[OT] Simple math considered physics

[Bill McGonigle]

On Nov 22, 2007, at 21:18, Drew Van Zandt wrote:

> I'm sure you can't MAKE kids interested in engineering, but there are
> certainly classes of toys that a great many of the more geek- 
> inclined people
> I know remember fondly.

I'm largely siding with nature on this one.  I had our two kids down  
in the basement play-area yesterday and the older one was showing me  
her ballet moves and such, while the younger one was ignoring his  
baby toys to try to figure out how the tensioner was keeping the  
chain on my 10-speed taught.

Now, the girl is quite good at science - she was answering some of  
the astronomer's questions about the moon's formation when we went to  
viewing night at the planetarium - but she sees science as a means to  
an end.  She's planning on being either a teacher or veterinarian  
(undecided) on the moon when she grows up.  She's more of a  
scientist, science is a tool for discovery.

The boy just likes to take everything apart and figure out how they  
work - he's more of the engineer.

I did nothing intentional to differentiate the two - no nurture  
there, but odds are we'll give the boy more geek toys than the girl  
(her OLPC on-order, excepted), so perhaps one nurtures the nature  
inherent.

Of course, they both like to take cardboard boxes and re-purpose them  
to more exciting uses - a kid who lacks this interest might need to  
be sent in for inspection - so basic hacking is innate in most  
humans, some are just suppressed at an earlier age than others.

> Any I've missed?  If I ever have children they're definitely going  
> to have
> easy access LEGO and random electronic components.

As Ben mentioned Capcella are really neat - I had them as a kid too.   
I suspect this may be related to why we both dumped Slackware for  
Redhat.   Oops, sorry, on-topic.

I learned my basic chemistry in order to make things that exploded,  
sometimes with attached payloads.  I learned some social engineering  
in order to acquire supplies for said experiments.  When at first the  
town pharmacist calls your folks for trying to buy saltpeter one must  
devise alternate tactics. ;)

> (Books too, of course, but like many a young child that goes without
> saying.)


As alluded to by others, the entire line of Boy Scout books is very  
useful for introductory material to myriad topics.  Tom Brown's  
guides were also very helpful for more in-depth hacking of nature.

-Bill

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