The Challenge of Applied Science
Clear Lake, California...Frequent Bassmaster stop, stomping grounds for "Fish Chris" Wolfgram and operator of what was the best big bass site on the Net before he throttled it down. Still tons of great info, pics and articles on the site to browse through despite the forum being removed. But Clear Lake is also the subject matter for one of my favorite little chapters in what is a wonderfully detailed read about the Putah and Cache watershed. The particular chapter deals with the differences and difficulties of applied science vs. basic science. Written by Pete Richerson, "Data: The Lovely, the Flirtatious, and the Ugly" is a quick read at under 5 minutes. Not sure why it sticks with me after finding it many years back, but I think it is its simplicity and line of thinking that resonates with me, applied science (scientific research being applied to my bass fishing) being why this website was largely created. The full online book can be found at: "Putah and Cache: A Thinking Mammal's Guide to the Watershed".
Ya know what they say at Westpoint (Military): "No paper plan ever works in practice." We can apply all we want, but the web of life is driven by greater things than we can imagine.
Posted by: Richard Ziert | July 18, 2008 at 11:07 PM
Brian, this post is near and dear to my heart.
I worked out of UC Davis for a while. Not only did I get to see and sample Putah Creek but I also got to meet Pete Richerson. If you didn't already know, Pete was the originator of the term "cultural evolution", which is still a highly regarded biological model in use today.
Very few limnologists such as Pete venture into other fields and come back with such notable accomplishments. He's genuinely a renaissance man and a gentleman.
Posted by: Tim Smith | July 19, 2008 at 12:19 PM
I hear ya' Rich, but it certainly is interesting trying to unravel all these "mysteries", even if only a little bit.
Tim, what a small world. Always amazes me the connections that come about courtesy of the Internet.
Posted by: Big Indiana Bass | July 21, 2008 at 01:05 PM
Very nice. I'll look into more from Pete Richerson.
Posted by: Paul Robertsj | July 21, 2008 at 05:26 PM