tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61844152011-07-30T17:56:02.926-07:00The Infinite WallI - only I - the Nothing and the Infinite in one. Climbing the infinite wall.Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-20056819428185915312010-04-13T00:22:00.001-07:002010-04-13T04:11:42.896-07:00The Yellow PillAsk anyone who has seen The Matrix if they want to take the red pill or the blue pill, and you will invariably get the answer the red pill. They see themselves as truth seekers who are willing to see what really is, even though it may be a bitter realization.But is that really what the pills in The Matrix are offering? Do we really think and listen, or do we all just want to run Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-64514153903217748602010-01-04T04:05:00.000-08:002010-01-04T15:20:27.136-08:00
Buddha statue like the one we saw, but smallerPappa's Jesus is named BuddhaAs we were shopping today, my youngest daughter saw a 3-4 feet tall statue of the Buddha, and exclaimed that "That looks like you 'pitating (meditating), Pappa!" Rather proud of the comparison, I told her that it was a statue of someone named Buddha (etc.) ... "And he's got biiiig ears!" she continued after Pappa's WorldSolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1256104412491153642007-01-03T03:39:00.000-08:002007-01-03T06:21:49.542-08:00The Infinite Wall
I've been asked why I call my blog The Infinite Wall. The reasons are several fold, and the first thing I want you to do before I start explaining is to conjure up an image: You are in a landscape taken from a classic Chinese painting, with parabolic mountains, trees and not the least fog and clouds. Ahead of you is something that looks like a cliff wall on one of those Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1164891366734573552006-11-30T04:55:00.000-08:002008-01-01T12:32:02.207-08:00
One of these rare pictures that fill you with a sense of wonder and - curiously enough - a strong desire that there should be fairies. The strange light promises to be even stranger when you walk through that portal; maybe it will be like Sebastian's journey in The Never-ending story (great book; horrible movie), or maybe Greg Bear's Sidhe are waiting for the unsuspecting traveller at the Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1161779688585818752006-10-25T05:34:00.000-07:002008-01-01T12:29:19.747-08:00
Mathematics is beautiful in itself; it is delightful when a piece of a structure falls into place, like when you understand or prove certain theorems. But mathematics can be beautiful in a more prosaic way, too, via being used as a tool to generate art of a visual or auditory kind. Fractal images have a special place in the pantheon of art derived from mathematics; I will in particular Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1161078808170243272006-10-17T02:52:00.000-07:002006-10-26T05:19:01.073-07:00Choose
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
--NietzscheSolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1160470715282088772006-10-10T01:51:00.000-07:002006-10-10T02:25:59.150-07:00Paul Halmos, R.I.P.
Paul Halmos, author of some wonderful mathematical textbooks and the essay any student should read before even starting on their thesis, How to Write Mathematics, died on the 2nd of October. Short accounts of Halmos' life and works can be found here and here. An interesting man.
I have asked the college library to buy his "automathiography" (a biography solely devoted to hisSolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1151399029130490912006-06-27T02:03:00.000-07:002006-06-27T04:25:23.576-07:00The Big Bounce
Interesting new findings in physics suggest that the universe did not start in a Big Bang, but rather is cyclical with at least one Big Bounce. Read more to find out. For my own part, I find that model more aesthetically pleasing than the plain Big Bang theories. And aesthetics matters.
The ramifications may be interesting; not the least, they may unsettle the seeming current Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1151051527953136842006-06-23T00:56:00.000-07:002006-06-26T01:43:54.423-07:00Mathematical meanderings
The corridors of the math building at Blindern - the University of Oslo, where I did my studies - had acquired a new layer of that subtle shade of grey that is the look of wear. They looked tired, and the doors more so than the walls. This despite attempts at freshing up these seventies constructions with funky glass walls (and doors), or rather in part because, since Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1148989109103132982006-05-30T04:37:00.000-07:002006-05-30T04:38:29.126-07:00 NASA TV
NASA TV - a few steps up from DocuSoaps, if you have time to spare in the afternoon.Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1148536826645510632006-05-24T22:07:00.000-07:002006-06-12T04:52:26.143-07:00The Abel prize for 2006
You have a needle lying in the plane, and your job is to turn it 180 degrees. However: When a needle is turned, it swipes out an area, and in addition to turning the needle (easy job), you are supposed to do it while swiping out the minimal possible area (harder job). This is a special case of the Kakeya problem, an area where the the Abel prize winner this year, Lennart Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1146577043688870692006-05-02T06:34:00.000-07:002006-05-02T06:37:23.700-07:00New issue of Non Serviam is out
The new issue is issue 23, the biggest one so far. It features two very well written articles in a debate over the relative merits of Karl Marx and Max Stirner, the two philosophers former Hegel Society president Lawrence Stepelevich said were vying to be the ultimate heirs to the Hegelian philosophical throne. Check out the Non Serviam web site, and click issues Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1144739741989361632006-04-11T00:15:00.000-07:002006-04-11T18:18:46.660-07:00Chaos and order
Chaos creates order, whereas order creates chaos. At least if you're a system of pendulums.
If you, like me, like to take conclusions into the world of analogy, this is an excellent proof that free markets beat central dirigisme, legalizing it beats the war on drugs, evolution beats "intelligent design" and that Wikipedia will ultimately beat Britannica.Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1144396858378683872006-04-07T01:00:00.000-07:002010-01-04T11:02:52.491-08:00They don't make those anymoreHARP: We used to shoot things into space with a gun!There was an age when people believed in Big Science and Big Engineering. The future was around the corner, with nuclear powered vacuum cleaners and space habitats as the default housing. Not so anymore. Maybe it's for the better that we have a technological race that is more civilian - small science and small Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1143545999959486032006-03-28T03:39:00.000-08:002006-03-28T05:24:31.726-08:00Hell, the movie
The opening: A big city. A sunny day. Silent. Then a deep bass sound. Rumble. It starts to get darker on the right half of the screen. Big, black clouds stretching from the ground and up start moving in the way black clouds just shouldn't. Through small cracks in the clouds - orange light. Fire. Overhead - the undersides of flames, much like they look when you view a burning beamSolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1143452857031314452006-03-27T01:46:00.000-08:002006-10-03T02:47:35.323-07:00Religious tolerance?
Afghanistan's constitution simultaneously embraces religious liberty and sharia, or Islamic law, under which those who turn away from Islam can be sentenced to death. Even moderate Muslim clerics, as well as members of Rahman's own family, have said that death is the only fair and logical punishment for the medical-aid worker under Afghanistan's religiously based legal Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1143017383922420582006-03-22T00:49:00.000-08:002006-03-22T06:44:09.106-08:00V for Vendetta
It sees to be the movie for revolutionary libertarians for the season:
http://wconger.blogspot.com/2006/03/exhorting-right-of-revolution.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer132.html
The anarchists are also chiming in, though they are displeased that the movie doesn't tell the people that no revolution is a proper revolution unless it removes the state permanently:
Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1142949001560978062006-03-21T05:50:00.000-08:002006-03-22T00:50:28.563-08:00Chris Tame
Sad news for those of us who have met the man (from the Mutualist blog): Chris R. Tame, R.I.P. Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6184415.post-1123680186414694282005-08-10T06:22:00.000-07:002005-08-11T06:39:59.113-07:00Book recommendation: The Costs of War
At amazon.co.uk
and amazon.com (has reviews)
While I can't vouch for the Truth of the contents therein, the visions presented are remarkable and more than worth a read. It's a collection of essays looking into the mechanisms of US warfare: Motives, tactics and ultimate costs to civilized society both in the US and "the other side". It starts with some Solanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548071704344622360noreply@blogger.com1