Ξ June 29th, 2010 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
Dear readers, I’m sorry for the lack of posting these last few days. I took a Friday and a Monday as vacation, giving me an unprecedented four days in a row off from work and school. It’s been a while. I needed it. It was glorious. I spent Friday morning fishing out of Freeport, Long Island on one of Captn. Lou’s Boats. I didn’t catch any keepers (though there was this one that got away …. ), but it was sunny and I was with a friend, so the company was good. We followed up the fishing with lunch and a few pints of Guinness!
On Saturday we got off to a very late start. We ran a few errands and stopped off for dinner at a place in the next hamlet over called Blacksmith Tavern. We’d never been there before but we’d passed it a number of times. We were just discussing dinner plans when we drove past again and this time decided to stop in. It appeared to have a nice crowd, and the food was very good. They had a nice dinner menu.
On Sunday we ran around in at Port Jefferson Harbor:
It’s not far from our house, and it was a beautiful day to just hang out and do a little shopping. Port Jefferson is a great place to visit, and it has quite a history.
While in Port Jeff (as we locals call it), we came REALLY close to getting a dog. A Yorkie to be exact. We left the adoption place, and came back. They were closed though. We’ve been debating it. I’d really like go give a home to a dog. I have an ideal yard and lots of room. We liked the Yorkie because it’s hypo-allergenic, and they are small enough to bring with you. I digress. We also stopped in at the Tara Inn. They had $1 hamburgers. During Happy Hour, when you get a round of drinks, you pick a number 1 to 5, and they pull a tab and you pay the price behind the tab. I picked “Full Price”, but when my wife got a round, they price was $.20 per drink .. yes, you read that correctly. 20 cents!! Crazy! I saw a lot of people getting $.10 rounds. My $1.25 bacon cheeseburger was tops! A good crowd and Irish music. Whoot!
Well, it’s Monday night now. I have to start getting ready for work tomorrow. I’ll update again soon.
Regards
Biff
Ξ June 22nd, 2010 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
Occasionally, there are books that no matter how much you want to read them, you just never finish them. You’ll start them time and time again, only to put them down for lighter reading. “A history of Pi” is that book for me. It’s fantastic. I learn something from it each time I pick it up; and I feel guilty for putting it down again. It kills me, but I get about 1/2 way through, and then just start reading something else. I read LOTS of text books, and this is just a small book about Pi. Go figure. The only other book I had trouble getting through was Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I put it down at the very end of the book. It was frustrating. Not because I didn’t get it. Frustrating because Ayn Rand wrote like a 16 year old girl that took to many poetry classes. I just hated her writing style. Anyway, I digress. Going back to Pi:
Pi - the ratio of the diameter of a circle to the circumference of a circle. As one grows, so does the other. As I was thumbing through the first half of “The History of Pi”, I realized how important ratios are. If you’re looking for consistency in life, you need to have ratios. Allow me to explain. Take a cup of coffee. How many Equals do you put into it? If the cup is 12 ounces, it should be one thing, if it’s 16 or 20 ounces, it should be something quite different. Never mind that huge box o’ joe at Dunkin’ Donuts:
If you want to enjoy your tasty beverage, it needs to be made correctly. Crappy coffee can ruin your day. For me, I needed a formula:
F(x) = ((4 / y ) - 1)
where x is the number of equal packets and y is the number of fluid ounces that the cup holds (assuming the cup holds > 1 fluid ounce). If there is a remainder in the division, I just round. I’m not picky.
Ξ June 17th, 2010 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
This is a terrific book, written by Louis Ferrante, a former mafia insider. The book is a true life account from his life on the streets, through prison, and finally to being released as a converted orthodox Jew. The book is a real page turner. You can get it here:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Unlocked/Louis-Ferrante/e/9780061133862
Ξ June 14th, 2010 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blog |
Intergalactic henchman Darth Vader, diagnosed with borderline personality disorder??? Crazy talk.
And to add insult to injury:
Unstable moods, interpersonal relationships, and behaviors are all characteristics of this condition, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health. It affects 2 percent of adults, mostly young women.
you can read the whole article here
Physics professor Donald Olson, is the world’s leading practitioner of forensic astronomy - examining classic works of art and literature that include references to celestial phenomena.
He has recently discovered what meteors Walt Whitman was referring to in “Years of Meteors” (1859/1860). It turned out to be a Meteor procession as also chronicled by artist Fredrick Church in this illustration. The full article is located here.
As a side note, Prof. Olson also found the exact moment depicted in Vincent van Gogh’s painting Moonrise. The answer: 9:08 p.m. local mean time on July 13, 1889 in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France.
physicist Stephon Alexander suggests (among other things) that our Universe could exist inside a Black Hole.
A universe in a black hole may seem like an outlandish idea, but if correct, we still live within a neutrino condensate possibly a new form of matter) , which could be causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Astronomers have observed such an acceleration, and usually attribute it to some mysterious “dark energy.”
The full article can be found here: http://www.fqxi.org/community/articles/display/134
I think the interesting part to me is, if correct, we’ve been spending so much time trying to look INSIDE a black hole .. and here we are, inside one ourselves. We’d now want to start learning how to look OUTSIDE the black hole .. HA!
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