Corona Diary Week 4 Distance Learning

BLIND TESTING + LESSONS FOR THE WEEK + PLAYLIST

Blind Testing

THE PEPSI CHALLENGE

In the 1970s, the people at PepsiCo were frustrated. Coca Cola was number 1 and had been for a long time. Could it be that some people who drank Coke were doing so out of habit? What if they really liked Pepsi better? But how could you convince them? Brand loyalty is a very real psychological phenomenon, and sometimes it has nothing to do with the quality of the brand. What if Pepsi could set up some sort of public taste test?

But this brings up a psychological problem, common to all scientific testing that involves people. If the Coke drinkers knew which soda was which, would their brand loyalty influence their choice? Most people don't want to be wrong about their choices. It's a type of Confirmation Bias, which I posted about before.

Thus the Pepsi Challenge was born. The people at Pepsi used a common scientific solution to confirmation bias: they made the test Blind. Blind means that the people who are being tested don't know which soda is which when they taste them. For the Pepsi Challenge, they used a cardboard blind, so that only the plain cups were visible. In the picture you can see it being lifted, thus revealing the person's choice.

It turns out that a majority of people did prefer Pepsi. Coke became so nervous about this whole issue that in the early 80s, they decided to change their formula to "New Coke". But that's a whole other story.

But was this test truly scientific? Not quite. There is another ingredient necessary in this kind of testing: it must be Double Blind. More on that another time.

CP Lessons

	Lesson 1: Carnival Games Videos The first video shows NJ games inspectors. Notice that NJ state law requires that players who pay to play have a legitimate chance of winning. The game can't be rigged to be too difficult. All states regulate games like this, but each state has their own specific laws. The second video is an exposé of illegally rigged carnival games by the TV show 20/20. Nothing to turn in; just watch the videos.
	Lesson 2: Choose a Carnival Game and Analyze It The full instructions are below. You should do the assignment digitally and share it with me. Full Instructions Google Folder of Games (with rules) to Choose From. Just for fun, the video at left is an On The Road episode showing a guy who's good - really good - at carny games.
	Lesson 3: Set Up Your Own Game Set up your own carny game! Instructions are below. You should do the assignment digitally and share it with me. I made up a game (video at left) and wrote it up as an example. Full Instructions & My Example
	Wow Opportunity Mr. Mont made one small change to the carny game. But this one small change makes the game a scam - it's almost impossible now. For a WOW this week - say what the important change was and explain why the physics makes it impossible now.

Honors Lessons

	Lesson 1: Sample Coaster Calculation We're going to calculate the speed of a coaster at various spots by assuming that mechanical energy is conserved. What is different here, is that we're actually going to calculate the total energy and use it. That means we'll won't be canceling out the mass. Of course you know that matter what mass we pick, we'll still get the same speeds at the same spots. But using mass to calculating total energy first gives you the big picture about how energy is conserved. Worksheet
	Lesson 2: Design Your Own Coaster In the video, I talk about how to design your own coaster. Full Instructions Printable Coaster Grid
	Lesson 3: Possible Coaster DUs In the video, I talk about four different ideas for getting a DU on your coaster. You only have to choose two of them. Full DU Instructions

The Playlist

Corona Week 4 Playlist

Song	Artist	Year	Comments
Eat It	Weird Al Yankovic	1991	More from the master of parody. Sadly, I'm not really a Michael Jackson fan. I liked the Jackson 5, but not Michael Jackson's solo stuff. Anyway, I've listened to this parody so much that the real song sounds like the copy to me now.
Touch Me	The Doors	1969	If you listen closely to the last four notes of the song, you can make out Jim Morrison singing " Stronger than dirt!" That was the slogan of the Ajax cleaner commercials in the 60s.
Only the Young	Scandal	1984	Remake of the Journey hit. Not sure why, but I don't really like Steve Perry's voice (the lead singer for Journey). He has a great range, and he hits every note. That's a common theme with me: I prefer imperfect voices.
Livin' Thing	ELO	1976	I like to think of ELO as what the Beatles would have sounded like if they had stayed together into the 70s. Jeff Lynn was very Beatles-influenced.
You Spin Me Right Round (Like a Record)	Dead or Alive	1985	The epitome of danceable 80s.
The Kids Are Alright	The Who	1965
Talking in Your Sleep	The Romantics	1983	For some reason, you hear The Romantics song "What I Like About You" all the time, but rarely hear this one. It's a much better song in my opinion.
Mr. Wendal	Arrested Development	1992	In contrast to the gangsta rap thing of the early 90s, there were some rappers who had just as much to say, but were more thoughtful and more philosophical, like Arrested Development.
Space Oddity	David Bowie	1969	A classic.
Barely Breathing	Duncan Sheik	1996
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard	Paul Simon	1972	(New to the playlist this year.) So I'm standing in line in Wegmans when this whole Corona thing was just getting started, and this song comes on. I had heard it when I was young, but had forgotten about it. It sounded better than I remembered, and I was thinking I should buy it and put it in the playlist. Then Paul Simon sings the line "Goodbye Rosie, the Queen of Corona..." That sealed the deal.
Fire on High	ELO	1975	Remember when I told you that there were people back in the day that were freaked out about groups recording hidden messages backwards in the songs to influence the impressionable kids to do bad things? It never really happened like that. But there were groups who did occasionally record part of a song backward. It was really obvious, though. This song is one of them. You'll notice it near the beginning. Sounds creepy, but stick with it - it turns into a really good song around 1:30. Curious about the backward part? More info here.
Rock the Casbah	The Clash	1982	Great punk group with an excellent pop sensibility.
The Model (Live)	Kraftwerk	2005	Kraftwerk was a German group at the forefront of electronic music in the early 70s. Very influential, and ended up being sampled on many hip hop tracks in the 80s.
(Love is Like a) Heat Wave	Martha Reeves & The Vandellas	1963
I'm Not Like Everybody Else	The Kinks	1966	The Kinks' take on non-conformism.
Swan Lake	Madness	1979	Great ska version of Tchaikovsky.
The Magnificent Tree	Hooverphonic	2000	So beautiful. I'll never forget when I first discovered Hooverphonic in the 90s at one of the new "listening stations" at The Mad Platter in West Chester. You could put on headphones in the store and listen to CDs before you bought them. Pre-internet, needless to say. This song samples another of my favorite songs: Crosby Stills & Nash's "Guinnevere".
Poison Arrow	ABC	1982	There are many "you broke my heart and now I'm angry at you" songs. Here's one from the 80s that I like.
Istanbul Uyurken (Hamam)	Agricantus	1997	Heard this one on WXPN many years ago. I don't know if I've ever heard a song express longing as well as this one does. The lyrics are in Turkish.