named Francesco Redi carried out an experiment to propose an alternate explanation for the appearance of maggots on rotten meat.

Redi observed that maggots were only produced on meat that had been visited by flies. Redi thought it was likely that flies laid eggs which were too small to see, and that the maggots came from these fly eggs. With this in mind, Redi carried out the following experiment …

(we all draw this together in class, w/ me drawing on the board)

On another sheet of paper, answer the following Questions.

1. What observations led Redi to try his experiment?

2. What was Redi’s hypothesis?

3. What were the Controlled Variables in Redi’s experiment?

4. What was the Manipulated Variable in Redi’s experiment?

5. What was the Responding Variable or Data in Redi’s experiment?

6. What was Conclusion did Redi draw from this experiment?
III. Needham Attacks!

Spallanzani to the Rescue!

Nearly 100 years later, an English scientist named John Needham used an experiment involving animalcules to attack Redi’s experiment. Needham believed in Spontaneous Generation, and was aware of small creature (we would call them microbes) which could be seen with microscopes.

Needham heated a jar of gravy to boiling. He argued this would kill any animalcules in the gravy. After a few days, he observed that the gravy was full of animalcules. He believed this proved that Spontaneous Generation really happened!

Concerned with Italy’s national honor, a scientist named Lazzaro Spallanzani came to Redi’s rescue. His experiment is reproduced below.

(we all draw this together on our worksheets w/ me doing it at the board)

On another sheet of paper, answer the following Questions.

7. What was the Controlled Variable in Spallanzani’s experiment?

8. What was the Responding Variable in this experiment?

9. Did this experiment involve a Positive Control or a Negative Control? Please explain.

IV. Pasteur Settles the Issue

Although many scientists found Spallanzani’s findings convincing, some scientists in Europe still argued in favor of Spontaneous Generation as late as the Civil War! These scientists claimed that Spallanzani’s experiment was flawed because an airtight container would suffocate any little animalcules that had Spontaneously Generated!

In 1864, a French scientist named Louis Pasteur finally setlled the argument. In his honor, we now refer to the process of heating foods to kill bacteria as Pasteurization.

Pasteur’s experiment is shown below.

(we all draw this together on the board)

On another sheet of paper, answer the following Question.

10. Did this experiment involve a Positive Control or a Negative Control? Please explain.

we're doing the discussion + worksheet tomorrow ... and we're hiking to a lake!! i'll tell y'all how it goes ...

as in "that sounds fun" / "that sounds wack" / "my high school bio teacher was better" / "i would rather dissect a frog" / etc

especially if this is any indication of the class environment:

http://www.spun.com/amgcover/dvd/full/t4/20/t42016yqy4n.jpg

Kaitlyn Fonzi, a 20-year-old grad student and neighbor, said she heard techno music blasting from his apartment around the time of the shooting, and had nearly opened Holmes' unlocked apartment door to complain, unaware that the unit was booby trapped with explosives.

http://img.ksl.com/apimage/40ec6c41-7ad7-4077-bf0b-e1684c09ac93.jpg?filter=ksl/pgallery

Főzy István's photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54401632@N00/7555062700/sizes/c/in/photostream/