Ancient Histories

Survived another ‘week’ of gym. Got to sleep in this morning. Almost feel rested. And just in time to celebrate.

Today is the birthday anniversary of William Whewell, the daddy rabbit of modern science. Admittedly, he was a bit of an anal retentive. His view of science was that the scientist had to be widely and deeply educated and trained, quite at odds from he and his contemporaries who made it up as they went. I always suspected it was more that he was an information junkie and wanted everyone else to be the same before he would grant them respectable notice. He was also down on accidental discovery. And he had the thought, firmly held that science and religion were easily reconciled and that the state of science was stationary.

But at least he got past the arrogance of the Restoration crowd, Newton and Boyle and Young and the like. In fact we can argue that Whewell was the first historically attended nerd, given his problems with women. No, nothing out of the ordinary. In fact totally ordinary and archetypical, at least from the nerdish standpoint.

I also read, in a rather poorly supported article, [Link] that the Gates of Tartarus, or Plutonion, has been found. Just another cave with psychoactive gas seepage, evidently.

Intriguingly, the original shrine was destroyed by Christianists in the sixth century CE – with some aid from an earthquake. Of course by then the ruler of the “underworld” had become the villain.

And lastly, we have a lovely rant [Link] about the evils of fast food restaurants, in particular, McDougal’s. Sadly the rant is one pony, whipping only on the calorie overages and totally ignoring more subtle things like fats and sodium. Ah well, what do we expect from modern journalists? Accuracy? Depth? Completeness? Probably as little as we expect from modern corporations in general.

Of course there’s nothing actually new here, just a rehash to fill page space and sell papers. Of course given the numbers of folks who eat at fast food restaurants we have to questions what difference any honesty and integrity make and whether the species isn’t already doomed to extinction?

humans, science, religion, history, health

Napkin Notes

Yesterday was rather taxing. Too much of Nawth Alibam’s Shining CIty on the Hill – and its less than competent motorcar drivers. The sad thing is that they estimate their skill by how well they survive and not by how well everyone survives. And the intriguing part is where does the difference arise? In Greater Metropolitan Arab the opposite is the case; most of the drivers are concerned about general flow, except maybe during rush hours when they do try rather heartily to kill themselves and all those they collide with.

The other day, I ran across [Link]

this cartoon and it struck home.

Well, not literally. My father never wrote notes on napkins or otherwise, and my mother would have summarily executed us on the spot for doing so. But the behavior has become part of my behavior after I became an adult. At least chronologically.

Back when I was in shule this was not a problem since I always had a notebook or several with me, and in the early days of working I had a briefcase or a notebook. And I never did this at home because the place was littered with notebook and notepads. But when I went out to restaurants or socially such were not really smiled upon. So I wrote on what was available, which were usually paper napkins. And despite the folk tales, one never writes on table cloths. You have to pay exorbitantly for them or lose the information and regardless you incur the unhappiness of the proprietor. I have been banned from several restaurants before I learned the lesson. Besides the rise of chain restaurants has killed off table cloths.

Those places that use paper place-mats are good. The place-mats are usually blank on the backside so one can turn them over and have much writing space. Of course that means the meal orts end up on the table and make the bus boy unhappy but they don;t have banning privileges.

After I got to the point where I couldn’t carry a notebook because I was a manager, I took to carrying those special 7.5 x 12.5 cm^2 cards in a leather pocket case. These are not very good for real note taking because they are too elegant. Now that I am ORF I carry a very nice Japanese spiral bound pocket pad. It works quite well. Apparently the Japanese understand this much better than we Amerikans.

Some people try to take notes on their cellular telephones. I don’t because it is klutzy. One has to use a keyboard, one can’t do maths or diagrams easily, and the medium is too low resolution. But then the same is almost true of real computers as well. That may be what is destroying our society and civilization. Not only are the bogs a calculate but the nerds can’t write stuff down. And without stuff written down, things don’t happen.

humans, behavior, paper, notes, exinction

Pedaling, not Driving

Two day and the gym still moderately sparse. And while the podcast episodes today – Science – were not particularly sticky – except Smolin’s discourse on time – I did come to a couple of pre-Wednesday realizations:

• Corporations are Predators;
• Adverticement is Falsehood; and most significantly,
• Consensus is NOT Causality.

That’s all, folks!

society, civilization, insight, science

Chaotic Stupidity

Mundane day is back. And joyously! No noise pollution courtesy of the city parents, and the gym was delightfully sparse. The podcast was another episode of the CBC’s “Best of Ideas” series on secularity and it was quite good, finally getting around to the advancements in society being directly the result of increasing secularity and the inherent controlling nature of organized religion. And the evil (?) of fundamentalism. There was even a bit of humor about the latter which is rather refreshing for one who lives in the religionist pig pen of the old Confederacy. They even talked about how the obsession with end times is a direct fallout of reconstruction.

On a more intriguing azimuth I ran across an article [Link] about the half-century anniversary of the beginnings of the study of chaotic behavior. Unlike James Glick and others I am not quite comfortable with calling it Chaos since the origin of the term is non-STEM. I also had to reflect that much of the original maths development, especially with the classic logistic differential equation, was simply bad maths. That was always a problem for me, on the one hand the finite difference maths types talking about error propagation and instabilities of too large a step size and the chaotic behavior folks talking about BOOM! behavior at step sizes far beyond the stable. Why, I wondered, couldn’t they get their stories straight?

Also intriguing is an article [Link] about an academic study that indicates human intelligence has decreased since the reign of Victoria. This is another brick in the wall that suggests that technology makes us stupid. Not that we didn’t know that, but it is nice to have it made sorta official.

Now we just have to wait for the politician to pass legislation that makes it illegal for us to not be stupid.

humans, maths, intelligence, civilization, technology

Noise Pollution

Ice cream day and it is hoped to be less than yesterday. Last night was a horror, noise pollution from the nearby park, hours and hours of unwanted music of the most irritating form. Doubled my affection for folk.

On a more positive note I ran across this article [Link] yesterday. At last a W8 tablet that I would consider buying. And why would I buy a W8 tablet? Because I didn’t have to boot it. I am not a strong fan of Swiss Army knives. I own several, both branded and, perhaps, generic. The best is one issued by the German army and, I believe, made in China. Other than a hideously poorly designed spring in the scissors, it is vastly superior to any of my other multi-blade knives.

And that is what this tablet is, a three blader – Ubuntu, Android, and W8. And it comes with a keyboard. So I can probably change the Unity GUI to something utile like XFCE or LXDE – not sure I want the overhead of KDE on a small RAM, limited CPU slab – and use the Ubuntu for “work” and the Android for “play”. And the W8 is there if a bog colleague is in need of rescue, purely as a social insurance thing.

The Ubuntu (real (?) Linux) tablet has been promised often and never, that I can see, delivered. So I am not holding my breath on this one. And it is hideously expensive. I can go buy a laptop workstation (almost) for this price. Or a really good laptop from a Linux house.

On which note, I also ran across [Link] an avowedly partial list of Linux GUI. This is the Linux equivalent of the Grand Canyon, an awe (?) inspiring sight. You have the great, colorful depths, like KDE and XFCE, the shadows like LXDE, and the cess pools like Unity and Gnome 3. And unlike the tyranny that is W8, choices. That is what counts.

And lastly, from England, [Link] the un-news that PC sales are down and tablet sales are up. But the telling stat is

“In the same three-month period, 2.3 million PCs were sent into channels, possibly to moulder in unsold piles, representing a decline of 15 per cent. This included a 20 per cent fall in portables and a six per cent decline in desktops.”

Note, pray, an 0.2 decline in lap boxes and an 0.06 decline in desk boxes. The article claims this is because lap boxes are more amenable to replacement than desk boxes. I would say that what is done with lap boxes is fundamentally different from desk boxes. Simply put, desk boxes are used more for creation and work than lap boxes which are used more for consumption and entertainment.

humans, music, computers, tyranny

Great Fysix?

Saturn day and the weather beavers are foretelling day long rain. Maybe. Somewhere. But no ominousness of tornadoes. Or UFO attacks.  After yesterday I would like a bit of insulation from the world. Or perhaps after this week.

Anyway I am in a rather oblique mood this morning so there is no telling what is going to come out here.

First, I have been rather distressed with Scientific American this week. They seem to be slipping back into their stupid behavior cycle that arose twenty or so years ago and continued until a year or so ago. Or at least on the latter so I hoped. Earlier this week they had a bit about the synthesis of the last Lanthanide (Actinide? I have to confess to forgetting which is which after all these years.) and the impending demise of the Periodic Table.

This is not new. I got lectured in senior inorganic class that something of this sort occurred back in the days prior to L&A when the basic chart was filled in. One of those no more problems to solve. Poppycock! Balderdash!

Then there have been all sorts of  recent efforts to formulate a “new” periodic table. This draws from the basic reality of the PT. It is a visual representation and it as utility only so long as that visualization conveys the reality to the perceiver. (Don’t try to tell this to bogs; they think its a building block art piece.) The reality, at least to me, is electronic structure – quantum mechanics – associated with the principal and azimuthial quantum numbers. And the representation is poor. Not just in the current PT but in all attempts at PT. Because they are trying to map a multidimensionality (degrees of freedom) into two dimensions. So the PT is never anything more than a memory crutch or anchor. But if we learn it at an early enough age it serves its purpose fairly well and is thereby successful.

But the only collapse or failure is when it doesn’t do that. And that failure has nothing to do with synthesizing a “LAST” element.

Next, I ran across [Link] yesterday an article in SA about who is the “Greatest” American physicist? Horrible article. All fuzzy and unscientific. Analogy: Why is George Washington the father of the country? Answer: He started the French and Indian War which led to the revolution and the eviction of the British. Barely.

Point is there is no metric for this. It’s all subjective. And while I agree that the argument that Josiah Willard Gibbs was number one was better than fair, I found it irrelevant and trite.

Besides, they didn’t mention the Founding Grandfather – Benjamin Franklin. Case rested.

And I ran across [Link]

this cartoon and t struck me as not all that bad physics. Maybe not great physics, but not altogether bad physics. And it is stellar philosophy.

Tootle Pip and Deity save the Tyrant!

science, rubbish, humans, humor

Puritan Heat Death

End of week in. No gym. Slept in till 0430. Must be Friday?

On which azimuth I ran across an article yesterday about the end of work. [Link] The idea is that robots/computers will take over so much of the work load that our current situation will be turned head over heels.

Right now we have about 0.1 unemployment, rough order of magnitude. It appears this is pretty well a magic number that has to exist for society (and civilization) to operate. But as is, it is a matter of great political and social hand wringing and garment tearing. Whether due to our Puritan work ethic or just New Deal propaganda, we have the idea that everyone should e employed. Every adult, that is. Except the retired. But not the infirm or mentally or physically unable. They;re just slackers and parasites.

Now let’s turn that upside down. How about 0.1 employed? That’s 9 of 10 without work responsibilities. The very idea brings Hobbesian shudders to the average Amerikan. They can’t imagine how society will function without honest labor. How can anyone live without earning money. Horrors!, everyone on welfare. Everyone white/black/… trash.

I have to admit I can’t imagine it very well either, but I can’t buy the idea we are all going to become gentlemen/lady philosophers/academics/crafters/……. Mostly because 0.9 of humanity are bogs and bogs don’t do those things very well. They especially don;t do intellectual things. So can we expect an increase in violence, gratuitous pursuits, and shortened lifespans?

Probably.

This is a good topic. Lots of room for cognition. Not clear it is good for the species.

humans, behavior, unemployemnt, disaster

Punishment of the Innocents

Last gym day of the week, and pleasantly sparse with folks, especially boisterous educationalists. As shule winds down its session, they get fewer and fewer, which, of course, leads to the hypothesis that educationalists exercise in direct proportion to the teaching (?) of students?

Anyway, much ado about the Yankee government scandal over the Internal Revenue Service investigating special interest non-taxable groups. From my experience with the IRS, its the non-taxable part that attracts the boll, they could care less about one’s politics so long as taxes are paid with proper humility and proskynesis.

It has become evident however, from the posturing of the chief executive, that a stage of post-glitch governmental operations has been reached known as the “Punishment of the Innocents.” This usually follow the “Hiding of the Guilt” phase. At this point the YG will conduct an investigation that will – probably – determine that career civil servants acted improperly and will be severely punished by being fired or worse. This will not be what actually happened; it is only a scapegoat activity. What likely actually happened is some overzealous political appointee (and yes, I know that is redundant) will have instructed the civil servants who work for this pol to do this evil.

Why do such happen? Simply, because we have political appointees. They have no controls other than elected politicians who appointed them. And civil servants cannot talk to the elected politicians. So any improper or illegal instructions from a political appointee have to be obeyed or the civil servants will be fired or labeled whistleblowers.

This is the tyranny of modern bureaucratic democracy. We do not trust those who work for us but we do trust those who steal from us.

And we punish those who work.

government, politics, tyranny, evil

Shule Show

Two day, and the gum was relatively deserted. Must be getting close enough to summer for the denials to mount up. Science podcasts today and aside from a rather extended discussion of dark energy on one of the NPR ‘casts, not particularly sticky. So unsticky in fact that I find myself at a loss to offer comments on anything.

Except a rather naive segment on a road show aimed at exposing high shule students to climate change. The come-on is that climate change isn’t taught in public shules. Thud. Flat.

Why isn’t it taught? Probably for the same reason that evolution isn’t and mysticism is. Political pressure. It isn’t on the tests because politicians don’t want it on them. It’s one more symptom of what is wrong with the shules and our country.

But the question I want answered is why was the presentation permitted? Are there still rebels out there?

education, science, climate, politics, tyranny

Phone Religion

Mundane day again and week in. Happily back to gym although the podcast, an episode of the CBC’s “Best of Ideas” in their series on secularism was too PC, trying to press the idea that religion should be more than an individual matter. All they managed to do was further the argument that religionist organizations are all about control and only pretend to be about religion.

On which azimuth, I see [Link] that MegaHard is going to recant their stupidity – which demonstrates theirs is less than Canonical’s? – and reinstate the START button with their first major update of W8. Or could it be that they have discovered that they have a product without a market? Stats I have seen indicate box users are avoiding W8 like Vista while sales of slabs and smarts are well below the cut-and-run level.

What this does tell us is intriguing, especially in light of the whole ‘it’s the apps, not the OS’ theory. Evidently the OS does matter if it keeps you from running the apps. Gee, who would have guessed?

I noted yesterday in an eNewsLetter that sales of FaceBookFone are even worse than those of W8. Isn’t it wonderful that MegaHard now has something to brag about?

On which azimuth, I see [Link] that the Ubuntu phone is eminent. Wonder how big a thunk this one will make? But the really big question is whether Canonical will come to their senses and get back to being an OS and not a disaster?

I hate to say it, much as I dislike Gooey, but at least they are a secular organization to Apple’s religionist one.

computers, cellular telephones, OS, nonsense