tedtalksgladwellnordenbombs.doc

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TedTalks

Teachers’ Notes

Part One – Gladwell’s introduction to Carl Norden

How does Gladwell feel about what has happened since the lastlecture on Spaghetti sauce?

Happy but a little tired of the attention it has given him.

He lowers his voice when he says that his talk has beeninteresting for people in the ‘short term’. Why does he do this?

Amusing; to show contrast with the second part when hesays ‘but it’s proven to be less than ideal over sevenyears’.

He repeats the technique of tripling where words (adjectives)

are listed in a three, and then repeated. Which words does heuse to do this?

Malcolm Gladwell: The

strange tale of the Norden

bombsight



‘small, exquisite, expensive objects’

He repeats the techniques of personalisation; how does he do

this in describing Carl Norden?

three-piece suits; small, important moustache;

domineering and narcissistic, driven, ego etc..

Gladwell mentions that Carl Norden ‘has very strong feelings

about alternating current’: what affect do the words ‘strongfeelings’ have?

He is being humorous: of course he has strong feeling it is

his chosen field of interest.

Gladwell points out that Carl Norden is interested in ‘ how to

drop bombs from an airplane’. Does this subject seem

immediately interesting? Why does Gladwell find these

subjects interesting?

He sees the wider relevance of small details/ the turning

points/tipping points in history.

Part Two – Comprehension Questions

What, are the environmental problems in guiding a bomb to

its target?

kinds of winds and cloud cover and all kinds of other

impediments.

What does the Mark 15 Norden bombsight allow the

bombardier to do?

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/58000





















Find its target

How much money did the U.S. military spend on developing

the Norden bombsight in 1940?

1.5 billion

How did Norden’s Christianity inform his role as an inventor?

Only God could invent things. He was simple the

instrument of God's will – suffering should be narrow not

wide.

What did the Norden bombsight do?

Allowed to bomb the things that were absolutely needed to

avoid wider suffering.

Why did it take such a long time to train bombardiers to usethe Norden Bombsight?

essentially analog computers; not easy to use.

How would you describe the measures taken to ensure that the

enemy could not use the ‘Norden Bombsight’?

High-security / top secret / protective of technology

How would you describe the effects of war conditions on theability to use the Norden bombsight?

Problematic: lack of knowhow/training, unpredictable

war coditions……, the excitement of battle vs. difficult-to-

work equipment.

What was the problem with the real conditions that the planes

were flying under?





















So they started flying them at high altitudes at incredibly

high speeds and the Norden bombsight doesn't work as

well under those conditions.

Was the Norden bombsight successful. Write notes with your

evidence:

No visual contact with the target – no accuracy

Leuna, Germany – 10% success rate.

Carl Norden hired German engineers and Hermann Long

in 1938, gave a complete set of the plans for the Norden

bombsight to the Nazis.

Part 3 – Gladwell’s rationale

So why did Malcolm Gladwell talk about this subject?

Make notes below:

• Lots of inventions / make world better / websites to

make you free

• in military, many Carl Nordens

• problem not technology not accurate / human

knowledge defective e.g in Iraq: technology can hit

target, but did not know where to find it.

• problem also; unforeseen consequences. Drone in

Nth. Pakistan 95% accuracy but the number attacks,

suicide attacks and terrorist attacks, against

American forces in Afghanistan has increased

tenfold.

• More efficient killing = angry retaliation



































• Therefore making

things no solution;problems more

complex

n.b. Hiroshima Norden missed by 8OO ft, but didn’t

matter.

Malcolm Gladwell: The strange tale of the Norden

bombsight

Part One – Gladwell’s introduction to Carl Norden

Please look at the following questions; thinking about the previous talk that Gladwell did on Spaghetti Sauce; look at

these questions and prepare to answer them in relation to his

style of presenting.

a. How does Gladwell feel about what has happened since

the last lecture on Spaghetti sauce?

Malcolm Gladwell: The

strange tale of the Norden

bombsight



b. He lowers his voice when he says that his talk has been

interesting for people in the ‘long term’. Why does he do

this?

c. He repeats the technique of tripling where words

(adjectives) are listed in a three, and then repeated.

Which words does he use to do this?

d. He repeats the technique of personalisation (giving

background information about an individual) ; how does

he do this in describing Carl Norden?

e. Gladwell mentions that Carl Norden ‘has very strong

feelings about alternating current’: what affect do the

words ‘strong feelings’ have?

f. Gladwell points out that Carl Norden is interested in ‘

how to drop bombs from an airplane’. Does this subject

seem immediately interesting? Why does Gladwell find

these kinds of subject interesting?

Part Two – Comprehension Questions

Gladwell will now go into detail about his topic of interest.

Listen carefully and try to pick out the key facts which make

Gladwell’s argument.



1. What, are the environmental problems in guiding a bomb to

its target?

2. What does the Mark 15 Norden bombsight allow the

bombardier to do?

3. How much money did the U.S. military spend on

developing the Norden bombsight in 1940?

4. How did Norden’s Christianity inform his role as aninventor?

5. What did the Norden bombsight do?

6. Why did it take such a long time to train bombardiers to use

the Norden Bombsight?

7. How would you describe the measures taken to ensure that

the enemy could not use the ‘Norden Bombsight’?

8. How would you describe the effects of war conditions on

the ability to use the Norden bombsight?

9. What was the problem with the real conditions that the

planes were flying under?

10. Was the Norden bombsight successful? Write notes with

your evidence:





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Part 3 – Gladwell’s rationale

Gladwell will now come to his crucial points; outlining his

rationale / reasons for discussing the subject. Listen and

make notes as to his main points:

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tedtalksgladwellnordenbombs.doc

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