PROSE
Great Truths In My Life
1. Great truths are simple.
2. It's not going to be easy.
2.a. I'm not going to understand it.
3. It's not going to be the way I want it to be.
4. The answer is, 'it depends'.
4.a. Corollary - You can't answer a technical question to non-technical people.
5. Blame is heavy - falls to the bottom, credit is light - rises to the top.
6. Morality is internal - Legality is external, their coincidence greatly influences one's Quality of Life (QOL).
7. It is possible to be 'sure' and 'wrong' at the same time.
7.a. Corollary - The difference between what we 'know' and what is 'true' also greatly influences our QOL.
8. Anticipation is the greatest of pleasures.
9. Quantum Theory is "probably" correct.
10. Resentment of technology belongs in a cave.
11. Calculus has limits.
12. There is only one response to deadly force.
13. Data is stronger than theory.
13.a. Corollary - 'good data' is redundant, 'bad data' is mutually exclusive.
14. Words are not deeds.
15. Science simplifies reality.
16. Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.
17. 'x= ' is not true.
18. '0' is as real as '1'.
19. Stress occurs when one's psychological investments don't pay off.
20. You can count on mathematics.
21. Reality is physical - awareness is just along for the ride.
22. Faith is bad data.
23. A .45 is better than a blue blanket.
24. Guilt results from internalizing someone else's stress.
Borrowed
1. Random events are much too important to be left to chance.
2. The load expands to fill the available space.
3. Nothing is difficult for the person who doesn't have to do it.
4. The word is not the thing it names.
5. Real theories admit the possibility that they could be wrong.
QUOTES
JOHN FARR - My Type=A Friend
1. When I works, I works hard; when I sits, I sits loose; and when I thinks, I falls asleep.
2. Eat a live toad first thing every morning - nothing worse will happen to you all day.
MASON WILLIAMS
1. Isn't life the perfect thing to pass the time away.
ALFRED KORZYBSKI
1. The map is not the territory.
ANDY WARHOL
1. Art is what you can get away with.
Things I Wish I Had Learned To Appreciate Sooner
1. Umbrellas
2. Undershirts
3. Afternoon naps
4. Cruise control
5. Power windows
6. Key-less entry
7. PhotoShop processing in layers
ON COLOR, LIGHT, AND PERCEPTION
How Abstract is What We See?
We do not 'see' the things we seem to see. We sense light manipulated in many ways, only one of which is the item
in question. Consider the abstractions:
The First Abstraction - The light itself is produced in one of several ways; incandescence, fluorescence, fusion, ETC. Each
source has different color characteristics defined by the distribution of wavelengths produced.
The Second Abstraction - The light is modified by its passage through space, air, clouds, ETC. from the source to the object.
The Third Abstraction - The quantum processes in the object 'seen'. The light that strikes an object is mostly absorbed by it,
raising the outer shell electrons to higher energy states. The color of the object is determined by the light generated as the
excited electrons fall back to lower energy states. The actual states from which and to which the electrons move are a function
of the chemical characteristics of the material. Each element has a specific and characteristic set of possible energy states and
produces specific and characteristic sets of colors.
The Fourth Abstraction - is similar to the Second, but determined by the media between the object and the eye (or lens).
The Fifth Abstraction - is the optical processes of the eye. These processes are unique to each eye.
The Sixth Abstraction - as the rods and cones change the light energy to nerve impulses impressed on the optical nerve.
The Seventh Abstraction - as the brain translates the nerve impulses into what is commonly called 'sight'.
I guess it's not too difficult to understand why we have a problem agreeing on what color something might be:.
And, to really complicate the situation, consider the added complexity introduced by photography:
Between the Fourth and Fifth Abstraction, add:
4.1 - the optical processes of the camera lens
4.2 - the optical processes of the color filters over the sensor photo-sites
4.3 - the quantum processes as the filtered light strikes the sensor photo-sites and is converted to an electrical charge
4.4 - the computer process as the amount of light is converted to a color value
4.5 - the computer processes as the color values are converted to and from various color spaces and sent to various display media
4.6 - the various computer and human modifications to the color as the image is 'processed' and displayed - continue with the
Fifth Abstraction.
So, perhaps we should be a bit more careful with terms such as 'abstract', 'unprocessed', 'calibrated monitor', 'direct from
the camera', ETC.
ON ART - KIND OF
All human activity may be done, described, communicated artistically.
Only the artist must be fulfilled by the art.
Low self esteem may be the absence of art.
Other can be illuminated by the artist's vision.
The more basic the ART, the broader its potential for illumination.
The artist sees more clearly into the essence of the art.
In order to be recognized, an artist must be able to communicate the vision.
The communication of the vision is not the ART.
ART is the pinnacle of abstraction.
AN EXCELLENT CUP OF COFFEE
Gevalia coffee - Blue Mountain or Kona (just about any of the other 'non-flavored' roasts are good too)
Evian Spring Water - the coffee can't be better than the water used
A single serving French Press maker - most consider a cup to be 5 oz. and are called 'three cup' size.
A Gevalia coffee scoop - put 1.5 scoops of coffee in the coffee maker.
Put the water (1 cup / 8 oz. / 250 ml) in a standard sized microwave safe cup. Nuke until the first small bubbles
start to rise. DO NOT bring to a full rolling boil.
Pour the near boiling water over the coffee.
Put the top on the coffee maker - DON'T PRESS YET.
Count to 180, or use a timer of some kind to steep for 3 minutes.
Now you can press - slowly evenly.
Decant into the cup which should still be warm.
Once you try this you will probably be ruined forever for lesser brews.
If you use cream and sugar, skip the above and boil some cheap coffee in tap water over an open fire for twenty minutes.