Friday, April 18, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
3rd Chimpanzee
1) Read the book
2) I read it, and you know how sometimes if you look at a chimp or monkey you might think "Wow, that looks a lot like a person"? Well, now all people just look like chimpanzees to me, so I just wanted to let you know that you look like a chimp to me. When I look at you I just see a chimp.
Coincidences
I am not a mystical type of person. I'm majoring in Physics cause I like knowing why stuff happens, and having solid logical explanations for things. Lately though I've had a lot of weird coincidences happening to me. I'm not saying I think anything's going on, but it's starting to rattle me a little. The day after I posted Van Gogh's painting, I found a poster of it under my bed. That exact picture. I know it's Van Gogh so it's very famous, but that is weird. Also, today before I went to class I was reading Andrew Sullivan. His post on an atheist's perspective on eternity particularly caught my eye. Then I go to class, and my professor quotes the exact same thing in his lecture titled "A Glimpse of Infinity."
This is really not like me to even notice this kind of thing, but it's got me thinking. I'd love to hear anybody else's coincidences or take on said events.
This is really not like me to even notice this kind of thing, but it's got me thinking. I'd love to hear anybody else's coincidences or take on said events.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Van Gogh
Ever since going to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam I have been a huge Van Gogh fan. I don't know why but I didn't see it before. Maybe I'm older or something I don't know. But I love this painting.
KING
The History Channel's show titled King was truly moving, and I loved John Legend's version of "In the Name of Love" that was featured in it.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Nude Remixes
If you haven't already heard, Radiohead made the stems to their song nude available for purchase on iTunes so that anyone and everyone can remix the song. Listen and vote for your favorite remixes here. If you want a perfect stranger of mine reading my life history out loud listen to the hipster runoff remix.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Creation out of Nothing
This quarter I'm taking a class called Physics and Society, and I have a feeling I'll be posting lots of stuff brought up in this class because it's amazing.
One thing we went over the other day in lecture is the mass of a bound system, I'll use the Earth and the moon as an example. Conventional thought would tell us that the mass of the bound Earth-Moon system would be the sum of their two masses (M(e) + M(m)). There is also binding energy in the system, in this case the gravitational force holding the Earth and the moon together. Because of the equation E=Mc^2, which says that energy and mass are two sides of the same coin, we know that this binding energy contributes to the total mass in some way. If we wanted to separate the moon and the Earth we would have to pull them apart from each other, or add energy to the system. So in order to get M(e) + M(m) you have to add energy. The bound system has less energy than the separated moon and earth, and because mass and energy are the same thing the bound system also has less mass than the separated objects. Here's the wiki on Binding Energy.
Right now you're saying ok that's fine, so what? Well, what if the binding energy were really big? Enough maybe that it equaled the sum of the masses inside the system? Then you would have a system with no mass. That would be pretty insane for a two particle system, but it would be really crazy if it reflected the total energy/mass of the universe, which is also a bound system. What if the total mass of the universe was zero? My professor then told us about a recent colloquium held at UW which was titled "Why is there something instead of nothing?" and apparently their conclusion was "Maybe there is nothing, cleverly disguised as something."
Far. Out.
One thing we went over the other day in lecture is the mass of a bound system, I'll use the Earth and the moon as an example. Conventional thought would tell us that the mass of the bound Earth-Moon system would be the sum of their two masses (M(e) + M(m)). There is also binding energy in the system, in this case the gravitational force holding the Earth and the moon together. Because of the equation E=Mc^2, which says that energy and mass are two sides of the same coin, we know that this binding energy contributes to the total mass in some way. If we wanted to separate the moon and the Earth we would have to pull them apart from each other, or add energy to the system. So in order to get M(e) + M(m) you have to add energy. The bound system has less energy than the separated moon and earth, and because mass and energy are the same thing the bound system also has less mass than the separated objects. Here's the wiki on Binding Energy.
Right now you're saying ok that's fine, so what? Well, what if the binding energy were really big? Enough maybe that it equaled the sum of the masses inside the system? Then you would have a system with no mass. That would be pretty insane for a two particle system, but it would be really crazy if it reflected the total energy/mass of the universe, which is also a bound system. What if the total mass of the universe was zero? My professor then told us about a recent colloquium held at UW which was titled "Why is there something instead of nothing?" and apparently their conclusion was "Maybe there is nothing, cleverly disguised as something."
Far. Out.
McCain: I Was Wrong
I read the Huffington Post daily. It's a valuable source of information, but it often makes me very frustrated. It has reduced much of its content to partisan bickering, which distracts from real issues, and makes intellectual discourse very difficult. I know that the republicans have been doing this for years and democrats didn't respond, so now dems feel entitled to play nasty. But I don't think it does us any favors. The embedded video below was on HuffPost today with the headline "WATCH: McCain Booed during Martin Luther King Speech". This is true, you can see it when you watch the video. But when I watch this video that's not what sticks out. During his speech he acknowledged to a largely black crowd that he voted against making MLK's birthday a national holiday. He admitted that he was wrong, and it was MLK's virtue that he understood that people could be slow to coming to the right decisions. It is those kinds of moments of honesty from politicians that should give people a reason to respect them. McCain is not the best candidate to become the next president, but that's because of important and real issues, not a tough crowd at one of his speeches.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
What I've Been Waiting to Hear
Obama: I'd Hire Gore
Climate change is my number one issue. The consequences aren't as immediate is Iraq, or the economy, but immediate action is required to adequately deal with the greatest challenge in the history of humanity. Obama has acknowledged this issue, but he's mostly touched on it in passing. My passion for this issue has always clashed with my support of Obama. I had faith that his intelligence would require more drastic actions as a president than he would be able to discuss as a presidential candidate, but this was only hope. With all the talk of Obama being a "blank canvas" that people project what they want onto, I was slightly nervous, but every step of the way he confirms to me that he is ready.
Climate change is my number one issue. The consequences aren't as immediate is Iraq, or the economy, but immediate action is required to adequately deal with the greatest challenge in the history of humanity. Obama has acknowledged this issue, but he's mostly touched on it in passing. My passion for this issue has always clashed with my support of Obama. I had faith that his intelligence would require more drastic actions as a president than he would be able to discuss as a presidential candidate, but this was only hope. With all the talk of Obama being a "blank canvas" that people project what they want onto, I was slightly nervous, but every step of the way he confirms to me that he is ready.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Is This the Greenest City in the World
My German home gets a write up in the Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/23/freiburg.germany.greenest.city
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/mar/23/freiburg.germany.greenest.city
A More Perfect Union
Slightly behind the rest of the world with this post, but I couldn't let this one fall through the cracks.
How anybody could watch such a speech, and then question whether he is the best candidate completely dumbfounds me.
How anybody could watch such a speech, and then question whether he is the best candidate completely dumbfounds me.
In Defense of Food
Some weirdo lent me the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan a few weeks ago. I read it with moderate interest as I began the book, but more and more I realized Pollan was making sense. The first words and main premise of the book are "Eat Food. Mostly Plants. Not Too Much." Pretty simple, but sadly in today's world the word food needs clarification. Cheetos don't count (but whyyyy they taste so good!!!). Bananas do count. The produce section counts, the cereal section doesn't count with maybe an exception or two among the hundreds of brands of cereal. In Defense of Food explains how our food became invaded by imitators and why it's bad news bears for us. I was pleasantly surprised by the insightfulness of the book, but I was most surprised by how well it was written. I LOL'ed several times as I was reading it. He actually has a lot to work with because the situation is so ironic in so many ways, I mean we strip all of the nutrients out of wheat when me make flour and then add all sorts of nutrients back into it to try to make it healthy again, we have ice creams and potato chips that make health claims, while the produce sections at grocery stores remain largely unnoticed by shoppers. This book is a must read for anyone who agrees that eating food is a good thing.
Amsterdam
Before I made it back to Seattle I spent 5 days in Amsterdam. I've never seen anything like it, and it was a ridiculously cool experience. I wasn't expecting any culture shock at all after having lived in Germany for in total a year now, but almost every time I went to a cashier to buy something it took a solid 5 minutes of standing there before the person would even recognize my existence. Other than that, the dutch freaking rock. Highlights were the Van Gogh Museum, water everywhere, Brouwerij 't Ij, the Bij Ons Bistro, Pancake Bakery, and losing in beer pong.
Monday, March 10, 2008
WA Super Del Petition
For my fellow Washingtonians
As you know, the Democratic race at this point will likely depend on Superdelegates. Superdelegates in "Obama Country" who originally supported Clinton have began switching over to Obama's side after seeing their constituents' votes.
Currently, our senators (and superdelegates) Maria Cantwell and Patty Murry support Clinton. However, since Washington was a sizable victory for Obama, with a little work, we should be able to get them to change their mind.
All you need to do is follow this link, click "sign petition", and provide your name, county, and email address.
http://www.petitiononline.com/wasprdel/petition.html
Thursday, March 6, 2008
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