It might as well have been written in Mandarin.

Today is Friday. Cool and overcast. Perfect weather to walk... again. My energy is low but I did finish both days. On the way back I was thinking of how many times I walked at a pace of 60 steps per minute. Long gone!
Yesterday and today there were no planes due to the overcast and no animals due to the nexus of time and space.
I got frustrated reading the book on symmetry. Repeatedly reading a paragraph didn't bring me close to understanding what they were saying. It might as well have been written in Mandarin. There were too many lengthy side trips.
I picked up a book on the history of the number zero. Much more interesting and easier to understand.
Both cats have settled into an indoor life by choice. They're free to go out during the day but I keep the door closed at night to discourage uninvited dinner guests.
Books I don't understand show me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I had never even heard of Evariste Galois.

I spoke on the telephone yesterday with old friend Kathy. She had previously offered to get me a ticket to see Willie Nelson in Reno. It didn't work out so the trip to Reno is off for now. Oh well, win some lose some.
I forgot to take my vicodin this morning before the walk. Feeling lazy I chose not to participate in the walk today. Beside that I have little to say.
The book on symmetry has lost me. He goes off track and writes of someone of whom I had never even heard. Evariste Galois. Who? He was a mathematician around at the time of the French Revolution. He was killed in a duel at age 26 but had already done some pioneering work in symmetry and group theory.
Then came back to his discussion of group theory and I was LOST. I read the pages three times but nothing sank in. So I put the book down. I'll get back to it .... and maybe not. I have a book on the number ZERO that I'll try to read.
Unread books are an indication that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

Sunday's gone and Monday and Cesar are here.

Sunday's gone and Monday and Cesar are here. While Monday starts the week, Cesar takes care of the gardening. It's still the cool of the morning (75 deg) and I'm deep in the book on symmetry.
At one point there is a statement from an outstanding mathematician of the past who disparages physicians. It reminded me of the discouraging performances by our politicians both left and right. Paraphrasing,"The things that we give most reputation to a (Politician) nowadays are his manners, servants, carriage, clothes, smartness and caginess, all displayed in a sort of artificial and insipid way; learning and experience seem to count for nothing". Does that sound like our politicians today as they discuss the issues of the day?
The cats are back to being primarily indoor cats. At least they stay in for the night.
Indoor cats lead to the conclusion that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

It's still hot!

It's still hot! When will the Bush weather end and the Obama weather start?Lately it's bee too hot to trot so I stay indoors and prone. I try to read but end up watching a lot of electric TV. That's not good for my waistline but what to do? I suppose there are worse things I could be doing.
The Parkinson's still affects primarily the right arm and hand and I can barely hold it off while I meditate. It doesn't seem to be getting really bad but it's too much to hope for improvement. I did read about a doctor who was diagnosed with ALS in the paper this morning. Now that's serious illness. All I can do is walk and meditate every day and hope to slow it down. There is medication I can take but right now there's not enough effect of the disease to justify the side effects of the drugs. I'll stick to Prop 215 for now.
A dose of Prop 215 will show that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Now's the time to learn.

It's Saturday. Another perfect day in Paradise!
I remember a saying we had in the death and destruction business. "There's never enough time or money to do it right the first time but there's always time and money to do it over". I'm not certain of what that is apropos today but there it is. I'm sure it has something to do with present day politics.
I stopped in at the library yesterday and picked up a book on Symmetry, a topic long ignored by my education. Well, now's the time to learn.
Symmetry is pictorial proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Three Cups of Tea and The Horse Soldiers

I just finished reading Bob's book, "The Horse Soldiers" about the Special Forces going to war in Afghanistan just after 9-11. While the book is about the warfare there are several references to the fact that one of their jobs is to rebuild the infrastructure. This was also promised in Iraq but got lost in the violence. There was a similar goal for the Green Berets in Vietnam. The problem as I see it is that in all cases where we enter a country with the best of intentions, given a hammer (as in overwhelming weaponry) all solutions involve nails (violence). Emotion overcomes logic. I can understand the emotion one goes through after seeing a comrade blown in two. But providing a reliable source of clean water and electricity out points blowing up civilians and their homes when it comes to convincing the civilian population that we are not invaders but different from the invaders over the past 1000 years.
This was the approach written about in "Three Cups of Tea". Greg was winning the hearts and minds of the locals one at a time without violence. Perhaps he spent 5% of his time worrying about the Taliban while devoting 95% of his time to building schools. This is about the reverse of what happens in in Iraq and Afghanistan. The goal is the same but the strategy is different. War is a waste of people and other resources. Always was... always will be. And too many innocent people die needlessly.
War only reminds us that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

One is never too young for Taiko.

One is never too young for Taiko.
The sound of Taiko drums proves that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

Book reviews and politics.

Abut a year ago daughter Deb gave me a book named, "Three Cups of Tea, One Man's Mission to Promote Peace" by Greg Mortenson, a mountain climber who had spent time in pre 9-11 Afghanistan. He realized that an entire remote Afghanistani village and thence all of Afghanistan could be transformed by educating the young girls in the villages. I can't summarize the book here but suffice it to say that building schools one at a time worked well enough to cause the Taliban to target these schools and replace the with madrases through terror when they took over. Anyway before 9-11 he spent a lot of time organizing schools in remote villages. All was lost when the Taliban took over after 9-11.
Last week brother Bob gave me a book with a different approach to the problems in Afghanistan called "Horse Soldiers" about the U.S. Special Forces sent into Afghanistan to rout the Taliban after 9-11. While I hold the highest regard for those who risk their lives in the service of our country I disagree with the policies that got them there. And reading both books and watching 1000 years of history convinces me that the Three Cups of Tea approach will get us what we want faster than the use of force. Other than higher technology (which just destroys more) what are we doing different from the British or the Russians before us? We will have a longer list of dead for me to meditate over each Sunday.
The politics of Afghanistan shows that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I slept through the 4am incident.

Coyly avoiding our gaze from the left is Tigger resting in her latest favorite place just outside my backdoor. Lately she's been almost friendly. Last night both cats were inside about an hour before bedtime so I closed the door to keep them in. There didn't seem to be any complaints.
I slept through the 4 am incident so I guess there was none since both cats are in and any uninvited breakfast guests were kept outside.
Early morning non-incidents assure me that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

Jeez! It's hot.

Jeez! It's hot. It's been uncomfortably hot for the last week with no end in sight. Even now at 7:30 am it's hot. and it seems to be more humid than usual. Maye I can get my tire inflated and get outside today.
Tigger still spends the night out. This morning at about 4 am I woke up to a quiet growl. Very low pitch. I'd never heard anything like it before. Exploring the house, not much of a job, I found nothing. Buddas tail was fluffed up a little so something went on. Maybe it's the ghost of windbag George W. Bush come back to haunt us. Or perhaps an uninvited, unspecified breakfast guest (Sasquatch maybe?). As the Heisenberg Principal teaches us: We cannot really know anyway.
The book on anti-matter was written too early. Still too much complexity. The next iteration is the one that will explain it all clearly. The book by Michio Kaku about the physics of the impossible was a disappointment. It's just the wrong topic for now. Now on to dark matter and dark energy.
Brother Bob lent me a book to read. It's about the initial attack on the Taliban forces in Afganistan. Interesting as far as I've gotten. A description of chaos. Temperature affects the density altitude proving once again that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Every thing's back to normal.

Last post July 17, today... July 19. Oh well I'll get to it sooner or later. Lord wilin' and the crick don't rise. I forgot to take my meds this am before the walk so I stumbled around in pain on a shortened walk.
Watchng s from the right is my guy "Budda". Lately he has been sleeping on the foot of my bed. Right in the middle taking up the covers. About 5 am he reminds me that it's almost time for breakfast. Tigger refuses to come in at bedtime so I leave the back door open enough for her to come in should she choose. This morning at about 4 am this loud screeching startled me awake. From both cats. So I got up to check on things but didn't find anything out of order. The door was still open a little and both cats were in the house so I closed the door. Pissed off Tigger. I surmise there must have been an uninvited breakfast guest who exited before I saw her (or him ). No harm, no foul. every thing's back to normal.
Uninvited breakfast guests remind me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Hadrons, baryons and leptons. Did I get cheated?

Hadrons, baryons and leptons are classes of elementary particles which make up the familiar protons, neutrons and electrons about which we learned in high school science (I hope). These are the pieces which make up everything we see and touch. Chairs to bears, cycles to cyclones, YouTube to two tubes, quarks to larks and galaxies to tiny fleas. Everything. Then about a decade ago two new terms came around. Dark matter and dark energy. We know something is out there because of the gravitational effects on the world around us but we have NO idea what it is, where it comes from or why regular matter is subject to its gravitational pull but we can't use it. It turns out that what we see, hear and touch is only 25% of what is in our Universe! The other 75% ( by far the majority) is compsed of: (a) dark energy which causes our Universe to expand and (b) dark matter which causes our Universe to contract ... and we have no idea what they are or what they do. Discussing hadrons, baryons and leptons and leaving out the dark stuff is rather like discussing how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.
Hadrons, baryons and leptons make my head spin with proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

More on word roots and a dedication... of sorts.

Yesterday I mentioned the word 'raven' in the sequence. There is a little known fact about ravens that I would like to recount. Every year the ravens migrate from the remote hills of southern Mexico to an Ohio town. Much like the swallows and Capistrano or the butterflies and Pacific Grove, CA. The town named after the raven is Ravenna, Ohio which in the 60's was ravaged by a tornado.
On a more somber note...every Sunday since the beginning of the first Gulf War the LA Times has printed the names, home town and affiliation of every soldier killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every Sunday I have quietly read each name to myself in appreciation of their sacrifice. The only names I missed were those printed while I was incapacitated due to my incident. Sometimes there are only a few names, sometimes more, but when the Iraq war was intense, the names filled the page with wasted lives. The list is getting longer again as the war in Afghanistan is picking up. Thanks Bush Lite! Politicians are all the same. Give the $$$ to the corporations. Socialize the expenses while privatizing the profits. Watch the transfer of money through the health care proposal before Congress now. Wanna bet the people don't end up better off?
One last observation. The large majority of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are due to IEDs, a device not neutralized after a decade of use. I'll bet the problem would be solved overnight if the IEDs were directed at Congress!
Single payer health care would prove that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I seem to have misplaced my Walkman radio,

Weather... warm and severe clear. Temperature is about 70 deg. In other words a perfect day except that I seem to have misplaced my Walkman radio so I'll have to improvise. Let's free associate.
It must be ant season. It is not uncommon to come cross a column of ants running across the sidewalk. But it's usually gone in a day or two. Not like the massive one that started this whole thing that lasted a month. The roots of words or phrases has always interested me. For example, the study of word roots is etymology and the study of insects is entomology stemming from the root word -ent which sounds like -ant. Already we can see a connectioin. Ants are eaten by ravens which is just another name for crow. From whence cometh the phrase: "Let them eat crow" See how simple it is? Just like quantum mechanics. Try it yourself.
Tracing word roots is once again proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I believe the universe speaks to us.

Oh crap! I went out to load the bike for a ride along the beach and found the front tire to be flat. *&(^%*!! I found an article which claimed that swearing allowed one to withstand pain for a longer time. So it works. I can fix that and reached for my bicycle pump. *(&^^((&%!!! The damned pump won't pump! And besides the tires have those small valves that I haven't figured out how to use.
I believe the universe speaks to us. Here it was loud and clear. Stay home!! So I put the bike away to be dealt with another day. I'll do my blog.
It's Proof by Intuition ("I've got a gut feeling") that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Proof by Definition of my thesis.

OK OK. I missed yesterday. It's been a boring weekend.
I did spot a plane on this mornings walk. How could I miss it? Not only did it pass overhead but the weather was such that I could see 100 miles. Warm with a clear blue sky. It doesn't get any better than this. The cats have taken to sleeping outdoors. They bolt out after they eat dinner and refuse to come in when I call. But Budda manages to find his way in at 5 am to let me know they're hungry!
The confirmation hearing for the next Supreme Court Justice has begun. They could do it in half the time if they were to cut out "introductory speeches" which are no more than ideological screeds by both sides. She's too much a corporate hack for me but she's infinitely better than "Ditto" Thomas.
Warm weather is Proof by Definition (We define it to be true) that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The Page Museum..... again.

This is a picture of the steps going up the back of the Page Museum to the second floor. It's here because I like the geometry of the steps although it could have been cropped to some better aesthetics.
Yesterday I went to the motion picture show to see Bruno (the U should have an umlaut but I don't know how to grace the letter properly). It was hilarious and irreverent, funny and offensive. Not for everyone but I enjoyed it.
Steps to infinity prove that we're all on this flight together.
dick

402 postings of what?

I missed yesterday because there was nothing to write about. I could have written about quantum mechanics or string theory or curing Parkinson's but I would have been going over old stuff.
Lately I've been watching a show on the electric TV called "Bones". It is about a group of scientists who solve murders. There is unrequited sexual tension, excellent character development and good story lines. The characters mostly have advanced degrees and use them. The equipment they use is Star Trekish in nature. They are able to pinpoint the scene of the crime by finding unique micro flora or fauna or such. It stretches ones mental abilities much like Star Trek did (does?).

It is Proof by Supplication "Oh I wish" that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The infamous sabre tooth tiger.

The photo is of the fossil skeleton of the infamous sabre tooth tiger. I don't think I'd like to run into one of these guys. Those teeth are 6 inches long! The background is real but I don't think the tiger is threatening. This is one of the last pics from the Page Museum.
Today is laundry day. It's been a while so I have a lot. Oh me oh my what a chore. I've got to leave for a few minutes to move the laundry from washer to dryers. I promise to be back.
Laundry is done but not all folded. Clean sheet day!
Brother Bob is due to stop by after lunch. I have been forewarned to be ready to answer brief questions on the bending of space and gravity! I feel like I'm getting ready to defend a Masters' thesis.
Clean sheet day is further proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

This is the 400th post to the blog!

To show what a hard life I lead, the photo is typical of my daily walk. Quiet and peaceful.
I recently came across a medical use for fullerenes. Fullerenes are arrangements of carbon atoms to form nearly spherical molecules, another arrangement would form diamonds and a third would be graphite. The interior of fullerenes is empty and other molecules could be built in for transport to specific body sites. The reference I saw was with regard to transporting chemicals across the brain barrier to get Alzheimer cures to the brain itself. Since Parkinson's is the result of diminished quantities of dopamine at the brains receptors, the question came to mind whether dopamine could be delivered to the brain in fullerene molecules. As an aside, the fullerenes are named after Buckminster Fuller who explored certain structures. They are formed profusely in sooty flames although that was not recognized until the 1980's.
After I get done here I'll Google fullerenes.
Last year Deb gave me a book called "Three Cups of Tea" about a man who spent his pre-9/11 days building schools for girls in Afghanistan. The main theme of the book is that a single determined person can make a difference under the most difficult of conditions.
Now Deb has given me another called "Balance" which I started this morning. I've written in the past b about my balance problems on the bike which have not yet been resolved. Maybe I'll go out today. I haven't gotten to the Parkinson's reference in the book yet but the going has been interesting so far.
A slight imbalance is an indicator that we're all on this flight together.


Dick

Escher and Coxeter, a fine pair.

I have just finished reading a book called "The King Of Infinite Space. It is a biography of Donald Coxeter a mathematical student of geometry in dimensions higher than our ordinarily visible three. He lived to the age of 93. Very few lay people have heard of him but he is famous in the world of mathematics for his study of geometry. At the end of his life he had garnered numerous academic awards for his work. In part he explained the mathematics (or geometry) of Escher's art work. The interesting thing is that in spite of their deep friendship and similar goals, Coxeter ended up a revered professor at Toronto University and Escher spent his last years in a nut house. This in spite of the fundamentals of both of their work being much the same. One using logic and the other using internal understanding. It could easily have been the other way around. Coxeter's study of geometry provided a fundamental understanding of the figures by studying the algebra of Escher's art while Escher arrived at the same conclusions through sheer perseverance.
Escher's art work is another proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

Happy July Fifth!

The weather is clear and warm. T-shirt weather. Not bad for a holiday plus 1.
The music I listened to during my walk was bluegrass gospel. Which prompted me to wonder why I place so much energy on the hypocrisies while enjoying the music.
The photo on the left is a blossom growing wild at the entrance to the Page Museum. I was attracted by the pure white color. On the right is a skeletal bison the first fossil one sees upon entering the Museum.
Pure white flowers assure me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Wolf skulls on the wall.

What a beautiful day! The sun is out, the sky is blue and the ceiling unlimited. There were no animals sighted and no airplanes observed. Very quiet but nice.
I had a nice chat with old friend Kathy on the battery powered telephone yesterday. She invited me to visit in Reno and to attend a Willie Nelson concert. I've got some logistics to clear first.
The photo on the left is a display from the Page Museum of wolf skulls from wolves caught in the tar pits. There must be 5-600 skulls here. On the right the photo shows the peaceful atmosphere surrounding the museum. It was another beautiful day in Paradise (as long as you were not stuck in a tar pit). Isn't that an interesting juxtaposition?
Wolf skulls on the wall are a powerful indicator that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Where does the time go?

n

Waffles for breakfast from the heart shaped waffle iron. And while we're at it, how did it get to be July already. How time flies. Which reminds me... time flies like an arrow bu t fruit flies like bananas.
The pictures are of a sabre tooth tiger. These are representations, not real. The museum tried to get real ones but were unable to find them in the wild. These were apparently were quite common 10-15,000 years ago around here. I'd hate to have met one wandering around. What a pair of choppers. Enough to deep any dentist busy for a lifetime.
Budda and Tigger have figured out that when they come in to get fed in the evening, I close the door behind them so they're in for the night. Now they've learned to they stay outside until I go to bed. I leave the door open a crack for them to come in at their leisure. But it also allows all sorts of wild things in as uninvited dinner guests. They're smarter than I am. But them they can't read books on geometry.
Cats being smarter than I am show that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Schrodinger's Cat and Parkinson's.

On the left is a picture of a woolly mammoth with his clothes on. On the right is a close up of a woolly mammoth with his clothes off. The dressed one stood abut 8 feet tall at the neck
Schrodinger's Cat is a paradox wherein a cat is placed in a box with a radioactive atom. If the atom should split, a poison is released killing the cat. The question is: Is the cat in the box dead or alive. The answer is both! Until the cat is observed both possibilities exist... simultaneously. Quantum mechanically the Equation of State collapses to leave the singular observed result. I tell you that so I can tell you this: The reason for the successful resolution of my thyroid problem was that at the time I was meditating on the thyroid, it was before the diagnosis was final. Pre diagnosis the whole range of diagnoses was possible until the ultrasound confirmation collapsed the Equation of State. In the meantime the final results were apparently amenable to the meditative approach.
Now when I watch the deterioration due to the Parkinson's and the meditation apparently having no effect, I wonder if the fact that the diagnosis of Parkinson's has been confirmed precludes the usefulness of meditation in a cure. Someday I'll get back to calculating what it takes to rebuild the substantia nigra molecule by molecule. Or maybe this is all just a bunch of crap.
Schrodinger's Cat is another proof that we're all on this flight together,

Dick