Random Thoughts
The perception of truth is almost as simple a feeling as the perception of beauty; and the genius of Newton, of Shakespeare, of Michael Angelo, and of Handel, are not very remote in character from each other. Imagination, as well as the reason, is necessary to perfection in the philosophic mind. A rapidity of combination, a power of perceiving analogies, and of comparing them by facts, is the creative source of discovery. Discrimination and delicacy of sensation, so important in physical research, are other words for taste; and love of nature is the same passion, as the love of the…
In watching an interview the other day with Craig T. Nelson, I couldn't help but be struck by how dramatically the role of government is both taken for granted, and ignored. It is precisely this level of misunderstanding that has given rise to the hysterical nature of the dialog about health care.
"They should be allowed to go bankrupt. What happened...? We are a capitalistic society. OK. I go into business. I don't make it. I go bankrupt. They're not gonna bail me out.
I've been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No. No. They gave me hope and they gave me encouragement…
Back from vacations, I found the usual pile of errands, tons of unattended emails, papers to review to take care of at work. I got home pretty tired tonight, and I was more than else looking for some relaxation when I logged on the Internet Chess Club for a couple of blitz chess games. Instead, I found some fulfilment by winning a short game with the black pieces. White was International Master Vladimir Barskij, Fide ELO 2419 in the current list, number 2273 in the world. Not a top chess player, but one of those I sometimes have a chance of beating.
Here is the game, with minimal commentary…
In physics the truth is rarely perfectly clear, and that is certainly universally the case in human affairs. Hence, what is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth.
- Richard Feynman, Letter to the Editor of the California Tech, Feb. 27 1976
Ahh, the annual list that makes you feel old, and makes you nostalgic for the good old days of the late 1990s when cell phones were still non-ubiquitous.
The Beloit College Mindset List is a list of cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives and reference frames of incoming college freshman. These kids were born in 1991 (that hurts a little), the BCML says.
Members of the class of 2013 won't be surprised when they can charge a latté on their cell phone and curl up in the corner to read a textbook on an electronic screen. The migration of once independent media—radio, TV, videos and CDs—…
The goal of a world where body weight was not cause for discrimination or denigration is a nobel one, but at what cost? In the zero sum game point of view some activist have it seems that for people of high BMI to gain, those who are of normal BMI must loose?
In elementary school fat kids get made fun of. As adults obese people have at times had trouble finding clothes, or have been made to pay for two airline seats. As of late there has developed a fat acceptance movement, and a related academic field called fat studies.
Let me start with the academic…
Observation is the generative act in scientific discovery. For all its aberrations, the evidence of the senses is essentially to be relied upon--provided we observe nature as a child does, without prejudices and preconceptions, but with that clear and candid vision which adults lose and scientists must strive to regain.
- Peter Medawar, Pluto's Republic, p. 99
If the labours of men of Science should ever create any material revolution, direct or indirect, in our condition, and in the impressions which we habitually receive, the Poet will sleep then no more than at present, but he will be ready to follow the steps of the man of Science, not only in those general indirect effects, but he will be at his side, carrying sensation into the midst of the objects of the Science itself. The remotest discoveries of the Chemist, the Botanist, or Mineralogist, will be as proper objects of the Poet's art as any upon which it can be employed, if…
Enough. I have lost to hyperspace too many paragraphs of my scribblings -here, as well as elsewhere- and I cannot stand it anymore. I need your help.
I write on a SONY VAIO laptop, with an English keyboard. The bottom row of keys has the "ctrl", the "Fn", the "windows" key; the second row has the shift key first; and the third row has the "caps lock" key. This information is relevant for what I am about to explain.
It turns out that sometimes while I write I type some nasty combination of shift, caps lock, or other keys in the thereabouts, together with some normal key I am typing at the same…
Hank |
Tangential Science: it's not necessarily science, but it's still funny.
1. You've all heard that blondes have more fun. There is even a recurring urban legend that they are becoming extinct, which seems like an effort to get them to have even more fun while they are still around, but what about that most rare hair color, redheads?
Apparently they are in their 50,000th year of not getting enough respect.
It turns out that redheads are not only having less fun (unless it is their secret way of having way more fun and staying under the radar) they have other painful issues that…