This reminds me a bit of the story I read in Science News yesterday
<http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20071124/bob10.asp> about the poor
state of bridges in the US. The article discusses maintenance problems
such as are suspected for the Minneapolis bridge collapse this past
August but also discusses some design and engineering problems. Amongst
them are suspension bridge cables that pick up on a harmonic vibration
with only moderate wind speeds of 20-50 kilometers/hour. The
interesting thing for these problem bridges is that the vibration with
wind only occurs if it is also raining. The working hypothesis is that
rivulets of water running down the cable change its aerodynamic response
to wind. The engineers are formulating various solutions by either
tying cables one to the other or adding features to the cables to break
up the flow of water. Meanwhile, the computer modelers haven't a clue
as to how to approach the problem. Don't wait for them if you have to
cross the bridge. :-)
Chuck Norcutt
iwert bernakiewicz wrote:
>> Always learning something new from you and this list.
>>
>> Found that there's only a story which says this was craved at the
>> entrance:
>>
>> "Let none ignorant of geometry enter here."
>
>
> well, THAT sounds more like it! geometry is very much underrated in our
> school system nowadays.
> (which is clearly visible in our belgian "modern" surroundings, these are
> more like "mathematics" :).
>
> And no, I do like mathematics (and am not bad at it either). What I meant
> earlier about complicated i related to other themes in my professional
> suroundings, and I had a grumpy morning with three kids with VERRRY much
> their own will.
>
> At the moment Europe obliges us, University Colleges to "academise". Result
> is that only "doctors in architecture" will be able to teach our students.
> So we'll get all these people who aren't clever enough to build who will
> teach new people how to build. The first batch arrived and thinks it is
> really unnecessary to teach bachelors drawing, observation of context, form
> studies or the art of composition. It takes too much time and you know,
> these computer programs do all this... No our bachelors should start right
> away doing research (and designing a plan is NOT research to them). And
> everything should be objective as well, as if the Pantheon is objective. It
> is a marvellous piece of built environment. No, they want to translate a
> beguinage into mathematics. I recognise this is ONE way to see reality, and
> it is even usefull, but it is not the ONLY way reaity can be described. Nah!
> Please leave them to the University, we'll cope our own way, and do some
> usefull research, around real problems...
>
> Or put another way:
>
> *
> *
>
> La science n'est pas la seule voie d'accès à la Vérité.
>
> *L'amour, la poésie, la forme, le rêve… sont aussi des formes du savoir.*
>
> *
> *
>
> *(Alquié, Ferdinand (1982, 27 juin) 'Le Savoir Affectif' Le Monde Dimanche, 27
> juin 1982, p.xi)*
>
> *
> *
>
> *
> *
>
> Iwert.
>
> *
> *
>
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