road stories: crystal castles

I’m back on the road and I think it’s time I mention the first of the major landmarks on my journey. I always pull up to it in the dark. I actually go by it instead of to it, but it’s presence makes the difference inconsequential. it’s on the side of the road, right by the Bridge and Toll. but all you can see down that hill is the array of lights and the Two Towers.

something a little different…

Video for the experimental jazz quintet “SJQ”

road stories: the Dog Barrens

the Dog Barrens are a new invention, of sorts. it’s not like I magically created land between two points of the map. it’s more of Christopher Columbus thing where you give a place a name and it snaps into existence even though the natives having been living there for millenia, quite aware that land doesn’t need a name to be lived on or to prove its existence.

being so new, I’m not even sure of its spelling yet, Dog or Dawg. its surname is a misnomer also: the land isn’t empty or unoccupied. it is quiet and unassuming, simple and uneventful. if it’s barren of anything, it’s the complication of big cities and sprawling suburbs and new-formed exoburbs. and it is that special quality and its rareness in these times that makes the Dog Barrens beautiful.

road stories: the Fox Hollows

The Fox Hollows get their name from the many holes, cuts, and hiding places for the foxes that patrol this stretch of road. I don’t see them often, but I am sure of their presence. the road lends itself to these hollows, with easy access either direction to and from chasing rabbits and gazelles and possums and don’t-know-any-betters.

the road is covered with evergreens on both sides so it doesn’t change with the seasons and adds to it’s appearance of permanance. you could call it idyllic but that makes you forget the danger that is always there, underneath the veneer and top coat of oil paint. i always try to respect the Fox Hollows, knowing that it’s just waiting for me to slip up.

road stories: introduction

so I do a lot of travelling to the same place, not far but far enough, from my home. I wake up early in the morning, get ready, and drive down so I can be on time and not be seen as a slacker. I don’t work there; i am a frequent guest. and I sometimes leave by afternoon, when the rest of the world only starts thinking about leaving. other times, I am with the rest of the world, my extra time meaning nothing except lost sleep. and then I start it all again the next day.

I’ve travelled this same long road in the dark, at sun’s rise, at noon’s rule and nap, and evening’s call and reign. it doesn’t change, just the people who play on it. its stability is a comfort to me on my ride, my other passenger being my music, which is ever changing. even though all the parts and places have name before, I’ve given them my names as they appear to me. There’s the Three Sisters way stations, the Keep and the Bridge, the Fox Hollow, the Dawg Barrens, the Belle, and the Edge of Town. Each name has a place in reality and a place in my mind, and these are my stories about them.

An explanation for Quantum Mechanics?

I haven’t read the actual paper yet but the article is intriguing in and of itself:

• The author of the paper started out in GR and ended up in climate prediction and nonlinear physics.
• the idea of fractal subsets in state space isn’t new but saying everything else is “unreal” is.
• I’ll have to read to see if this really explains wave-particle duality: the article didn’t do a good job  of convincing me.

more, later.

trying to write more

Okay, i’m going to try to make this into a real blog, with some good articles and pictures and musings and whatever.

stay tuned and don’t forget to cross-pollenate with the tumblr site.

the problem with jedis….

So I was watching The Empire Strikes Back and came up with a question:

What is it about Jedi teaching that sucks? I mean Yoda is the Jedi Master and he can’t even convince Luke to stay and finish his training even with dead Obi-Wan helping him. How many of Yoda’s students just wander over to the dark side?

And why does it seem that Jedi Masters are always lying to people?

In Luke’s battle with Darth, Vader tells Luke that he has mastered his fear and now Luke must release his anger.  In a weird way, this is the best advice anyone has given Luke throughout the whole movie.  Granted, Luke should be controlling his anger instead of letting it control him, but no one can argue against the power his anger gives him.  Of course, the jedi would whine about not feeling anything and feeling the Force through them.

And Darth Vader tells Luke who his real father is….

New inventions!

The female urinal!

the structure of the world, lansdale version

so I’m in lansdale, hanging with my boy. I’m observing the ways of the world and realize that it’s nothing but local patches, the union of which compose the world. so it’s a matter of knowing the transformations between locations. and knowing your local set around the kernel of your space.