Science and Beauty

Feynman on Beauty

"I don't see how it subtracts, it only adds..."

I've been enthusiastically sharing strange and interesting facts about bees lately, but here are two quotes I liked from the bee book as well:

"Bee larvae are probably not well equipped to deal with diseases, but they have evolved strategies to help them escape some potential illnesses. One involves the co-elvolution of bees with tiny mites that crawl over the larvae eating potential disease-causing microbes. The mites act as hygienic helpers, just as an egret cleans a water buffalo's hide of ticks and our parents removed nits from our hair. Females of some species have special rosettes of hairs at the base of the abdomen to carry the mites, which arrange themselves over these hairs like shingles on a roof. ... But some species have gone even further, creating a cavity in the abdomen with only a tiny, mite-sized opening to the outside. The mites are completely surrounded by the body of the bee. Once transported to the host nest, they emerge and run around cleaning it of vermin. This would be something like our having a stomach-sized cavity in our chest or abdomen in which we carry kittens when we move house so mice can be removed from our new dwelling." ~ Laurence Packer, Keeping the Bees.

"The next night we disturbed a large male Cape buffalo that was eating the lush vegetation in the watered garden. The animal reared and then stared at us from a distance of no more than two meters. It looked as if it would charge. When the ranger clapped his hands and shouted loudly, the enormous beast took two steps back, but it stayed in attack posture. The ranger clapped and shouted again. This time, the animal took two steps forward, and we backed out of there as fast as we could. I consider myself lucky that slugs are the worst enemies of my homegrown fruits and vegetables. If I had buffaloes to contend with in my garden, I would likely give up; my usual pest-control tactics of sprinkling salt or squishing between finger and thumb would obviously not work." ~ Laurence Packer, Keeping the Bees.

Ah, Education.

I came across a few quotes from TA's that made me giggle as I was going through old school notes:

"Let's not confuse ourselves with the facts."
"A cow is useful as a cow, I mean, you could ride it."
"I found out that amaryllis when they get scared, don't curl up, but jump high into the air." (he meant armadillos, but I loved the idea of the luscious flower of the amaryllis leaping at loud noises, or curling its stem up and nesting in its pot.)


I appreciate this quote:

"To argue with a fool is to prove there are two." ~Doris M. Smith


and I find this fact interesting:

If trying to sneak up on animals, approach from the right side, because then the animal is more likely to catch a glimpse of you out of its right eye which is connected to your detail-orientated left hemisphere of the brain, and wont activate the right-hemisphere as strongly which is better at processing big picture stuff like movement.

Morning Conversation

In my defence of how strange these questions were, even though I was trying to wake Nannermellon up, I was also very sleepy. Picture all Nannermellon's answers to be mumbled for full adorableness.

Me: Wake up, wake up, wake up.

Nannermellon: ...

Me: Okay, you have to talk. ...What is your opinion on piglets?

Nannermellon: They're little.

Me: If you had to decorate a house for a piglet, how would you do it?

Nannermellon: Purple.

Me: Would you doing anything else?

Nannermellon: Leaves.

Me: On the walls or on the floor?

Nannermellon: All over.

Me: Hm. Would you use dried ones or fresh ones?

Nannermellon: No gray - just no gray.

Me: No gray ones? Okay...
       Which is your favourite toe?

[long pause]

Nannermellon: This one. [points at her middle finger.]

Me [laughing]: That's not a toe!

Nannermellon [sulkily]: It's a good toe.

[another long pause]

Me: You still haven't named your favourite finger for me.

Nannermellon: Norman.

Me: Best. Answer. Ever. But which ones of your toes is Norman? You still haven't told me. I wouldn't recognize him if I saw him on the street.

Nannermellon: Herman.
                        Would a toe walk down a street by itself?
                        That would be weird...
                        And would it have feet? With toes on it?

Me: That would be very... meta.

[pause]

Me: What was your favourite movie as a kid?

Nannermellon: rins bry.

Me: what?

Nannermellon: rinses rye.

Me: Pardon?

Nannermellon: Prinses bri.

Me: Oh, the Princess Bride. Great movie.
       Can you say a quote from it?

Nannermellon: No more rhymes now, I mean it.... Does anyone want a peanut?
                        Are there any rocks ahead? ... If there are, we'll all be dead.
                        You've fallen victim to one of the classic blunders, never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line. A ha ha ha ha
                        ROUSs? I don't believe they exist.

Me: Ahhhrrghhh!

Nannermellon: It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise [hand flop].



Me: :)

Sexually, I'm silly.

1. This morning I read that "people who enjoy silliness are one third more likely to be happy." (Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project). I am pleased to note that Rafiki and I are on the right track.

2. Princess Dragon was lying in all the sunbeams around the house. Her fur looked soft and beautiful in the sunlight. She lay with perfect repose and was a lovely reminder to enjoy the moment wherever you are.

3. Jaja and I went to a flamenco performance this evening. They got all their students up on stage from the audience, and all danced, all clapped the rhythm, and all shouted in joy at key moments (although I have no idea what the cues were) - the energy was wonderful. The professional dancers feet were a blur when they stomped out the rhythm. The dynamic between the clapping, the flamenco guitar, and the singing was amazing. The claps were so sharp and clear and would get faster and faster while the guitarist flicked out the melody. It was also exciting because each performer brought his or her own personality to the dance - for all that it was so technical, each dancer or singer was worlds apart from the styles of the rest. Some strutted, some were seriously intent, some bounced and flicked the energy into the air off their hips or their finger tips - all had fun.

When I got home I hunted down this dance from Strictly Ballroom, because I wanted to watch more flamenco-esque dance. It's such a great scene:

4. On the way home I passed a little free library on a street near my house. I'm not sure how it works, but it's very pretty and seems like a lovely idea.

5. I started reading Sexually I'm More of a Switzerland: More Personal Ads from the London Review of Books. The ads in it are delightfully bizarre. So far a few of the jewels I've come across are:

"I put the phrase 'five-header bi-sexual orgy' in this ad to increase my Google hits. Really I'm looking for someone who likes hearty soups and jigsaws of kittens. Woman, 62. Berwick. Box no. 7862."

"An ancient Czech legend says that any usurper who places the Crown of Saint Wenceslas on his head is doomed to die within a year. During World War II, Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi governor of the puppet Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, secretly wore the crown believing himself to be a great king. He was assassinated less that a year later by the Czech resistance. I have many more stories like this one. I will tell you them all and we will make love. Man, 47. Box no. 6889."

"I celebrated my fortieth birthday last week by cataloguing my collection of bird feeders. Next year I'm hoping for sexual intercourse. And a cake. Join my invite mailing list at box no. 6831. Man."

All these in just the introduction! I am looking forward to the rest.

"The Mighty Oak was once a Nut that Stood its Ground."

1. I went to the symphony with my mummy today, and listened to violins sing.

At the end of the third movement Pekka Kuusisto, the solo violinist, made his violin warble like a bird, and finished the movement with a small quiet smile on his face, as if everything had come to a perfect moment and he was content. He was right, it was a perfect moment.

2. A very small bay tree has seeded itself in our rock garden. It isn't supposed to grow in our cold climate, but there it is, three sturdy leaves upraised.

3. I'm reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, and stuffing it full of bookmarks. It is very good (and happy!) and has many bits I want to remember. Today I came across this paragraph in defence of children's literature:

Children's literature often deals openly with the most transcendent themes, such as the battle between good and evil and the supreme power of love. These books don't gloss over the horror and fascination of evil, but in the end, in even the most realistic novels, good triumphs. Novelists for adults don't usually write that way; perhaps they fear being seen as sentimental or priggish or simplistic. Instead, the focus on guilt, hypocrisy, the perversion of good intentions, the cruel workings of fate, social criticism, the slipperiness of language, the inevitability of death, sexual passion, unjust accusation, and the like. These are grand literary themes. Yet I also find it enormously satisfying to see good prevail over evil, to see virtue vindicated and wrongdoing punished. I love didactic writing, whether by Tolstoy or Madeleine L'Engle.

and this quote by C.S. Lewis:

When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

It puts into words reasons why I love children's literature so much, and can be often found lurking among those shelves, rather than the "adult" novels section where I am supposed to be found, and reminds me not to be ashamed of it, but instead, be myself and ever more grow into who I am.

I like these quotes

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." ~enslavedbyfaerie.tumblr.com

“The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it's as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues.”
― Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures

Well, yes, that's been my experience :)

December 21st

Texts From Last Night

(931): dipping my christmas cookies in kaluha. santa would be proud.

(517): he got up in front of the whole lecture hall and yelled that Charlie Brown's Christmas tree was his favourite book in the history of the universe. then he stumbled out the fire exit setting the alarm off. I could've jumped him right then and there.

(708): This is working out surprisingly well considering it started out with us using a christmas tree as a battering ram

(617): were doing shots for every snowflake that hits the ground

(908): did all my christmas shopping this morning at 4am drunk. never went to sleep. i was walking home drunk last night when i passed a target and saw 3 kids having a dance off. had to join. somehow they convinced me to go shopping with them. i bought 4 disco balls and a lava lamp.

(913): I stole a road cone for their 13 yr old son. Apparently I told him to put Christmas lights on it, and "treat her like a lady."

(416): dude i woke up in a pile of chocolate chips. this has to stop happening.

(304): I woke up this morning really drunk with my Christmas lights on and two owls in my bed.

(650): after the first blizzard, i went out and bought a thirty and put it in a cooler and hid it out in the backyard. now the second blizzard has deposited 2 feet of snow on top of said cooler. there is a shovel and treasure map over here waiting for you.

(203): there r dinosaurs outside my house i hear them

(718): pretty sure those are just snow plows... go back to bed

and a sheep:

December 4th

overheard in various places around North America...

Why Are You Buying a Chocolate Jesus?

Cashier: Merry Christmas.
Customer: You, too.
Cashier: Wait! I gotta be politically correct -- Happy Holidays.
Customer: Yeah, I'm Jewish.
Cashier: Oh my god, me too!
Customer: Then why the fuck are we wishing each other a Merry Christmas?
Cashier: I have no fucking clue.

It's Branding – What Are Ya Gonna Do?

Hipster #1 walking past large inflatable snowman: Dude, I fucking hate Christmas. It's like, nothing but a giant celebration of modern consumer capitalism.


Hipster #2 gesturing to wreath on church door: Totally. Look, even the churches are advertising Christmas these days.

~Wegmans, Manalapan, New Jersey

Girl #1: Every time I watch Rudolph, it gives me stress.


Girl #2: That show is horrible!


Girl #1: See, those little reindeer, they didn't know any better, but Dancer was a grown-ass reindeer! He knew better than to treat Rudolph like that, tellin' his own kid not to play with Rudolph... That's some straight-up bullshit.


Guy: And why was Rudolph's nose red if both of his parents' noses were black?


Girl #2: 'Cause his mom was a ho.


Girl #1: Y'know, Dancer was probably his mom's punk-ass baby-daddy. And you know what? Even Santa didn't know how to act. If I was Rudolph, I would tell Santa, 'Oh, hell no!'


Girl #2: Oh, hell no!


Girl #1: 'Santa better get his fat ass up there and guide his own shit, after he be treatin' me like that! Oh, hell no!'

Ordinarily I'd Add My Own Cheer

Barista: Soy latte coming up.


Monotone man: Will you make it with holiday cheer?


Barista: Uh... Okay, sure.


Monotone man: I'm a little tired today.



--Starbucks, 114th & Broadway

Is This Quote Culinary Erotica? Discuss.

Girl #1: I don't know if I want cookie dough, I'd rather make cookies.


Girl #2: Oh, man. It's totally carnal, the things I wanna do to that cookie dough. I want it on my face.


(five minutes later) 
Girl #1: Okay, I want some cookie dough.


Girl #2: I thought you didn't want any!


Girl #1: You gave such a rave review of the cookie dough on your face that I entertained the possibility that I, too, might want it on my face.

–Boston, Massachusetts

and a sheep:

The joy of being alive

"There are elements which, if added to one's experience, make life better; there are other elements which, if added to one's expirience, make life worse. But what remains when these are set aside is not merely neutral: it is emphatically positive. . . The additional positive weight is supplied by expirience itself, rather than by any of its contents."

~Tom Nagel, Mortal Questions

found in Nicholas Humphrey's Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness

I like the idea that life is at base positive, not neutral. It makes me more inclined to get up in the mornings and wander out into the world.

O.G.

Rafiki said, "I'm O.G... Some say Original Gangster; I say Original Gentleman."
So much more sexy and appealing.

Holy Spam, Batman!

Every once in a while I get the urge to check out what the spam filters have been guarding me from. Great Odin's Raven! It turns out they've been shielding me from awesomeness. And as we all know, there is no price for awesomeness. ...or attractiveness. Here are some of my favourite spam comments (not that I'd even know how to pronounce dkoney):

Great hammer of Thor, that is powerfully helpful!

Dag nabbit good stuff you whippersnappers!

You put the lime in the coconut and drink the article up.

Pin my tail and call me a dkoney, that really helped.

Well mcaadaima nuts, how about that.

Happy Non-sequitor

From the radio: "August is the month where strange things happen. It's all hazy... it is the time of month when governments issue scandalous things that they hope no one will notice."

A Day in the Life

1. Once upon a time not too long ago a student hairdresser gave me a Justin Beiber look-alike haircut, (not MY choice). Today Bird sent me an email of the new bieber do. She cheekily said, "I thought you would like to know ;)" With a few alterations I could be a vision of adoration to preteen girls once more!

2. I like this comic:3. My professor quoted words of wisdom I liked, "To argue with a fool is to prove that there are two."

4. Nanermellon arrived safely in one piece, despite a surreal adventure. I am happy to have a Nanermellon.

5. It is always lovely to see Kippen.

Superman is doing good work in Canada

"In self-defense, we can only say that the magnitude of [our] errors is almost certainly less than if we had simply consulted our prejudices, which seems to be the usual alternative." – Charles Jencks, sociologist

incidentally, unlike usual portrayals of it in the media, the crime rate and severity index is going down in Canada, isn't that nice?

Love, illusion, freedom

The thing I like about writing up study notes is that I come across a plethora of quotes I found interesting and meaningful.

"An illusion cannot dispel a distressing reality. It just makes the reality more perplexing."

"Love may make the burden worth carrying. It does not make the burden light."

"No one can completely constrain another person. At some level, freedom is not just a right, it's a fact."

spring studying

The weather's been so nice. I got home from an exam a few days ago and went straight into the garden. I turned over the vegetable bed so it's ready for planting, and dug up all the dandelions, washed the leaves and saved them in my fridge and freezer. I cooked some today with pasta sauce, and ate it with noodles and avocado. yum.

Code Yeller got so excited about all the plants his friend gave him for his vegetable garden that he made me turn on video chat so that he could show them all off to me. He had peppers, and eggplants, and all sorts of things.

I found more silly quotes on the top of my lecture notes:
"A cow is useful as a cow. I mean, you could ride it."
"I found out that amaryllis when they get scared, don't curl up, but jump high into the air." [he meant armadillos, not amaryllis, but I like the idea of jumping flowers].

After my next exam Dragiraffalina and I sat on the grass nibbling on sweets and basking in the sun. We tried to remember all the words to the song "video" by India Arie and we wandered around singing it. Dragiraffalina has a lovely voice.

A Hegel Quote to be Happy About

"The bud disappears when the blossom breaks through, and we might say that the former is refuted by the latter; in the same way when the fruit comes, the blossom may be explained to be a false form of the plant’s existence, for the fruit appears as its true nature in place of the blossom. The ceaseless activity of their own inherent nature makes these stages moments of an organic unity, where they not merely do not contradict one another, but where one is as necessary as the other; and constitutes thereby the life of the whole.

Different Aspects of a Unified Whole

One of the things I like best about cognitive science articles and textbooks is that the authors are as likely to use female as male pronouns when referring to characters that don't have a specific gender such as "the reader" or "the average person" or "the main character of the story", it's refreshing and exciting.

I also like the silly examples they use. In a recent paper Daniel Dennett, a highly influential figure in the field, made a lengthy example of his vacuum and then descibed "Dennett's lost sock center: the point defined as the centre of the smallest sphere that can be inscribed around all the socks I have ever lost in my life."

I also find in the writing moments of insight into the incredible beauty of the world, "The most admirable and crucial feature of human intelligence that I see around me is not any ability to be right all the time, but an amazing competence in getting things on the right track once our beliefs, plans, or actions, have gone astray. As Joerg Siekmann once said, the most admirable moments in a mathematics seminar are not when someone presents a well-oiled proof, but when he discovers a mistake and recovers on the spot." My favorite moment of any ballet performance I saw was when Rex Herrington lost his balance doing fouetté pirouette and rolled out of it to come up on one knee, arm extended to his beautiful leading lady as if he was about to propose. Now that is grace.

My essay for a cognitive science course, is not coming together as I would like; but on the bright side, when I wrote to Code Yeller in alarm "I started talking to Mum about my essay and suddenly realized I am fucked. Oh shit."
Code Yeller wrote back, "Awesome. You are closed to finishing then. :) You've reached a critical stage, just pass it and you're done!"
So basically, I have to be like Rex Herrington, roll up onto one knee and extend my arm to my leading lady. No probbrem.

Scientific Sonnets

okay, I might be in love with some of the philosophers on artificial intelligence, or at least their writing.
Consider this argument concerning consciousness: "Not until a machine can write a sonnet or compose a concerto because of thoughts and emotions felt, and not by the chance fall of symbols, could we agree that machine equals brain-that is, not only write it but know that it had written it. No mechanism could feel (and not merely artificially signal, an easy contrivance) pleasure at its successes, grief when its valves fuse, be warmed by flattery, be made miserable by its mistakes, be charmed by sex, be angry or depressed when it cannot get what it wants." ~Professor Jefferson's Lister Oration from 1949.

Jaja says she hopes I am never wooed by someone who writes scientific sonnets. hmph.

Hello my fellow mansions for souls

In 1950s when Alan Turing responded to the idea that artificial intelligence was sacrilegious and impossible because thinking was a function of human souls, which God had not seen fit to bestow upon animals or machines, he wrote, "In attempting to construct such machines we should not be irreverently usurping His power of creating souls, any more than we are in the procreation of children: rather we are, in either case, instruments of His will providing mansions for the souls that He creates."
I find that sentiment to be beautiful poetry, and a very cosy philosophy.