37 Aluminum Sparks

Well, I gave my final lecture until after Thanksgiving Break today. Maybe I'll get caught up on grading homework over break. Maybe. I spent the morning doing Real Analysis homework (due at 13:00). Caitlin told me that (1) was the hardest, and I found it the easiest, mainly because it involved thought rather than looking for an applicable theorem. In other news, while I was waiting for two students to show up and take a test they had missed, a reporter wandered by looking for someone to interview. So it looks like I'll be in the Idaho State Journal on Monday. *shrugs*

I visited my grandma tonight. She seems to be doing better, though the dialysis machine was in continual need of reset while she was on it (she said someone had to come push the button every two minutes). My mom is still staying with her. To be honest, I wonder if she will just stay there. I hope that doesn't happen, but the way things have been going it wouldn't surprise me. I also went to see my dad tonight. He was burning a fire in the basement...listening to sad love songs on the radio. This did nothing to soothe my frame of mind. On the one hand, he only likes the classic radio stations, and there aren't too many of those in Pocatello. On the other... *shrugs again*

And a random assortment of links that I found interesting:
First, more on meditation. The study I linked to a day or so ago compared the brains of meditators to nonmeditators. This one looks at the effects of meditation on a person's response time. Pretty cool results, and I can verify that I feel much more alert on the days when I spend some time in meditation.

Speaking of experiments, someone decided to test aluminum hats to see if they could really block brain-controlling EM waves. Troubling findings: they actually amplify government bands. (I forget where I first ran across this, but it's been featured in several places recently)

Oh, and the meaning of life, the universe, and everything may have to be revised, to 37.

And Positive Liberty has some thoughts on torture. As pointed out in the comments, torture may produce useful results if the person being tortured actually knows something. However, based on what I've read recently, there are more effective methods for getting information that do not shred our country's reputation and encourage people to hate us. Hypothetically, if we know for sure that someone has the vital piece of information, and no other methods have worked, I would not object to torturing said person for the information. But the recent atrocities had nothing to do with information. If you want more details, click on the "Operation Truth" link in the sidebar. There have been plenty of posts on it there.

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Musing on a Song

Well, Fibonacci's been trying to figure out what some Paul Simon lyrics mean (starting in this post and continued by kate). So I tracked down the lyrics to "Feelin' Groovy":

Slow down, you move too fast
You've got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy
Ba da da da da da da, feeling groovy

Hello lampost, what'cha knowing
I've come to watch your flowers growin'
Ain'tcha got no rhymes for me
Doo-it in doo doo, feeling groovy
Ba da da da da da da, feeling groovy

I got no deeds to do
No promises to keep
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep
Let the morningtime drop all its petals on me
Life I love you, all is groovy

Okay, "Slow down, you move too fast / You've got to make the morning last" is pretty obvious. People are so busy doing stuff that they don't pay any attention to what's going on around them, or they're so worried about the future that they completely miss the present.

"Just kicking down the cobblestones" could refer to just taking a leisurely walk on a cobblestoned path, or could refer to doing something simple that has no obvious merit on its own. The cobblestones are already down, so why kick them further down? Actually, those go together rather nicely, especially considering the next line: "Looking for fun and feeling groovy." Nothing particular in mind...just going with the flow and seeing where it leads.

"Hello lampost, what'cha knowing / I've come to watch your flowers growin' / Ain'tcha got no rhymes for me" This is my favorite verse, but it's nearly impossible to explain to someone who hasn't experienced this frame of mind. I get there by meditating, but supposedly some drugs accomplish the same thing (with bad side effects). I'll try to explain it... When you look at the world, you see that everything is alive, and (in some sense) aware. Got a question? The lamppost might know (and as a source of light it's a symbol of knowledge anyway). Its "flowers" probably represent the fruits of its labor. It's a light guiding people on a path. Flowers growing are people following that path. "Rhymes" likely represent lessons going beyond simple guidance, like the lessons learned in everyday life.

"I got no deeds to do / No promises to keep" This part is pretty clear, and goes along with the idea of simply seeing where the flow leads. No obligations or attachments. Just kickin' down the cobblestones, following the path.

"I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep" Hmmmm... One definition of "dapple" is "to mark with spots." I think it's the "mark" that's important. He's on the path. The path has marked him. Also, dappled means "mixed or mottled", so his path is not the path of extremes. It is a middle road. His only obligation is to himself, to keep on the path, so when he's drowsy he might as well sleep.

"Let the morningtime drop all its petals on me / Life I love you, all is groovy" First, the "let" is important. He is allowing things to happen rather than forcing them, and whatever happens, life is still groovy. Also, if all the petals fall on him, they will probably cover him, hiding him. So even if he is not noticed, if he is hidden, life is groovy. His well-being does not depend on other people recognizing or approving of him.

Overall, this song is about figuring out what's really important in life, about finding your path and accepting guidance where you find it. And the point is not for others to know that you are on the path, the point is for you to really BE on the path. Then everything will be "groovy."

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Lights going on

Well, I forgot to mention that the nurse taking care of my grandma in the ER was a former student of mine. She may have taken Statistics from me the very first time I taught it, or else very soon after. As far as how Grandma's doing, she had a transfusion this morning, since she was anemic (given all the blood tests they've run on her recently, it's no wonder). A bit of oddness there, and I don't know enough to evaluate the situation. They had tried to do the transfusion last night, and she reacted to it so they stopped. It was a plasma transfusion, and I was under the impression that plasma was neutral, that it didn't matter what blood-type the donor was, because all the markers got cleared out when they gathered plasma. Apparently not. That wasn't the weird part. My grandma is O-negative. They claimed that this meant they should give her AB-postive plasma. She reacted. They stopped. This morning they gave her O-positive plasma instead, and primed her with benadryl and something else to forestall a reaction. This transfuion took. Now...why would they have given her AB+ in the first place? Fine, if O-neg is rare, then I can see them using O+ instead, but AB? I have no clue.

Anyway, they gave her anesthetic for something, presumably while they were draining her lungs, so she mostly slept through her first dialysis session. But my mom said her breathing was better tonight, and that's good since that's what got her back in the hospital in the first place. They told her she might get to go home tomorrow...and she was skeptical. So am I. Last time she was told several times she would get to go home "tomorrow" and none of them panned out. But hopefully the dialysis will make it so her lungs don't fill up with water again (I'm not sure exactly how that works, though). Oh, my mom said Grandma was still sleepy tonight when she went over. The one time I was put under anesthetic, it took about a month before I felt like myself again, and it wasn't even a "major" operation in terms of cutting and damage. It was a scleral buckle to hold a detached retina in place. I did not like the aftereffects of the anesthetic, though it was preferable to being awake while they cut into my eye.

Oh yes. My title. First, the moon was absolutely gorgeous tonight. It had a full double halo behind the thing clouds. Awesome. And when I got home, there were two planets close by, practically framing it on either side (the clouds were moving so erratically that at first I thought one must be a plane, but then I realized it was staying fixed relative to the moon). But before I went to teach my evening class, there was a strange light in the sky. Eventually I figured out that someone was shining a spotlight up into the sky and moving it around in somewhat erratic circles. At first, I just saw something glowy moving around the clouds, and disappearing in the blank spaces between the clouds. It was temporarily a UFO (it was flying and I didn't know what it was) until I figured out it had to be a ground-based light. Bloody strange-looking, though. I have no idea why someone was moving a spotlight in circles. *shrugs*

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Tofu Roshi

A few weeks back, my taiji instructor randomly handed me a book and said I would enjoy it. It's called The Life and Letters of Tofu Roshi ( Amazon). And I did enjoy it. It's...a strange book. On the surface, it's a collection of letters sent in to a zen center along with the replies. Well, more than half of the letters are too strange to be believed; it's hard to imagine people writing them and meaning them to be taken seriously. Like a concerned mom: "I think my son is meditating, you know, when we're not watching," or one letter said only "I am weird. Can I help it?"

While the letters are entertaining (and Tofu's responses even more entertaining), the commentary between the sections of letters is the most interesting. Ichi Su (the author) describes how she came to follow a Zen path, and the struggles she went through on that path. It is a truly Zen book, profound and humorous all at once. The book could be considered an extended koan, or a collection of modern koans. I think the saga of the missing shoes was my favorite part, though I have only a vague idea what (if anything) it represents. That koan runs throughout the book, and is "resolved" only in the very last section. Just as a note of interest, it is not clear from the book whether Tofu Roshi ever existed or if he is simply a character invented by Ichi Su. I'm pretty sure this vaguery is deliberate, and it is definitely in keeping with the Zen flavor.

I'll close with one of the (shorter) letters & responses:

Dear Tofu Roshi:
I can't get my dog to stay on his meditation cushion. Could I just tie the zafu onto the dog for forty minutes a day?-------------Doggoned

Dear Doggoned:
When your dog won't sit, which should you tie, the dog or the zafu? Practicing with this question will teach you the meaning of shikan taza: Sit! Just sit!

(The last book Don suggested for me was rather a disaster. It was about the founder of a New Age Institute somewhere down in Arizona or New Mexico. Some interesting thoughts, but she took herself so seriously, and was so convinced of the aboslute truth of some extremely doubtful propositions, that I couldn't stand the book.)

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Here we go again

Well, Grandma is in the hospital again. So far, it's not serious. It's the Catch-22 of her kidneys: they don't filter the water out right, so her lungs fill up; but the medicine that would keep the water out is bad for her kidneys. Anyway, she was breathing easier this morning than she had been, and they plan to start dialysis tomorrow. I'm not sure how the Rahims talked her into dialysis, since before this she had stated that she would never do dialysis, but I'm glad that they did. Otherwise, I don't think she'd last more than a few more months.

In other news, I actually got my class's tests graded before class today, but didn't have time to record them. A few students came by after class to see what they got. I showed my taiji class an exercise that I just learned this weekend, called "The Phoenix". Take a horse stance (feet parallel, at least shoulder width). Shift all the weight to the right leg. Turn the left foot to ninety degrees, lift the toes. Bend down as far as you can (touching the toes if possible). Shift the weight to the left foot as you stand up. Shift back to the right foot and repeat. There's also stuff for the hands to do, but I don't feel like figuring out how to describe it at the moment.

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Lazy Sunday

I finally picked up my book on auras and chakras again. Whether you think they're real or not, there is power in visualization, and the one I played with today was quite enjoyable. The idea is to shake loose your preconceptions, especially about people you're close to. So you visualize a picture of them (or some other representation) and place a "gift" on that visualization (the author has a thing for flowers; I don't). Then move the picture+gift away from you and blow it to smithereens. First, it's not the person you're blowing up: it's your expectations and baggage connected to that person. Second, I felt...free after playing with that visualization for a while. I went so far as to blow up the earth before quitting.

Oh, and check out the Astronomy Pic of the Day if you haven't already. You get to watch the moon go through a complete cycle. Awesome.

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Hey, I'm Giles!

Hmmm... Yeah, of all the characters in the Buffyverse, Giles probably is the one most like me.

Rupert Giles 63% amorality, 45% passion, 90% spirituality, 72% selflessness

Utterly calm and resolute in the face of danger, utterly devoted to his loved ones and comrades in arms, and utterly willing to do what is necessary to ensure that good overcomes evil. Giles knows the score, he knows that sometimes virtue relies on good men getting a little messy, and he's willing to take that on himself, largely so that others don't have to. You might share some of that. You most closely resemble one of the most popular heroes in the Buffy universe. Congratulations! THE 4-VARIABLE BUFFY PERSONALITY TEST

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 53% on morality You scored higher than 13% on repose You scored higher than 97% on spirituality You scored higher than 84% on selflessness

Link: The 4-Variable Buffy Personality Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

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Science on the Web

I just came across an awesome science site, and spent the better part of a half hour skimming through articles. Everything from Star Trek doors and weapons to ancient crocodilians.

There's even an article on Synesthesia. I have a suspicion that Synesthesia is the real explanation behind seeing auras and such. I am synesthetic; I associate sounds and colors and letters (among other things) with colors. This association is consistent for me, but is likely to be different with another synesthetic. The article at LiveScience is the first I've found that describes my experience, of "seeing" the colors in the mind's eye, rather than with the eyes themselves. No one really knows what causes Synesthesia. I find it both amusing and annoying that it is often characterized as a "disease of the brain" when Synesthetics tend to have better recall abilities than nonSynesthetics.

At any rate, my suspicion is that us Synesthetics are actually taking in more information than nonSynesthetics, and that our brains don't have a specific way to process that information. So it gets lumped in with colors. Which colors depend on the person involved. I have yet to see any research even consider that the colors might actually be meaningful (at least to that person) and represent extra information about the object at hand. Part of the reason for my suspicion is that I tend to associate colors with the people I know, and those colors change from time to time, often seemingly in connection with his or her mood. This sounds a lot like the idea of an aura. Is it meaningful or all in my imagination? *shrugs* At least it's testable.

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Odds and Ends

I did get the beans soaking last night, and thus was able to make chili today. Pinto beans, red beans, black beans, several red bell peppers, an orange bell pepper, four chili peppers, four jalapeño peppers, an onion and two pounds of beef went into it, along with the obligatory chili powder and cumin. Turned out pretty well, but a bit thinner than I like it. Too much water. Oh well. I made biscuits to go along with it, from a GF mix that I hadn't tried before. They turned out surprisingly well, considering that I was very sloppy about making them.

I am very glad that the week after next is Thanksgiving Break. I'm starting to wonder if it's time to move on from my job at ISU, but I don't know what else I might do right now. I would love to be able to make a living teaching taiji, but that seems more than unlikely at the moment. Just for the record, I get these feelings about moving on fairly regularly, usually when things get backed up for me during the semester.

A strange thing happened today. I was giving my Math 143 class a test, and some of them were hanging on past class-time (we officially get out at 12:50). Usually the next class bursts in on us around 12:55. Today, it didn't. The next Prof was being very careful to keep his students out. I called for all the tests to come in around 12:58. Perhaps coincidence, earlier that hour I had mentally shouted out that the building was MINE! (Still annoyed at the secretary from yesterday; less so than before) But it's nice to think that maybe the building heard me and told the next prof to back off.

Anyway, on the interesting news front, Buddhist Meditation thickens the brain, and John Cleese gets a lemur named after him.

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Don't mind me: I think I'm going mad

It's been a weeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiird day. Partially it's my own fault for forgetting to grab the primary component of my lunch. My mind does strange things when it's short on food. So when the undersecretary in the math department decided to lay into me (You know that "calm" voice that people use when they're really unhappy and would like to shout? I got that for making a simple request for information), I reacted badly. Not to her, but afterwards. I was happily picturing her head exploding into little red bits, and I try not to do that. You never know when a stray thought might actually do some damage.

Of course, the weirdness started before food became an issue: during my meditation session. I "saw" dragons again (in my mind; not with my vision), and there was a new element: The Imperial March. You know, Darth Vader's theme? Not what you expect from a quiet meditation session.

As for the rest, I edited an Algebra test while my body screamed for food and tried to shut my mind down, then tried to work on Real Analysis homework while my students took said test and my body continued to scream for food. It's better now. I grabbed some ham at Fred Meyer before coming home, and I'm working my way through a bowl of popcorn. If I get the beans soaking tonight, I'll make chili tomorrow and have meals for a week. That will be nice.

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Math Center Haiku

Well, it was slow in the math center yesterday. So I sat and wrote haiku instead:

Fluorescent lights glare
from a noisy ceiling and
turn it all yellow

Equations slumber
peacefully until students
try to wake them up

No calculations
they are meaningless, merely
manipulations

spinning fan above
blows cold air, even though it's
too cold as it is

boredom in frozen
panicking packets of sound
empty of meaning

truth versus lie
neither is real, neither is
unreal. they just are

belief. unbelief.
one coin. two sides. no diff'rence
only the coin's spin

Rather a mixed bag, really.

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Progress?

I stayed home from taiji today. My body told me it needed the rest, and since I woke up with a fever, it seemed likely that I might be contagious. The upshot is that my kitchen is now almost clean and I am having my first taste of fresh bread in several months. It's Bette Hagmans "Featherlight Rice Bread" with minor modifications. Good stuff. I made a double batch, so that I could make a loaf of bread and some cinnamon rolls. Not rolls in the usual sense; more like pull-aparts. Gluten free dough does not lend itself to rolling out and making neat spirals. I haven't baked in a while, in large part because my table has been overflowing with junk. Today I attacked said junk and the table is usable again. Not completely cleared off, but several orders of magnitude improved.

I also played musical cars with my mom today. She needed to get her snowtires on, and needed a ride back from Les Schwab (why couldn't my dad do it? Good question. He out and out refused to do it for Mom during the week, even though she is working full time and he's bloody well retired. Oh, wait, he might miss recording one of his shows! Oh, the horror!) Then Mom decided we should get Grandma's car taken care of as well (no mention made of mine, but since I don't have to be to work until 10:30 or 11:00 during the week, I can likely take care of my own). We also got groceries for Grandma; she hasn't been driving since her stint in the hospital. Then Grandma gave my mom some money and insisted she take me out to lunch. Not sure why, exactly, but I got a good meal at Chang's Garden, so I'm not complaining.

Anyway, I'm SICK of having a messy house (being sick always makes me notice these things more, especially when I start to feel better), so my plan is to work my way out from the kitchen and get as far as I can tomorrow. Unfortunately, I also have a lot of grading to catch up on. *sighs* Well, I'll clean in the morning and hopefully grade in the afternoon. Oh, and despite the fever this morning, my cold seems to be a lot better today. I THINK my voice is a bit better than it has been. Maybe by Monday I'll be able to lecture with a clear voice again.

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Piracy

My pirate name is:

Mad Anne Read

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Even through many pirates have a reputation for not being the brightest souls on earth, you defy the sterotypes. You've got taste and education. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Mad Anne Read... I like it. (The quiz is quite entertaining, btw)

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Unspeakably Silly

First, the silly:

You are the Minister of Silly Walks


What Monty Python Sketch Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Since "Ministry of Silly Walks" is one of my favorite sketches, I can't complain.

As for the unspeakable... I've got a rather nasty cold at the moment. Not so much nasty, actually, as annoying. It seems to have settled directly over my vocal cords and the major symptom at the moment is making my voice break up. This is rather awkward since I lecture to students for a living... I muddled through, writing out a lot of my notes to put on the ELMO, and tried not to talk too much. It's actually better now. Chicken stew containing jalepeños will do that. Only, I generally don't want to have chicken stew for breakfast. At any rate, I'm giving tests in two classes tomorrow, so those will be okay if my voice is still...scratchy. I have one lecture to give, but assuming it was the chicken stew that improved my speech, I ought to be all right. Speaking of giving a test tomorrow, I really ought to get it written...

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Convergence

Some stuff I haven't posted due to being busy with Knife of Dreams...

Via an article at Magic Statistics, an examination of the modern atheist movement. It's a good read. The problem with atheism is that it has allowed itself to become a religion, rather than a simple negation of religion. It's got dogma (all religions are bad, evil, nonsensical, useless). It dismisses out of hand any claims that do not agree with its worldview (even the possibility of spirits, UFOs, magic) rather than investigating in a true spirit of scientific inquiry (note that most believers in these things have their own dogma and reject out of hand any attempt to discredit them). I have no problem with the statement "All supposed photographs of UFOs have turned out to be fakes, thus there is no photographic evidence of UFOs." That's fine and scientific. It's carried too far when "Therefore, there are no UFOs" is tacked onto it. That is speculation.

That said, the current Carnival of the Godless has some interesting and thought-provoking entries.

One that I particularly liked is plane proselytizer. I had thought my perspective on heaven/hell was somewhat unique, but apparently I'm not the only one to say, "“I’d much rather go to hell and help people than go to heaven…” Of course, that is practically the Mahayana Buddhist path: not to be dissolved into Nirvana until all beings can do so. But I've never heard a non-Buddhist westerner express the idea (besides me). But think about it. If Christianity is truly the religion of compassion, how could any Christian choose to go to heaven knowing that there will be people suffering in hell? How could any Christian be happy in heaven, knowing that there are people trapped in hell? A Christian who believes they deserve to suffer clearly does not deserve to be in heaven. Of course, all this assumes that (1) there is an afterlife and (2) Christians have correctly determined its structure. Of (1) I have no doubt. As for (2)... *shrugs* Oh, and here's a rather vociferous atheist analysis of the afterlife. He's a bit virulent, but there are some interesting thoughts in there.

Some critical thoughts on religion:

It isn't that religion causes all wars (though it contributes to many). It is that religion makes the very character flaw (fundamental irrationality) that is the source of much war and misery even worse than it normally would.

I would argue that religion does not have to be irrational. However, it does seem to bring out the irrational side of even the most rational of people. In some religious discussions with an otherwise rational person, I have provoked entirely irrational reactions by making observations about others who follow the same religion that this person does. It is...unpleasant. A stronger observation equates fundamentalism with mob mentality. If all fundamentalists could agree on what to be fundamental over, this would be more worrisome. But some groups actively hate each other. On the lighter side, here's a cartoon version.

However, I feel I should close with a more positive view of religion, from Albert Einstein:

Religion, on the other hand, deals only with evaluations of human thought and action: it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts.
...
Though religion may be that which determines the goal, it has, nevertheless, learned from science, in the broadest sense, what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up. But science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration towards truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

The complete essay is not very long, and well worth reading. I've heard Einstein's religion described as "pantheism," but I have no clue what exactly that means. When I'm not feeling lazy, I'll look it up.

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Knife of Dreams

Ah, I just finished Knife of Dreams, and it's the best Wheel of Time book in a while. It's not that the others weren't good, but the last few have been very short. This one felt complete. I think the last three could have been made into two books, rather than three. The wait would have been longer, but I, at least, would have been more satisfied with them. Hmmm... so what can I say about KoD to whet rather than spoil... Well, the blacksmith and the hawk are reunited, though I won't say under what circumstances. The Seanchan have some gains, and some losses. We get a brief taste of Tuon's POV...and she has some interesting words to say. A word to would-be conquerors: don't bite off more than you can chew. Oh, and Thom finally shows Mat his letter from a dead woman. That part is going as expected, though it will have to be resolved in a later book: of course, they are going to the Tower of Ghenjei. Eventually. After some other matters are taken care of. That reminds me, plenty of darkfriends get what's coming to them in this book *grins*.

Things are coming to a head now, enough that I think Tarmon Gai'don will begin in full in the next book. I have a suspicion that the 13th book will be the last, but this is only a guess. It would be fitting to have 13 books. 13 Forsaken, 13 Black Ajah who left the White Tower, 13 women in a full circle of Aes Sedai... It would be more than fitting. On the other hand, I won't complain if there's more. I suppose it could even end on the next book but my feeling is that there is still too much unresolved to finish up in one book (though RJ has said that not everything will be resolved, just as there are always loose ends in real life). If my guess at 13 is correct, I expect all the players to be in place by the end of book 12, and that Tarmon Gai'don will take up all or most of book 13.

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Whimsy

I ran across some new toys over at Orac Knows. And they are cute! Disturbing, but cute: Giant Microbes!. Everything from flu to ebola to the clap. So, teach your kids they have nothing to fear from these big fluffy germs! Stock up today!

Now, I'm trying to find a way to tie this into Miers' withdrawal... Maybe all the giant microbes in Washington DC scared her off. Until I read her letter of withdrawal, my estimation of her intelligence went up. After reading it... Well, read it for yourself. She claims she's withdrawing because the confirmation hearings would force her to expose confidential dealings with the president, and that this violates separation of exectutive and legislative branches. Thoughts: (1) There is something to hide in those private conversations; (2) This was the best excuse she could come up with; (3) She really doesn't get why people objected to her nomination.

I don't think Bush asked her to withdraw. I don't think he's capable of admitting a mistake and acting on it. I'm guessing that a lot of the behind-the-scenes advisors (many of whom may be indicted soon) had a few private words with her. I think a better "excuse" for withdrawing would have been "to end the backbiting within the Republican party," but that would have put the blame solely on the Republican party, and we can't have that, now can we?

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Incoherence

Hmmm... I haven't made a personal update for a bit... I'm close to halfway through Knife of Dreams. Beautiful. Wonderful. I love Robert Jordan (in a platonic, literary way). Partially I'm happy because we're finally seeing resolutions to longstanding plot elements. Partially, the POV characters are all maintaining my interest. There have been places where I got sick of the current POV and wanted to cut back and see how Perrin was doing, or Rand, etc. That hasn't happened yet in KoD. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, but the Prologue is probably the longest prologue RJ has ever included. And the title is absolutely perfect: Embers Falling on Dry Grass. It's one of those sections where you can just feel the Pattern shifting around each event. :-D

Okay, so that I don't start writing spoilers, not much has been happening with me. Grading papers. Lecturing. Dreaming about giant wasps... I was sitting in the back seat of a car, and there was a huge yellowjacket, three or four inches long. I scrambled to roll the window down to let it out of the car, and managed to grab it instead. Somehow it didn't sting me, but I don't think I squashed it either. It was just gone. Then I saw three more large yellowjackets (only two to three inches) and managed to get the window down for them.

I can't think of anything else right now. I'm glad this week has been less eventful than the past two, actually.

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It's All About the Evidence

From Dispatches from the Culture Wars, a Dover Trial update:

He [Steve Fuller] suggested that perhaps scientists should have an "affirmative action" plan to help emerging ideas compete against the "dominant paradigms" of mainstream science.

Response?

If Fuller is right, then why did quantum mechanics not need an affirmative action program to replace the dominant paradigm? Or big bang cosmology? Or plate tectonics? Those are all ideas that were highly controversial and initially rejected by most scientists in those fields because they upset the applecart. Yet they managed to change the consense and our understanding. Why? Because instead of whining about how unfair it is that the "Copernican priesthood" or the "defenders of Einsteinian orthodoxy" won't take them seriously, they put in the work necessary to establish those ideas as valid. They didn't put acceptance before demonstration, they did the difficult theoretical and experimental work necessary to put their ideas on a solid empirical footing. Cries of persecution do not validate an idea; rigorous and difficult scientific research does.

Dave S. comments:

There is an affirmative action plan in science .... if you want your minority view to prevail, then formulate a testable affirmative case and do the tests.

Gosh that's like, you know, hard work. You mean you actually have to make up testable hypotheses that flow from your theory and test them yourself and defend them to a skeptical audience. No way anyone could do that. If they could, why they should get like a Nobel Prize or something.

It is so unfair that only well supported ideas are accepted

Heh. To paraphrase, "Show me the evidence!"

Inquire Further

Relinquish

"We have always been at war with Eastasia"

Read this, now. First Amendment rights? Free speech? Not when you're in the army, apparently.

And here, we have a classic case of the Bush turn-around: "This is a very serious allegation, and we're doing everything in our power to discredit the accuser."

Remember Katrina? One day, cracking jokes about rebuilding a rich guy's house (Trent Lott, was it?) and the next attacking Louisiana officials.

Then there's Iraq:
Iraq has always never had WMD's.
We did not go to Iraq to liberate its people.
Mission accomplished uncertain...

It's one thing to make a mistake. It's another to deny the mistake and attack anyone who reminds you of it or criticizes you for it.

Inquire Further

Relinquish