April Fools Monkeyshines

Zechariah-Bumble Bee and Miranda-Panda came over to Daddy's house to play this past weekend, and even though they were suffering from slight colds, a good time was had by all! We started our weekend off right with a nutritious lunch (which only got nibbled at) then went right out to the park with our good friend Mr. Mike. It was nice out, but kind of windy so Daddy decided that the park by the highschool would be a bit more sheltered from the breeze. This time (for the first time in recent memory) Miss Miranda actually stayed awake and got to run and play like big brother Zachy.
We had a great time swinging on the swings, climbing on the monkey bars (of course), sliding on the slides, etc. We all ended up down on the football field, rolling around on the astro-turf (little bits of which ended up all over Daddy's apartment).

The fun was so exhausting that Zachy passed out for long afternoon nap almost as soon as we got home.

Miss Miranda had a little stomach issue (she was running a slight temperature) and barfed, but Daddy thinks it might have been the combination of mucus, oranges, milk and bumpity-bumps. Either way, she rebounded nicely and was her regular silly little self until she too dropped for an evening nap, almost in midstep. This made for a quiet early evening, but both little people were up late into the night (11:00pm).

We used the time productively and played secret agent with our tunnels and tents. We read some books and Daddy told some amazing stories.

Sunday dawned cloudy, with rain expected, but we decided to try our morning walk anyway. First we had breakfast - or at least looked at it. Daddy fried bacon for the first time in a couple of decades - it came out OK, but there were no takers, so we had eggs and fruit. We watched both episodes of the Wonderpets, then we went out on our usual Sunday morning coffee run and met several very nice doggies on the way. Usually this walk loops back down Third Avenue to the corner deli at 87th Street where Daddy pumps quarters into the gumball machine in order to add to our growing collection of high bouncing rubber superballs (almost as treasured as marbles). By then it had started to drizzle so we cut our outing short and headed back to the ranch. We had an encore session of music time and had a great jam going - Miranda managed to play the harmonica and the recorder at the same time, while Zachy banged his tamborine in time.

Mommy came to pick up the little people at a little past noon and we loaded the gang up and said "bye-bye Daddy's house - see ya soon", when we meet again for Monkeyshines.

The Hydra

For those who didn’t know, the Hydra was a particularly nasty monster from Greek mythology, which lived in the swamps near to the ancient city of Lerna in Argolis. In some versions of this myth the Hydra was the offspring of Echidna (half maiden - half serpent), and Typhon who had 100 heads, other versions hold that the Hydra was the offspring of Styx and the Titan Pallas. Questions of lineage aside, the various versions agree that the Hydra had the body of a serpent and a whole bunch of heads, although the number of heads deviates from five up to one hundred (generally nine is accepted). One of these heads was immortal and could never be harmed by any weapon, and if any of the other heads were severed two more would grow in its place – fun pet huh? Also the stench from the Hydra's breath was supposed to be enough to kill man or beast (in some versions it was deadly venom). When it emerged from the swamp it would attack herds of cattle and local villagers, devouring them with its numerous heads. It totally terrorized the vicinity for many years, and was generally not too good for property values.


As one of his twelve labors (his penance for killing his wife and family), Heracles journeyed to Lake Lerna in a chariot, taking with him his nephew and charioteer Iolaus, in search of the dreaded Hydra. When they finally reached the Hydras' hiding place, Heracles drew the monster from its hole with flaming arrows, which would have gotten my attention. Having brought the beast out of hiding, Heracles courageously attacked the beast, slashing at each head with his sword, (in some versions it was a scythe) but he soon realized that as one head was severed two others grew in its place. Heracles called for help from Iolaus, telling him to bring a flaming torch, and as Heracles cut off the heads one by one from the Hydra, Iolaus cauterized the open wounds with the torch preventing them from growing back - kind of like electrolysis. Eventually, with the help of Iolaus, Heracles removed all but one of the Hydras' heads. The one remaining head could not be harmed by any weapon, so, picking up his hefty club Heracles crushed it with one mighty blow, he then tore off the head with his bare hands and quickly buried it deep in the ground, placing a huge boulder on the top.

I know you are probably wondering what this all has to do with anything? Let me first explain that our myths form the basis of our culture and are used to communicate complex ideas and images, used as a basis for framing and understanding our experiences, and are used as springboards for new ideas. Thus, it is often a good exercise to review the myth or myths that are being invoked in order to sharpen that metaphorical tool. In this case I am preparing to offer a comparison between the mythical Hydra and my “to do” list – ah, now you see it, and are probably thinking, "Oh this again". OK, so I know I’ve been beating this drum a lot lately, but it is a valid analogy and it’s my blog anyway – so there!

I have been instructed, have accepted and am now in the habit of doing the next right thing - whether I want to do it or not (usually not). At issue is the fact that after you do the next right thing, there is always the one in the on-deck circle that becomes a new next right thing to do. They say (did you ever wonder who “they” were?) that no good deed goes unpunished – I heartily agree. Each time I accomplish one of the labors on my list of next right things, I am rewarded with two new tasks to perform, hence my musings on the mythical hydra. If I were a man of wealth, I would pay Kevin Sorbo handsomely to take care of the problem for me. He could shoot my "to do" list full of flaming arrows, slash it to pieces with a sword then rip it's spiral-bound head off with his bare hands, placing the whole mess under a large boulder or apartment block as a warning to anyone from Mead Corp. - such are my fantasies these days. I suppose that there's nothing wrong with putting one foot in front of the other and knocking items off the list one by one - at least it gives me something to do.

Springtime Monkeyshines

We started this weeks installment of Monkeyshines off right with an infusion of new (hand-me-down) books from one of our favorite benefactors, Aunt Susie and Company. Daddy went to the post office while Zachy was doing his Sensory Gym thing and picked up a shoebox full of literary treasures. We had fun spreading them all out on the living room floor and rolling around in them - we actually read a few too. Aunt Susie also included some really cool glow-in-the-dark space stickers which we haven't found a good place for yet, but Daddy has some ideas.

We had a very nice visit, although we never made it to the park, as a helper to go with us was not available. We did, however, take a nice long walk that featured stops at every gumball machine on 3rd Avenue to by colorful superballs.

We walked all the way down to Riteaid because Daddy needed some things, and because our little people were so well behaved, they got to each pick out an item from the toy aisle. Fortunately for Daddy, Riteaid tends to be pretty cost-effective. We stopped and ran on the grass at the big convent/school on Ridge Blvd., down the street from Daddy's house - hopefully the sisters didn't mind too much.














The evening was pretty uneventful and both little monkeys went to bed pretty early - but they didn't stay there. Zachy got up at 2:30am and was really up, and it didn't take him long to wake up his sister. I got Miranda back to sleep at about 4:30 am but Zachy stayed up partying with his toys until 6am. Daddy got a little sleep until about 8am, but then gave up and started making breakfast. In a roll reversal, Miranda ate two whole scrambled eggs for breakfast and Zach was the one who just picked at his food.

We continued our tradition of a Sunday morning walk and ended up at Cafe Cafe again. The kids had their snack while Daddy grabbed a cup of much needed java. We all had a nice time playing with our toys on the table and playing with the colored packets of sweetener.

As part of our art project this week, we broke into a Christmas gift that we hadn't used yet, only I'm not sure anymore who it was from - it was the Crayola Color Rainbow Explosion markers and tablet set (see picture above). We had great time with it, and used the stencils to make puppies and kittens and butterflies, etc. The only drawback was that the invisible ink stuff on the tablet seems to react with sticky fingers, creating a blue mess that doesn't wash off. Fortunately, it is non-toxic which is a good thing because Miranda got it all over her fingers and lips, making her look like she had just eaten a purple crayon or a barrel of blueberries. Many thanks to whomever anyhow - we did have fun (post a comment to let me know who Santa was).

There's lots more to tell, but I've been reminded about the positive aspects of brevity, so I'll stop here with one last note: the store had a 2 for 1 sale on the disposable digital cameras with the built in view screens, so I got some real nice pictures that should appear next week when we reconvene for Monkeyshines.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

I just got done watching this documentary, which I found very interesting - so I thought that I'd share it with you. I found the views of the co-founder of Green Peace particularly telling. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle

Saved by the Stinky Guy

It is interesting how sometimes things that we would normally think of as defects or shortcomings can turn out to be advantageous. I experienced an example of this phenomenon this very morning. I was standing on the subway platform at 59th Street in Brooklyn, having just gotten off of the R-train and was waiting for the N-train, which is an express train. The N-train is always jam-packed, having made previous stops in Beijing and Mexico City, leaving no seats available by the time it reaches 59th Street, and usually only a scant amount of breathing room. My normal strategy is to avoid the jockeying for position on the platform that precedes the train’s arrival, opting instead to go for a good leaning spot by the train car’s doors. Thus, I spend most of my hour and a half commute standing up, but not having to touch anything.

Imagine my surprise this morning when, after the train screeched to a metallic halt, the car doors opened revealing seats galore. Obviously God was smiling upon me and blessing me with great favor - cash and prizes! My fellow commuters and I rushed into the car in a flurry of backpacks, briefcases and patent leather shoes, quickly occupying the treasured empty seats (I got the coveted one next to the window). As I glanced about, I was surprised to see the expressions of the other passengers turn from gleeful to smug, to startled, to gravely concerned, to revolted. In a matter of moments most of them had abandoned their seats and fled from the train car, or at least to the other end of the car. "Snakes," I thought, watching the last of the fleeing travelers pass by, "maybe rats and snakes?" But I turned and looked behind me and there were only a couple of migrant workers and across from them a homeless guy (complete with plastic bags and the surprisingly vast array of paraphernalia that it takes to be homeless) passed out on two seats at the very end of the car. It was he who was obviously the source of all the hubbub.

Let me back up a bit. In 1984 I was a sophomore chemistry major at the University of Pittsburgh and was taking my second semester of Organic Chemistry. The heart of this course was the lab component, thus I spent innumerable hours in the chemistry building, in the organic lab, watching flasks of various liquids slowly simmer and bubble. Contrary to popular belief, 99% of "lab time" is spent doing nothing but waiting for reactions to finish... well... reacting. I am notoriously impatient and notoriously careless and on one occasion, while turning up a gas jet to get the Florence flask of concentrated NH3 I was refluxing with toluene to cook a little faster, my impatience caused a small explosion, sending the bulk of the reactants splashing into my face. Smelling salts use a very dilute form of NH3 and pack quite a punch - the ammonia that splashed into my face was several thousand times stronger.

I'm told that I was out for about 15 minutes, and though I had to pay for the glassware I had broken, I was none the worse for the wear - almost. Since that day I have never had much of a sense of smell, although my sense of smell was not particularly acute even before the accident. I got used to it the way people get used to all sorts of things like blindness, missing limbs, etc. This morning it paid off handsomely because, try as I might, I simply could not smell the stinky homeless guy a dozen feet behind me.

Each time the train stopped the same scene was repeated - people rushed onto the train, eager for a seat, sat down (some didn't even make all the way to a sitting position), gagged and scurried hastily to another car. One woman actually spun (as if struck) back out of the train door at 14th Street in Manhattan retching, thus I gather that the smell was pretty horrific. A couple of brave souls out of each batch decided that the comfort of sitting was worth any price and wrapped their scarves around their faces, set their jaws and toughed it out.

I arrived in Times Square well rested and happy, in a car with plenty of vacant seats still available, grateful for the stench of one of my fellow human beings. I could have probably cut a deal with the gentleman in question, and arranged for his presence on a regular basis for only a nominal sum, but the thought was late in coming. There is always tomorrow.

Time

I’ve been thinking about time a lot lately – something that I have a great need for, but a very limited supply of. It seems to be a pretty slippery customer to deal with, expanding and contracting in the most absurd fashion imaginable. Time does not seem to be fixed or static, rather it seems to be dynamic, malleable and fluid. In fact, I have been wondering about its nature and trying to decide whether time is real or just some artificial construct that I have created in order to understand my universe. Did you ever become aware of how time seems speed up during moments of joy or excitement and slow down during periods of tedium? We need action now! We need the DHS to stand up, do its job and protect us. As Stark-Raving Chandler said, time should be ordered to arrive on time!

Have you ever noticed how age seems to compress time? Consider the summer vacations from school when you were very young. My own experience of this was that these periods of time lasted a lifetime – from the point when we came bolting down the three cement steps of Markham Elementary School, breaking our number 2’s and chanting “no more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s…” as we dashed across the heavily clovered field, past the tennis courts, racing towards the parking lot and freedom beyond - to the point when, clad in a new pair of Sears Toughskins (preferably with a cool iron-on patch on the knee, like a wolf or something) we would troop bravely back into the maw of that monument of lower education - could be measured in years. Great deeds were done in those three months. Lifetimes were lived, adventures were had, eternal friendships were formed, passive verb tenses were used...

Simple mathematics may offer some explanation: a year for a five-year-old child is 20% of his entire life up to that point; however, for a 50 year old adult, a year is only 2% of his entire life. Thus with increasing age, each segment of time is a decreasing percentage of the person's total experience. I suspect that this is the reason why the elderly are always asking what time it is – time is moving so quickly for them, as to be a blur. Perhaps this is the real cause of Alzheimer’s or dementia?

Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems incredible.
~ Salman Rushdie

Time has historically been closely related with space, together comprising space-time. Newton believed time and space form a container for events, which is as real as the objects it contains. Modern physics views the curvature of space-time around an object, to be as much an accepted feature of that object as are its mass and volume, except when the extreme mass and curvature of that object takes up more than one seat on the subway. Einstein showed that if time and space are measured using electromagnetic phenomena (like light bouncing between mirrors) then due to the constancy of the speed of light, time and space become mathematically entangled together in a certain way (called Minkowski time-space) which in turn results in Lorentz transformation (see below) and in the entanglement of all other important derivative physical quantities (like energy, momentum, mass, force, remaining hit-points, etc) in a certain 4-vectorial way as described by special relativity.

According to these theories, the concept of time depends on the spatial frame of reference of the observer(s), human perception, as well as the measurement by instruments such as clocks, and that it is different for observers in relative motion. Even the temporal order of events can change, but the past and future that are defined by the backward and forward light cones described by Einstein never change. The past is the set of events that can send light signals to the observer, the future is that set of events to which the observer can send light signals. All else is the present and within that set of events the time-order differs for different observers. Confused yet? Einstein commented on this in his typical understated fashion, saying that the only reason for time is so that everything does not happen at once.

Newton and Einstein’s perspectives, and indeed that of most modern physicists, are consistent with the realist's view of time. A contrasting view is that time is part of the fundamental intellectual structure (together with space and number) within which we sequence events, quantify the duration of events and the intervals between them, and compare the motions of objects. In this view, time does not refer to any kind of entity that "flows", that objects "move through", or that is a "container" for events. This view is in the tradition of Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant, in which time, rather than being an objective thing to be measured, is part of the mental measuring system, and is therefore a human construct.

Kant, in the Critique of Pure Reason, described time as an a priori intuition that allows us (together with other a priori intuitions, such as space) to comprehend sensory experience. For Kant, neither space nor time is conceived as substances, but rather both are elements of a systematic mental framework, necessarily structuring the experiences of any rational agent, or observing subject – typical Kant, huh?

Ralph Waldo Emerson considered time as presentness, where past and future are but our present projections (of our memory, hope, fear, etc.). For Emerson, time needs a qualitative measurement rather than a quantitative one. Leave it to old Ralph to change the rules – the quality of time…hmmmn. Physicist David Bohm stated that worldview is the lens through which our thoughts are formed “the general tacit assumption in thought is that it's just telling you the way things are and that it's not doing anything - that 'you' are inside there, deciding what to do with the information. But you don't decide what to do with the information. Thought runs you. Thought, however, gives false info that you are running it, that you are the one who controls thought. Whereas actually thought is the one which controls each one of us." Perhaps this is why Persig was institutionalized.

“Time is the justice that examines all offenders.”
~ William Shakespeare

Time can be thought of as linear, cyclical, discrete, continuous and any combination thereof. In general, the Judeo-Christian concept, based on the Bible, is that time is linear, with a defined beginning: the act of creation by God. But does time have a beginning and if so, what happened before that beginning? Did God get up that morning, toast a Pop-Tart, check his “to do” list, give Mrs. God a kiss on the cheek, roll up his sleeves and set about the business of creating time, some time shortly after breakfast? Stephen Hawking has commented that statements about what happened "before" time began are self-contradictory, and thus without meaning, but he doesn’t like Pop-Tarts. The Christian view also assumes an end, the eschaton, expected to happen when Christ returns to earth in the Second Coming to judge the living and the dead – a good day to be wearing your helmet.

This view of space-time, one of space-time as discrete phenomena, while seemingly more intuitive and in tune with our human lifestyle, carries with it the burden of several paradoxes, most notably those credited to the sophist Zeno. Several of Zeno's eight surviving paradoxes have been preserved in Aristotle's Physics, such as Achilles and the tortoise. In this paradox the fleet-footed Achilles nobly gives the tortoise a head start before commencing the race. Achilles starts running and reaches the starting point of the tortoise, but by that time the tortoise has moved forward a short distance, thus Achilles arrives at the point where the tortoise was. Again, Achilles runs to the point where the tortoise was, but the tortoise has again moved forward a short (albeit shorter) distance. In this way, Achilles will never catch the tortoise, as he will always be running to where the tortoise was, covering an infinite number of ever-decreasing distances.

"In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead." (Aristotle Physics VI:9, 239b15)

In the arrow paradox (this paradox is also known as the fletcher's paradox, where a fletcher is a maker of arrows), we imagine an arrow in flight. At every moment in time, the arrow is located at a specific position. If the moment is just a single instant, then the arrow does not have time to move and is at rest at that instant. Now, in following instants, it then must also be at rest for the same reason. Thus, the arrow is always at rest and cannot move: motion is impossible. Whereas the first paradox presented divides space into discrete segments, this paradox divides time into discrete points. Eternalism addresses these various difficulties by considering all points in time to be equally valid frames of reference - or equally "real", if one prefers. It does not do away with the concept of past and future, but instead considers them as directions, rather than as a state of being. Whether some point in time is in the future or past is entirely dependent on which frame of reference you are using as a basis for observing it, and whether or not you have a fresh set of AA batteries in you global positioning unit.

Planck time (~ 5.4 × 10^−44 seconds) is the unit of time in the system of natural units known as Planck units. Current established physical theories are believed to fail at this time scale, and many physicists expect that the Planck time might be the smallest discrete unit of time that could ever be measured, even in principle. This is a quantum view of time. Scientists have come to some agreement on descriptions of events that happened 10^−35 seconds after the Big Bang, but generally agree that descriptions about what happened before one Planck time after the Big Bang will likely remain pure speculations.

The practice of meditation, central to all Buddhist traditions, takes as its goal the reflection of the mind back upon itself, thus altering the subjective experience of time; the so called, 'entering the now', or 'the moment' or “walking the rice-paper”. The practitioner seeks to stop time, or render it irrelevant. Hinduism, like Buddhism, has a concept of a wheel of time, that regards time as cyclical and quantic, consisting of repeating ages that happen to every being of the universe between birth and death. In recent years this cyclical vision of time has been embraced by theorists of quantic space-time and systems theory.

So where does that leave our hero? It leaves him still stranded in Harlem, still with too much to do and not enough time to do it in. An extension that follows directly from special relativity, one that has been empirically proven, is time dilation, and on the surface, would seem to provide an “out”. Simply stated, this is the observation that time slows as acceleration (or gravity) increases. It then follows that if I want to “create” more time for myself, all I really have to do is find a way to accelerate myself to a significant fraction of the speed of light (the greater the fraction the better). As I accelerated, time would increasingly slow for me, relative to the rest of you who are comparatively motionless. I’d do it (set phasers to “kill” and give me warp speed Mr. Sulu), but it just seems like an awful lot of effort to go through, only to have to get up tomorrow and face yet another day with too little time for the tasks at hand and no Pop-Tarts anyway. So here I am 2,035 words later and what have I learned? I’ve learned that you can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future – so, fuck it!

Abbreviated Monkeyshines

I had a short visit with our favorite little people this past weekend. It seems that a trip to Atlantic City preempted the usual visit and even Zachy’s sensory integration therapy – priorities, priorities. Be that as it may, I picked up the gang of two bright and early Sunday morning and strolled them over the partially shoveled sidewalks, over the bumpy bumps (with both of them thought was great fun) and up to Daddy’s house.

We had a very nice time playing with all of our toys, though we broke out a fresh 24-pack of Crayolas and spent a lot of time polishing up our artistic skills – several priceless masterpieces resulted – Daddy is accumulating quite a collection of priceless masterpieces.

The visit was pretty uneventful – we had lots of fruit and everything-free spaghetti for lunch (Miranda opted for cheese and yogurt). We also relaxed and watched a couple of our favorite shows (Blue’s Clues and Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom) while playing with our trains and Make-a-match cards.

One funny thing of note: Daddy was casting about, looking for something new and entertaining to do with the dynamic duo (we need to get some new toys) when he happened across his vintage Duncan Imperial (a yo-yo for the uninformed). I only had to (what is the correct verb here?) yo a couple of times in front of Miranda and her eyes got as big as pizzas. She got this look of wonder that was really quite beautiful and said in a slow husky two-year-old voice, “I… WANT.. that!”

Of course as both she and Zachy found out, it takes years to become a yo-yo master like Daddy. But school was in session, so we studied “walking the dog”, “around the world”, “shoot the moon” and “rock the baby”. Mostly we just ran around the apartment dragging the yo-yo around by the string and playing a combination of “keep-away” and “I’m gonna get you.” Exhausting? Sure. Entertaining? Absolutely!

By the time 4:30 rolled around, Zachy had crashed, so Miranda and I loaded him into the cruising vessel and headed down Third Avenue (over the bumpy bumps) to Mommy’s house. Miranda made it about three blocks and she too was out for the count. Thus ended another wonderful installment of Monkeyshines.

Double-Time Monkeyshines

OK, so it's been a way long time between posts (my bad), but I was just as sick as can be and really swamped on top of that.


Fortunately, I seem to have recovered and I am much better now, thus your patience has finally paid off. The last two weekends have seen really great visits with our favorite little people. We have not had any big new adventures like trips to the toy store, but we did make it into Riteaid on one occasion and have been generally much more mobile.


After braving the coldest weather of the winter so far, the weather moderated and has been nice enough that we made it out to the park on both Saturdays with the help of Daddy's friend Mike (even though Miranda has fallen asleep in the stroller and slept through it on both occasions).








We have also started the new routine of a Sunday morning walk. This seems to have relieved the cabin fever that seems to materialize after a long night and morning of playing in Daddy's little Brooklyn apartment.








I can't even begin to give you all of the yummy little details of all that has transpired since my last post, but I can give you pictures and lots of them. Consider this post then to be a feast for the eyes. Please note that these images span several weeks (3 or 4 maybe) and I've quite forgotten what happened when. I'll get it together at some point I suppose - enjoy!

Nothin' Doin'

Today I am neck deep in paperwork and although I can imagine a host of nastier things to neck deep in, I still don't like it. What has been going on the last couple of days?... Well, we went to look at yet another school for Zach Wednesday night. The Children's School (a.k.a. PS-72) in lower Park Slope was having an open house. This is an inclusionary public school that is doing a remarkable job considering the resources and red tape that they have to deal with, however, the kindergarten classes have a 25:2 student to teacher ratio and the speech and other services that they can deliver are limited. It was good to go anyway and see all of the other parents that we have gotten to know from the special needs school circut.

Not much else to report today, except that the monsoons have ended and this afternoon is shaping up to be a dandy (56 degrees and sunny!) so I may dust off my bike and get a little exercise this evening. Tomorrow I will have the kids for the usual visit, which I am very much looking forward to, as always - golden time. That's it for now (short and sweet for a change - huh?).

May God stand between you and harm, in all the empty places you must walk.
~ ancient Egyptian blessing.

Junk Science

I had some time on my hands during my recent vacation and took the opportunity to do some reading – sounds relatively benign so far right? Although the book I was reading was fictional, it used a lot of real science as the underpinnings for the plot, which was utterly forgettable. The science focused on the issue of global warming (a.k.a. climate change) and presented an argument that this “theory” is largely baseless. The author provided a list of references from known scientific journals (some of which I read regularly) so, having nothing else better to do, I spent some time tracking down the original papers.

Let me preface this by saying that global warming has never been a big issue for me. The scope of the problem (if in fact it is really a problem) is so vast that it would take the cooperation of all of humanity to fix, something that to my knowledge has never occurred even once in the history of humanity. Thus, I reckoned that it would just have to play itself out without the benefit of my worry. Imagine my surprise, however, when I discovered that most of the “facts” relating to the issue that I thought that I knew, were not really facts at all – I found myself to be the unknowing victim of “junk science”, something that I am pretty vigilant about avoiding. I won’t bore you with all that I learned, I’ll just give you some highlights and point you in the right direction to check them for yourself:

It seems that there is no reliable temperature record for any location on earth that goes back more than 20 or 30 years. The records that do go back farther suffer such significant inaccuracies, due to equipment changes, location changes, urban sprawl heat island effects and collection methods as to be completely worthless (note: the exceptions to this are in the paleo-records that exist in the form of core samples). Nobody anywhere on this planet knows what the average temperature really is, was, or will be. Of all the glaciers on the planet, only 4% have ever been studied and some are actually growing not melting, as is the case in Iceland. No actual average sea-level measurements exist, and due to various quirks of physics, it is unlikely that they will anytime soon. Water vapor is the greenhouse gas that is responsible for over 90% of the greenhouse effect - let's try banning evaporation. No one knows how many species are on earth, or what the normal extinction rate really is. More species are discovered each year than go extinct and no one knows at what rate new species are emerging. All climate predictions are based on computer models, much like our daily weather forecasts and we all know how often they are wrong when looking only a few days ahead. The system that is being modeled (Earth’s climate) is so complex and so poorly understood that the models are of little use other than as mere exercises or curiosities. There is a lot more, but suffice it to say that no one has a clue, and policy is being made on the basis of hype – so what else is new? Check out these links if you want more information:

The Real 'Inconvenient Truth' Greenhouse, global warming - and some facts

GLOBAL WARMING: Reason for Alarm?

Beginner’s Guide: Global Warming

Junk science is not exclusive to the climate change crowd, I encounter it in my daily perusal of autism research. A helpful example is the recent panic over the supposed connection between the MMR vaccine, mercury and autism. Careful studies of millions of children who had been immunized and which showed no causal link, were regarded as somehow tainted, while the views of junk scientists, and of celebrities whose ignorance was matched only by their reckless irresponsibility, were accepted quite uncritically. In the end, science seems to be winning out but it has been a close-run thing and the argument has been unconscionably protracted, while children fall victim to experimentation. Even now many otherwise intelligent people are not convinced.

It seems that lately science has come under attack by a cadre of antiscientists who use the trappings of science to advance their own political and financial agendas. They undermine the benefits of good science and emphasize the things that go wrong, which feeds into a general pessimism about science, the future, and about human possibility, that could be self-fulfilling. Junk science, which parasitizes the language of science — think of “intelligent design”, “reflexology”, alternative “immune therapies” — thrives on denigration of the real thing and is looming ever larger in the collective consciousness.

As Raymond Tallis, professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Manchester writes:

Other things ease the path of the antiscientist. The honesty of science is a built-in PR disaster. Unlike junk science, it reports its failures, its uncertainties and its changes of mind; and the rewards of fraud in science are short-lived. Self-criticism, perpetual questioning of authorised opinion and received ideas, goes all the way through science like “Brighton Rock” through Brighton rock. Worse, much science is difficult to understand and many educators regard the expectation of intellectual effort in pupils as harassment.

Junk scientists count on the scientific illiteracy and laziness of the public as well as the hysteria-seeking of the fear-mongering media. The “truth” has thus become the province of those who can shout the loudest or who can create the most sensational headlines. The fundamental methodology that makes science such a powerful tool for discovery has been subverted and corrupted, twisted and mangled then passed off on the bovine masses as the real thing.

Under the Wikipedia entry for junk science the authors offer some characteristics of junk science that should provoke skepticism when encountered. They were proposed by a group of concerned food scientists and have been only slightly modified by me to make them more food-neutral. I hope you find them helpful – see below:

Ten Red Flags of Junk Science:

1. Recommendations that promise a quick fix.
2. Dire warnings of danger from a single source, product or regimen.
3. Claims that sound too good to be true.
4. Simplistic conclusions drawn from a complex study.
5. Recommendations based on a single study.
6. Dramatic statements that are refuted by reputable scientific organizations.
7. Lists of "good" and "bad" things.
8. Recommendations made to help sell a product.
9. Recommendations based on studies published without peer review.
10. Recommendations from studies that ignore individual or group differences.

Perhaps old wisdom is still good wisdom, just as old science is often still very good science, so I will leave you with a dose of some of the best:

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.

But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

~ Gautama Buddha (563 - 483 BC)

What To Do?

I started off my morning today the way I often do – by reviewing my list of things to do and updating it. Yes, the ubiquitous “To Do list" is very much a part of my life and I’ve been spending some time today considering whether or not this is a good thing. It is a habit that I developed as a young adult – not on purpose, mind you – I was gently nudged, nagged and badgered into the practice by my parents.

It started when I was in high school and centered on the homework issue, or apparent lack thereof. I used to have a pretty good (if rather selective) memory, and used to rely on it exclusively to keep track of important assignments, or so I maintained. In actuality, I did not like doing homework and saw writing it down on a list as creating evidence to be used against me – not good mojo or good policy.

Eventually, I capitulated and waxed reactionary: I would sit down to do my work and spend hours preparing a list that broke the tasks that I must perform into such extensive and exhaustive detail as to be completely absurd. This was the point of the exercise of course - kind of like holding a focus group on forming a committee to organize a planning meeting to plan a meeting for the purpose of making strategic plans. It happens all the time and nothing ever really gets done, although sometimes a lunch menu is selected.

It was a learning experience, however, and at least I learned how to write a great outline in the process of the procrastination of innumerable college term papers. I once even wrote a forty page outline for a term paper on Freud's The Question of Lay Analysis: Conversation with an Impartial Person – ironic huh? I suppose I was repressing after all. Eventually “the list” became a habit, and to this day even a quick search of my wallet will usually yield one or two of them.

I can’t say that I use “the list” as a way to remember things, as I seem to have a problem remembering to check my list on a regular basis. It is more of a way for me to organize my thoughts and priorities and it serves me as a sort of poor man’s data bank. “The list” also functions as a type of daily barometer – the best day being one at the end of which I have crossed the most items off. In a semi-subconscious effort to skew this, I add items to my list that I can’t help but accomplish: “wake up,” “eat lunch” and “breathe regularly” often appear.

There is a certain satisfaction to crossing something off of “the list” – at least for me – and I suspect some of y’all will identify with this feeling. This morning one of the items on my list read, “write something to post on blog,” and this rumination surely qualifies as “something,” so there you have it. Mission accomplished! Now if I can only remember where I put that damned list…

Monkeyshines, Some Snow and Back to Reality

Well, it feels like I never left New York – it’s amazing how our routines shape our thinking (and vice versa). And speaking of routines, our favorite little people came to stay with dear old dad this past weekend as usual. We had a very nice time - also as usual – other than that, there is not much to report but I'll try anyway (Note: the image update will be next Monday - stay tuned!).

Zach is doing a better and better job of communicating his feelings, wants and needs – and Daddy is doing a better job of figuring this communication out. There was a nice moment Saturday evening that bears some comment here. Miranda started a game with Zach, and they played it together for about 15 minutes. This was the first time that I have ever observed Zach playing with another child and it was as heartening as it was remarkable. This game was obviously one that they had played before, however, since I get so little time with them it was my first chance to see it.

The game consisted of Miranda announcing to Zach that “I’m going to get you.” She then turned and ran (making silly noises) to the other end of the apartment, jumping onto the doormat by the front door, as if it were “home base.” Zach started laughing and immediately ran after her, jumping onto the mat like she did. The game continued from there with Miranda running into the bedroom and jumping on Zachy’s bed, and Zachy following suit. The “bases” shifted to the couch, the big “thinking chair”, the kitchen window, etc., until they were both gasping for breath and laughing hysterically. Daddy just tried not to get run over, and egged them on – what fun!

The other interesting occurrence was that, upon waking at 3 or 4am, I went in to their bedroom to check on the sleeping monkeys and found Zachy’s bed empty. I had the briefest moment of fright, but then noticed that Miranda’s bed had become a double occupancy unit. Zachy had gotten up in the middle of the night and climbed into bed next to Miranda with his blanket – the two of them looked very cute all curled up next to each other. What was even better was that they slept through the night and Daddy actually got a decent night’s sleep.

I spent the rest of Sunday (after the visit ended at noon) cleaning up after “Hurricane Miller,” making my usual 2:30 meeting and doing laundry (sheets and towels mostly). I also spent some time trying to remember what I did for a living, and how exactly I went about doing it – it seems that I had forgotten. So I watched the snowfall and folded laundry, and started making those endless “to do” lists for the week, the month, the year, the… – but I suppose that’s another topic.

Monkeyshines, Travel and Other Things

Well, I guess it has been way longer than I normally let pass between posts, but life has been pretty full. Before I begin, let's have a little music, shall we?



That's better - as you're listening, just change the word "California" to "Florida" in your mind and we should be all set. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, so last week I was swamped doing all the stuff that I needed to do in order to not be around this week, which made for a few rather hectic days. Long story short - I got the absolute minimum necessary done, as one would expect - so here I am in sunny Florida (Lauderdale by the Sea to be exact - see map) staying with Dad and Fredi and having a fine time.

Of course my life was blessed this past weekend with a nice visit from our two favorite little people and even though we didn't sleep very much (and Daddy caught a wicked head cold from little miss Miranda - a cold that I'm still recovering from) we had a lot of fun.

The big adventure this weekend was our trip to K.B. Toys on 86th Street. We needed to get out at least for a little while on Saturday afternoon and the weather cooperated by warming up a bit, so we piled in the stroller and took a walk. Daddy explained to Zach and Miranda that they could each pick out one toy and only one, and that if they were good about this we could do it again in the future.

They were sooooo good! When we got there, Zach got out and was eyeing up the Thomas train sets, but Daddy reminded him that he already has one at Mommy's house, which he seemed to understand. He picked out a Geotrax train set instead, which turned out to be a pretty good choice, and got right back in the stroller clutching the box.

Miranda gravitated towards the dolls and much to Daddy's surprise picked out a Barbie (City Styles Barbie - her first). City Styles Barbie came with shoes and a hair brush, but to Miranda it was just "red Barbie". She also wanted "blue Barbie" (Barbie Fairytopia Magic of the Rainbow w/ necklace) which Daddy allowed so that each kid got the same dollar value of loot. We paid for our toys and headed back to Daddy's house to play with our new things.

It was a good thing that we had some fresh toys, as it was a long night. Must have been a full moon or something, because Zach (who went to bed nicely at 9pm) got up at 3am full of vip, vigor and vim. Miranda had only gone to sleep at 11:30 due to a long and late nap, but had a cold and got up at a little after 4am. So there we were: trains, Barbies, etc. burning the midnight oil. It was a good thing that Daddy had a little vacation coming up. Anyway, the visit was the usual slice of heaven and Daddy was sorry to see the little ones go, as always.

Monday was Presidents' Day which I spent sleeping and packing and Tuesday was a travel day. I've been comatose on the beach for most of the time since. I did get around to getting a camera and snapping a few pictures of the kids and have even taken a few here of sand and surf, so I will update this entry with those images when they become available.

Not much else to report - I will be traveling back to reality-land tomorrow evening and gearing up for another installment of Monkeyshines.
Peace and Love!

The Power of Nightmares

This is kind of mind-blowing and I would definitely call this a "MUST SEE." In order to save some time, I lifted the following description of this video trilogy from Wikipedia. Each part runs about 59 minutes and plays via flash media player. As always, your comments are not only welcome but sought after.

The Power of Nightmares, subtitled The Rise of the Politics of Fear, is a BBC series of documentary films, written and produced by Adam Curtis.

This documentary argues that during the 20th Century politicians lost the power to inspire the masses, and that the optimistic visions and ideologies they had offered were perceived to have failed. The film asserts that politicians consequently sought a new role that would restore their power and authority. Curtis, who also narrates the series, declares in the film's introduction that “Instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us: from nightmares”. To illustrate this Curtis compares the rise of the American neoconservatives and radical Islamists, believing that both are closely connected; that some popular beliefs about these groups are inaccurate; and that both movements have benefited from exaggerating the scale of the terrorist threat.

The Power of Nightmares was first broadcast on BBC Two in three hour-long parts on consecutive Wednesday evenings in the autumn of 2004. The series was rebroadcast in late January 2005 on three consecutive nights, with the final part updated to reflect the Law Lords ruling from the previous December that detaining foreign terrorist suspects without trial is illegal.

Although the series has not been shown on U.S. television, its three episodes were shown in succession on 26 February 2005 as part of the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri, USA. After the film, Curtis made a public appearance and led a discussion in which he expressed pessimism about an eventual American TV airing or DVD release. It has, however, played in some small independent theaters.

Curtis has also stated: "Something extraordinary has happened to American TV since September 11. A head of the leading networks who had better remain nameless said to me that there was no way they could show it. He said, 'Who are you to say this?' and then he added, 'We would get slaughtered if we put this out.' When I was in New York I took a DVD to the head of documentaries at HBO. I still haven't heard from him."

The BBC's The Power of Nightmares (part 1 of 3)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1002626006461047517

The BBC's The Power of Nightmares (part 2 of 3)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7930933565201168

The BBC's The Power of Nightmares (part 3 of 3)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8732625326538179377

Monkeyshines Unlimited

I'll keep this week’s Monkeyshines entry short and to the point: I love my monkeys! Zach and Miranda came over at the usual time and stayed overnight once again. We all had a great time hanging out and playing and eating and singing and dancing, and yes we got a little sleep too.


This week we pulled the electric train set out, which all of us had almost forgotten about, and made a layout around the amazing marble machine. It was quite a sight (and sound): the train was going, Miranda was running back and forth to the bedroom to get more and more weebles to ride in the train, Zach was jumping up and down and chasing marbles that were bouncing everywhere (some even to places that Daddy can’t find), the train was whistling and shouting “all aboard” and Daddy was just fanning the flames. It was all very tribal.

This week we were also able to get out for a walk on Saturday afternoon, as the weather was not too cold – this was the first such outing for us, though more are certain to follow. This week the kids also slept through the night, which was nice for Daddy. Zach fell asleep around 9pm, got up at 6am and crawled into bed with me, wanting to cuddle and read some books – it was a very sweet way to wake up. Miranda fell asleep at 9:30pm and slept until 6:30am, when she woke up all smiles and giggles.

It looks as though we are all already falling into a nice routine. Daddy didn’t take any pictures this week, but we will rectify that before next week’s installment of Monkeyshines

Just Another Friday

Staff meetings are always an excellent barometer of one's serenity. I find that they are a great opportunity for me to see for myself how much I've grown - or not.

"A meeting is an event where minutes are taken and hours wasted."
~ James T. Kirk

This morning's staff meeting here at work was certainly no exception to this. It began with the short session of musical chairs that always seems to result when a bunch of otherwise smart people are asked to arrange themselves in something resembling a circle. That accomplished, we began by going around the circle and introducing ourselves to the people that we eat lunch with and sit in restroom stalls next to - EVERY DAMN DAY! After this elucidative experience my boss, who means well, passed out pink pieces of lined paper with purple hearts on them (presumably in honor of Valentine's Day), to each of those assembled, for a writing assignment. Oh boy! The Icebreaker activity! On the top half we were asked to complete this phrase: "The one part of my job that I love is..." On the bottom half the phrase to be completed was: "The one part I can improve upon is...."

“Meetings are an addictive, highly self-indulgent activity that corporations and other large organizations habitually engage in only because they cannot masturbate”
~ Dave Barry

I chose not to share what I wrote, as we went around the circle - it was just harmless fluff anyway. In the past, blood would have been coming out of my ears by this point, but indeed I have grown. We went down the agenda items and I ate my bagel and sipped my coffee, trying not to be noticed, and not to notice what was being said. I think that most people view meetings as a place to get things off their chests or as some twisted form of group therapy, rather than as the working sessions of idea generation and consensus building that they are supposed to be. I mean, JEEEZ! - if it was just about information we could all just have written memos.



We discussed our class projects for Black History Month, We discussed what projects we were planning for Women's History Month and I sat thinking that when it was finally White Anglo-Saxon Male with Receding Hairlines Month that I'd really give it my all. The meeting ended with the obligatory "how can we improve our communications" nonsense and we adjourned, wondering if we had accomplished anything and not entirely clear about whether or not we had to do anything as a result of the discussions - so I guess it was a successful meeting, all the more so because my internal barometer was reading high pressure and sunny skies all the way. Looks like the forecast is good, right through the weekend.
Peace.

This Just In

The Washington Post article on the CDC autism study that was just released can be found at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020801277.html

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

I awoke this cold, dark February morning to the sound of helicopters, and for a moment or two I thought I was having one of my Vietnam flashbacks – then I remembered that I was never in Vietnam or even in the army - anyone’s army for that matter. Although this realization was something of a relief, I was still left with the matter of the helicopters. Helicopters – notice I used the plural form, for if it was just a single helicopter I probably would not have noticed or cared, as a single chopper usually denotes some kind of police action or semi-serious accident. When there are more than one it means that the media is involved, and that means something has happened – usually something rather inconvenient.

So I ran a bath and turned on the radio – surprisingly, AM news radio stations still seem to be the fastest news sources, even in this world of Internet and 24 hour cable news outlets. Sure enough, I quickly learned what I was seeking to know. It was kind of strange to hear someone reporting over the radio, from one of the helicopters that I could hear outside the bathroom window. There was this weird stereo effect to the noise of the rotors – news can be kind of fun but you don’t want it happening too close to home. The reporter was explaining that firefighters were battling a fire that had engulfed two houses on 74th Street near 4th Avenue.

It is an immutable law of physics that water runs downhill, and in New York City “downhill” is the subway system, which just so happens to run underneath 4th Avenue – I made a mental note, “better get a Snickers for the ride to work.”

Bay Ridge is connected to the rest of the world by a single subway line, the R-train, which is always voted the least reliable line in the annual survey of the NYC Transit system. Thousands of gallons of water per minute do not generally improve the functioning of electric trains; thus it was a slow ride out of the Neighborhood this morning. I transferred to the N-train, which is an “express” train, as usual at 59th Street in Sunset Park. I put the word “express” in quotations because, when used in reference to the subway, it has a slightly different meaning than you might expect: these trains do not go any faster, they merely make fewer stops at stations, although they make the same number of stops in the middle of tunnels. Things were fine, however, all the way across the Manhattan Bridge and through Chinatown, and it was not until 14th Street that the next hurdle appeared.

The NYC Transit System as it exists today, is a peculiar mix of new components and ones that are absolutely Jurassic. For example, the pumps that are used to pump rainwater (or any water) out of the tunnels were used in the construction of the Panama Canal, while the control systems that turn them on and off are relatively new. This mix makes for some pretty odd upkeep issues. This is aggravated by the fact that the Transit System has two long seasons, which are brought about by weather extremes: track fire season and track breakage season. These two long seasons are separated from each other by two, shorter track flooding seasons. Today, due to the extremely cold weather, it was definitely track breakage season, and the track my train was riding failed somewhere up the line. The best way to deal with these sorts of obstacles is to leave the underground and quickly hoof it across town to a different line, before everyone else on the train gets the same idea. I walked over to the 7th Avenue line, re-entered the system and made it safely to Harlem on the 2-train.

So why do you care? I was hoping you’d ask! Even though I leave myself tons of extra time each morning, and was therefore never in any real danger of getting to work late, what is remarkable is that at no time did I get upset or bent out of shape. This is amazing! It is a first-class miracle! As I watched my fellow passengers on this commute from Hell turn from miffed, to irked, to totally irate with steam coming out of their ears and nostrils, I found the whole thing funnier and funnier. Today will be a good day – imagine that.

More Changes

So in case you didn't notice, I have made some more changes here. I added a couple of links (will it never end?) to the sidebar, these are: Del.icio.us, Answers.com, and Sonific.com. The first was suggested by my Jedi Master, friend and consultant on all things that are both electronic and technical - Nathan.

Delicious is really cool, it allows you to place tags on websites that you visit (as many tags as you want) instead of bookmarking them, and creates a relational database for your "bookmarks" that is not only searchable, but can be added to by anyone who knows your user name. It's kind of a social bookmarking site in this way. Also, you can add buttons to firefox so that it is even easier to use than the regular bookmarking dropdown menu. Cool huh? Check it out and if you want to bookmark sites/pages for me to look at. I am "zmmiller" - as always.

Answers.com is a site that my friend Lewis financed as a startup some years back, and is a cool search engine that primarily gives you results from a wide variety of reference sources, all on one page. It took me a little while to get used to, but I have grown to like it and find that it saves me from constantly going to Wikipedia.

The final addition is the coolest, but may be replaced if I can figure out a better way to do this. You may have noticed the new music players on the page. I have been wanting to add some audio (someday video too) to this page for a while, in order to create a more complete multimedia experience, and this widget comes courtesy of Sonific.com. I plan to update the song on the sidebar periodically, but not too often. This posting is also an experiment to see if I can add specific songs to go with a specific entry - we'll know shortly. Ultimately, I would like to be able to post my own music (published and nonpublished)and that of my friends too, but as of yet Sonific does not have that capability. Supposedly they are working on it. At least for now, though, enjoy some nice relaxing music and let me know what you think.

On an entirely unrelated topic, I forgot to mention a really charming "Daddy moment" that happened over the weekend. Early Sunday morning, the kids cooperated by playing nicely together while I grabbed a quick shower. After the shower, I decided to shave and Miranda came bouncing by the bathroom just as I had the shaving cream spread all over my face (at least the parts one shaves). She stopped dead in her tracks and stared at me with the funniest look that said, "what the Hell are you doing?" She had this look of intense concentration and I don't think that she blinked or took her eyes off of my face, until I had finished the whole process. She then laughed at me and went right back to her play with Zachy. It was really cute - I remember watching my Dad shave when I was that age or slightly older, and finding the whole thing to be somewhat mysterious - I guess some things don't change.
Peace and Love.