<The meaning of life>

Friday, December 09, 2005

Sole supplier

The wife is in India. The kids behave, sort of. Still a temptation to play video games, and dragging one's butt in terms of homework, but I have put away the controllers so there is less deviation today.

I need sleep. Got to get the kids out without the rush in the morning. Tomorrow it is supposed to snow. The children want to stay home. They can dream. I looked outside. The snow has just started, and the storm is small. So no promises.

Hope to book tickets for the Harry Potter Imax movie over the holidays. We'll see if the demand is too big. Any day, any show.

Christmas letter is printed, pictures are printed, time to collate address and send.

Good night.

PS - got the tickets, and the show was good. The IMAX screen is good, and the movie was one of the better Harry Potter films. But the kids involved are growing up.

PPS - Saw Mars Rover also on IMAX at the Smithsonian - I liked the show, and I got to talk with a Hawaiian geologist who was also interested in the Mars geology.

posted by Nick 1:33:00 AM

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Prewinter, mid doubt, and post organized religion

The weather got cold. We borrowed a dog to take care of for a while. Nice puppy. I cleaned up the garage to park one car. Then I needed somewhere to put the dog, so the car stays outside.

Slowly accomplishing some of the tasks around the house. I will try for others. The kids have finished the first marking session in school.

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I am coming to a more profound understanding of the universe and our place in it. Maybe just my place in it. It is big, and empty, and old. Very old. And there are no visible strings making it move. So if it was created in a 'beginning' we are limited in knowing how those strings are pulled, and limited in understanding how we were created. Yet there are those with absolute views. White haired men in the sky, or shimmering Goddesses. Hmmm. Why? Is this just a throwback to the dawn of conciousness, the dawn of the days when humanity finally had enough people in a community to harvest crops and declare a surplus, so that other people could sit and think. And think what are still profound thoughts. Is this a way to control the masses, by declaring rebellion out of bounds?

The dawn of conciousness: a recent genetics article discussed that two brain mutations appeared in the last 50000 years. Without them, people's intelligence would be lower. That tracks with the development of hunter gatherers into larger social groups and the start of agriculture, and the advent of representational art such as small carvings and cave paintings, and the beginning of burial of the dead, sometimes with artifacts. So does organized religion stem from this period of brain development? This, the dawn of reflection on man's mortality. And if so what is man's destiny? What of the soul, or our concept of the soul if we no longer fixate on religion as an explanation of the universe?

We have religious people who claim to be influenced by the Almighty. How do we rationally discuss this? How do we test this? It comes down to the dichotomy of belief versus testable theory. Theory used here in the scientific sense, of a tested idea, supported by experiment or observation, not relying on the spiritual or magical for explanation, not just an unsupported guess.

This still takes us to the need to be 'good' to work together to survive as a species and not blow ourselves up, or degenerate to squabling. For this delicate speck, with these many beings, needs to cooperate to survive. And rationality needs to lead in human events. For irrationality begets bad results. Some absolute declarations will grate on someone else's freedom and rights. "Your rights end at my nose..." seems to be an operating phrase.

posted by Nick 1:07:00 AM

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Into Fall

At the start of summer I got elected to my HOA. Intrigue and skull duggery - or a penchant to drop the old and move onto the newer people. Put together a new budget, and got through a couple of issues with capital versus operating budget numbers, and increases in HOA rates. Now we get to vote on that and tear down some old trees that line our lane, with the promise that the city will replace them.

We are not going home for winter. Too much stress. Time to mellow out for a couple of days here in our own place. The children work at school, and music, and church, and sports. Their summer swimming continues weekly. They are putting in the miles, as some of the coaches say. There is little quiet down time. Was it this way for my generation? I don't particularily remember. When we got bored with TV we played, but not always. I remember my arm falling asleep and going numb as I held my head up reading for protracted periods. Eventually I got so big any position is uncomfortable after a while. but I digress.

We went home for a summer visit, and to Massachusetts to visit relatives by the ocean, and a good time was had by all. It has not been possible to coax them down here yet.

My youngest siblings ran a marathon. Both finishing. Awsome. If they come to Boston next spring, I'll go see them run.

Parents still okay. Both have had cataract surgeries that seemed to help a lot.

It is getting cool, some nights we get a bit of frost. It is time to clean out at least one side of the garage for the owner to park his chariot! Toys be gone!

Tomorrow is Halloween, and there will be parties all day and evening. I will need to deliver candy to the school at noon for my youngest. We'll see how they all do. I probably need to buy candy to replace what we ate in the last couple of weeks.

posted by Nick 11:52:00 PM

Sunday, July 17, 2005

American summer

This summer the children are old enough to partake in the quintessential American summer behavior. We have gone swimming almost every afternoon since school ended.

First we got a temporary membership at the local pool. Then traded that in for a summer family membership, and signed up for lessons and "swim team". Who knew about "swim team"? It a semi-organized set of practice and lessons for the kids. They swim each morning, and compete once each week. Everybody talked about it in a form of shorthand, "we're going to swim team in June". What did that mean. Oh: after school lets out they would send the kids to the pool most mornings or afternoons. They get formal training in swimming. It tries to straighten out their strokes, and I guess build up some endurance. I asked other parents and they too said it was a bit of a surprise to stumble onto this program.

I cannot swim properly. The water gets into everything, and a mild case of athsma sometimes leaves me breathing hard. That and the inefficient thrashing I produce, limit me to about 6 pool lengths. Then it is time to supervise the non-swimmer.

We skip swimming only for other activities, or rain and thunderstorms. We've had about 10 days straight of thunderstorms, and 90+ F degree (33 C) days. With near 100% humidity to add a little discomfort to the soup.

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I got stung on the forehead a couple of weeks ago, while doing the back stroke. Hmmm. Then today a buzzing noise on the neck and a sting on the neck. Other people looked around and found a large wasp nest in a tree overlooking the pool. "We've wondered where they were located" said the pool manager.

Out come the magic spray cans this evening, to try and finish off the soccer ball sized nest. Good, too close to people.

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This phase of the summer is nearing an end. Our eldest is off to the grandparents tomorrow. The middle one is still in school and swim team, and the youngest is still taking swimming lessons. We'll follow in a few weeks.

We are now into finishing swimming lessons, and summer school, and then start to travel to see the relatives across the continent.

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I put together a TV cabinet and wired up a new TV for a family friend yesterday. That takes a long time. Still have to have her get a component TV cable to complete the setup with the DVD player.

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My oldest just finished reading Harry Pottter 6. It took about 30 hours. We were going to go to the book release on Friday, but he had been up all the previous night during a camping sleep over, and he went to bed before the release, and slept for about 15 hours straight. The other one was out by 11 PM on her own. Oh, well, we went to get the 5th book a couple of years ago on release night, so we've done this already.

posted by Nick 6:31:00 PM

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Dancing to the Beach Boys -- Good Vibrations

posted by Nick 2:21:00 AM

A cuddly fellow

posted by Nick 2:19:00 AM

The capital show as the day fades away

posted by Nick 2:18:00 AM

Mrs. - having caught up with the show

posted by Nick 2:18:00 AM

The photographer photographed

posted by Nick 2:17:00 AM

Looking back up at the capital

posted by Nick 2:17:00 AM

Beach Boys sound check at A Capital Fourth of July 2005

posted by Nick 2:16:00 AM

Peter (far left)awaits his cue at the competition

posted by Nick 2:16:00 AM

Laura is visiting

posted by Nick 2:15:00 AM

Anatomy is not my forte...

posted by Nick 2:15:00 AM

a trail of funny children

posted by Nick 2:14:00 AM

Friday, July 08, 2005

Ballad of Myrtle the Turtle

Ballad
Myrtle the Turtle

Myrtle the Turtle wanted to play
But she always wanted the rules her way
She never let her friends have any real fun
Because when she made up her mind, the day was done.

Will Myrtle, Bear and Hedgehog learn to play?
To find out we'll have to wait until another day.

One day her friend Bear said, "enough is enough"
He came up to her and was very gruff
"If you want to be friends, you'll have to play fair
And let all of us have our fair share".

Will Myrtle, Bear and Hedgehog learn to play?
To find out we'll have to wait until another day.

Myrtle was angry, as mad as could be
If you were there, you would want to flee
She flung up her fists in such a rage
It could have knocked the letters right off the page.

Will Myrtle, Bear and Hedgehog learn to play?
To find out we'll have to wait until another day.

Hedgehog said, "Whoa," and rolled up in a ball
"This is a mess, it won't do at all
Turtle, come here, you need to play fair,
Or I'll tell the teacher to put you in a chair".

Will Myrtle, Bear and Hedgehog learn to play?
To find out we'll have to wait until another day.

Turtle sat down and thought for a while
And then she got up and started to smile
She looked at them and said, "you're right"
"Lets go play while it's still light".

Peter
Copyright ~2001

posted by Nick 2:20:00 PM

Monday, June 27, 2005

Notes on June 2005

I got burned out after the election and stopped posting anything after the holidays. Now I have another 600 pictures and a few minutes after midnight to put some of the most cogent onto the web.

Mostly they are about places we've been, and things we have done, and some of the people we met on the way.

Cheers

posted by Nick 1:43:00 AM