Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
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Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
 
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http://xkcd.com/793/
-- Doug Roberts [hidden email] [hidden email] ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Re: Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
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Brilliant!!!!!!
One night Murray Gell-Mann was here for dinner, and said off-handedly, oh, physicists could solve artificial intelligence in no time if they just put their minds to it. I nearly went over the table at his throat. And he was my guest. AI has been the graveyard of more than one physicist, but they usually just slink away with their tail between their legs, and you never hear about it. Statisticians, otoh, have actually been a big help. On Jul 5, 2011, at 4:40 PM, Douglas Roberts wrote: http://xkcd.com/793/ "In humans, the brain is already the hungriest part of our body: at 2 percent of our body weight, this greedy tapeworm of an organ wolfs down 20 percent of the calories that we expend at rest." Douglas Fox, Scientific American ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Re: Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
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Oh, sorry; I thought this was private between me and Doug. Mea culpa. We were just dissing the physicists.
On Jul 5, 2011, at 5:16 PM, Pamela McCorduck wrote:
"In humans, the brain is already the hungriest part of our body: at 2 percent of our body weight, this greedy tapeworm of an organ wolfs down 20 percent of the calories that we expend at rest." Douglas Fox, Scientific American ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Re: Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
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In reply to this post by Pamela McCorduck
Pamela!
Brilliant!!!!!!Yes, xkcd is definitely brilliant. And Doug, well, he does have a way. FWIW, until I actually followed up and checked it out I *assumed* that the cartoonist was a *wicked-smart* young woman... there is something about the style of friendly but unreserved lampooning that seemed like only an outsider who understood things inside out could muster. I don't know why I thought *that* made the author female... somehow I just did. If my older daughter could draw, I'd suspect her of it... wait! xkcd *can't draw*! I'm calling her *right now!* The the relatively few women on this list: I must honor all of you for putting up with our wide range of male-typical boorish habits. Some of us even know who we are. I only know of Tory, Pamela, Dede, and Peggy (as often enough posters to be memorable). I sure hope I haven't missed someone obvious in this list, which would surely be another boorish male habit. As for physicists... I once imagined I was one... for a few years anyway, after picking up a BS in Math and Physics and then dragging myself through a half-dozen grad courses as well, what else does one need? If Computer Science and Engineering hadn't been blossoming and captured me in it's vortex, I suppose I would have at least hacked away as a third-rate physicist for part of my career. Several of my best friends are Physicists. Some of them are women. I admit that there appears to be a bit of occupational hazard associated with being a physicist in thinking that if you don't know everything, you can figure it out, and if you can't figure it out and nobody is looking you can wing it! This was what drew me there in the first place. That or reading too much Science Fiction. It also is what flung me off like mashed potatoes from spinning mixer blades! My first interview with Physicists involved a hazing that was beyond my range (and I have a wide range)... After accepting a different offer (in Computer Science) I heard that the Physicists who had hazed me and left me feeling... not incompetent, but... well... hazed... they had decided I was a stellar candidate (because I answered all their questions the best I could and never once let on that I'd rather be tossing them out their third story window? Or making up esoterically difficult questions from some obscure field to ask them?) I *wanted* that job so bad (control system for the Proton Storage Ring), but couldn't imagine working with those jerks... Their instinct may have been right... they may have saved me from a life in the wrong profession! I fully appreciate (and occasionally attempt to live) both extremes... "figure every ffing thing out from first principles, even if it takes the rest of your life to do the most minute and trivial thing" VS "hack it together on a whim and see what it does!". I prefer the romantic image of the Natural Philosophers of the Age of Reason and Enlightenment over that of the modern day Physicist. Though Feynman did a pretty good job of making the modern physicist role an entertaining one as well, hitting on Peter's wife not withstanding. In 1992 I bought a house that a Physicist started building in the late 1960's... it was impeccably designed (to his very strange tastes) and exquisitely built (with only the best materials and tools) virtually all by the hands of the Physicist in question. The house was essentially 50% complete when I bought it. The exterior was perfectly completed excepting that there were no front steps. The interior was entirely unfinished, bare studs and floor deck and not a single interior wall. Talk about a blank canvas! The 1960's hydronic heating system was big enough to heat an entire city block and he had a 7 zone hand made manifold bolted to it with an oversized pump dedicated to each zone. He had enough slant-fin radiator to line the entire exterior of the main floor (2600 sq feet) and the exposed exterior of the above-ground basement (1800 sq ft). He had boxed 1960's vintage fixtures with an inch of dust on them (Avocado Green, Harvest Gold, Powder Blue, etc.) including a Bidet. There was NO end to his obsession with detail and care and thought and effort. I even inherited the 100lb jackhammer he used to carve the basement out of the Tuff himself! There was little if anything on that house I think he did not do with his own bare hands, with great thought and care, and more than a little insight. He *was* prone to overkill however, I could barely *lift* that jackhammer and I am not a small man. I'm a whack job myself when it comes to projects but this totally blew me away. And he was so excited after 25 years to have someone else take on his project who might do it justice. It took me 6 months of dedicated effort (well, early mornings, evenings, weekends and liberal LANL vacation days) and some pro help (drywall, electric, plumbing) to make it liveable, 18 months to satisfy the bank to switch from construction to FHA mortgage and 7 years to call it "done". It still had an unfinished banco in front of the fireplace when I fled the property with recurring nightmares of asymptotes. I can't be sure that this level of obsession and handling of detail is directly correlated with the profession but anecdotally it seems to be so. Physicists are amazing. But fortunately there are other species of human as well! And especially those very clever few such as xkcd "hisself". I sometimes suspect the author of being a one-man FRIAM list: http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/ - Steve
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Re: Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
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Doug -
> > You're one of my favorites here, sas. We can always count on you for > a good stream of consciousness. > Thanks, It's about all I have left after I used everything else up trying to be a scientist. I intend to spend the rest of my life honing my richochets into proper non-sequitors. You missed the bottle of Boulliete Rye Saturday. And some new characters at the funny farm. And the moon is made of green cheese. And I'm about to drive two days straight each way to (probably) turn 3000lbs of carefully constructed optical components into an equal mass of square marbles. I need all the distraction I can get. Segue. Careen. Tangent. - Steve ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Re: Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
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In reply to this post by Steve Smith
I think xkcd draws extremely well. Stick figures, ovals, hats, a
few lines for hair and he ends up with these extremely expressive
characters we can relate to and come to care about (at least for a
few panels). All this brilliance several times a week while under
much stress (see his recent blog).
As to the hitting upon issue, well, there's a tradition of scientists and percussion. Carl On 7/5/11 6:49 PM, Steve Smith wrote: Pamela! ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Re: Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
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In reply to this post by Steve Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xkcd
On 7/5/11 6:49 PM, Steve Smith wrote: Pamela! ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Re: Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
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In reply to this post by Steve Smith
And a grand bottle it was, too. Now there's a tangent, a great bottle
of Bourbon. Thanks, Sas, for the excellent summer get-together! Wonderful conversations at our table about art, science, observation, cognitive processing, perception, awareness, ooooh, all the big ones. Consciousness. Be still my heart. Someone tell the discuss list. Have another shindig: we'll all bring more food. You two have the best house in the world....the walls are made of books and there's no clear inside and outside to the place, just activity. Perhaps this is physics in actuality, rather than theory. Have a great drive. I for one am verrrry curious about your transmutational optics project. ?? Catch ya later- Tory On Jul 5, 2011, at 7:11 PM, Steve Smith wrote: > Doug - >> >> You're one of my favorites here, sas. We can always count on you >> for a good stream of consciousness. >> > Thanks, It's about all I have left after I used everything else up > trying to be a scientist. I intend to spend the rest of my life > honing my richochets into proper non-sequitors. You missed the > bottle of Boulliete Rye Saturday. And some new characters at the > funny farm. And the moon is made of green cheese. And I'm about to > drive two days straight each way to (probably) turn 3000lbs of > carefully constructed optical components into an equal mass of > square marbles. I need all the distraction I can get. Segue. > Careen. Tangent. > > - Steve > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Bourbon, Manic Monologs, Soliloquys, and Square Marbles
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Tory -
You are most welcome... Doug sums up what you said about our house simply by referring to it as a "Hobbit House". He (nor you for that matter) never actually saw the house we lived in before, an eclectic adobe built by an old hippy friend in the 60s while he was probably on Acid or Peyote or Datura or maybe just bad black light posters. Hobbit all the way. It was very wonderfully organic. We watched Los Alamos burn 11 years ago from a straw bale sleeping cabana just outside of it. And here we are again. I was specifically trying to lubricate Doug, entice Peter and tease Nick and Stephen (since they were out of state) with the invite but as always it is great to have you at our impromptu soirees. I didn't actually expect anyone on-list to make it, we were glad you did. We are, in fact, both a wave and a particle. And so are we. Meanwhile, the project alluded to begins by retrieving (from Palo Alto) 5 sheets of 3/4" thick 10' x 10' glass designed to be the screens for a virtual reality theater in Los Alamos. The original system using these was on it's way to Los Alamos when the Cerro Grande fire started. I got word that the replacement/backup (these were custom made, floated on a pool of mercury or something) screens needed a new home and I could have them just as Las Conchas was bearing down on Los Alamos. Deja Vu! I'll tell more about the actual use of this glass when the project shapes up. For the moment it is just an exercise in lifting heavy things... carefully. If we drop them... square marbles everywhere. If you know anyone with an extra hundred grand who wants to create their own realities, send them my way. I may have a deal for them! I am prone to manic soliloquys here as a way to avoid (temporarily) dealing with my latest deadline... I'm sure they have drugs (Thorazine comes to mind) and procedures (a sharp spoon under the eyelid comes to mind) to treat these symptoms but I prefer Bourbon or Gin and the polite forbearance of friends and strangers such as I enjoy on this list. If I manage to make 3000lbs of square marbles, I promise to send pictures! Heck think of the art projects you could do with that many 3/4" cubes of glass! - Steve > And a grand bottle it was, too. Now there's a tangent, a great bottle > of Bourbon. > > Thanks, Sas, for the excellent summer get-together! Wonderful > conversations at our table about art, science, observation, cognitive > processing, perception, awareness, ooooh, all the big ones. > Consciousness. Be still my heart. Someone tell the discuss list. > Have another shindig: we'll all bring more food. > You two have the best house in the world....the walls are made of > books and there's no clear inside and outside to the place, just > activity. Perhaps this is physics in actuality, rather than theory. > > Have a great drive. I for one am verrrry curious about your > transmutational optics project. ?? > > Catch ya later- > Tory > > On Jul 5, 2011, at 7:11 PM, Steve Smith wrote: > >> Doug - >>> >>> You're one of my favorites here, sas. We can always count on you >>> for a good stream of consciousness. >>> >> Thanks, It's about all I have left after I used everything else up >> trying to be a scientist. I intend to spend the rest of my life >> honing my richochets into proper non-sequitors. You missed the >> bottle of Boulliete Rye Saturday. And some new characters at the >> funny farm. And the moon is made of green cheese. And I'm about to >> drive two days straight each way to (probably) turn 3000lbs of >> carefully constructed optical components into an equal mass of square >> marbles. I need all the distraction I can get. Segue. Careen. Tangent. >> >> - Steve >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
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> Tory -
> > You are most welcome... Doug sums up what you said about our house > simply by referring to it as a "Hobbit House". He (nor you for that > matter) never actually saw the house we lived in before, an eclectic > adobe built by an old hippy friend in the 60s while he was probably on > Acid or Peyote or Datura or maybe just bad black light posters. Hobbit > all the way. Since you bring up Datura...yesterday I had the radio on, heard Gene Autry singing "Back in the Saddle Again", and was astounded to hear a line about cattle eating Jimson weed (not followed by a line about them going crazy). Do they really? ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Re: Bourbon, Manic Monologs, Soliloquys, and Square Marbles
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>> Tory - >> >> You are most welcome... Doug sums up what you said about our house >> simply by referring to it as a "Hobbit House". He (nor you for that >> matter) never actually saw the house we lived in before, an eclectic >> adobe built by an old hippy friend in the 60s while he was probably on >> Acid or Peyote or Datura or maybe just bad black light posters. Hobbit >> all the way. > Since you bring up Datura...yesterday I had the radio on, > heard Gene Autry singing "Back in the Saddle Again", and > was astounded to hear a line about cattle eating Jimson > weed (not followed by a line about them going crazy). > Do they really? Growing up amongst ranching folke, I heard tell of cattle (and horses) getting into "Loco Weed" aka Jimson, aka Datura. But I can't say that these references were not merely part of the larger mythos rather than any specific incident anyone had experienced. Anybody else have more specific knowledge? Like a tumbling tumble weed, - Steve > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
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In reply to this post by Steve Smith
On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 6:49 PM, Steve Smith <[hidden email]> wrote:
> In 1992 I bought a house that a Physicist started building in the late > 1960's... it was impeccably designed (to his very strange tastes) and > exquisitely built (with only the best materials and tools) virtually all by > the hands of the Physicist in question. wow. I think I read about this house somewhere. didn't know it might be in the hands I've actually talked with. Do you have any photos? Too bad I missed the event. Seems to be my life most days. Oh well... mark sf_x ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
Physicist builds home from first principles...
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Marco -
It was located in Pajarito Acres (White Rock), I must have photos somewhere.... but not digital so not at the tip of my fingers. It actually started life as 3 Atomic Energy Commission buildings from the lab which were moved to the hand-built foundation and entirely stripped and reskinned with modern (ca 1960) siding/roof, windows. When I started putting in blocking for the drywall (was originally set up for lathe and plaster!) I bent many nails before giving over to a pneumatic nailer, the *hardwood* framing from those buildings had age-hardened so much! I'm glad to see my free-associative missives are not exclusively <delete> fodder, though I do imagine most folks do not and should not give up time to read this stuff that they will never get back... life is in fact surprisingly short (looking backwards anyway). - Steve > On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 6:49 PM, Steve Smith<[hidden email]> wrote: >> In 1992 I bought a house that a Physicist started building in the late >> 1960's... it was impeccably designed (to his very strange tastes) and >> exquisitely built (with only the best materials and tools) virtually all by >> the hands of the Physicist in question. > wow. I think I read about this house somewhere. didn't know it might > be in the hands I've actually talked with. Do you have any photos? > Too bad I missed the event. Seems to be my life most days. Oh well... > > mark > sf_x > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
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