Replying to LO29657
HelLO out there,
While a million people out in eastern US recently lost power due to an
unusual ice storm, here in Kenai, Alaska it's unseasonably warm. We have
green grass, balmy (above freezing) temperatures, and no snow on the
ground yet -- almost a month and a quarter/three quarters later than
usual. A number of roads on the Peninsula washed out during the last month
due to heavy rain and flooding. There are predictions we'll get some snow
during the next week.
Jan, I particularly enjoyed your post this evening. Caught me just right.
You wrote:
[snip]
There might be no other cure than to learn to love what is important to
you: yourself, your wholiness. The funny thing is that the other day i
said that i'm not a professional, but an amateur. In the classical
sense: I love ("amare") the things i do. Perhaps we're making two
"errors": we assume too much and we assume that we're professionals. And
the reason we made these errors is because there is no other way of
learning. Groop into the darkness, stumble, fall, fall again and again
until: >O< enlightment >O<. Then it is more stumbling and falling again.
I do get the feeling we're falling upstairs.
~~~~~~~~
I hope amateurs and others among us are falling upstairs... And do you
suppose we are just as likely to fall off the banister while "It" falls
upstairs?
I've been reading astronomy, quantum mechanics and geology recently. Last
week I read that astronomers now estimate ~125 billion galaxies and have
seen half way across the universe (~9 billion light years); and that
quantum physicists are trying to map eventlets in terms of 10^-43 seconds
and smaller; and that geologists and paleontologists have mapped billions
of years of huge transitions, including more than a few mass extinctions.
Several nights ago, I read the beginning of "The Great Story" to Freya,
our seven year old. I explained 10^-43 seconds to her, starting with the
fraction 1/10th, counting the zero (one zero => 10^-1), then 1/100 (2
zeros, 10^-2), then 1/1000...10^-43. It didn't take her long to get it.
You would have enjoyed the consternation on her face as she said, snapping
her fingers, "But, but, a second is just like this, and a tenth of a
second...10^-43?" I still laugh thinking about it.
I've learned that our south-central Alaskan region is a jumble of
colliding terranes, and the volcanoes I've seen erupting out front are
caused by subduction of the Pacific plate under North America beginning
160 miles to my left, running under my feet, getting hot, then
occasionally melting/exploding through basalt (laid during the Jurassic
period, 210-145 mya) 40 miles ahead of me and to my right, all moving at
about 2 cm per year as I recall. Clearly, to me, "It" has had way more
time than Homo sapiens have had, or are likely to have.
At,
I think you would chuckle at my amateur steigerungs. For me it's been eons
since I wondered to you on this list "How many forms of energy are there?"
<G> I now suspect there are more forms than scientists are measuring.
Due some recent stimulations, I've been thinking about rearranging this
expression,
S =(E-F)/T
to
E = F + TS,
and thinking about it as
E = p_1E + p_2E + p_3E + ... + TS
Where "the p_iE's are 'portion' functions that indicate that energy goes
into various forms, including that inevitable form as bound energy TS." (T
= temperature, S = entropy, F = free energy)
Does this make any sense to you?
Say, all of you, I haven't yet been able to get ahold of the book "The
Prize" by Daniel Yergin, but yesterday and the day before I watched the
8-part PBS/Nova series. I found the first seven parts a fascinating and
timely history of US involvement in the Middle East: a story of
organization-addiction (OA), two words, one meaning. I look forward to
reading the book.
Grins,
Dan Chay
--"Heidi and Dan Chay" <chay@alaska.com>
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