I find it fascinating that one of the things I thought worthy of copying into my journal was a hymn. It really was a favorite, as I remembered both the tune and the words when I encountered them again much much later. At fifteen, the things I transcribed into a few pages of commonplace-type entries were that hymn, some putative Chinese proverbs, phrases I found meaningful (today, I can't tell you why), and a bunch of amusing Persian imprecations. Can't say I didn't have catholic tastes!

10:40:21 PM    please comment []

James Lilek of The Bleat is back with another splendidly written paean to the Gnat. It's enough to make a person think there might actually be an upside to being a parent.

6:20:31 PM    please comment []

If this article hadn't been written by a guy who also publishes in Jane's Defence Weekly, I would have written it off as a parody. I mean, seriously, anti-gravity? a division of Boeing called Phantom Works? Cavorite? It gets better:

Using a strong electrical discharge source and a superconducting "emitter", the equipment has produced a "gravity impulse", Mr Podkletnov says, "that is very short in time and propagates with great speed (practically instantaneously) along the line of discharge, passing through different objects without any observable loss of energy".

The result, he maintains, is a repulsive action on any object the beam hits, that is proportional to its mass. When fitted to a laser pointing device, Mr Podkletnov says, his laboratory installation has already demonstrated its ability to knock over objects more than a kilometre away. The same installation, he maintains, could hit objects up to 200km away with the same power.

It was Mr Podkletnov's work with his impulse gravity generator that grabbed the attention of Boeing. In the Grasp briefing document, Boeing describes how the 4in beam shot from the device is reportedly immune to all electro-magnetic shielding and that it goes through anything that gets between it and the target.

Can anyone explain to me how the beam both "goes through anything" AND yet manages to "knock over objects"?

In other news, apparently in small doses you can get order out of disorder. I imagine this would be right up Stephen Wolfram's alley ~ as I think it demonstrates that rules-based behavior can demonstrate emerging order in local areas of a more random system.

5:03:07 PM    please comment []

Sometimes you just read the right thing at the right time. From Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler's book Life Lessons:

There are no mistakes in relationships, everything unfolds the way it's supposed to. From our first encounter with one another to our last good-bye, we are in relationships with each other. We learn through them to see our souls, with their rich topography, and to deliver ourselves to healing. When we let go of our preconceived agendas in loving relationships we set aside questions of whom we will love and for how long. We transcend these limits to find a love that is magical and created by a force greater than us, just for us.

[via Halley's Comment]

Update: I sent this in an email to B-. I meant it as a positive comment, to reiterate that I had no regrets. I also think there's something there for him too. But it was not sent in a spirit of criticism. I hope he can read it that way.

4:03:47 PM    please comment []