Precept
What did you do over break?
Izzie: was in Princeton for Lacrosse, played some games, traveled a bit, lost, had fun
Hudson: also went to Kentucky, rock climbing
Grace: In Princeton, rowed
Alex: lacrosse
Allie: went to Philadelphia for a breakout trip. Community engagement through the arts
Other Allie: home to San Diego, surfed
Parker: went to maine, visited friends
Oscar: Rowed
Jamie: did an exchange program with St Johns College at Cambridge University
Micah: did Breakout trip to New York studied marginilization of LGBTW community
Vidur: fire trianing, got first call, “ahh”
Diego: visited family in Texas
Chris: went to Ireland with Rugby team
Last Lab
Chris (top end): put together the motorcycle lift
Izzie (fork): practiced starting a motorcycle with Glenn and Alex and Parker, was successful
Hudson (Clutch): took apart kick start pedal and clutch lever, cleaned it and figured out ball bearing and spring. Worked on explaining the transmission
Grace (wheels): continued to clean the spokes
Alex (fork): started motorcycles
Allie: cleaned spokes with drill
Other Allie (clutch): trying to decipher clutch system
Jim (fasteners): cleaned carburetor, polished. Today will be putting assembled carburetor onto a different motorcycle
Parker (top end): finished cleaning parts
Oscar (bottom end): assembled the hydraulic motorcycle lift
Jamie (bottom end): bottom end team was missing some washers so Noel took her upstairs to the stock room and retrieved some new parts
Catherine (frame): disassembled part of the kickstand to go to the powder coater, finished cataloguing parts to send to powder coater (stuff should be in shop next Tuesday). Also cut rubber away from the foot pedals
Comments on Martinelli:
Remarkable that he spent so much time devoted to learning math even though that’s not what he wanted to do, he only did it so that he could eventually design a better airplane.
Cool that all he wanted to do was make a better airplane. So simple, yet so complex.
Reading discussion:
Chapter 11
Motorcycle references
• Adjustment of the air fuel ratio as altitude increased. Air thins as altitude increased, ratio had to be adjusted accordingly
• Backfiring on 125, related to air fuel mixture (becomes to rich and hydrocarbons pop)
• 132, a priori motorcycle
• 128
○ A priori
○ The motorcycle he is riding is full of sensations that he is perceiving of the world around him
○ Is there a difference between that and the concept of the motorcycle that lays in his mind
• Looking at the dame object from different angles changes perspective, but when you have an understanding of the whole it becomes a different view of the same thing
• A priori means inherent within yourself, from birth
○ “A Priori motorcycle” is perhaps disingenuous
• The idea he’s driving is that is that he has a conceptual view of what a motorcycle is, separate from the sensory experience
• If you have a concept of what a motorcycle is then there are things that you look for, but if you were just observing the sensory experience there will be things that you miss.
• Understanding of the whole influences the perspective and experience
• There are only two true a priori concepts: Time and Space
• Betty Edwards, Neuroscientist and artist
○ Drawing on the left side of the brain (book)
○ Has people draw a face from a picture she puts on the wall
○ She then turns the picture upside down and has them copy
○ She finds that untrained artists are way better at copying things upside down than from right side up
○ Because we are more accurate when we do things separately from our previous understanding of them
• Example of Copernicus
○ Sensory experience didn’t change, but his understanding of the way planets moved did change
Chapter 12
Motorcycle References
• Pg. 137 plastic bubble – windbreaker of helmet
• Phaedrus understood systems and was able to be more functional as a result
Content
• Duise returns, she was more so a figure from Phaedrus’s life and not his, she knows Phaedrus, not him
• Interesting to see the character development
○ The author is coming closer to Phaedrus and steadily developing over the course of the trip
• 139, perspective of technology
○ The Sutherlands fear the technology, while the narrator embraces it
• Two completely different attitudes toward technology with the same understanding (zero)
• Phaedrus identifies most with the students who are failing, he is widely misunderstood
• Phaedrus does not think very highly of eastern philosophy
• “everything you think you are and everything you think you perceive are undivided”
○ Rejected
• Logic does not give you everything
Chapter 13
No references
Content
• Whenever there is an outside force that dictates what you are allowed to do, it significantly limits what you are able to do
○ Complete independence is therefore almost impossible
• Such a high level of isolation established environment
• Environment influences experience
○ Collegiate gothic architecture inspires excellence
• There are benefits to isolation, but breaking out is necessary
• Space can be very inspiring and can have a big impact on your perspective
○ Connection to the history of a space can be important
• We often desire to maintain a certain perspective, and that dictates what we do
• Regulations imposed upon us significantly limit the autonomy that we have
• It’s very important to have a space that is safe and conducive to learning and community, but perhaps past a certain point it is futile