smile pass it on

∀getting ∈ Permission {∃asking ∈ Forgiveness:asking ∈ Easier}
if there were a way to simplify the words into many fewer symbols, then id consider this as a tattoo even. or maybe not, i dont know.

i think mathematics and physics, and computer science, and probably many other fields, actually make individuals 'smarter', from the perspective of the average person. it gives more insight and formal tools and methods to probe reality with. it strengthens our ability to reason abstractly.


4·18·08
cursed with both
some more than others


4·19·08
going out

peculiar presentiment!
happy bicycle day!

"...this most remarkable fact in the distribution of organic beings." -Charles Darwin

"It has often and confidently been asserted, that man's origin can never be known: Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." -Darwin
its funny, because sometimes i am fairly adamant about how we might just not be able to do certain things we've always dreamed of doing, for instance, it seems to me that time travel, teleportation, and quite possibly interstellar travel, may all very well be impossible in any significant way. while time travel and teleportation would not be that surprising if impossible, interstellar travel is a much more interesting limitation. it may just be that the resources required to actually travel such vast distances are impossible to harness. though it is still true that all these things may be possible. certainly, one i would place right alongside time travel and teleportation, would be intergalactic travel; the distances that isolate our galaxy are so grand that seems very highly unlikely we will ever overcome them.

folk machine
whatever you are, you love.


4·20·08
we should start a website that allows people to send either hate mail or deceiving request mail to organizations such as the discovery institute, and the people who made expelled. and for the deceiving requests we could write software to mix up our claims and questions, use a varying set of envelopes and hand writing, return addresses, stamps... so that they have trouble 'filtering' it out. we need to work to consume their resources, some sort of culture jamming sort of approach.

i really hate it when people say america is a christian nation. it was founded on freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. it is, in some sense, unconstitutional to imply these united states of our nation have an association with any religion specifically, and if you can accept the idea that 'freedom of religion' should include those who choose to have no religion at all, then implying association with any religious belief at all (even if it is not specific to a religion), then we exclude many american citizens. it is no better than referring to america as a 'white nation', or a 'male nation', since most americans are white, or most of our government is male. these unrightly characterize our nation as having constraints where none need exist, and implying the existence of these constraints is certainly not going to help us eliminate our prejudices.

are you done?
almost
dont worry, we're almost there.
come around

on synthetic diamonds:
The first gem-quality stones were predominantly cubic and octahedral in form and, due to contamination with nitrogen, always yellow to brown in color. Inclusions were common, especially "plate-like" ones from the nickel. Removing all nitrogen from the process by adding aluminium or titantium produced a colourless 'white' stone, while removing the nitrogen and adding boron produced a blue. However removing nitrogen slows the growth process and impairs the crystals properties, so most stones are still yellow. In terms of physical properties the GE stones were not quite identical to natural stones. The colourless stones were semi-conductors and fluoresced and phosphoresed strongly under short-wave ultraviolet radiation but were inert under long-wave UV - in nature only blue stones should do this. All the GE stones also showed a strong yellow fluorescence under X-rays. De Beers Diamond Research Laboratory has since grown stones of up to 11 carats, but most stones are around 1 to 1.5 carats for economic reasons, especially with the spread of the Russian BARS apparatus since the 1980s.


4·21·08
confabulation
smile pass it on.
we appeal to your basic nature