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.

Lifted by the Music

About a week ago I went to the symphony with Rafiki. It was an amazing show, and I've been meaning to write about it ever since that night. It was an audience choice program; people had voted on what they wanted the program to be out a list of about 50 pieces, so every time they started a piece you could hear people sigh, or see people smile, because they had memories, or because the pieces are just SO good. 
It started off with the Star Wars Theme:

Then they played the second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony. When I was little we had a tape called Beethoven Lives Upstairs (still do, and I still listen to it), and this movement was on the part of the tape just after Beethoven dies, and the whole city is hushed and sad. I cry every time, and I love it. a 

Then a Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, variation eighteen, played by Anastasia Rizikov, a 13 year old girl who was astoundingly good, and not just astoundingly good for a 13 year old, she played beautifully. When the conductor introduced her, he said that she had told him that it had always been a dream of hers to play with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and there she was doing it.
, 

Then there was the bright, brassy, and bold Dvorak's Symphony From the New World, which is fun and familiar.  
At the beginning of the second half, they said that during the voting process they had also asked people what music they wanted to hear that wasn't on the list, and that two pieces were mentioned again and again. They were going to play four bars of each, and then ask us (the audience) to vote on which one we wanted to hear tonight by shouting out "Oy what joy!" The conductor said it had been a fantasy of his to hear how that sounded shouted in the acoustics of Roy Thompson Hall. As they played the first four bars of the first option there was a collective sigh among the audience because it was so beautiful, and a collective gasp when they stopped short, but the majority voted for the second option, so we heard a bright brassy piece, then Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings (did you know he liked croutons so much he asked for them to be sprinkled on his grave - and they were). 

The concert finished up with the 1812 Overture, which I always associate with this Calvin and Hobbes cartoon:

In the introduction, the conductor said, "What do you get for the man who has everything and loves music? Well Ms. Debbie Morrison had this dilemma, and so she got her husband a seat in the orchestra. He will be playing the base drums for you tonight." He did a great job too - banging his way through the piece with the other base drummer and a big grin on his face, clearly having the time of his life.

When it ended we cheered and clapped and gave them a standing ovation and the lady behind us shouted "encore! encore!", and eventually the symphony sat down and raised their instruments. The lady behind us whispered, "You see? You never know what you get until you ask." They played the other piece of music that we had voted on but hadn't chosen, and I WISH I knew what it was because it was a piece of music you could melt into. It was beautiful beyond belief. When it was done, Rafiki whispered "One more! one more! I want another one - but I'd probably go on saying that all night."

I made mini pies!

From scratch! And then part way through said to my dad: "and THIS is why I've never made pie crust from scratch before!". PS it's hard to do. PPS it's really yummy and organic bison and veggies :)

Lets make mini sweet pies one day, yes? I just realized I don't know your favourite pies! Please tell me.

Korean etsy purchase

My gift

I think these little guys like their new job

Super yummy almost done salad

In my new bowl. With marinated artichoke hearts, cucumber, red pepper, carrots, tuna, chickpeas, mixed beans, sweet pickles and apple cider vinaigrette. Yummy.

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.