Message Archive - Ph 137, Winter 2009
(0)
Weather Underground: Current Alaska Conditions.
(permanent)
(1) Welcome to Physics
137. Have a great semester!
(December 29, 2008)
(2) Earn extra-credit points by identifying your
instructor's mistakes. If you encounter an error in the course outline or any
of the other course
materials posted on-line, be the
first to notify your instructor and earn one point of extra credit (the same as
the credit value of a correct quiz
response) for each mistake you find.
Notify me by email at
cgchristensen@byu.edu.
(Errors discovered in the links over which I have no
control don't count.)
(December 29, 2008)
(3) If you are unable to submit a CID# via the link posted on the course
outline, please email your
CID#
to
cgchristensen@byu.edu.
Thank you.
(January 7, 2009)
(4) Three years ago a
Ph 137 student with a desire to become a TV weatherman sought some career advice
from me. As I am not a meteorologist,
I contacted Mark Eubank of KSL-TV who was
the senior Channel 5 weatherman at that time (he is the father of current
Channel 5
weatherman Kevin Eubank) for his advice. Some of
you may be interested in his
response. (January 7,
2009)
(5)
Current US snow cover map.
(January 9,
2009)
(6) Megan will be
available to assist with homework this coming Saturday (January 17) from 10:30
am until 1 pm in C247 ESC (our classroom).
(January 12,
2009)
(7) Megan has scheduled
C261 ESC for a Thursday evening homework help session from 5 pm until 7 pm.
(Rooms were not available at an
earlier time.) (January 14,
2009)
(8) Is there
evidence for an inversion? (January 18,
2009)
(9)
Is the inversion
still present?
(January
21, 2009)
(10) A few
of you have not been submitting homework. If you make this choice, since 20
percent of your possible earned points are based on
homework, it will likely have a
severe negative impact on your grade.
(January 30,
2009)
(11)
Click here for image of last week's eastern ice storm.
(February 2,
2009)
(12) Someone (who did very well) submitted today's quiz with the CID# of 4610.
I have no record of such a CID#. Please identify yourself, either
by email or in class on Friday, and I
will award you your earned points.
(February 11, 2009)
(13) The score histogram for Unit Test #1 has been posted.
(February 13, 2009)
(14) Megan
will be conducting a homework help session and unit review for Test #2 at 5-7 pm
on Thursday, February 19, in C261 ESC.
(February 18, 2009)
(15)
The scheduled dates for Unit Test #2 have been changed from
Thursday-Saturday, February 19-21, to Friday-Monday, February 20-23. If
this
change creates a scheduling problem
for anyone, please contact your instructor on Thursday and arrangements can be
made for you to take
the exam as originally scheduled.
As before, the last day will be
considered a late day and a fee will be assessed.
(February 18, 2009)
(16)
Again, your instructor invites you to seek clarifications and earn extra credit in
the process by submitting "fog" questions. Please review the
statement on "fog" in
the syllabus. (February 20,
2009)
(17)
The assignments for in-class weather forecasts have been added to the class
schedule. The order of the presentations was determined at
random. If anyone has a problem
with the date assigned you please let your instructor know immediately.
There are certain expectations
I have for these presentations.
Please click
here to see my expectations.
(February 23, 2009)
(18)
Why Ice-fishing in Alaska sucks.
(February 23, 2009)
(19)
Review the
five toughest questions on Unit Test #2.
(February 26, 2009)
(20) I have noted in that past that some, mostly
non-local, students have been confused when we have discussed local weather
because it is often
convenient to describe it in the context of
local geography. To reduce such confusion I have
here posted a
local topographical map on which
are identified those features most likely
to be mentioned in class. Please study this map until you are familiar with its
named locations and
features. This should be of some help to
those giving forecasts and to all in interpreting those forecasts.
(February 26, 2009)
(21)One of you
submitted homework assignment #5 with a CID# of 0219. No one in the class
has such a number, so, whoever you are, you
received no points for that assignment.
Please identify yourself and I will award you the points you earned.
(March 2, 2009)
(22) Megan has
reserved 285 SWKT on Tuesday from 3-5 pm for a Test #3 review.
(March 16, 2009)
(23)
Extra Credit Opportunity!
This week's Physics Department colloquium will feature Barry Klein from UC,
Davis, whose topic will be"Climate
Change and Energy Issues: a Challenging
Complex System in Search of a Solution: Travels of a Physicist into Energy
and Environmental
Policy Issues." This presentation
will occur at 4 pm on Wednesday in C215 ESC. You may earn 10 points of
extra credit by attending, then
submitting a statement to me on Friday
giving your CID# and stating "One thing I learned from Dr. Klein's lecture was
_________________."
(Don't forget to fill in the blank.)
The presentation will be at a level that could be a bit challenging to follow,
but I believe you will benefit by
attending. Please come a few minutes
early and enjoy some of the refreshments provided for attendees.
(March 16, 2009)
(24)
Thanks to David Paul for these images of a
recent Austin, Texas, hailstorm as captured by his brother.
(March 30, 2009)
(25)
Megan will be unavailable for the normal Thursday homework help session this
week. If you need her assistance please contact her via email
at
stargirl_199@yahoo.com.
(April 1, 2009)
(26)
Blowing snow on
Cascade Mountain, last week.
(April 3, 2009)
(27)
Thistle landslide, April, 1983.
(April 3, 2009)
(28)
Click here to see
a photo of palm trees in Barrow, Alaska (on the shore of the Arctic Ocean).
(April 6, 2009)
(29)
Click here to see the times and places for Megan's
upcoming reviews for homework and tests.
(April 6, 2009)
(30) For 5 extra
credit points, please complete the on-line teacher evaluation. To
receive your points, do not hide your identity. (It is not linked to
your responses.) Thank you.
(April 13, 2009)
(31)
For your entertainment (since its the
last day of class): Beware the motives of your admirers!
(April 13, 2009)
(32)
Tip for a better test
performance.
(April 13, 2009)
(33) To all those
students who attempted to attend the semester review session on Wednesday, I
offer my apology. For some reason I thought I
had scheduled the session at 12:00
pm, not 11:00 am, so I came one hour late. I am truly sorry that I caused
you the inconvenience of
coming to a help session that didn't
happen. Although I cannot give you back the time you wasted, I have
rescheduled the review session for
tomorrow (Thursday) and I promise I
will not miss this one. It is at 10:00 am, in 445 MARB (our
classroom is not available), and will last
until 11:45 am or until there are no
more questions, whichever comes first. I hope to see many of you there.
(April 15, 2009)
(34) I must leave the review session tomorrow by 11:45 am to attend an
afternoon retreat for a university committee on which I serve. However
Megan will be available until 1 pm,
but the review must move to 393 CB for the 12-1 hour.
(April 15, 2009)
(35) (a) Your unit
exams and graded homework are available in a box outside my office door.
(b) There was a key error on unit test #4. Many of
you will receive a couple more
points, but it will be a few days before I make the correction. (c) The
observing projects are not yet graded. I
will put them out with the homework
after they are all graded. (d) I hope you've enjoyed the snow. (e)
See you all on Monday at 11 am.
(April 17, 2009)
(36) Unit Test #4 scores have been corrected. 14 of you received 2 more
points; 5 of you received 2 fewer points; all others had no change of
score.
(April 20, 2009)
(37) Have a great spring and summer!
(April 22, 2009)
