THINKER'S ALMANAC: December 31

Subject: Time - Sagan’s Cosmic Calendar

Event:  December 31

 

The construction of such tables and calendars is inevitably humbling….dinosaurs emerge on Christmas Eve; flowers arise on December 28th; and men and women originate at 10:30 P.M. on New Year's Eve. All of recorded history occupies the last ten seconds of December 31. -Carl Sagan

In his 1977 book Dragons of Eden, astronomer Carl Sagan tackles the problem of trying to illustrate how old the world is relative to how young human beings are.  To do this he constructs what he calls a Cosmic Calendar.  In this calendar, Sagan asks the reader to imagine the 15 billion years condensed and recorded on a 365-day calendar.

On the Cosmic Calendar, the key event on January 1 is the Big Bang (the beginning of the universe).  Other key events don’t occur until September, such as the formation of the earth on September 14 and the origin of life on Earth on September 25.

If you represented the Cosmic Calendar as the length of a 100-yard football field, the whole of human history would represent a length no larger than the size of a hand.

The key day on the Cosmic Calendar for humankind, therefore, is today: December 31.  It should be humbling to realize how recently our species has appeared:  10:30 PM on December 31st.  Fire became an available tool minutes ago, at 11:46 PM and the first cities appeared at 11:59:35 PM.  Because the alphabet was invented just seconds ago, at 11:59:51 PM, all of recorded human history must be squeezed into a period of just ten seconds.  In Sagan’s words, “Every person we’ve ever heard of lived somewhere in there. All those kings and battles, migrations and inventions, wars and loves. Everything in the history books happens here, in the last 10 seconds of the cosmic calendar.”

The point of the Cosmic Calendar is to give us some perspective about how long our species has been on Earth relative to how long the universe has been in existence.  Although we as humans are newcomers, arriving just 90 minutes before the clock strikes twelve, beginning a new year, we still have enormous power to influence the next cosmic year.  As Sagan puts it, “We have a choice: we can enhance life and come to know the universe that made us, or we can squander our 15 billion-year heritage in meaningless self-destruction.  What happens in the first second of the next cosmic year depends on what we do.”

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: At what time on the cosmic calendar do humans first appear?

Challenge - It’s the Time of the Season:  What is the best thing anyone has ever said about time?  Do some research to find quotations.  Write down the one you like the best, and explain why you think the quotation is insightful.

Sources:

1-Sagan, Carl. The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. New York: Ballantine Books, 1978. 

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 30

Kipling cited “six honest serving men [who] taught [him] all he knew.” Who were these six men?

Subject:  Questions - Kipling’s Six Honest Serving Men

Event:  Birthday of British writer Rudyard Kipling, 1865

 

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy? -Albert Einstein

Today is the birthday of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), England’s master storyteller and poet.  Kipling was British, but he lived for many years in India where he was born.  Known especially for his short stories and his popular work of fiction The Jungle Book (1894), Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907 when he was just 42 years old.  He was the first English language writer to win the prize, and he was also the youngest ever to win the prize.

                                                                Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

In a poem that accompanied one of his stories -- “The Elephant’s Child” -- Kipling includes a poem that personifies the six key interrogative pronouns, the words we use to begin questions:

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who. (1)

Making Kipling’s “six honest serving-men” a part of your learning team is one of the best metacognitive strategies there is.  Metacognition is the ability to critically analyze and monitor your own thinking, and one excellent way to do this is to ask questions as you read or listen to a lecture.

In a 1991 study, ninth grade students listened to a lecture.  A quarter of the students reviewed their notes on the lecture by themselves.  Another quarter of the students discussed the content of the lectures in small groups.  The final two quarters of students were taught self-questioning strategies, and then were asked to generate and answer questions individually during and after the lecture, or they were asked to generate and answer questions and then discuss their questions and answers with a small group.   All subjects in the study were tested immediately after the lecture and then tested again ten days later. 

Based on the study’s results, the students who employed self questioning as a part of their study scored significantly higher than students who merely reviewed notes or discussed the contents of the lecture (2).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What are the six interrogative pronouns?

Challenge:  Six Starts for Self-Questioning:  Do some research on strategies for self-questioning.  Then, write a short public service announcement aimed at students, explaining what self-questioning is, how it can be done, and why it is an effective method of learning.

Sources: 

1-Poetry Foundation.  “Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936).

2-King, Alison. “Improving lecture comprehension: Effects of a metacognitive strategy.” Applied Cognitive Psychology July/August 1991, Volume 5, Issue 4.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 29

How did serendipity lead to the invention of vulcanized rubber?

Subject:  Creativity - Serendipity

Event: Birthday of inventor Charles Goodyear, 1800

 

I am not disposed to complain that I have planted and others have gathered the fruits. A man has cause for regret only when he sows and no one reaps. -Charles Goodyear

Today is the birthday of Charles Goodyear, the man who invented vulcanized rubber.  Born in Connecticut, Goodyear left home at 17, moving to Philadelphia to work in the hardware business.  Struggling with ill health and his finances, Goodyear eventually returned to Connecticut, and after visiting a store that sold rubber goods, he decided to go to work on how to make rubber less sticky and more durable and resilient.  Although he had no formal education in chemistry, Goodyear worked diligently and tirelessly to find a way to make rubber more effective and useful.  

                                                                Image by Pexels from Pixabay 

In 1839, serendipity struck, giving Goodyear the breakthrough he was hoping for.  While working with a mixture of rubber and sulfur, he accidentally spilled some of the liquid onto a hot stove.  When the mixture hardened and Goodyear peeled it from the stove, he realized that it was still usable and that it was durable and elastic; it was also resistant to the extremes of both heat and cold.  The chance spill gave Goodyear the break he needed.  He soon perfected the process we know today as vulcanization of rubber, which he patented successfully on June 15, 1844.

Although the world benefited from applying vulcanization to a number of new products, specifically automobile tires, Goodyear, himself, did not go on to great success.  He continued to struggle with financial debts as well as with competitors who pirated his patent.  In 1860, Goodyear died, still in debt (1).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How did serendipity assist Goodyear in inventing vulcanization?

Challenge: Father and Mothers of Invention:  What is the best thing anyone has ever said about invention.  Do some research on quotations.  When you find one you like, write it down and explain why you think it gives interesting insight into invention and creativity.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

December 29, 1891:  Today is the birthday of Joyce C. Hall (1891-1982), the founder of Hallmark Cards.  Joyce grew up in Nebraska and his first job was selling perfume door-to door.  At 16, he and his two brothers pooled their money to open the Norfolk Post Card Company.  Later in 1910, seeking better business opportunities, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he opened a card and gift shop.  When fire destroyed his entire inventory in 1915, he transformed tragedy into opportunity by taking out a loan and buying an engraving firm.  This set the stage for the creation of his first original greeting card designs.  Still based in Kansas City, Joyce built Hallmark into a national company, pioneering the card-plus-envelope greeting cards we see today, which replaced postcards.  He also pioneered the way cards were merchandised in stores by taking them out of drawers and placing them in eye-catching displays.  To further promote his company and make Hallmark the most recognizable name in the industry, Joyce began sponsoring television programs, beginning with a live Christmas Eve production of Amahl and the Night Visitors in 1951.  That first program set the stage for the long running primetime television series, the Hallmark Hall of Fame (2).

-December 29, 1566:  On this day, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe had part of his nose sliced off in a sword duel. While attending an engagement party, Tycho got into an argument with his third cousin Manderup Parsberg over who was the superior mathematician.  In addition to losing part of his nose, Tycho also suffered a long scar on his forehead.  For the rest of his life, Tycho wore a brass prosthetic nose which he kept in place with glue.  Although he did lose the dual, history certainly recognizes him as the superior mathematician.

Sources:

1- Ganesh, A.S. “Goodyear never did not have a good year.” The Hindu.com 17 June 2018.

2-1-Hallmark.com.  J.C. Hall. 

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 28

How did philosopher and author Mortimer J. Adler earn a Ph. D. without having previously earned a master’s degree, a bachelor’s degree, or a high-school diploma? 

Subject: Philosophical Ideas - Adler’s Great Ideas

Event:  Birthday of philosopher and author Mortimer J. Adler

 

In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you. -Mortimer Adler

Today is the birthday of philosopher and author Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001).  As a teen, Adler dropped out of high school and worked as a copy boy for the New York Sun, but he later resumed his education at Columbia University.  After he finished the academic requirements for his bachelor’s degree, Adler was not allowed to graduate because he had refused to participate in physical education.  Nevertheless, Adler continued at Columbia as a teacher and a graduate student until he earned his Ph. D. in experimental psychology.  When he finally walked across the stage to collect his doctorate, he was the only Ph.D. in the country without a master’s degree, a bachelor’s degree, or a high-school diploma.

Soon Adler moved to the Midwest to teach philosophy at the University of Chicago.  At Chicago, he worked closely with his university’s president, Robert Maynard Hutchins, to develop a new liberal arts curriculum based on a core collection of outstanding works that constitute the foundation of the literature of Western culture.  Together Adler and Hutchins initiated the Great Books Foundation, a non-profit organization founded to promote continuing liberal education among the general public.

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In 1952, Adler compiled a 54-volume collection called Great Books of the Western World.  This collection included the works that Adler considered the canon of Western culture, the best writing from fiction, history, poetry, science, philosophy, drama, politics, religion, economics, and ethics.

In addition to the writings of the canon, the Great Books of the Western World included a two-volume index to the 102 “Great Ideas.” Compiled by Adler, this index is called the Syntopicon and contains all references to each of the Great Ideas in the Great Books.   

By Great Ideas, Adler means the “vocabulary of everyone’s thought.”  The ideas are not technical terms or specialized jargon of different branches of learning; instead, the Great Ideas are “the ideas basic and indispensable to understanding ourselves, our society, and the world in which we live” (1).  For Adler, philosophy is not just an academic pursuit; instead, philosophical thought is the business of everyone, and inquiring and conversing about big ideas is a core part of what it means to be human.

Below is an A to W listing of some of the Great Ideas. Each of these ideas is universal in the sense that each is a “common object of thought,” meaning these are ideas that any two human beings should be able to discuss.  Unlike the tangible, common objects we interact with, these are ideas — intangible, abstract objects that live in the mind.

Art, Beauty, Change, Democracy, Emotion, Fate, Government, Happiness, Induction, Justice, Knowledge, Language, Mind, Nature, Opinion, Progress, Quality, Rhetoric, Science, Truth, Universal and Particular, Vice and Virtue, Wisdom

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How did Mortimer Adler define a great idea?

Challenge - One Great Idea, Two Great Works: What is a single universal idea or theme that appears in the work of two separate authors?  Identify a single universal idea, such as truth, wisdom, or democracy, and explain how that idea appears in two different written works. The works may be fiction, drama, poetry, or nonfiction.  In the course of explaining your idea, relate your interpretation of what you think each author is saying about this idea, along with specific evidence from the text that supports your interpretation.

1-Adler, Mortimer.  How to Think About Great Ideas.  Open Court, 2000.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 27

What role did chance play in the invention of Saccharin, strikeable matches, and safety glass?

 

Subject: Creativity - Pasteur’s “Prepared Mind”

Event:  Birthday of French scientist Louis Pasteur, 1822

 

Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. -Louis Pasteur

More than probably any person who ever lived, the French scientist Louis Pasteur - who was born on this day in 1822 - revealed the power of science as a tool for mastering nature.

Today we take for granted that germs attack the human body from outside.  It was Pasteur who opened the world’s mind to seeing how microorganisms or “germs” can lead to disease.  He also did pioneering work in vaccines, being the first to use weakened viruses to develop cures for anthrax and rabies.  Part of his motivation for studying infections and vaccinations was the fact that three of his five children died of typhoid.  He also invented the process that bears his name - pasteurization, where liquids are heated to kill harmful germs (1).

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In an 1854 lecture, Pasteur made a remark that has inspired generations of scientists who have followed in his footsteps:   “In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.”  Certainly, imagination and creativity have an important role to play in invention and discovery.  As Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  However, we might say based on Pasteur’s remark that this is a false dichotomy because unless there is a healthy balance between imagination and knowledge, the “prepared mind” will have little chance of capitalizing on serendipity.

As examples of prepared minds capitalizing on chance, read the following three anecdotes of chemists who were ready when serendipity smiled on them:

1. One evening the Russian chemist Constantin Fahlburg was working late in his lab on derivatives of coal tar.  Typical of a scientist immersed in his work, Fahlburg almost forgot about his supper.  Leaving the lab in a rush without washing his hand, he sat down to eat.  Breaking a piece of bread and putting it to his lips, he tasted something sweet. He soon realized that by chance he had discovered something as sweet as sugar and luckily it did not contain any poisonous substances.  He later marketed the world’s first artificial sweetener: Saccharin.

2. In 1827, an English chemist named John Walker was mixing a pot of antimony sulfide and potassium chlorate.  When he noticed a dried lump of the mixture on his mixing stick, he attempted to scrape it off; at that point, the mixture ignited.  By chance, Walker had just created the world’s first strikeable match.

3. One day in 1903 when he was working in his lab, French chemist and artist Edouard Benedictus dropped a glass flask.  Although the glass shattered, Benedictus noticed that the glass shards held together.  Inquiring further, he realized that the glass had previously been filled with cellulose nitrate, a liquid plastic that Benedictus used in his art deco projects.  Apparently when the liquid evaporated, it left a thin film of plastic on the glass that kept the shards of glass from falling apart. As an additional stroke of luck, Benedictus had recently read a newspaper article about the dangers of broken glass in automobile accidents.  Next, Benedictus went to work to produce what would become what we know today as shatterproof, safety glass.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  In one of the three examples above, explain how chance favored the prepared mind.

Challenge - Serendipity Strikes:  Research other inventions that have resulted from the combination of chance events and prepared minds.  What is one example that you find particularly interesting?

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

December 28, 1845:  On this day, an editorial appeared in the New York Morning News by John L. O’Sullivan (1813 - 1895).  In the editorial, Sullivan, a newspaper editor and proponent of U.S. expansion, argued for the United States’ claim to the Oregon Country, a large region in the West for which England and the U.S. had rival claims.  To Sullivan, expansion of the U.S. across all of North America to the Pacific coast was more than just a hope for the young nation; instead, it was its duty and its fate:

Away, away with all these cobweb issues of rights of discovery, exploration, settlement, continuity, etc.… our claim to Oregon would still be best and strongest. And that claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us.

Sullivan’s editorial popularized the motto: manifest destiny, giving proponents of expansion a rallying cry.  By the end of 1846, Oregon became a U.S. Territory after negotiations with Britain established the border at the 49th parallel.  At the time of Sullivan’s editorial, the United States had just 27 states.  By the end of the 19th century that number would expand to 45.

Sources:

1-Alexander Hammond. Louis Pasteur: "The Father of Microbiology" Who Pioneered Vaccine Science. Foundation for Economic Education 2 June 2019.

2-Ward, Alvin. “24 Unintended Scientific Discoveries.” Mental Floss 2 May 2015.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 26

How did Washington’s strategy in the Revolutionary War include catching the enemy with a hangover?

Subject:  Call to Arms - Battle of Trenton

Event:  Washington crosses Delaware and surprises the British, 1776

On this day in 1776, George Washington crossed the Delaware, leading the soldiers of the Continental Army in a surprise attack on a Hessian outpost at Trenton, New Jersey.  

                                                    Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay 

After suffering defeat in the Battle of Long Island and losing New York City to the British, the Patriot forces were in danger of losing the Revolutionary War.  Hoping to mount a comeback and to surprise the Hessians who were celebrating Christmas, Washington planned a night crossing of the half-frozen waters of the Delaware River.

Washington had an unconventional attack planned, but another key element of his strategy was to employ some especially motivational words, words that would light a fire under an army that was freezing on the shores of the Delaware. On Christmas Eve, the day before the crossing, Washington ordered that Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis be read aloud to troops of the Continental Army.

In words that he had written just one day before, Paine frames the situation with stirring words that challenge the Patriots to move forward with courage and to seize this opportunity to transform the trials they face into a triumph:

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but “to bind us in all cases whatsoever,” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God. . . .

Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.

After successfully crossing the Delaware, Washington and his men arrived at Trenton the next day.  Catching the Hessians off guard and hungover from their Christmas Day celebrations, the Americans won an easy victory.  

Victory in the Revolutionary War would not come for five more years, but the success of the Colonial Army at Trenton revived the spirits of the American colonists, showing them that victory was possible.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What were the keys to the Colonial Army’s success at Trenton?

Challenge - Say It So You Can Make It So: What is something you feel so strongly about that you would advise everyone to do it?  As Paine’s writing demonstrates, words have the power to move people to action, the kind of action that can change the course of history.  Write a speech in which you argue for a specific call to action on the part of your audience.  As the title of your speech, finish the following:  Why everyone should . . .

The following are some examples of possible topics:

Why everyone should learn a second language.

Why everyone should meditate.

Why everyone should study abroad.

Why everyone should take a self-defense class.

Why everyone should sing in the shower.

Why everyone should read more fiction.

Why everyone should vote.

Why everyone should use the Oxford comma.

Provide clear reasons, evidence, and explanation.  In addition to logic, move your audience with emotion by showing how important your suggested activity is and how it will bring fulfillment to their lives. 

Also on this day:

December 26 (Each Year):  Today is the Feast of Saint Stephen, celebrated each year on the first day after Christmas because Stephen is recognized by the Christian church as its first martyr. The New Testament Book of Acts provides an account of Stephen being brought before Jewish authorities and accused of blasphemy.  After giving an impassioned speech to the assembly of judges, in which he denounced his audience for its long history of persecuting the prophets, Stephen was dragged from the city and stoned to death. Saint Stephen’s Day is a traditional day for giving food or money to the poor.  The lyrics of the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas” reflect this tradition:

Good King Wenceslas looked out

On the feast of Stephen

When the snow lay round about

Deep and crisp and even

The carol tells the story of Wenceslas, the 10th century Duke of Bohemia.  Seeing a peasant gathering wood in the snow, the King is moved to help him and puts together a parcel of food, wine, and pine logs. Accompanied by his page, the King then trudges through the blinding snow and the dark night to deliver his gift to the peasant’s door. Boxing Day, an English holiday celebrated on December 26th, reflects the example of giving we see in the Christmas carol. Traditionally on this day, household servants were given a box of presents to take home and share with their families, an early version of what we know today as the “Christmas bonus” (2).

December 26, 1982 and 1791:  On this day, the computer was named “Machine of the Year” on the cover of Time magazine.  Since 1927, Time had nominate one influential person as the “Man of the Year.”  The writer, ironically, wrote the cover story on a typewriter; Time’s newsroom finally got computers the following year.  The honor for the computer is especially appropriate since the father of the computer, British inventor Charles Babbage was also born on December 26 in 1791.  In the 1830s Babbage envisioned an Analytical Engine, the forerunner of today’s digital computer.  He never complete the construction of his computer, but his design was recorded in his unpublished notebooks, which were discovered in 1937.

Sources:

1- Paine, Thomas. The American Crisis. 23 Dec. 1776. Public Domain. 

2-Rufus, Anneli.  The World Holiday Book.  New York:  HarperCollins, 1994.

THINKER'S ALAMANAC - December 25

Is it giving or receiving that brings people more happiness?

Subject:  Giving and Receiving - Dunn’s Study on Happiness

Event:  Christmas Day

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

On Christmas, most people contemplate the proverbial question of whether it is better to give than receive.  A study by social psychologist Elizabeth Dunn provides some clear insight into how we might resolve the question. 

With her colleagues Lara Aknin and Michael Norton, Dunn surveyed 632 Americans, asking them to identify their average monthly expenditures and to rate their level of happiness.  Based on analysis of this data, Dunn determined that people spent on average 90% of their money on monthly expenditures.  This spending, however, had no bearing on satisfaction.  What did have an impact on happiness levels, however, was whether or not people spent money on others, either for gifts or for charity. Those that spent more on gifts or charity, were happier (1).

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In Charles Dickens' classic story A Christmas Carol (1843), Ebbineezer Scrooge's nephew sums up the charitable, giving spirit fostered by the holidays:

 

[Christmas is] a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. (2)

 

Not until the end of the story and after he is visited by the three Christmas spirits does Scrooge understand his nephew’s point.  In the last chapter, he awakes on Christmas day and is able to experience for the first time the joy of giving rather than receiving.

 

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the relationship between people’s giving and their level of happiness?

Challenge - Stocking Stuffers:  What single concept from the Thinker’s Almanac do you think is the most worthy of presenting as a gift to someone who is not familiar with it.  Select one topic from the year, such as the spotlight effect, cognitive dissonance, groupthink, the Ulysses contract, or the marshmallow test.  Write about the concept, assuming that your reader is unfamiliar with it.  Define the term, give concrete examples of what it looks like, and provide a rationale for why it is a concept that should be in everyone’s cognitive toolkit.

Sources:

1-Dunn, Elizabeth, Lara Aknin, and Michael Norton. “Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness,” www.sciencemag.org March 21, 2008.

2-Dickens, Charles.  A Christmas Carol. Project Gutenberg.