November 12, 2024 - Reef, Ray, Math, Babe
This week I walked through murals to see live music in a cool new joint, went down under to see a super tall reef, and failed to solve an SAT math problem.
Nuggets of Information: I Come From a Land Down Under
One of my favorite trivia questions is “What is the largest structure on earth made by living creatures?” Answer: The Great Barrier Reef. That was the trivia question at Caribou Coffee 20 years ago, and my correct answer earned me a size upgrade on my mochaccinolattespresso. Here is some more recent trivia about the Great Barrier Reef.
Scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute discovered a 500 meter/1,200 foot reef structure in the waters off North Queensland. This is the first such reef to be uncovered in over a century. The researchers stumbled upon the massive structure as they mapped the seafloor of the northern stretches of the Great Barrier Reef.
For context, this structure is taller than the Empire State Building and the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia. According to the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s website:
“The base of the blade-like reef is 1.5km-wide, then rises 500m to its shallowest depth of only 40m below the sea surface. This newly discovered detached reef adds to the seven other tall detached reefs in the area, mapped since the late 1800s, including the reef at Raine Island–the world’s most important green sea turtle nesting area.”
If you have 4 hours to kill, here is a video of the live stream that shares the dive and reveal of the massive structure.
Enrichment: Blocks & Drums & Rays & Vinyl
Last Saturday, I spent time at Block & Drum, a new music & events venue close to our home, along the Chamblee Rail Trail. Over the last year, during my morning walks, I watched as they developed this complex, and the results are impressive.
As you approach from the Rail Trail, to the left is a coffee shop, and through the primary entrance you walk in to the main lounge area – with a long bar to the left, and plenty of sofas and sitting areas. This is the HiFi lounge, and the decor is retro, hip and comfortable. On Sundays, they hold their “Spin & Swap” event, where you can “join Justin in the booth to spin a few tracks of your own vinyl on the Technic 1200 50th anni-edition turntables and bear witness to the sweet sounds of our hifi system. Bring your crates to share & swap!”
Passing through the lounge, you emerge onto the massive back courtyard, featuring an expansive lawn area (with a big rack of folding beach chairs available for all to use), a large, covered stage and second covered area to the left that accommodates a food truck. There is a large indoor event space to the right of the lounge/courtyard area as well. The entire complex is well-designed, with cool stylish elements throughout.
Block and Drum also features their own line of spirits. “At BLOCK & DRUM, guests can observe our cutting-edge vacuum still in action or dive deeper into our craft-spirit production on an immersive tour, where they can even create a custom bottle infused with ultra-fresh botanicals grown in our on-site indoor hydroponic vertical farm. Using sustainable, organic farming techniques and complemented by a rainwater harvesting system, our farm supplies the unique flavors that make our spirits truly one-of-a-kind, all while showcasing our commitment to sustainability and urban agriculture.” As a teetotaler, I passed on the spirits, but the bartender made me a lovely mocktail with blueberry puree, lemon, blackberry fizzy water and some other delightful ingredients.
I was there to see The Ray Minors, who have graced these pages before, and surely will again. Their original incarnation, The Rays, was also a local fave, and this new formation is twice as large, with an expanded repertoire. We really dig their vibe man! They had played the night before at another new space – Wild Heaven Beer’s location at Toco Hills. Apparently, they broke out a cover of Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.” While they didn’t play that one Saturday, they did have a great set – one of my faves was their cover of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
It was a beautiful night, with great music, lots of friends, in a cool, hip locale. You know what Mick? Sometimes you not only get what you want, but you also get what you need.
Workshop: Easy as 1 + 2 = 3?
If you are college-aged or older, and miss the fun of SAT math questions, today is your lucky day. Check out the problem above, take as much time as you need, and see what you come up with. I’ll wait.
Okay – how did you do? Did you pick B = 3? Hmm – sorry. That’s not right. That seems right, but is not. The circumference of a circle is 2πr. If circle B is 3 times the radius of circle A, or 2π3r, then the circumference of circle B would seem to be three times the circumference of circle A, which equals 3 revolutions. But it isn’t that simple.
This question was on the SAT back in 1982. Of the 300,000 people who took the test, exactly 0 got the correct answer. The reason why: the people who wrote the question included 5 possible answers, but none of them were correct. The correct answer, or more accurately, possible correct answers, were not listed. Three students (Sivan Kartha, Bruce Taub and Doug Jungreis) caught the error, wrote to the College Board, and clearly explained the mistake. The College Board acknowledged their mistake, issued a public apology, and changed the scores of everyone who took the test. Whoops!
So what is the correct answer? That is complicated. There are several acceptable answers to that problem. This video from Veritasium does a great job explaining. I encourage you to watch it. But here is what I got from their video.
Answer = 4. Take two quarters and do the same exercise above – roll one around the other. Since they have identical circumferences, you would expect to see one full rotation. Try it. It takes TWO rotations. This is known as the Coin Rotation Paradox. If you cut out the shapes in the problem above, and physically rotate the little one around the big one, you would get FOUR rotations. The formula that explains this is: Circumference B/Circumference A + 1.
Answer = 3. Wait – isn't 3 wrong? It is, but there is a way to get three. It involves looking from the center of circle B at circle A. If you observed from the middle of B, it would look like A is going around three times. From any other perspective, it looks like 4 rotations. This isn’t what the SAT problem asks, but this concept will be important in a bit.
Answer = 1. This answer is a little bit of a stretch, but is still valid. The question states “At the end of how many revolutions of circle A will the center of circle first reach its starting point?” If you paid attention in astronomy class, think about what our planet does in relation to the sun. It revolves around the sun. It rotates on its axis. So – how many revolutions did circle A make around circle B? One. I said this one was a stretch, because there is a definition of revolution that includes rotating on one’s axis. But still...
Back to the answer being 4. This is always true – take a circle rotating on ANY object – ANY shape – inside OR outside. The distance traveled by the center of the circle is the SAME as the number of times the circle has rotated.
Remember above in the second option where from the observation point inside circle B it looked like circle a went around 3 times? Here’s where that becomes interesting. It takes 24 hours for the sun to be in the same spot as it was the day before. But if you are looking at a star at night, it takes 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds to be in the same spot as the night before. That is a sidereal day. From earth, one year is 365.24 days. But from an observer NOT on earth, watching us revolve around the sun, they see us taking 366.24 days.
24:00:00 x 365.24 = 8765.76 hours
23:56:04 x 366.24 = 8765.76 hours
Still not clear? Brain hurt a little? Watch the video. It does a way better job than I do explaining it.
Selected Content: Babe Walls
Earlier I wrote about going to see the Ray Minors at Block & Drum. That show was part of a big weekend in the area – the 5th annual Babe Walls Festival, this year held along Chamblee’s Rail Trail. Babe Walls is a 501(c)3 non-profit that supports and celebrates women and non-binary artists worldwide. From their website: “We are organized as a safe place for women and non-binary folx, who not only have made their name in the mural world, but to also give opportunities to up and coming artists that don’t know how to make the first step. Each artist collaborates with another artist to create a work of art that not only shows their strengths and styles as artists, but the commonality of femininity, as well as an underlying aspect of mentorship.”
The stretch of Chamblee’s Rail Trail from the tunnel under Peachtree Boulevard to the area under the Clairmont bridge was the canvas. Dozens of artists spent the weekend creating beautiful, fun and inspiring murals. Here is a video I took as I walked from Block & Drum back towards Keswick Park.
I’m a big fan of Babe Walls’ mission, and what they created in our neighborhood. Now more than ever, our communities need art and music that highlight a broad diversity of backgrounds, beliefs and interests. For more details, check out www.babewalls.com.