This morning I became aware of the Up-Goer Five Text Editor. The editor was inspired by this XKCD cartoon that explains how the Saturn V rocket works using only the ten hundred words people use most often.
XKCD and scientists go together. And so many have now used this editor to write about research. There is even an archive for these short essays. Some are quite compelling and elegant. I especially like this one about the Boltzmann equation. So I tried myself:
I study hot water coming out of cracks in rocks at the bottom of the big wide water world. How hot? How fast? How much? I study with a water car that a computer makes follow track lines. The numbers from the water car go into a computer to answer the questions.
Why do I do this? Stuff in the hot water helps animals live without the sun. When the rocks at the bottom shake and break, the moving of the water changes and the stuff in it. Then the life of the animals change.
Kind of like Tom Swift explaining things.
What is disturbing is that many very important words to oceanographers are not in the top ten hundred words. Not ocean. Not sea. Not salt. Astronomers have stars, space, and time. Mathematicians have numbers and lines. Computer scientists have bits and computers. Life isn’t fair!
Posted by russmcduff 
Stance and Balance 