Science, Math and Law of Wander

QUESTIONS, DISCUSSIONS, ACTIVITIES

  • Where does the word planet come from?

  • Make a plan for a scale model of the solar system for both distance and planet size. Can you see it without a telescope or microscope? Why not?

  • SUNNY rhymes about the yogurt shop but is also describing the science of the Sun. What is the simplified solar fusion reaction and how does SUNNY relate that to the students in eight steps?

  • SUNNY is always working. What word in physics is equivalent to work?

  • Why is half the work unseen?

  • What is an order of magnitude?

  • Who does the man behind the curtain refer to? Do you agree that SUNNY is not like him?

  • What is perihelion precession?

  • What is Mercury’s precession famous for?

  • Could there really be a place on Mercury that is the perfect temperature for humans? Write a short story about a group of people who attempt to live in such a place and what they might need to do to stay in that habitable zone. Or just read 2312.

  • What is the difference between a solar and sidereal day?

  • Make a model or poster to show how they differ on Venus.

  • What is the greenhouse gas effect?

  • What is the carbon dioxide level on Venus compared to Earth?

  • Describe the phases of the Moon and how they are portrayed in Living Room Scene and Twilight Talk.

  • What is the “youngest” Moon(hours after new moon) that has ever been sighted with the naked eye?

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  • What do you think of a manned mission to Mars?

  • What are the main obstacles to a manned Mars colony?

  • What is terraforming?

  • What are the two factors that determine the surface gravity of a planet?

  • Based on the information in More Real, what is the surface gravity on Mars compared to Earth?

  • Give the background of the ten cultural references to Mars in More Real (nine are easy to find, the tenth one is tougher).

  • What is a gravitational slingshot and how does it work?

  • What was the significance of Galileo’s sighting of Jupiter’s four moons?

  • Describe the route Cassini took to Saturn.

  • Prepare a report on the Dragonfly mission.

  • How could diamonds possibly be so common on Uranus?

  • What is an astronomical unit?

  • Describe the Voyager 1 and 2 space probe missions.

  • Would a beam of light really take “half a thousandth ‘a light year” to get from Earth to Neptune?

  • Should Pluto be a planet? To make a truly informed decision, first read: How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown and Chasing New Horizons by Alan Stern and David Grinspoon

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COMBINATIONS AND PERMUTATIONS

Do you relate to any of the characters in WANDER? Perhaps you see yourself as a mixture of a few of them. How many different ways could you combine two or three of the characters? You can’t choose MR. or MRS. EARTH and you certainly can’t be SUNNY.

So there are seven planets remaining (let’s call MERCURY “Y”, and MARS “Z” and then there’s V,J,S,U and N and the four students A,B,C and D for a total of eleven. If you were to consider a person who takes after three of the eleven, how many unique individuals could you make? If you imagine instead there were ten choices you might think that would be like saying how many different numbers can you make by choosing three numbers. The answer is one thousand, that is, 000 to 999, or 10x10x10. But that involves many instances of repeating the same number and we must have three different numbers if we are to apply that to our fictional character.

Going back to ten numbers, after choosing the first digit there are only nine choices for the second and eight for the third so that gives 10x9x8=720 that can be made without repeating a digit. But that’s still too many. To see why, think about making a pizza by choosing three different toppings. Is there any difference between pepperoni, sausage and mushroom(my favorite) and sausage, mushroom, and pepperoni? Of course not, it doesn’t matter what order the toppings were put on. Likewise 538 and 385 are unique numbers but from a pizza—or personality—standpoint, they are identical. So instead of counting how many permutations we can make, in which the order is important, we want to calculate how many combinations we can make. The order doesn’t matter when making combinations.

In order to make this calculation we must use the factorial function, which is designated by an exclamation point! Since we are picking three characters, we want to know how many different ways we can arrange three items. That would be 3! or 3x2x1=6. (such as A,B,C; A,C,B; B,A,C; B,C,A; C,A,B; C,B,A)

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Again looking at the 720 permutations of three numbers without repeating, we realize that there are six different ways of arranging any three numbers so we end up with 720/6=120 different combinations. And with pizzas and people it’s combinations that count.

So now let’s answer the original question picking three of the eleven characters available. There are eleven choices for the first, ten for the second and nine for the third and 11x10x9=990. Since order doesn’t matter we have to divide by the six different ways of listing three items and 990/6=165. Thus we can create 165 unique individuals by picking three of the eleven characters.

But perhaps you see yourself perfectly portrayed by just two characters. How many unique people can we make from eleven choosing two? Using the same approach, there are eleven choices for the first and ten for the second and 11x10=110. There are two ways of ordering two items and since order doesn’t matter we divide 110 by 2 to get 55. Of course if you were to pick just one character there are eleven possibilities.

To sum things up, there are 11+55+165=231 possible personalities obtainable by picking either one, two or three of the eleven characters.

By convention(meaning I just decided it), letters are listed alphabetically. Maybe you can find yourself among the 231.

Rob (ADU)

If you’ve actually read through this whole explanation, perhaps you can find someone who’s lonely, loving and lively. NSY anyone?

60.

FAIR USE

Five of the planets sing songs that are parodies of hit songs from the past. While the lyrics have been completely changed, the melody, rhyme scheme and theme of the original is copied. Is this allowed without permission of the authors?

The original songs have all been copyrighted and are protected by the Copyright Act, however a section(#107) of the act allows for the fair use of the material without permission. There are no hard and fast rules to decide whether this fair use doctrine would be allowed as each situation is judged on the benefit of the new work to society balanced against the rights of the copyright owners. There are however very clear guidelines as to how to evaluate these competing claims.

A parody of a song, like those in WANDER, brings up the original work by imitating some aspect of it, often for humorous intent. While parodies are generally allowed under the fair use doctrine, more intense examination is required to see if the new work truly qualifies. This is done by evaluating four factors in each case. While there has been a great deal written, and many cases decided based on these, they remain merely guidelines with no formula available to predict the outcome. Let’s look at these four factors and how they relate to WANDER.

1)The purpose of the new work, which in this case is educational and non commercial, is viewed very favorably.

2)The nature of the copyrighted work, which as songs are highly creative makes fair use less likely.

3)The amount of the copyrighted work used, in this case the entire melody works against fair use but does not by itself mean that fair use is denied.

4)The effect of the use upon the potential market, in this case is negligible as no one would ever see the parody as a replacement for purchasing the original.

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A final analysis requires going back to number 1 and asking whether the new work is transformative or merely supersedes (takes the place of) the original. This was a key factor in the 1994 Supreme Court 9-0 decision that allowed 2 Live Crew to record their version of the Roy Orbison hit Pretty Woman. Justice Souter wrote: “the more transformative the new work, the less will be the significance of other factors...that may weigh against a finding of fair use”

Transform means to change. Do the songs in WANDER bring up the original yet add new meaning? Absolutely. In each case, the main theme of the original, brought to mind by the melody(or course the point is to use the whole song) is maintained yet by changing the perspective from a person (or superhero) to a giant sphere of rock, gas or ice, the message is completely altered—for educational purpose. This is the heart of parody.

Consider the five songs:

ORIGINAL - Marrakesh Express by Graham Nash, 1969. A fast paced song about a train “traveling through clear Moroccan skies”, Nash describes what he sees.

WANDER - Mercury Express is a fast planet speeding around the Sun as it describes itself.

Coincidentally, the song before this one on the album is: Suite:Judy Blue Eyes, which is about...

Judy Collins...sings Stephen Sondheim’s 1973 Send in the Clowns about a seemingly well matched couple but bad timing prevents them from being together.

WANDER - Too Many Clouds is about two planets so similar and near to each other but clouds prevent visits.

ORIGINAL - Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top, 1983 Dusty Hill of ZZ Top says “It’s all in your head. If you feel sharp you be sharp.

WANDER - One Big Planet Jupiter believes it’s the planet with the mostest.

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ORIGINAL - You’re Only Human(Second Wind), 1985 Billy Joel encourages depressed teens to work past difficulties and wait for things to improve.

WANDER - Not A Human(Second Sound) An unremarkable planet with a funny name asks visitors to look a little deeper to find value.

ORIGINAL - Superman(Not Easy) by Five for Fighting, 2001 Just because you’re a superhero doesn’t mean life is easy.

WANDER - Neptune(Not Easy To See) Just because you’re a big beautiful planet doesn’t mean you can be seen and appreciated.

The most well known parodist, “Weird Al” Yankovic, does get permission to perform his work but it is widely felt that he is not required to do this. If his work, which is commercial and hardly educational, qualifies as fair use, there is no question that the songs of WANDER are fair use as well.