For fun I am reading a book on cognitive psychology and it implications (Anderson, 2010). The book was discussing the differences between semantics and syntax. The book generated a random series of words I thought was actually quite poetic:
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
I completely agree. How many green, nascent, ideas still slumber inside our heads waiting for their moment to burst out and be acted upon. Until I give my ideas color and substance they are colorless abstracts. The second gem of random creation was:
Sincerity frightened the cat.
I can't help but thinking what happened to the unsuspecting cat the last time the scientist (or toddler) showed a look of sincerity. I think the cat found itself in a deadly box or some such.
Showing posts with label Cool Finds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cool Finds. Show all posts
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
100 Years ago this was a small yellow wood...
What became of the Frost's Yellow Wood...This is one of many Excellent pictures from
http://www.pxleyes.com/blog/2011/12/these-50-photos-will-blow-you-away/#
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
A New Website!
Dear all,
I have created a new business page. Go check out...
johnboomtutoring.blogspot.com
If you have any questions, or need any help let me know.
Boom
I have created a new business page. Go check out...
johnboomtutoring.blogspot.com
If you have any questions, or need any help let me know.
Boom
Monday, March 19, 2012
A good find.
http://god-and-logic.blogspot.com/2010/03/hiddenness-of-god.html#comment-form
Cool Blog. I like his ideas.
Cool Blog. I like his ideas.
Sunday, November 06, 2011
A well named movie theatre
So the other day I went on a date with a cougar Felis concolour. Actually my Mom and I caught a movie. The place was a Mega-Plex. And boy they really lived up to their name. There were actually 1 million screens in the Mega-Plex.
FYI-In Time is a conceptually interesting movie. The acting is a little cheesy, the drama is a little predictable, but overall its worth seeing simply for the ideas expressed.
FYI-In Time is a conceptually interesting movie. The acting is a little cheesy, the drama is a little predictable, but overall its worth seeing simply for the ideas expressed.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
What a wonderful World
One of my bestest friends Sally Nielson just opened a blog/homepage/art business. Without the least bit of hesitation I highly, highly recommend y'all check this chick's art out.
http://www.sallyneilsonart.com/ART/Home.html
http://www.sallyneilsonart.com/ART/Home.html
Sunday, October 16, 2011
How to use math to get out of a parking ticket
I recently "found" this letter for how "some guy" got out of a parking ticket. I thought this was pretty cool, so I am going to repost it here.
24 August 2011
[Sender Address Info]
Court Referee
City of Colorado Springs Municipal Court
P.O. Box 2169
Colorado Springs, CO 80901-2169
To whom it may concern:
Whereas, I, wish to contest the issuance of an “Overtime Violation 10.15.104(D)” written on this day 24 August 2011 on the grounds that the citation given was in direct opposition to the Constitution of the United States of America--a federally ratified, and legally binding document the Great State of Colorado is beholden to follow. This letter shall show the particulars of my case.
On the 24th of August 2011at 1:25 pm I parked a white Chevrolet Cobalt LT license plate ### ### at a metered parking in front of the Italian eatery Il Vicino. I ordered lasagna and 3 glasses of water. My bill came to $9.16 (I alas discarded my receipt, but a consultation with the vendor will verify the approximate time.) At this time I deposited $1.00 an amount that allowed me to lease the parking space from the city of Colorado Springs for a time equal to 1.00 hr a rate equal to $0.0167/min. According to my estimation the clock should have expired at 2:25 pm. I received a citation for the amount of $20.00 at 2:34pm. I did not notice this citation and at 2:35pm deposited an additional $1.00 into said meter, granting me an additional 1.00 hr parking space rental. I only stayed an additional 15 minutes, leaving the remainder of my $1.00 time unused. Herein is where I object to the constitutionality of said fine. Your Honor I ask you to consider the following examples:
My local library allows a 2 day grace period before issuing a fine for books. Considering the average price of Barnes and Noble’s top five selling books for 2011 came to $29.19 and the fine from my local library for not returning the books on time is $0.50/day this amounts to a fine of $0.000347/min (not including the allowed 2 day grace period). This amounts to a 1.71% fine.
My rental car allows a 29 minute grace period. If I am late I am penalized $3.50/hr or $0.0583/min a fine of 2.65% .
For being late on my $750 apartment rent payment (After a 6 day grace period) I am given a $50 fine, amounting to $0.001138/min and equating to a 6.67% fine.
For being late on a phone payment of 52.99/mo (2 day grace period) I am billed $5/month, which is $0.000114/min, a fine of 18.87%.
For missing a bank payment and bouncing a $100 check (Again with a 1 day grace period), I am charged $25-35, a 25-35% fine.
For missing a credit card payment I am billed upto 45%.
For missing a $0.25 meter payment in downtown Colorado Springs, I am apparently given a 9 minute grace period and fined 4000% interest amounting to a rate 5790 times the rate billed by my library and 88.8 times even the rate of my credit cards.
For the amount I was billed I could have/should have spent half of my vacation parked in said parking spot, let alone 9 minutes. This egregious gouging by city of Colorado Springs clearly and unquestionably goes against the 8th amendment which reads:
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
When credit card companies joking advertize barbarians with battle axes to reflect exorbitantly high interest payments, what then would they use for a city that bills at almost 90 times the interest rate of even these Mongrel Hordes?! This is an excessive fine, and is therefore unconstitutional. I, therefore, highly object to the payment of said recompense.
In short your Honor, in light of this outrageous affront to my civil liberties protected under the sacred auspices of the U.S. Constitution I will confine my counter suit to the city of Colorado Springs to the amount of $0.50 plus any legal fees accrued. My logic is thus, I paid for an additional hour of time when I left. I used 15 minutes of this time, a value equal to $0.25. The city says I owe 10 minutes worth of parking rent to which I will gladly donate 5 min of the time I paid for to the city of Colorado Springs, an amount totaling an additional $0.25. Time used plus time owed subtracted from time already paid leaves a reimbursement of $0.50 already paid and not used.
Sincerely,
[Signature]
--Case Dismissed--
24 August 2011
[Sender Address Info]
Court Referee
City of Colorado Springs Municipal Court
P.O. Box 2169
Colorado Springs, CO 80901-2169
To whom it may concern:
Whereas, I, wish to contest the issuance of an “Overtime Violation 10.15.104(D)” written on this day 24 August 2011 on the grounds that the citation given was in direct opposition to the Constitution of the United States of America--a federally ratified, and legally binding document the Great State of Colorado is beholden to follow. This letter shall show the particulars of my case.
On the 24th of August 2011at 1:25 pm I parked a white Chevrolet Cobalt LT license plate ### ### at a metered parking in front of the Italian eatery Il Vicino. I ordered lasagna and 3 glasses of water. My bill came to $9.16 (I alas discarded my receipt, but a consultation with the vendor will verify the approximate time.) At this time I deposited $1.00 an amount that allowed me to lease the parking space from the city of Colorado Springs for a time equal to 1.00 hr a rate equal to $0.0167/min. According to my estimation the clock should have expired at 2:25 pm. I received a citation for the amount of $20.00 at 2:34pm. I did not notice this citation and at 2:35pm deposited an additional $1.00 into said meter, granting me an additional 1.00 hr parking space rental. I only stayed an additional 15 minutes, leaving the remainder of my $1.00 time unused. Herein is where I object to the constitutionality of said fine. Your Honor I ask you to consider the following examples:
My local library allows a 2 day grace period before issuing a fine for books. Considering the average price of Barnes and Noble’s top five selling books for 2011 came to $29.19 and the fine from my local library for not returning the books on time is $0.50/day this amounts to a fine of $0.000347/min (not including the allowed 2 day grace period). This amounts to a 1.71% fine.
My rental car allows a 29 minute grace period. If I am late I am penalized $3.50/hr or $0.0583/min a fine of 2.65% .
For being late on my $750 apartment rent payment (After a 6 day grace period) I am given a $50 fine, amounting to $0.001138/min and equating to a 6.67% fine.
For being late on a phone payment of 52.99/mo (2 day grace period) I am billed $5/month, which is $0.000114/min, a fine of 18.87%.
For missing a bank payment and bouncing a $100 check (Again with a 1 day grace period), I am charged $25-35, a 25-35% fine.
For missing a credit card payment I am billed upto 45%.
For missing a $0.25 meter payment in downtown Colorado Springs, I am apparently given a 9 minute grace period and fined 4000% interest amounting to a rate 5790 times the rate billed by my library and 88.8 times even the rate of my credit cards.
For the amount I was billed I could have/should have spent half of my vacation parked in said parking spot, let alone 9 minutes. This egregious gouging by city of Colorado Springs clearly and unquestionably goes against the 8th amendment which reads:
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
When credit card companies joking advertize barbarians with battle axes to reflect exorbitantly high interest payments, what then would they use for a city that bills at almost 90 times the interest rate of even these Mongrel Hordes?! This is an excessive fine, and is therefore unconstitutional. I, therefore, highly object to the payment of said recompense.
In short your Honor, in light of this outrageous affront to my civil liberties protected under the sacred auspices of the U.S. Constitution I will confine my counter suit to the city of Colorado Springs to the amount of $0.50 plus any legal fees accrued. My logic is thus, I paid for an additional hour of time when I left. I used 15 minutes of this time, a value equal to $0.25. The city says I owe 10 minutes worth of parking rent to which I will gladly donate 5 min of the time I paid for to the city of Colorado Springs, an amount totaling an additional $0.25. Time used plus time owed subtracted from time already paid leaves a reimbursement of $0.50 already paid and not used.
Sincerely,
[Signature]
--Case Dismissed--
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
I am the mountain
So today was one of those classic moment's in a travelers life... First I am the climbing director for Bear Lake Aquatics Base with the Boy Scouts of America. As such I am on the bus reading about mountaineering. An elderly gent, a wizened wizard, or a lost hippie-your choice, occupied the seat behind me. A conversation (mostly a monologue with nodding) ensued. The cosmic spectre, crazy and drunk as he was offered some amazing insight that I will share with you know: First look up this guy.
And now for the wisdom: "Far too many people spend every night of their life looking up at a white ceiling. Every night for the past 20 years I have starred into the stars of God's great creation. If you already have everything, then what you have is ALL that you have. If you have nothing then all the world is yours and you are truly blessed by already having EVERYTHING. When you sit atop of the mountain you become part of the mountain, until that is all you are. You ARE the mountain. We ALL are the mountain. When I die I will see you on the mountain."
To the old man of the mountain, Dude you rock! May I see you on the mountain too.
And now for the wisdom: "Far too many people spend every night of their life looking up at a white ceiling. Every night for the past 20 years I have starred into the stars of God's great creation. If you already have everything, then what you have is ALL that you have. If you have nothing then all the world is yours and you are truly blessed by already having EVERYTHING. When you sit atop of the mountain you become part of the mountain, until that is all you are. You ARE the mountain. We ALL are the mountain. When I die I will see you on the mountain."
To the old man of the mountain, Dude you rock! May I see you on the mountain too.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
BuddhaBrot
I don't know if I have philosophized about 4 dimensional complex fractals yet. But here goes...By now you probably know I like fractals. Well, this guy does too http://miqel.com/fractals_math_patterns/visual-math-natural-fractals.html. (Be sure to check out the fractal teddy bear.) [ On the note of "."s and ")" I invented a new emoticon. .) I call it "Smiley lost an eye in the war." Now back to your regularly scheduled diversion.] To quote the source of the image above, "it can be thought of as how much viscosity a particle passing through a Mendelbrot set would experience." The parts I like about it is that it resembles the Buddha whose infinity exists simultaneously inside of and outside of itself. The Buddha is meditating as are his very cells. In fact, the entire existence of the buddhabrot is in a state of meditation . Its a four dimensional complex object so we wouldn't actually be able to see this--hmm kind of like divinity its self. Being 4D this object is outside of time also metaphoric of divinity. If we wanted to trace the edge of or in other words to place limits and understand the full extent of this creation it could not be done, yet by looking we can see that even this infinite creation has a definite existence and a fixed form. We cannot know every detail of the buddhabrot but we can create it using a relatively simple equation. It is the same everytime it is created but it can be viewed through infinitely many perspectives appearing slightly different each time. The equation is simple yet it contains infinite insights. Totally a great metaphor for spirituality and religion and just to make it better it is also based on math.
Monday, April 18, 2011
An Astrobiology Dichotomy
For today's post I want to compare two places in our solar system. You dear readers will be asked to guess what and where these places are and to surmise if life could be possible in either of these environments.
The first is place found to be nearly devoid of water. Any possible nutrients are relativly far flung. Each daily cycle can see temperature changes of 100 degrees or more. For days on end the sun beats down this environment with its harsh unrelenting rays. Anything that might reside here, when not buried under intense incoming solar radiation is beset with life threatening storms one after another for months on end. There is a relatively thin atmosphere in the locale described but fully 1 out of every five atoms is a toxic gas known to strip electrons from every tissue in your body. Under laboratory conditions this gas has been known to cause profound chronic wasting age accelerating conditions. It gets better because more than three quarters of this locations "atmosphere" contains elements bound together in a stiffleing combination barely able to be metabolized only by the heartiest of organisms.
That was environment number 1. Now let's compare this with environment number 2.
Imagine a place that never changes. Shelter is not needed because as far as is known, there are never any storms. The temperature has the temperature of a cozy heated bath, all day, all year for years on end. Food is piled upon you in heaps 15 stories high! Water is plentiful and readily abundant. In location #2. The equivalent of the entire volume of the world's ocean flows every few million years. In short it seems like a biotic paradise.
So what and where were these two locations I described? Surprisingly, they were both here on Earth. Location number 1 was the Tiaga of Northern Russia, one of the largest land ecosystems on Earth! But what about all of that horrible stuff you mentioned? Its all true. Russia holds the record for greatest temperature change in one day. -20 F just before dawn +80 F around noon. The Russian winter is famous for wiping out intrepid life forms brave enough to attempt conquering it. Two known species were nearly driven extinct because of it e.g. Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. But what about that toxic gas you mentioned? Is there really a toxic gas leak in Russia? No. The toxic gas I mentioned is Oxygen. We take it for granted that we can breathe it, but one only needs look at what it does to a banana or an apple to realize its toxic effects. Does it really strip electrons from every tissue in your body? Yup. That's how we are able to get energy from food. Oxygen is the final electron acceptor in our electron transport chains. Because of oxygen's greed for electrons we are able to make 18 times more ATP than organisms that don't utilize this toxic substance. And the 78% of the atmosphere we can't utilize...you guessed it--Nitrogen. N triple bonded to N is ridiculously hard to break apart, only a select few bacteria found in peas and other legumes can even tackle the immense task of splitting this titanic bond.
Environment number 2, also here on Earth, is a deep sea vent less than an hours walk from the surface--assuming you could walk a matter of miles straight downward AND resist the 100 atmospheres of pressure crushing you into oblivion. Though we are not able to metabolize the hydrogen sulfide running rampant in these deep sea oases to chemiosynthetic bacteria this IS their food source.
In light of the present argument I am inclined to believe the John Corliss argument. I think if life had to originate in one location it was probably a deep sea vent. It seems a lot more difficult for life to start in a shallow sea with dilute nutrient concentrations than in a place with a 150 foot pile of food replaced continuously. Ladies and gentlemen Beware your land based mammal biases on the world. Did I mention the deep sea vent is home to approximately 1,000 different species-- roughly 120 times that of a rainforest if bluebiome.org is correct in its analysis!
The first is place found to be nearly devoid of water. Any possible nutrients are relativly far flung. Each daily cycle can see temperature changes of 100 degrees or more. For days on end the sun beats down this environment with its harsh unrelenting rays. Anything that might reside here, when not buried under intense incoming solar radiation is beset with life threatening storms one after another for months on end. There is a relatively thin atmosphere in the locale described but fully 1 out of every five atoms is a toxic gas known to strip electrons from every tissue in your body. Under laboratory conditions this gas has been known to cause profound chronic wasting age accelerating conditions. It gets better because more than three quarters of this locations "atmosphere" contains elements bound together in a stiffleing combination barely able to be metabolized only by the heartiest of organisms.
That was environment number 1. Now let's compare this with environment number 2.
Imagine a place that never changes. Shelter is not needed because as far as is known, there are never any storms. The temperature has the temperature of a cozy heated bath, all day, all year for years on end. Food is piled upon you in heaps 15 stories high! Water is plentiful and readily abundant. In location #2. The equivalent of the entire volume of the world's ocean flows every few million years. In short it seems like a biotic paradise.
So what and where were these two locations I described? Surprisingly, they were both here on Earth. Location number 1 was the Tiaga of Northern Russia, one of the largest land ecosystems on Earth! But what about all of that horrible stuff you mentioned? Its all true. Russia holds the record for greatest temperature change in one day. -20 F just before dawn +80 F around noon. The Russian winter is famous for wiping out intrepid life forms brave enough to attempt conquering it. Two known species were nearly driven extinct because of it e.g. Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. But what about that toxic gas you mentioned? Is there really a toxic gas leak in Russia? No. The toxic gas I mentioned is Oxygen. We take it for granted that we can breathe it, but one only needs look at what it does to a banana or an apple to realize its toxic effects. Does it really strip electrons from every tissue in your body? Yup. That's how we are able to get energy from food. Oxygen is the final electron acceptor in our electron transport chains. Because of oxygen's greed for electrons we are able to make 18 times more ATP than organisms that don't utilize this toxic substance. And the 78% of the atmosphere we can't utilize...you guessed it--Nitrogen. N triple bonded to N is ridiculously hard to break apart, only a select few bacteria found in peas and other legumes can even tackle the immense task of splitting this titanic bond.
Environment number 2, also here on Earth, is a deep sea vent less than an hours walk from the surface--assuming you could walk a matter of miles straight downward AND resist the 100 atmospheres of pressure crushing you into oblivion. Though we are not able to metabolize the hydrogen sulfide running rampant in these deep sea oases to chemiosynthetic bacteria this IS their food source.
In light of the present argument I am inclined to believe the John Corliss argument. I think if life had to originate in one location it was probably a deep sea vent. It seems a lot more difficult for life to start in a shallow sea with dilute nutrient concentrations than in a place with a 150 foot pile of food replaced continuously. Ladies and gentlemen Beware your land based mammal biases on the world. Did I mention the deep sea vent is home to approximately 1,000 different species-- roughly 120 times that of a rainforest if bluebiome.org is correct in its analysis!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
2011 Outstanding Tutor of the Year
So today I was officially dubbed " Outstanding Tutor of the Year 2011!" Its probably because I keep making things like this:
http://www.gliffy.com/gliffy/#d=2596948&t=Chemistry_Flow_Chart_of_Doom
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Random Overheards
So its been a while since I have posted. Apologies if anyone still follows. I thought its been long enough I should return to posting.
Today for your Wernicke's ogling pleasure I will be posting some of the funnier things I have recently overheard:
Song Lyric: He's not actually a leprechaun--just a leper with his legs gone.
Stated by a Friend: I have to go study really hard for my class on magic.
Quoted by an Acquaintance: I hate my computer class. I am blind, what do I care about pretty fonts.
Quoted by a Stranger: Has anyone seen my ethics book? I think someone stole my ethics book.
Today for your Wernicke's ogling pleasure I will be posting some of the funnier things I have recently overheard:
Song Lyric: He's not actually a leprechaun--just a leper with his legs gone.
Stated by a Friend: I have to go study really hard for my class on magic.
Quoted by an Acquaintance: I hate my computer class. I am blind, what do I care about pretty fonts.
Quoted by a Stranger: Has anyone seen my ethics book? I think someone stole my ethics book.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Its no wonder the machines used us as batteries!
Hello world.
To use a phrase from a favored professor at Weber State. I am taking a thermal physics/statistical mechanics class for fun, along with an electronics class too. One of the problems I just finished was to use the Stefan-Boltzmann law (Power is proportional to area times temperature raised to the fourth power) to find the power output of a person. But to do this I need an area formula for said person. Never fear according to Mosteller (1987) he provides the following commonly accepted formula for the surface area of an average human. (height[cm]*weight[kg]/3600)^1/2. (Or you can use the physicist's assumption of a spherical human which in the limit of Wisconsin is approximately true.) Anyway, plugging in the canonical astronomer multiplying by the number of seconds in a sidereal day and timesing by the population of the planet leaves us with about fifty five gadjillion Joules/day (5.54*10^17 J/day) in unspent energy! Its no freaking wonder the zombies want our brains and the machines want our ATP pumps!
To use a phrase from a favored professor at Weber State. I am taking a thermal physics/statistical mechanics class for fun, along with an electronics class too. One of the problems I just finished was to use the Stefan-Boltzmann law (Power is proportional to area times temperature raised to the fourth power) to find the power output of a person. But to do this I need an area formula for said person. Never fear according to Mosteller (1987) he provides the following commonly accepted formula for the surface area of an average human. (height[cm]*weight[kg]/3600)^1/2. (Or you can use the physicist's assumption of a spherical human which in the limit of Wisconsin is approximately true.) Anyway, plugging in the canonical astronomer multiplying by the number of seconds in a sidereal day and timesing by the population of the planet leaves us with about fifty five gadjillion Joules/day (5.54*10^17 J/day) in unspent energy! Its no freaking wonder the zombies want our brains and the machines want our ATP pumps!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Resurrection/ Reincarnation
Do I believe in resurrection?
Yes.
Do I believe in reincarnation?
Yes. But neither of the above answers are as simple as they may seem.
I live and I die, and when all is said and done my cosmic makings will return to the cosmos from whence they came. I am part soil, part plant. I am part earthworm and sea jelly. I am a part of all things. I am even a part of you, as you are of me. My atoms will never die they can only cycle. My atoms are or will be in all things and a part of all things. My atoms came from the supernovae of stars and if given time enough will recompose planets, other suns, galaxies, and even the Universe itself. This is reincarnation, not even the most strident atheist can deny. As spectacular and profound as this is? Is this all? Amid all of these pieces is there nothing that is me? Am I merely the sum of my hundred trillion parts, or is there something more? There is evidence of a chemical memory, but is all that I have seen and done nothing more than the bond energies between electrons? How very depressing to think that all that I am is nothing more than atoms arranged and glued together purely by chance by the designs of the Universe.
Even if it is only hubris and self preserving pride. I would like to think that I am something. I would like to think that what I do matters. Previously, preforming the pre-frontal logic of Pascal I posited the presence of a God. Given then that there is a God even though I am but an unimaginable speck in the great scheme of things and surely a speck as small as I am can't matter right? Though taking out pieces of any size from any well working machine never did seem like a good idea. And plus if what my religion tells me is true, then all of us just happen to be specks personally favored by the creator of the universe him self hand crafted to resemble the Divine somehow.
So admitting the bias that it is in my own interest to be a firm believer (FYI probably a note about the mathematics of believing and believing coming soon.) in an immortal soul, I do believe I have a soul. I do not believe that anyone can take my soul. I believe myself and my soul can learn else why are we here on Earth? In some respects it can change in others it is soully my own. Albeit I like the idea of my soul being tangent to a great many other souls touching and shaping who they are and who they will become. Ideas like that give me purpose in life. Ah but was my soul ever a slug. I do not think so. The soul is my own. The slug had its chance. I don't think my soul will diverge backward either. I believe that I am me and as I have said my soul is my own. I also believe that it always will be. If not who then really is me. I claim there is a me. But who I am doesn't matter what I look like or what happens to me. I suspect that a person's soul plays a large part of who they are. Case in point, ask a mother of identical newborn twins if they have different personalities. Chances are the new mother will say that even at birth they are two different people. How can this be? Twins from the same mother have had the same environment, if the twins are identical they have the same genetics and yet there are differences. This must mean that there is something other than nature or nurture determining who and what they are and will be. To me this is the soul.
So is my soul reborn? I doubt it. If souls are recycled how does this work if the population is growing. Sure the total number of people through out history is a thousand times greater than it is now, but at any given time we have a larger population than before. It seems to me that souls are brought into this planet anew and not reused. So does this mean I believe in the Hindu/Buddhist idea of Samsara? It does. But wait, I thought you said you didn't believe one's soul could be recycled. If you don't believe in recycling, how can you believe in Samsara?
I think Samsara is the day to day battle of us against our addictions. Our goal is not so much to get out of mortal life, but to get ourselves out of the addictions and holds of mortality but also to get not out of but as much out of mortality as we can. This is I think the purpose of Samsara--to perfect ourselves--a purpose coincident with religions the world over. Samsara is Jihad. These are the struggles and wars we wage, not with others but with ourselves. As the Buddhist says this is the path to enlightenment, the path to perfection. Hold on! How can Samsara be Jihad? Samsara involves continual life, death and rebirth? The close of each day marks the death of all days that have gone before. Once gone a day cannot return it cannot come back again. It is dead. But on the morrow the day begins afresh (stay tuned posts about the arbitrarity of days also coming soon). Each morning a day is reborn and we are given another chance to apply what we have learned to fight hard, to struggle, and to make progress on our path or to lose the way and backtrack as we and our conscience see fit. Each day the old days die, the new days are reborn, and the battle us against our self begins again. Reincarnation.
But what of resurrection? I am only a very weak scholar of the Quaran but as I understand it there is an exceedingly beautiful passage about Allah reviving the dry Earth after a rain storm and if He (salutations be upon him) can do this than raising of the flesh of the dead is mere trifle. I do believe there will be a raising of the dead a true 9th level cleric casting the great resurrection. The Way of nature is a way of cycles, a Way of recycling. I believe in the resurrection, because I have a hard time believing the operating principles inherent in Nature could allow so much of what is gained in life to go to waste. And now for the thrilling conclusion. Imagine how profound it would be if it wasn't just our bodies that were reanimated and given life again, but what if every atom that ever was, ever has, or ever will make up You could be restored unto You!? What if it wasn't just restored, but what if you could understand the journeys of every atom that made you?
If you really could comprehend the paths of the atoms and voyages of the finery that made you then inherent in you is the understanding of a God. The Resurrection.
Yes.
Do I believe in reincarnation?
Yes. But neither of the above answers are as simple as they may seem.
I live and I die, and when all is said and done my cosmic makings will return to the cosmos from whence they came. I am part soil, part plant. I am part earthworm and sea jelly. I am a part of all things. I am even a part of you, as you are of me. My atoms will never die they can only cycle. My atoms are or will be in all things and a part of all things. My atoms came from the supernovae of stars and if given time enough will recompose planets, other suns, galaxies, and even the Universe itself. This is reincarnation, not even the most strident atheist can deny. As spectacular and profound as this is? Is this all? Amid all of these pieces is there nothing that is me? Am I merely the sum of my hundred trillion parts, or is there something more? There is evidence of a chemical memory, but is all that I have seen and done nothing more than the bond energies between electrons? How very depressing to think that all that I am is nothing more than atoms arranged and glued together purely by chance by the designs of the Universe.
Even if it is only hubris and self preserving pride. I would like to think that I am something. I would like to think that what I do matters. Previously, preforming the pre-frontal logic of Pascal I posited the presence of a God. Given then that there is a God even though I am but an unimaginable speck in the great scheme of things and surely a speck as small as I am can't matter right? Though taking out pieces of any size from any well working machine never did seem like a good idea. And plus if what my religion tells me is true, then all of us just happen to be specks personally favored by the creator of the universe him self hand crafted to resemble the Divine somehow.
So admitting the bias that it is in my own interest to be a firm believer (FYI probably a note about the mathematics of believing and believing coming soon.) in an immortal soul, I do believe I have a soul. I do not believe that anyone can take my soul. I believe myself and my soul can learn else why are we here on Earth? In some respects it can change in others it is soully my own. Albeit I like the idea of my soul being tangent to a great many other souls touching and shaping who they are and who they will become. Ideas like that give me purpose in life. Ah but was my soul ever a slug. I do not think so. The soul is my own. The slug had its chance. I don't think my soul will diverge backward either. I believe that I am me and as I have said my soul is my own. I also believe that it always will be. If not who then really is me. I claim there is a me. But who I am doesn't matter what I look like or what happens to me. I suspect that a person's soul plays a large part of who they are. Case in point, ask a mother of identical newborn twins if they have different personalities. Chances are the new mother will say that even at birth they are two different people. How can this be? Twins from the same mother have had the same environment, if the twins are identical they have the same genetics and yet there are differences. This must mean that there is something other than nature or nurture determining who and what they are and will be. To me this is the soul.
So is my soul reborn? I doubt it. If souls are recycled how does this work if the population is growing. Sure the total number of people through out history is a thousand times greater than it is now, but at any given time we have a larger population than before. It seems to me that souls are brought into this planet anew and not reused. So does this mean I believe in the Hindu/Buddhist idea of Samsara? It does. But wait, I thought you said you didn't believe one's soul could be recycled. If you don't believe in recycling, how can you believe in Samsara?
I think Samsara is the day to day battle of us against our addictions. Our goal is not so much to get out of mortal life, but to get ourselves out of the addictions and holds of mortality but also to get not out of but as much out of mortality as we can. This is I think the purpose of Samsara--to perfect ourselves--a purpose coincident with religions the world over. Samsara is Jihad. These are the struggles and wars we wage, not with others but with ourselves. As the Buddhist says this is the path to enlightenment, the path to perfection. Hold on! How can Samsara be Jihad? Samsara involves continual life, death and rebirth? The close of each day marks the death of all days that have gone before. Once gone a day cannot return it cannot come back again. It is dead. But on the morrow the day begins afresh (stay tuned posts about the arbitrarity of days also coming soon). Each morning a day is reborn and we are given another chance to apply what we have learned to fight hard, to struggle, and to make progress on our path or to lose the way and backtrack as we and our conscience see fit. Each day the old days die, the new days are reborn, and the battle us against our self begins again. Reincarnation.
But what of resurrection? I am only a very weak scholar of the Quaran but as I understand it there is an exceedingly beautiful passage about Allah reviving the dry Earth after a rain storm and if He (salutations be upon him) can do this than raising of the flesh of the dead is mere trifle. I do believe there will be a raising of the dead a true 9th level cleric casting the great resurrection. The Way of nature is a way of cycles, a Way of recycling. I believe in the resurrection, because I have a hard time believing the operating principles inherent in Nature could allow so much of what is gained in life to go to waste. And now for the thrilling conclusion. Imagine how profound it would be if it wasn't just our bodies that were reanimated and given life again, but what if every atom that ever was, ever has, or ever will make up You could be restored unto You!? What if it wasn't just restored, but what if you could understand the journeys of every atom that made you?
If you really could comprehend the paths of the atoms and voyages of the finery that made you then inherent in you is the understanding of a God. The Resurrection.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Twinky Quality Control Manager
So I love my job. But just to be safe I have been applying for backup jobs just in case. Here's one of the jobs I found:
http://jobview.monster.com/Quality-Assurance-Manager-Job-OGDEN-UT-89866004.aspx
Yes that's right quality control for the people who make twinkies! Gain 100 lbs in a day. Dream job woot! I think I'll keep the one I already have.
http://jobview.monster.com/Quality-Assurance-Manager-Job-OGDEN-UT-89866004.aspx
Yes that's right quality control for the people who make twinkies! Gain 100 lbs in a day. Dream job woot! I think I'll keep the one I already have.
Friday, July 09, 2010
Post sortings and the value of math
So I haven't posted in a while. No kidding Sherloxx I hadn't noticed, is probably what you are thinking. I would just like to gloat about some of the spam I rejected today--some of it is pretty funny. I got an invitation to premier in Bollywood, India and also to premier as a Jewish comic in a New York Comedian brokerage. Other fun comments that got the boom official stamp of rejection of course the regular male enhancers, and "Thank you. You speak as well words you helped me on my college assignment." Then of course the investment blowhard who was trying to smoothly tie in his website with phrases like let me just follow-up on that with a brief discourse about high yield portfolios yeah like that's the stuff I talk about on my blog. My favorite was the random spam about gooey ducks (a variant of this spelling is a type of clam known as the phallus worm--And with a word like phallus in my posts I'll be curious to see what type of search bots I attract now--not.) Other random spam bots include a 2012 world's going to end so bury your hummers now and join the Hare Krishnas nut. Someone wanted me to sell 210 pounds of shoes. My 101 Cheese jokes got a blue cheese wholesaler. And I received an ad for an electronic environmentally friendly cigarette. Oh then there's the Scandinavian boat auction or how about physics replica rolex professors and archimedes sh"replica Rolexes!" Nor can I forget the black hat illegal online marketing either or the professional do it yourself psychiatric help bookseller. I don't get any of it. But none of this was actually the reason I actually posted tonight. The real reason is I wanted to brag about my latest mathematical escapades.
I got paid $65 to do an integral--9 of them actually. The aquarium was conducting a summer camp and wanted to know the bite pressure of a macaw and therefore needed to know rather precisely the surface area of a collection of nuts. It got awkward rather awkward when people asked what I was doing measuring my nuts--sorry. Take math it pays and apologies again about the last line. Enjoy.
I got paid $65 to do an integral--9 of them actually. The aquarium was conducting a summer camp and wanted to know the bite pressure of a macaw and therefore needed to know rather precisely the surface area of a collection of nuts. It got awkward rather awkward when people asked what I was doing measuring my nuts--sorry. Take math it pays and apologies again about the last line. Enjoy.
Monday, June 21, 2010
God Bless America and the Rest of the World Too!
Today my post is on the blog of my wonderful wife: charlathegreat.blogspot.com
Monday, June 14, 2010
Pet Incumbos
I have decided that the world needs a word for the opposite of a pet peeve. I submit that even the greatest of us have their pet peeves. Alright, maybe not the greatest of us, "Man you should see the look in Christ's eye in when you lick his shoe lachet the wrong way!" Yeah that seems a little absurb. But for the rest of us everyday there could be hundreds of little things that just rub us the wrong way. But dwelling upon these, that just makes for a negative experience. We need to as that ol' song says "Eliminate the negative we got to accentuate the positive sides of life."
I propose a pet incumbo. Incumbo is the Latin word for favor and so a pet incumbo is a little thing that makes your day go well. Examples include turning right on a busy street when a bus goes straight--yeah I know I am safe if any cars come through they smash into a bus and not me woot! An other example is finding enough cash in the couch to buy lunch, or even better finding that 20 you stashed in your coat pocket a few years ago and totally forgot about. Or your work has a 20 digit door code that some just walked out of so you don't have to enter a thing! Though my favorite pet incumbo is the speeding ticket insta-karma. The jerk with the babies on board bumper sticker that cuts you off whizzes at break-neck speed endangering everyone on the road who gets pulled over at the ext hill. Pet incumbos. Speaking of pets I have one. I also apparently also have my own personal angel. I'll tell you this story in just a bit, but first let me set the stage with the background material.
My church has lots of meetings. Their not my favorite pet incumbos but usually they are pretty good. I went to one such meeting last night. The speaker waxed maudlin about his trip to the sacred grove and about how wonderful it was. Generic platitudes about abstract blessings followed and a really funny bit about how he took a leaf from 200 year old beech tree. This leaf was there it saw the first vision it holds the light that fell from the father and the son! Meanwhile I am thinking that leaf is less than a year old and the SUN holds the light from then too and you can see that anywhere. I mock but he had a very personal deeply moving experience and other than some small details it was a good talk. The main thrust of it was that we need to slow down, stop and experience/enjoy the universe amen. Immediately following this everyone gets in their cars and whizzes off one kid even got on a motorbike and drove off 100mph. I decided to follow the advice and pause to meditate a bit. This is where it gets good.
I was rather in my own reverie pondering the universe when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look up and see a lady dressed in white back-lit by the sun. I am thinking "wow is this an angel?" My next thought is alright ask for her hand and depending what the outcome will tell me the nature of this person. As I am thinking this she offers her hand of course its solid we introduce and she walks back across the street to her abode.
A Pet Incumbo
I propose a pet incumbo. Incumbo is the Latin word for favor and so a pet incumbo is a little thing that makes your day go well. Examples include turning right on a busy street when a bus goes straight--yeah I know I am safe if any cars come through they smash into a bus and not me woot! An other example is finding enough cash in the couch to buy lunch, or even better finding that 20 you stashed in your coat pocket a few years ago and totally forgot about. Or your work has a 20 digit door code that some just walked out of so you don't have to enter a thing! Though my favorite pet incumbo is the speeding ticket insta-karma. The jerk with the babies on board bumper sticker that cuts you off whizzes at break-neck speed endangering everyone on the road who gets pulled over at the ext hill. Pet incumbos. Speaking of pets I have one. I also apparently also have my own personal angel. I'll tell you this story in just a bit, but first let me set the stage with the background material.
My church has lots of meetings. Their not my favorite pet incumbos but usually they are pretty good. I went to one such meeting last night. The speaker waxed maudlin about his trip to the sacred grove and about how wonderful it was. Generic platitudes about abstract blessings followed and a really funny bit about how he took a leaf from 200 year old beech tree. This leaf was there it saw the first vision it holds the light that fell from the father and the son! Meanwhile I am thinking that leaf is less than a year old and the SUN holds the light from then too and you can see that anywhere. I mock but he had a very personal deeply moving experience and other than some small details it was a good talk. The main thrust of it was that we need to slow down, stop and experience/enjoy the universe amen. Immediately following this everyone gets in their cars and whizzes off one kid even got on a motorbike and drove off 100mph. I decided to follow the advice and pause to meditate a bit. This is where it gets good.
I was rather in my own reverie pondering the universe when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look up and see a lady dressed in white back-lit by the sun. I am thinking "wow is this an angel?" My next thought is alright ask for her hand and depending what the outcome will tell me the nature of this person. As I am thinking this she offers her hand of course its solid we introduce and she walks back across the street to her abode.
A Pet Incumbo
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Why you should not commit a crime!
While doing research for my molecular genetics class, I came across the following paper:
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0074-02762006000900021&script=sci_arttext
Or in more scientific terms
Do Vale Gomes, A., F.L. Melo, R.P. Werkhauser, and F.G.C. Abath. 2006. Development of a real time polymerase chain reaction for quantitation of Schistosoma mansoni DNA. Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Crus (101).
Anyway, the point of the paper was that they were able to isolate a sample of 10fg! Yes, that's 10 femto-grams, 10^-15 g, or 0.0000000000000010 g of DNA, or about 2% of the DNA from a single cell! Yeah so it was from a parasite--Humans have way more DNA than a parasite and if they can sequence a worm they can certainly sequence a crook.
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0074-02762006000900021&script=sci_arttext
Or in more scientific terms
Do Vale Gomes, A., F.L. Melo, R.P. Werkhauser, and F.G.C. Abath. 2006. Development of a real time polymerase chain reaction for quantitation of Schistosoma mansoni DNA. Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Crus (101).
Anyway, the point of the paper was that they were able to isolate a sample of 10fg! Yes, that's 10 femto-grams, 10^-15 g, or 0.0000000000000010 g of DNA, or about 2% of the DNA from a single cell! Yeah so it was from a parasite--Humans have way more DNA than a parasite and if they can sequence a worm they can certainly sequence a crook.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
This guy is a quack, but his stuff is interesting!
So the guy is most probably a quack, but the sheer volume of "evidence" is a bit surprizing.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Simultaneous-Discoveries&id=573362
http://ezinearticles.com/?Simultaneous-Discoveries&id=573362
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