Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Well, I finished the tide graph discussions in all three classes today. I ended with the analysis and description of the third graph, which unlike the first two, were only made after the graphs had been submitted. The point of the third graph anyway is for them to come up with the correct appearance of the Four Daily Tides, by coming up with some missing values when the day has only one or two tides listed. I gave them the rules for predicting the numbers, including the fact that the low high tide of the day should be lower that the hig low tide.

I made the submission of the third graph for Monday, after which we will start a new topic, which is either more constellations or the next cycle of nature, Seasons, which have been mentioned when we discussed the Tides.

This was opportune even for the 230pm class, who were supposed to have an easy time because one of their classmates borrowed the spreadsheet file for graphing the tides, but she didn't give the file to the rest of the class.

I also collected the payments for the handful of students who are going on the field trip on Sunday next week.

After all of my classes the two girls who were part of computer science thesis group making astronomy software wanted to show me their efforts so far.

The main screen had galaxy type blobs for all the subtopics. I had to suggest numbers there so that students following the curriculum would know the proper order of going through the sections.

In the constellations section, all the constellations were listed down, even though a full 40% of them are not visible from the city with the naked eye. So I suggested that they divide them into two categories, the major ones, which they have a better chance of seeing, and then list the rest for completion.

The animation for the retrograde motion, the eclipses and the transition were good. I just asked them to add the shadows (of the Earth and the Moon) for the eclipses, and some actual photos of the recent Mercury transition from the internet.

I gave them the files of my other thesis advisee, although I haven't gotten his source code for his program yet, which I will next time we meet. I also gave them the revisions of his paper.

They were concerned that his fate would mirror theirs, when I said I had more confidence in their programming abilities. I guess it's easier for them to see things from his perspective being in the same boat, generally even if not the same type of boat.

I'll discuss the role of their third member, and the questions he had been asking me, next time.