Chikara @chikara@qoto.org

#art #ukiyo-e #pigment #chemistry #chemie #metallurgy #metallurgie

@design_RG The black-and-white cat in this 1850 ukiyo-e looks interesting -- a real trouble-maker.

UTAGAWA SCHOOL. Cats were a frequent subject for many Edo period artists, including those known collectively as the Utagawa school. -- see Google image search for "utagawa kunisada cat" https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&sxsrf=ACYBGNQbwBxtT_OyGr9ucjKlOPAkZJKxUw:1575944326696&q=utagawa+kunisada+cat&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj51ZyOgqrmAhWtTt8KHbnwDhIQ4216BAgKEDs&biw=1920&bih=920

Three popular artists were known by the same name, which makes it a bit confusing for us; but think about it -- this "branding" strategy would have been a good marketing tactic in the competitive art market in Edo in the early 19th century:

• Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - 1865) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunisada

• Utagawa Kunisada II (1823 - 1880) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utagawa_Kunisada_II

• Utagawa Kunisada III (1848-1920) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utagawa_Kunisada_III

According to the Wikipedia Commons page where I found our cat, the artist for this speicific print was Utagawa Kunisada -- but which one?

ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY. If you're interested, I found our bad-tempered cat by accident.

I was searching for poetry I might want to give as a Christmas present. And my the gift-giving research plan included trying to find an image of the poet to go along with the poem.

So, yesterday I was looking for Bunya no Yasuhide. -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun%27ya_no_Yasuhide

And if you look closely at our image, you'll see that the woman with a curious cat has her own ukiyo-e print on the wall in the background -- and it's a portrait of the poet I was looking for ...

ANALYSIS. I guess we could say that Google's search engine worked well this time?

QUESTION: What is the STEM-focused rationale which explains the many toots about cats in our QOTO venue?
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

#agriculture #botany #botanique #garden #jardinage #potager #garlic #ail

The South Korean women's curling team in the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics had a catchy nickname -- "the Garlic Girls." The name was invented by the Korean press. This name made sense because these athletes grew up together in a rural region known for its garlic fields. -- see "Garlic Girls Take Over the Olympics, and Their Hometown Is Loving It" (Scott Cacciola & Chang W. Lee). New York Times. February 20, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/sports/olympics/garlic-girls-korean-curling.html; and see Wikipedia "Garlic" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic

In the process of trying to learn more, I found an online image of a garlic monument in the Olympians' home town of Uiseong. -- see image below, big garlic with mountains in the background

Also I've found another garlic monument in South Korea. There is a sculpture of three huge garlic cloves on the island of Namhae. -- see image below

QUESTION: Do you know of any other garlic monuments or statues anywhere in the world?
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L'équipe sud-coréenne de curling féminin aux Jeux olympiques d'hiver de Pyeongchang 2018 avait un surnom accrocheur - «les filles de l'ail». Le nom a été inventé par la presse coréenne. Ce nom avait du sens parce que ces athlètes ont grandi ensemble dans une région rurale connue pour ses champs d'ail.

En train d'essayer d'en savoir plus, j'ai trouvé une image en ligne d'un monument à l'ail dans la ville natale des Olympiens d'Uiseong. - voir l'image ci-dessous, gros ail avec des montagnes en arrière-plan

J'ai aussi trouvé un autre monument à l'ail en Corée du Sud. Il y a une sculpture de trois énormes gousses d'ail sur l'île de Namhae. - voir l'image ci-dessous

QUESTION: Connaissez-vous d'autres monuments ou statues d'ail n'importe où dans le monde?
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

@design_RG What I'm doing is experimental. The subjects of my posts are unlike anything else I see.
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Yes, I can use CW in the way you propose. This is what I wrote:

"STEM ≥ technology heritage"
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Looking ahead, my best guess is that there would be little to no interest in a post about a Meiji era lighthouse at Shimonoseki which has been highlighted as a UNESCO World Heritage site -- see Wikipedia "Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sites_of_Japan%27s_Meiji_Industrial_Revolution:_Iron_and_Steel,_Shipbuilding_and_Coal_Mining
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I'm not especially interested in lighthouses, but this kind of superficial research creates a minimal foundation for my plan to look a little bit more closely at just one of the o-yatoi gaikokujin.
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"In addition to building lighthouses—the reason for his deployment to Japan from Edinburgh—Brunton drew the first detailed maps of Yokohama; planned its sewage, street, gas light and telegraph systems; and built its first iron bridge, for which he received an audience with the emperor, in 1871." -- see British Chamber of Commerce in Japan, "Scotland and Yokohama sign joint action pact," July 27, 2018. https://bccjapan.com/news/scotland-and-yokohama-sign-joint-action-pact/
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Technology transfer in the Meiji era produces consequences that are easy to grasp.
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The undated image below shows Honcho-dori in Yokohama, I'm guessing the poles on the street are for a telegraph line -- and if so, then Brunton designed and supervised their placement.
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Also, I think I see a gas light. If so, this is Brunton's work, too. So, I'm guessing the street scene is from sometime after 1871.
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QUESTION: Does superficial research into technology transfer in Japan in 1868-1912 suggest ways to parse the subject in current conditions -- for example, what does compare-and-contrast tell us about the expansion of cell phones and online banking in India? Or what about Chinese harbor infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka and/or Pakistan?
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING HERITAGE OF JAPAN
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The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) (日本機械学会 Nihon Kikai Gakkai) established Japan's Mechanical Engineering Heritage (MEH) program in 2007. -- see JSME, "About 'Mechanical Engineering Heritage'" https://www.jsme.or.jp/kikaiisan/index-e.html#section2
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The MEH listings highlight machines, related systems, factories, specification documents, textbooks, and other items that have had a significant impact on the development of mechanical engineering in Japan. JSME acts to preserve these historical artifacts. Each listed item is assigned a MEH number. -- see Wikipedia "Mechanical Engineering Heritage (Japan)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Engineering_Heritage_(Japan)#Collection_2
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The MEH list includes the apparatus first installed in 1870 in the Kashinozaki Lighthouse in Wakayama Prefecture. -- see Wikipedia "Kashinozaki Lighthouse" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashinozaki_Lighthouse; and see Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), "Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 83." https://www.jsme.or.jp/kikaiisa
n/heritage_083_en.html
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The light rotating system support pedestal and the rotating gear box at Kashinozaki are shown below.
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QUESTION: The fact that historical artifacts can help us to understand the process of technology transfer begs a few questions -- for example, what else could be or should be added to this list in Japan? Or what should be preserved in other countries where this kind of program doesn't exist?
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

LIGHTHOUSE WITH ROTATING LIGHTS

In the 1870s, the Japanese government built lighthouses with rotating lights. Some of these Meiji era lighthouses are still in use today.
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Eight lighthouses were first brought into service in the 1870s with the same mechanical light rotating system. This apparatus was designed and manufactured in Scotland; and then the equipment was shipped to Japan. The Japanese government hired Richard Henry Brunton to oversee this technology transfer process.-- see Richard Brunton (1991). "Building Japan: 1868-1876," pp. 24-25. https://books.google.com/books?id=q6GOdFknNDYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
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The heavy glass lens mechanism is only part of the optical instrument assembly in Japanese lighthouses built using European designs.
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The heart of the lighthouse is the light rotation apparatus which moves the lens. In the earliest Western-style lighthouses, the bulk of the lens and rotation gear is supported in a mercury bath. Mercury was used because of its low rotation friction. -- see Japan Coast Guard, Maritime Safety Department, "Past and Present of the Aids to Navigation of Japan," p. 6 (PDF p. 7 of 12) https://www.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/e/image/41_the%20aids%20to%20navigation%20of%20japan.pdf
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In the mechanical drawing below, the mercury bath is shown below in blue.
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The Kashinozaki Lighthouse in Wakayama Prefecture is one of the eight sites where the "modern" mercury bath pedestal support mechanism was installed by Brunton. -- see Wikipedia "Kashinozaki Lighthouse" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashinozaki_Lighthouse; and see Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), "Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 83." https://www.jsme.or.jp/kikaiisan/heritage_083_en.html
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QUESTION: The fact that the Japanese lighthouse apparatus was modeled on equipment used in Scotland begs a few questions -- for example, where were similar mercury bath pedestal support mechanisms in use in Scotland in the 1870s? Are there sites where this 19th century technology is still in use in the United Kingdom?
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

LIGHTHOUSE SYSTEM IN JAPAN
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One of the Japanese lighthouses designed by Richard Henry Brunton is the Kashinozaki Lighthouse on the island of Kii Ōshima in Wakayama Prefecture. It was built in 1870. The original second order Fresnel lens is still in use today. -- see Wikipedia "Kashinozaki Lighthouse" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashinozaki_Lighthouse; and see "Fresnel lens" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_lens
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In 2010, the optical Instruments of this lighthouse were officially designated part of Japan's mechanical engineering heritage. This apparatus was the heart of the first of eight Japanese lighthouses with rotating flashing lights. -- see Wikipedia "Mechanical Engineering Heritage (Japan)"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Engineering_Heritage_(Japan)#Collection_2
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QUESTION: I wonder why this specific lighthouse was the first using a rotating flashing light? My best guess is that the explanation isn't about hidden rocks in shallow waters close to shore.
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

LIGHTHOUSE SYSTEM IN JAPAN

In 1868, the Meiji government of Japan hired Richard Henry Brunton to oversee an ambitious lighthouse-building program. He formulated the basis of Japan's coastal navigation safety system and he built the initial infrastructure of lighthouses. -- see Japan Coast Guard, Maritime Safety Department, "Past and Present of the Aids to Navigation of Japan," p. 2 (PDF p. 3 of 12) https://www.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/e/image/41_the%20aids%20to%20navigation%20of%20japan.pdf
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The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1858 included a Japanese promise that the coast would be lighted and buoyed for the safety of general navigation. But the Japanese were slow in following up.-- see "Obituary - Richard Henry Brunton," Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 145 (1901), pp. 340–341. https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/imotp.1901.18577
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On December 7, 1866, the Tokugawa shogunate explained the delay, "It is impossible to decide where the lighthouses should be erected until accurate enquiries have been made, but in the meantime, we intend to procure the required apparatus." -- see Richard Brunton (1991). "Building Japan: 1868-1876," p. 23. https://books.google.com/books?id=q6GOdFknNDYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
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The process of procuring modern lighthouse equipment began in Japan on this day 153 years ago. Some of the original apparatus is still in use today. -- see below, two views of the rotating gear box at Kashinozaki in Wakayama Prefecture
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Scottish lighthouse builders David and Thomas Stevenson designed the first 13 lanterns and apparatus which were shipped to Japan. Brunton was in charge of building the lighthouses and installing the equipment.-- see Brunton. "Building Japan," pp. 24-25.
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Brunton would become known as the "father of Japanese lighthouses." He supervised the building and maintenance of more than 20 lighthouses still in use today.-- see Wikipedia "Richard Henry Brunton." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Henry_Brunton#cite_note-5; and see Existing Meiji-era Historical Lighthouses in "Past and Present," p. 5 (PDF p. 6 of 12) https://www.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/e/image/41_the%20aids%20to%20navigation%20of%20japan.pdf
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In 1868-1912, the cadre of specialists and experts like Brunto were called o-yatoi gaikokujin (御雇い外国人 honorable hired foreigners). -- see Wikipedia "Foreign government advisors in Meiji Japan" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_government_advisors_in_Meiji_Japan
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QUESTION: Did you know that the scientific study of lighthouses and signal lights, their construction and illumination is called "pharology"? -- see Wikipedia "Pharology" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharology
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

WATER-FILLED BOTTLES + LIGHT
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In the images below, Japanese ukiyo-e woodblocks are being carved using traditional methods, including the lighting
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A glass flask full of water hangs between the woodblock and a light bulb. When the light from the bulb hits the flask it is refracted in all directions and eliminates shadows from the surface of the woodblock, enabling the artisan to see the finest of lines. -- see Brigitte Koyama-Richard, "Modern-day Artisans Carry On the “Ukiyo-e” Tradition." Nippon. March 6, 2014. https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b02306/modern-day-artisans-carry-on-the-ukiyo-e-tradition.html
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QUESTION? I wonder how the many uses of optics and lighting technology developed in Japan? My best guess is that the use of a water-filled glass globe to affect light was introduced to Japan by the Dutch.
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

WATER-FILLED BOTTLES + LIGHT
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SPOTLIGHT. In the 1700s, spherical glass bottles filled with water were used to focus candlelight for fine work such as lace making and surgery. -- see "Water sphere lens" https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/water-sphere-lens; and see Brian Lemin, "The Great Deception, Lace-makers lamps"
https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/webdocs/lb_lamps.pdf
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DIFFUSED LIGHT. In a modern-day emergency, a clear plastic bottle filled with water can be used to diffuse light -- converting a flash light into a lantern which illuminates an area instead of just one spot -- see "Plastic Bottle Lantern" https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/radio/bosaiweb/craft/craft_20.html
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Sometimes I come across curious tidbits -- like this -- when I'm actively searching for something else. And I'm posting this just in case others might be interested, too.
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QUESTION? I wonder how the many uses of optics and lighting technology developed worldwide? My best guess is that the genesis of this story is probably in Europe.
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

@freemo Is it possible that the oldest ginkgo tree in Europe is alive and thriving in Utrecht?
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CONTEXT. In 1690-1692, Engelbert Kempfer worked at Japanese outpost of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC). He was the physician for small group of European men on Dejima island in Nagasaki harbor.
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In 1712, an account of Kempfer's time in Japan was published in Europe. Also, he published the names and botanical descriptions of 325 previously unidentified plants native to Japan. -- see Nagata, Toshiyuki dt al. (2015). " Engelbert Kaempfer, Genemon Imamura and the origin of the name Ginkgo," Taxon. 64 (10). March 2015. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273159910_Engelbert_Kaempfer_Genemon_Imamura_and_the_origin_of_the_name_GinkgoI; and see 1712 botanical illustration of the ginkgo below
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GINKGO IN UTRECHT.
According to Wikipedia, Kempfer was "the first western scholar to describe the tree Ginkgo biloba. He brought some Ginkgo seeds back that were planted in the botanical garden in Utrecht. The trees have survived to the 21st century." -- see "Engelbert Kempfter," Siam and Japan, 2nd paragraph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engelbert_Kaempfer#Siam_and_Japan
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QUESTION? Is this trivial fact about a very hardy Japanese tree well known in Utrecht? If so, what do you know?
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

#agriculture
#botany + #botanie
#garden + #jardin
#art

La collection d'aquarelles pomologiques du Département de l'agriculture des États-Unis (USDA) est une archive numérisée de 7,500+ illustrations botaniques.-- https://usdawatercolors.nal.usda.gov/pom/home.xhtml

Et il y a un bot informatique qui publie une de ces images toutes les trois heures. -- see fruit toots
@pomological

La haute qualité de cette illustration scientifique est remarquable. Vous pouvez voir par vous-même ci-dessous.

L'habileté de l'artiste qui a peint une coupe transversale d'une fraise a attiré mon attention - vous serez peut-être intéressé aussi.

Le détail des épines sur la tige de l'aquarelle d'une vigne à la framboise m'a incité à jeter un deuxième coup d'œil - et c'est seulement à ce moment-là que j'ai remarqué les fins poils des feuilles de framboise.

Il y a 3,800 aquarelles de pommes. Comme moi, peut-être que le sujet des variétés de pomme ne vous intéresse pas vraiment; mais peut-être existe-t-il une autre bonne raison de tirer parti de cette bot informatique.

HYPOTHESE: Puis-je entraîner mes yeux à être plus observateur en regardant simplement des milliers d'aquarelles de peaux de pommes?

THÉORIE: Chaque artiste de l’USDA n’utilisait que la compétence et la couleur pour persuader l’œil de percevoir une surface courbe au lieu d’un plan. Que se passerait-il si j'essayais de façon décontractée de comprendre comment cela se produit? Sans vraiment y travailler, j'imagine que je vais probablement mieux "voir" de subtiles variations de couleur dans les peaux de pomme. Et avec le temps, cette pratique répétée aura peut-être des conséquences sur ce que je peux observer dans le monde réel.

Juste une pensée. Qu'est-ce que vous pensez?

Le français n'est pas ma langue maternelle. S'il vous plaît corriger mon français écrit. Alors peut-être que je ne ferai pas les mêmes erreurs à l'avenir.

Fabrice Tual
@Fabrice_tual

Je me demande si ces illustrations botaniques à l'aquarelle pourraient vous intéresser?

HYPOTHESE: Le fait d’entraîner votre œil à voir les fines variations de détail des couleurs utilisées dans les aquarelles conventionnelles peut vous aider à reconnaître les variations de couleur dans les ukiyo-e japonais

#agriculture
#botany + #botanie
#garden + #jardin
#art

You may not know that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Pomological Watercolor Collection is a digitized archive of 7.5K botanical illustrations. -- https://usdawatercolors.nal.usda.gov/pom/home.xhtml

And there's a Fediverse bot which posts one of these images every three hours. -- see fruit toots
@pomological

The high quality of this scientific illustration is noteworthy. You can see for yourself below.

The skill of the artist who painted a cross-section of a strawberry caught my eye -- maybe you'll be interested, too.

The fine detail in the thorns on the stem of the watercolor of a raspberry vine caused me to take a second look -- and only then did I notice the fine hairs on the raspberry leaves.

There are 3.8K watercolors of apples. Like me, maybe you're not really interested in the subject of apple varieties; but maybe there's another good reason to take advantage of this bot option.

HYPOTHESIS: Can I train my eyes to be more observant by simply looking at thousands of watercolors of apple skins?

THEORY: Each USDA artist used only skill and color to fool the eye into perceiving a curved surface instead of a flat plane. What would happen if I try in a casual way to figure out how this happens? Without really working at it, I'd guess that I'll probably get better at "seeing" subtle color variations in the apple skins. And over time, maybe this repeated practice will produce consequences in what I'm able to observe in the real world.

Just a thought. What do you think?

PLUTO + Percival Lowell
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IMO, the most important thing about Pluto isn't its "discovery" in 1930.
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In truth, I'm not much interested in whether Pluto is or isn't labeled or classified as a "planet"
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What does fascinate me is Percival Lowell. In 1914, this American polymath predicted that there must be an object in the location where Pluto was eventually found. He used mathematical calculations to "guess" the existence of something that was not otherwise observable using the technology of the early 20th century. -- see "February 18, 1930" https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pluto-discovered
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One sentence captures my imagination in the 1930 news story which reported the first photographic evidence of a previously unknown object in space. -- see "Ninth Planet is Found Far from Neptune" (AP). Hartford Courant. March 14, 1930. https://www.courant.com/courant-250/moments-in-history/hc-march-13-1930-pluto-discovered-20140305-htmlstory.html

"All observations indicate
the object to be the one
Lowell saw mathematically."
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I'm fascinated by the phrase "saw mathematically."
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Today Pluto is no longer considered a "planet;" however, the search for a ninth solar system planet is ongoing -- see "There’s probably another planet in our solar system," MIT Technology Review. March 5, 2019. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613060/theres-probably-another-planet-in-our-solar-system/

The Associated Press news story published on March 13, 1930 reported that the first photographic image of a previously unknown object in space was made on January 21 at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. -- see "Ninth Planet is Found Far from Neptune" (AP). Hartford Courant. March 14, 1930. https://www.courant.com/courant-250/moments-in-history/hc-march-13-1930-pluto-discovered-20140305-htmlstory.html

This object was named Pluto in 1930. Did you know that an Italian astronomer, Emilio Bianchi, is credited with proposing the name we all know. -- see "Italian Scientists Propose 'Pluto' as New Planet's Name" (AP). Hartford Courant. March 25, 1930; and see "Emilio Bianchi," Pontifical Academy of Sciences. http://www.casinapioiv.va/content/accademia/en/academicians/deceased/bianchi.html

Pluto was called a planet between 1930 and 2006. -- see "February 18, 1930" https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pluto-discovered

@khird Thank you for explaining that "copypasta" is a colloquialism for content that gets duplicated.

I worry that the words in the bulleted segments below are copypasta. What I was trying to do is to use the words of the Oxford dictionary to make my meaning clear and easy to grasp.

I wrote, "The Mastodon Covenant functions as an axiom defined by Eugen Rochko for the Mastodon federation and for each Mastodon instance, yes? In other words,

• "the Mastodon Covenant is "a statement or proposition on which an abstractly defined structure [of the federation of Mastodon 'instances'] is based."

• "the Mastodon Covenant is "a statement or proposition on which an abstractly defined structure [of each Mastodon 'instance'] is based."

• "the Mastodon Covenant is "a statement or proposition on which an abstractly defined structure [of QOTO.org] is based."
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Three organizationally distinct entities are functionally the same in the unique context of words I copied from the Oxford dictionary. What I'm trying to do with this copypasta is clear, right?.
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In the diagrams below, the relationships may be more easily described and understood, yes?
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A. A and B are disjoint sets where
U = Mastodon Covenant
A = @QOTO.org
B = Any Mastodon instance other than @QOTO.org
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B. B is a proper subset of A where
U = Mastodon Covenant
A = Mastodon federation of instances
B = @QOTO.org
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QUESTION/AXIOM? The study of Mastodon federation, Mastodon instances and QOTO.org, including questions about QOTO arising from the Mastodon Covenant, is a STEM subject.
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

@design_RG Aha, at last. I get it.
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Sometimes I'm very slow. It took me more than an hour to figure out that "copy link to status" also requires one to click "paste" in the toot editor window -- a simple step, of course, but not immediately obvious to me
-- see "link to status" about lucky cats https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103194295398861618
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But I'm not always slow. For example, three days ago, you shared a ukiyo-e image of a man selling lucky cat figurines.
I knew at a glance that this mid-19th century street scene was only part of a larger print. A digitized version of the 1852 Hiroshige print is attached below. Please accept this as a small gesture of thanks. -- see Hiroshige, 5th of 7 views of street vendors in Edo https://www.hiroshige.org.uk/Other_Series/Other_Series.htm#FlourishingBusinessBalladtown

STEM-FOCUS + ANECDOTE?

In 2016, "The Hindu Business Line" published a feature article about one tangential consequence of the STEM incubator culture in Japan during the Meiji era (1868-1912).
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A key figure in this context was Lord Kelvin (William Thomson). Kelvin was a mathematical physicist. He sent many of his young students to work and teach in Japan. These students were known as oyatoi gaikokujin (‘honourable foreign employees’).
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One of these former students, John Perry, questioned a key factor in the Fourier analysis strategy Kelvin used for estimating the geological age of the earth. -- see Patrick Jackson, "William Thomson's Determinations of the Age of the Earth,"Chapter 10 in "Kelvin: Life, Labours and Legacy" by Raymond Flood et al. (2008). https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231256.001.0001/acprof-9780199231256-chapter-10
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Kelvin assumed that the earth's core is solid. Whether the earth has a solid or a fluid core would have a profound effect on Kelvin's mathematical calculations.
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It turns out that Perry’s theory of a fluid core and continental drift is now accepted science.
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"The fact that Perry was in Japan, surrounded by its art and culture, teaching physics to sake-drenched samurais, may indeed have played a role in shaping his theory."-- see "Death of the floating world" (Rohit Gupta). ''The Hindu Business Line." January 1, 2016. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/explore/death-of-the-floating-world/article8050613.ece
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In Japan, Perry would have encountered the metaphor of a "floating world." -- see below, image of immersive art installation: "Dreamed Japan, Images of the Floating World," Atelier des Lumières, Paris. https://injart.org/exhibition/short-program-dreamed-japan-images-of-the-floating-world/
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Continental drift is about movement of tectonic plates which float on molten lava in the earth's mantle -- and the words "floating world" could be an apt figure of speech to describe this phenomenon.
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

Do you know these three monkeys?

They have names.
• Mizaru (見ざる) uses his hands to cover his eyes 🙈
• Kikazaru (聞かざる) uses his hands to cover his ears 🙉
• Iwazaru (言わざる) uses his hands to cover his mouth 🙊

These are my my good friends. And y'know they say you can tell a lot about someone by learning who his friends are.

As a general rule, I'm a little bit too serious, but sometimes these monkeys help me lighten up

This comic trio has a collective name -- Sanzaru (三ざる). The images of the Sanzaru below are carved in a decorative wooden panel on one of the buildings at a Shinto shrine north of Tokyo

QUESTION A: Are there arguably useful compare-and-contrast parallels in what we know as STEM-focused education today and the STEM-focused program of the Japanese government in 1869-1889?

QUESTION B: What is the significance of Japan's STEM-focused yatoi experience for developing countries today? -- see Noboru Umetani, "The role of foreign employees in the Meiji era in Japan," 1971. https://books.google.com/books?id=-VmuAAAAIAAJ&dq=editions%3AH-5Nd0_169wC&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=parasite

At the end of the 19th century, Western experts were hired by the Japanese government and educational institutions to bring STEM skills and education to a island nation that had shut itself off from almost all contact with the West for 200+ years. These men were called o-yatoi gaikokujin (御雇い外国人 honorable hired foreigners) . -- see "The Great Wave" (Stephen Mansfield). Japan Times, October 18, 2014. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2014/10/18/books/book-reviews/great-wave/#.XddBHVdKiUk

There were about 3,000 yatoi employed in the Meiji era (1868-1912). -- see Gluck, Carol. Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 7, no. 2, 1981, pp. 428–432. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/132211

A select list of yatoi suggests that a focused range of technical subjects which were considered crucial for the growth of the modern Japanese state. -- see Wikipedia "Foreign government advisors in Meiji Japan" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_government_advisors_in_Meiji_Japan

• Henry Dyer (engineering education) -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Dyer
• Thomas Gray (engineering, seismology) -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Lomar_Gray
• William Ayrton (physics, electrical engineering) -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Edward_Ayrton
• James Ewing (engineering, physics) -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Ewing
• Cargill Knott (physics, mathematics, seismology) -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargill_Gilston_Knott
• John Milne (geology, engineering, seismology) -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milne
Thomas Mendenhall (physics) -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Corwin_Mendenhall; and below see image of Mendenhall with his grad students in Tokyo, 1880

QUESTION A: Are there potentially useful compare-and-contrast parallels in what we know as STEM-focused education today and the STEM-focused program of the Japanese government in 1869-1889?

QUESTION B: What is the significance of Japan's STEM-focused yatoi experience for developing countries today?

QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?