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Below are the 25 most recent journal entries.

	2006.03.05  18.23 Krill to the baleen of romantic manipulation I've always found women caught in a thunderstorm appealing. Perhaps it is a male universal, for without advertising this proclivity a lovely girl I knew, but not well, on discovering within herself lascivious thoughts about me and noticing raindrops outside her windows, stood for a moment fully clothed in her shower before letting the wind and rain buffet her body as she made her tremulous approach to my door and of course I could not turn her away. But then, just when one might suspect that men are krill to the baleen of female romantic manipulation, I found myself loving a girl who was a coffee addict. I would make a watery paste of finely ground coffee and surreptitiously smear this around my neck and shoulders before seducing her so she would associate my body with her dopaminergic cravings. But every association relates two objects both ways. She started drinking more and more coffee. Sometimes I looked at her cups of liquid arabicia with envious eyes for if there were four cups then somehow, I was one of them, or a quarter of everyone one of them...

	2006.03.04  01.28 Me on scholars Listen. In noticing the correlation between intelligence and character I sought to find people of character by finding clusters of people with high intelligence. But I subsequently developed a dismissive contempt for many of the academics and students about me. I see most of them as weak, rule following, institutionalised, fearful, narrow people who are not propelled by talent and curiosity about the natural world so much as driven by fears of conflict with humanity. There's an escapist tinge in physics and mathematics that lures forth the credulous into a constructed world.

	2006.03.04  01.18 Nietzsche on Scholars When I lay asleep, then did a sheep eat at the ivy-wreath on my head,--it ate, and said thereby: "Zarathustra is no longer a scholar." It said this, and went away clumsily and proudly. A child told it to me. I like to lie here where the children play, beside the ruined wall, among thistles and red poppies. A scholar am I still to the children, and also to the thistles and red poppies. Innocent are they, even in their wickedness. But to the sheep I am no longer a scholar: so willeth my lot--blessings upon it! For this is the truth: I have departed from the house of the scholars, and the door have I also slammed behind me. Too long did my soul sit hungry at their table: not like them have I got the knack of investigating, as the knack of nut-cracking. Freedom do I love, and the air over fresh soil; rather would I sleep on ox- skins than on their honours and dignities. I am too hot and scorched with mine own thought: often is it ready to take away my breath. Then have I to go into the open air, and away from all dusty rooms. But they sit cool in the cool shade: they want in everything to be merely spectators, and they avoid sitting where the sun burneth on the steps. Like those who stand in the street and gape at the passers-by: thus do they also wait, and gape at the thoughts which others have thought. Should one lay hold of them, then do they raise a dust like flour-sacks, and involuntarily: but who would divine that their dust came from corn, and from the yellow delight of the summer fields? When they give themselves out as wise, then do their petty sayings and truths chill me: in their wisdom there is often an odour as if it came from the swamp; and verily, I have even heard the frog croak in it! Clever are they--they have dexterous fingers: what doth MY simplicity pretend to beside their multiplicity! All threading and knitting and weaving do their fingers understand: thus do they make the hose of the spirit! Good clockworks are they: only be careful to wind them up properly! Then do they indicate the hour without mistake, and make a modest noise thereby. Like millstones do they work, and like pestles: throw only seed-corn unto them!--they know well how to grind corn small, and make white dust out of it. They keep a sharp eye on one another, and do not trust each other the best. Ingenious in little artifices, they wait for those whose knowledge walketh on lame feet,--like spiders do they wait. I saw them always prepare their poison with precaution; and always did they put glass gloves on their fingers in doing so. They also know how to play with false dice; and so eagerly did I find them playing, that they perspired thereby. We are alien to each other, and their virtues are even more repugnant to my taste than their falsehoods and false dice. And when I lived with them, then did I live above them. Therefore did they take a dislike to me. They want to hear nothing of any one walking above their heads; and so they put wood and earth and rubbish betwixt me and their heads. Thus did they deafen the sound of my tread: and least have I hitherto been heard by the most learned. All mankind's faults and weaknesses did they put betwixt themselves and me:--they call it "false ceiling" in their houses. But nevertheless I walk with my thoughts ABOVE their heads; and even should I walk on mine own errors, still would I be above them and their heads. For men are NOT equal: so speaketh justice. And what I will, THEY may not will!-- Thus spake Zarathustra.

	2006.03.04  00.54 On measures and meanings I'm trying to understand how to measure the distances between any two ideas inorder to build an alternative press syndication mechanism (another a save the world from evil with mathematics idea). This is really interesting. For example, say you have a universe of books and you want to place these into some kind of metric space. So what is this metric going to be? You want it to represent some kind of "similarity". Our human interests are such that what we mean by "similarity" is *semantic* similarity. i.e "it has the same meaning (to me)". This is hard to model mathematically, but we can talk about "mutual information". i.e given two things, A & B how much of B does A predict, and how much of A does B predict? I have found you can't answer this question in isolation. You have to pull in the whole universe! Imagine our universe has just three books and nothing else in it. Then although A may not directly predict C, if A predicts B and B predicts C, then somehow A *does* predict C. Now we can quantify this intuition by imagining a universal compressor K, that can compress anything in our universe and tell us how long the result was (e.g like gzip!). How does a compressor compress? By finding patterns of similarity! For example ask yourself "how much information is in Underground relative to the universe of books". We may rephrase this question as follows: If we *removed* Underground from the universe of books, how much information would we loose? We would loose: K(all books together) - K(all books but Underground) bits. Note that K is not linear. So if we want to know the "universal similarity" between Underground and Apro's book Hackers, we would let A = Underground, let B = Hackers and find: K(universe) - K(universe -A -B) ------------------------------------------------ 2*K(universe) - K(universe - A) - K(universe -B) Which you may think of as asking how much information would we loose from the universe if we ripped out both books together, compared to loosing them in isolation.

	2006.03.04  00.54 First editions I like first editions. I used to think that such people were poseurs -- surely if there was any value in the paper it was only the reflected glory of the writer's craft which if stripped away would leave the paper lovable only to fire. But now I have taken to collecting first editions, they are naive, captured before the destiny of the work was known and in that sense one may approach them as its first readership, splitting the cover into secrets unknown and hitherto only rumored.

	2006.03.03  21.35 A lovely photo of Aiko What is love? 'Tis not hereafter; Present mirth hath present laughter; What's to come is still unsure: In delay there lies not plenty; Then, come kiss me, sweet and twenty, Youth's stuff will not endure.

	2006.02.24  12.48 Solhenitsyn & true belief If there is a book whose feeling captures it is First Circle by Solhenitsyn. To feel that home is the comraderie of persecuted, and infact, prosecuted, polymaths in a Stalinist slave labor camp! What longing one has when reading Solhenitsyn's love for his first cell of self similars! Such prosecution in youth is a defining peak experience. To know the state for what it really is! To see through that veneer the educated swear to disbelieve in but still slavishly follow with their hearts! Seen Saturn's gossamer rings through a telescope? Yes? Then cast your mind back to before your first observation. Back to when you believed in Saturn's rings but hadn't seen them. You agreed with others they existed without doubt, perhaps even had posters on your wall listing their properties or used the rings in passing analogy or to seduce a lover, and if someone had turned to you and suggested that Saturn's rings were a grand conspiracy, you would have chided them as a fool, but then when your telescope was pointed at the bright golden star overhead and an image formed in your mind from photons straight from Saturn, something changed, and your heart stirred your head to exclaim ``It's true then! It really does have rings!''. Of course! But isn't this what you claimed all along? How well you concealed your disbelief in Saturn's rings -- even from yourself! So to with your belief in the mendacity of the state. True belief begins only with a jackboot at the door. True belief forms when lead into the dock and referred to in the third person. True belief is when a distant voice booms 'the prisoner shall now rise'.

	2006.02.23  03.24 Note on statistical metamathics 1. mathematical statements are reducable for proof purposes to concretely defined strings in a formal system 2. mathematical proofs are theoretically reducable to concretely defined strings in a formal system 3. theorems are true statements which define wormholes in the universe of true statements Let statements of our toy world be of the form A, AB, B, ABABA etc. Add rules of infererment. If x then xx. if xy then yx. if xA then x. AB is true. Following this it is simple to prove (outside the system that) that any statement implies that same statement with all the A's removed (exercise). So we can now immediately add BBAAAABB -> BBBB Before this theorem many steps would be required to reduce a long statement to it's B content. This toy example is not able to talk about itself (i.e x and -> are not valid syntax, they're part of the metalanguage), but there are other simple formal systems that encompass every other system, including 1st order logic (e.g s-k combinators). 4. some strings are more psychologically appealing than others, for which there is no mathematical justification 5. psychologically appealing theorems seem to be psychologically appealing because they connect ("wormhole") many psychologically appealing strings over long distances 6. long proofs imply a poverty of psychologically appealing theorems within the proof domain 7. there is no reason one can't find psychologically appealing strings statistically etc 8. a problem might arise when statistically "proved" theorems are stacked, one must multiply the probabilities etc 9. The string world of psychologically appealing true statements can probably be explored much faster statistically, however this also changes what is appealing 10. the universe of unappealing true statements is fantastically large!

	2006.02.23  03.09 Let it explode! I am working on another bomb. It sits there and slowly grows fatter. It seems inert, a dead weight, something that one would tie to the feet of the condemned before throwing them overboard, but in the stillness of night, when the outside world softens its step, if place my ear to it, close my eyes and clear my thoughts I can hear.. is it a murmuring? No a tick! A steady tick! Let it explode! Let it explode into libraries and hearts and minds the world over! Let it explode!

	2006.02.23  03.08 Florence How soft your email is on my eyes. How joyful your little flat in Florence sounds. To be free as only one can be when in a land where no one knows your name and at the same time surrounded by scholars and the comraderie of learning.

	2006.02.21  00.10 Farberisms A buck in the hand is worth two on the books. A carpenter's son doesn't have shoes. A dog under any other coat is still a dog. A hand in the bush is worth two anywhere else. A lot of these arguments are fetious. A lot of things are going to be bywashed. A lot of water has gone over the bridge since then. A problem swept under the table occasionally comes home to roost. A rocky road is easier to travel than a stone wall. A stop-gap measure is better than no gap at all. A whole hog is better than no hole at all. Abandon ship all you who enter here! After that, we'll break our gums on the computer. All the hills of beans in China don't matter. All the lemmings are coming home to roost. All the lemmings are going home to roost. All you have to do is fill in the missing blanks. An avalanche is nipping at their heels. An enigma is only as good as its bottom line. An ounce of prevention is better than pounding the table. And I take the blunt of it! Another day, a different dollar. Any kneecap of yours is a friend of mine. Any storm in a port. Anybody who marries her would stand out like a sore thumb. Anything he wants is a friend of mine. Are there any problems we haven't beat out to death? As long as somebody let the cat out of the bag, we might as well spell it correctly. At the end of every pot of gold, there's a rainbow. Before they made him they broke the mold. Beware a Trojan bearing a horse. Boulder dash! By a streak of coincidence, it really happened. By the time we unlock the bandages, he will have gone down the drain. Cheapness doesn't come free. Clean up or fly right. Clean up your own can of worms! Come down off your charlie horse. Conceptual things are in the eye of the beholder. Dig a hole and bury it. Dig yourself a hole and bury it. Do it now; don't dingle-dally over it. Do not fumble with a woman's logic. Does it joggle any bells? Don't bite the hand that stabs you in the back. Don't burn your bridges until you come to them. Don't cash in your chips until the shill is down. Don't cast a gander upon the water. Don't cast any dispersions. Don't cast doubts on troubled waters. Don't count your chickens until the barn door is closed. Don't criticize him for lack of inexperience. Don't cut off the limb you've got your neck strung out on. Don't do anything I wouldn't do standing up in a hammock. Don't eat with your mouth full. Don't get your eye out of joint. Don't jump off the gun. Don't jump off the handle. Don't jump on a ship that's going down in flames. Don't just stand there like a sitting duck. Don't lead them down the garden path and cut them off at the knees. Don't leave the nest that feeds you. Don't let the camels get their feet in the door. Don't look a gift horse in the face. Don't look a mixed bag in the mouth. Don't look at me in that tone of voice. Don't look for a gift in the horse's mouth. Don't make a molehill out of a can of beans. Don't make a tempest out of a teapot. Don't muddle the waters. Don't pull a panic button. Don't pull an enigma on me. Don't put all you irons on the fire in one pot. Don't rattle the boat. Don't rock the boat that feeds you. Don't roll up your nostrils at me. Don't stick your oar in muddy waters. Don't strike any bells while the fire is hot. Don't talk to me with your clothes on. Don't throw the baby out with the dishwasher. Don't throw the dog's blanket over the horse's nose. Don't twiddle your knee-caps at me! Don't upset the apple pie. Dot your t's and cross your i's. Drop the other foot, for Christ's sake! Each of us sleazes by at our own pace. Erase that indelibly from your memory. Every cloud has a blue horizon. Every rainbow has a silver lining. Everything is going all bananas. Everything is ipso facto. Everything is mutually intertangled. Everything's all ruffled over. Fade out in a blaze of glory. Feather your den with somebody else's nest. Fellow alumni run thicker than water. Fish or get off the pot! Float off into several individual conferees. For all intensive purposes, the act is over. >From here on up, it's down hill all the way. Gander your eye at that! Gee, it must have fallen into one of my cracks. Get off the stick and do something. Get the hot poop right off the vine. Getting him to do anything is like pulling hen's teeth. Give him a project to get his teeth wet on. Give him a square shake. Give him an inch and he'll screw you. Give him enough rope and he will run away with it. Go fly your little red wagon somewhere else. Good grace is in the eye of the beholder. Good riddance aforethought. Half a loaf is better than two in the bush. Half a worm is better than none. Have it prepared under my signature. Have more discretion in the face of valor. Have the seeds we've sown fallen on deaf ears? Have we been cast a strange eye at? Have we gone too fast too far? He and his group are two different people. He came in on my own volition. He can't hack the other can of worms. He choked on his own craw. He deserves a well-rounded hand of applause. He didn't even bat an eyebrow. He didn't flinch an eyelid. He disappeared from nowhere. He doesn't have the brain to rub two nickels together. He doesn't know which side his head is buttered on. He drinks like a sieve. He flipped his cork. He gave me a blanket check. He got taken right through the nose. He got up on his highheels. He grates me the wrong way. He has a dire need, actually it's half-dire, but he thinks it's double-dire. He has a marvelous way of extruding you. He has a very weak indigestion. He has a wool of steel. He has feet of molasses. He has his ass on the wrong end of his head. He has his crutches around her throat. He has his foot in the pie. He has his neck out on a limb. He has his pot in too many pies. He has the character of navel lint. He has the courage of a second-story man. He hit the nose right on the head. He is as dishonest as the day is long. He just sat there like a bump on a wart. He keeps his ear to the vine. He knows which side his pocketbook is buttered on. He knows which side of his bread his goose is buttered on. He may be the greatest piece of cheese that ever walked down the plank. He needs to get blown out of his water. He popped out of nowhere like a jack-in-the-bean-box. He pulled himself up on top of his own bootstraps. He rammed it down their ears. He reads memos with a fine tooth comb. He rules with an iron thumb. He said it thumb in cheek. He should be gracious for small favors. He smokes like a fish. He wants to get his nose wet in several areas. He was hoisted by a skyhook on his own petard! He was hoisted by his own canard. He was hung by his own bootstraps. He was left out on the lurch. He was putrified with fright. He wears his finger on his sleeve. He would forget his head if it weren't screwed up. He'll get his neck in hot water. He'll grease any palm that will pat his ass. He's a bulldog in a china shop. He's a child progeny. He's a fart off the old block. He's a lion in a den of Daniels. He's a little clog in a big wheel. He's a shirking violet. He's a young peeksqueek. He's as crazy as a bloody loon! He's as crazy as a fruitcake. He's as happy as a pig at high tide. He's as quick as an eyelash. He's bailing him out of the woods. He's been living off his laurels for years. He's being pruned for the job. He's being shifted from shuttle to cock. He's biting the shaft and getting the short end of the problem. He's breathing down my throat. He's casting a red herring on the face of the water. He's clam bait. He's cornered on all sides. He's faster than the naked eye. He's fuming at the seams. He's going to fall flat on his feet. He's got a rat's nest by the tail. He's got a tough axe to hoe. He's got four sheets in the wind. He's got his intentions crossed. He's got so much zap he can barely twitch. He's king bee. He's letting ground grow under his feet. He's like a wine glass in a storm. He's like sheep in a bullpen. He's lying through his britches. He's not breathing a muscle. He's off in a cloud of ``hearty heigh-ho Silver''. He's on the back of the pecking order. He's one of the world's greatest flamingo dancers. He's paying through the neck. He's procrastinating like a bandit. He's reached the crescent of his success. He's restoring order to chaos. He's running around like a bull with his head cut off. He's running around like a chicken with his ass cut off. He's running around with his chicken cut off. He's running from gamut to gamut. He's running off at the seams. He's salivating at the chops. He's seething at the teeth. He's sharp as a whip. He's singing a little off-keel. He's so far above me I can't reach his bootstraps. He's so mad he is spitting wooden nickels. He's somewhere down wind of the innuendo. He's spending a lot of brunt on the task. He's splitting up at the seams. He's the best programmer east of the Mason-Dixon line. He's the king of queens. He's the last straw on the camel's back to be called. He's too smart for his own bootstraps. He's tossing symbols around like a percussionist in a John Philip Sousa band. He's up a creek with his paddles leaking. He's within eyeshot of shore. Heads are rolling in the aisles. His eyeballs perked up. His position is not commiserate with his abilities. His feet have come home to roost. His foot is in his mouth up to his ear. His head's too big for his britches. History is just a repetition of the past. Hold your cool! How old is your 2-year old? I accept it with both barrels. I apologize on cringed knees. I came within a hair's breathe of it. I can do it with one eye tied behind me. I can remember everything \(em I have a pornographic mind. I can't hum a straight tune. I case my ground very well before I jump into it. I come to you on bended bootstrap. I contributed to the charity of my cause. I could count it on the fingers of one thumb. I could tell you stories that would curdle your hair. I did it sitting flat on my back. I don't always play with a full house of cards. I don't know which dagger to clothe it in. I don't like the feel of this ball of wax. I don't want to be the pie that upset the applecart. I don't want to cast a pall on the water. I don't want to start hurdling profanity. I don't want to stick my hand in the mouth that's feeding me. I don't want to throw a wrench in the ointment. I enjoy his smiling continence. I flew it by ear. I got you by the nap of your neck. I guess I'd better get my duff on the road. I guess I'm putting all my birds in one pie. I guess that muddled the waters. I had her by the nap of the neck. I had to make a split decision. I had to scratch in the back recesses of my memory. I had to throw in the white flag. I have a green thumb up to my elbow. I have a rot-gut feeling about that. I have feedback on both sides of the coin. I have my neck hung out on an open line. I have no personal bones to grind about it. I have people crawling out of my ears. I have post-naval drip. I have reasonably zero desire to do it. I have the self-discipline of a mouse. I have to get my guts up. I have too many cooks in the pot already. I haven't bitten off an easy nut. I haven't gotten the knack down yet. I hear the handwriting on the wall. I heard it out of the corner of my eyes. I just pulled those out of the seat of my pants. I keep stubbing my shins. I know what we have to do to get our feet off the ground. I listen with a very critical eye. I looked at it with some askance. I march to a different kettle of fish. I only hear half of what I believe. I only hope your every wish is desired. I only mentioned it to give you another side of the horse. I only read it in snips and snabs. I owe you a great gratitude of thanks. I pulled my feet out from under my rug. I put all my marbles in one basket. I read the sign, but it went in one ear and out the other. I resent the insinuendoes. I rushed around like a chicken out of my head. I said it beneath my breath. I see several little worms raising their heads around the corner. I speak only with olive branches dripping from the corners of my mouth. I think I've committed a fore paw. I think he's gone over the bend. I think that we are making an out-and-out molehill of this issue. I think the real crux is the matter. I thought I'd fall out of my gourd. I want half a cake and eat it too. I want to embark upon your qualms. I want to get more fire into the iron. I want to get to know them on a face-to-name basis. I want to go into that at short length. I want to see him get a good hands-on feel. I was working my balls to the bone. I wish somebody could drop the other foot. I won't hang my laurels on it. I won't kick a gift horse in the mouth. I worked my toes to the bonenail. I would imagine he chafes a bit. I wouldn't give it to a wet dog. I wouldn't marry her with a twenty-foot pole. I wouldn't take him on a ten foot pole. I wouldn't want to be sitting in his shoes. I'd better get my horse on it's ass. I'd better jack up my bootstraps and get going. I'd have been bent out of shape like spades. I'd kill a dog to bite that man. I'd like to intersperse a comment. I'd like to put another foot into the pot. I'd like to strike while the inclination is hot. I'd rather be tight than right. I'll be ready just in case a windfall comes down the pike. I'll be there in the next foreseeable future. I'll be there with spades one. I'll bet there's one guy out in the woodwork. I'll descend on them to the bone. I'll fight him hand and nail. I'll hit him right between the teeth. I'll procrastinate when I get around to it. I'll reek the benefits. I'll see it when I believe it. I'll stay away from that like a 10-foot pole. I'll take a few pegs out of his sails. I'll take any warm body in a storm. I'm a mere fragment of my imagination. I'm all ravelled up. I'm basking in his shadow. I'm burning my bridges out from under me! I'm casting the dye on the face of the water. I'm collapsing around the seams. I'm creaking at the seams. I'm creaming off the top of my head. I'm deathly curious. I'm flapping at the gills. I'm going off tangentially. I'm going right out of my bonker. I'm going right over the bend. I'm going to cast my rocks to the wind. I'm going to down-peddle that aspect. I'm going to feel it out by the ear. I'm going to litigate it to the eyeballs. I'm going to put a little variety in your spice of life. I'm going to put my horn in. I'm going to read between your lines. I'm going to resolve it by ear. I'm going to scatter them like chaff before the wind. I'm going to scream right out of my gourd. I'm going to take my vendetta out on them. I'm going to take my venom out on you. I'm going to throw myself into the teeth of the gamut. I'm ground up to a high pitch. I'm having a hard time getting my handles around that one. I'm having a hard time getting my handles around that one. I'm in my reclining years. I'm in transit on that point. I'm listening with baited ears. I'm looking at it with a jaundiced ear. I'm not going to bail him out of his own juice. I'm not going to beat a dead horse to death. I'm not going to get side tracked onto a tangent. I'm not sure it's my bag of tea. I'm not sure we're all speaking from the same sheet of music. I'm not trying to grind anybody's axes. I'm out of my bloomin' loon. I'm over the hilt. I'm parked somewhere in the boondoggles. I'm pulling something over on you. I'm ready to go when the bell opens. I'm running around like a one-armed paper bandit. I'm signing my own death knell. I'm sitting on the edge of my ice. I'm smarting at the seams. I'm soaked to the teeth. I'm standing over your shoulder. I'm sticking my neck out on a ledge. I'm stone cold sane. I'm talking up a dead alley. I'm throwing those ideas to you off the top of my hat. I'm too uptight for my own bootstraps. I'm up a wrong alley. I'm up against a blind wall. I'm up to my earballs in garbage. I'm walking on cloud nine. I'm walking on thin water. I'm weighted down with baited breath. I'm willing to throw my two cents into the fire. I'm working my blood up into a fervor. I'm wound up like a cork. I'm your frontface in this matter. I've been burning the midnight hours. I've built enough fudge into that factor. I've got applicants up to the ears. I've got to put my duff to the grindstone. I've had it up to the hilt. I've had more girls than you've got hair between your teeth. I've milked that dead end for all it's worth. I've worked my shins to the bone. If Calvin Coolidge were alive today, he'd turn over in his grave. If anything, I bend over on the backwards side. If the onus fits, wear it. If the shoe fits, put it in your mouth. If the shoe is on the other foot, wear it. If there's no fire, don't make waves. If they do it there won't be a living orgasm left. If they do that, they'll be committing suicide for the rest of their lives. If they had to stand on their own two feet, they would have gone down the drain a long time ago. If we keep going this way, somebody is going to be left standing at the church with his pants on. If you ask him he could wax very quickly on that subject. If you don't want words put in your mouth, don't leave it hanging open. If you listen in the right tone of voice, you'll hear what I mean. If you see loose strings that have to be tied down that are not nailed up, see me about it. If you want something bad enough, you have to pay the price. If you want to be heard, go directly to the horse's ear. If you want to get your jollies off, watch this! If you'd let me, I'd forget the shirt off my back. If you're going to break a chicken, you have to scramble a few eggs. In one mouth and out the other. In this period of time, its getting very short. In this vein I will throw out another item for Pandoras' box. Indiscretion is the better part of valor. Is he an Amazon! Is there any place we can pull a chink out of the log jam? It cuts like a hot knife through solid rock. It drove me to no wits end. It fills a well-needed gap. It floated right to the bottom. It flows like water over the stream. It gets grained into you. It goes from one gamut to another. It goes from tippy top to tippy bottom. It goes in one era and out the other. It goes out one ear and in the other. It got left out in the lurch. It has more punch to the unch. It hit me to the core. It hit the epitome of it. It is better to have tried and failed than never to have failed at all. It leaks like a fish. It looks like it's going to go on ad infinitum for a while. It looks real enough to be artificial. It may seem incredulous, but it's true. It might break the straw that holds the camel's back. It might have been a figment of my illusion. It rolls off her back like a duck. It runs the full width of the totem pole. It sounds like roses to my ears. It sure hits the people between the head. It was a heart-rendering decision. It was a maelstrom around his neck. It was deja vu all over again. It was oozing right out of the lurches. It was really amazing to see the spectra of people there. It went through the palm of my shoe. It will spurn a lot of furious action. It will take a while to ravel down. It' not an easy thing to get your teeth around. It's a Byzantine thicket of quicksand. It's a caterpillar in pig's clothing. It's a fiat accompli. It's a fool's paradise wrapped in sheep's clothing. It's a hairy banana. It's a hairy can of worms. It's a home of contention. It's a lot like recumbent DNA. It's a lot of passed water under the bridge. It's a mare's nest in sheep's clothing. It's a mecca of people. It's a monkey wrench in your ointment. It's a new high in lows. It's a road of hard knocks. It's a sight for sore ears. It's a slap in the chaps. It's a tempest in a teacup. It's a terrible crutch to bear. It's a tough nut to hoe. It's a tough road to haul. It's a travesty to the human spirit. It's a typical case of alligator mouth and hummingbird ass. It's a white elephant around my neck. It's a white herring. It's about 15 feet as the eye flies. It's about as satisfactory as falling off a log. It's all above and beyond board. It's all in knowing when to let a dead horse die. It's all water under the dam. It's always better to be safe than have your neck out on a limb. It's an ill wind that doesn't blow somebody. It's another millstone in the millpond of life. It's as easy as falling off a piece of cake. It's as easy as falling off a piece of cake. It's as flat as a door knob. It's as predictable as cherry pie. It's bouncing like a greased pig. It's burned to shreds. It's crumbling at the seams. It's enough to make you want to rot your socks. It's going to bog everybody up. It's going to fall on its ass from within. It's got all the bugs and whistles. It's hanging out like a sore tongue. It's like a greased pig in a wet blanket. It's like a knife through hot butter. It's like a raft on roller skates. It's like asking a man to stop eating in the middle of a starvation diet. It's like harnessing a hare to a tortoise. It's like pulling hen's teeth. It's like talking to a needle in a haystack. It's like the flood of the Hesperis. It's like trying to light a fire under a lead camel. It's like trying to squeeze blood out of a stone. It's more than the mind can boggle. It's music to your eyes. It's no chip off my clock. It's no sweat off my nose. It's not an easy thing to get your teeth wet on. It's not completely an unblessed advantage. It's not his bag of tea. It's not my Diet of Worms. It's not my cup of pie. It's not really hide nor hair. It's one more cog in the wheel. It's perfect, but it will have to do. It's raining like a bandit. It's right on the tip of my head. It's sloppy mismanagement. It's so unbelievable you wouldn't believe it. It's something you're all dying to wait for. It's the blind leading the deaf. It's the greatest little seaport in town. It's the old Paul Revere bit . . . one if by two and two if by one. It's the old chicken-in-the-egg problem. It's the other end of the kettle of fish. It's the straw that broke the ice. It's the the highest of the lows. It's the vilest smell I ever heard. It's under closed doors. It's within the pall of reason. It's wrought with problems. It's your ball of wax, you unravel it. Its coming down like buckets outside. Judas Proust! Just because it's there, you don't have to mount it. Just cut a thin slither of it. Just remember that, and then forget it. Keep the water as firm as possible until a fellow has his feet on the ground. Keep this under your vest. Keep your ear peeled! Keep your eyes geared to the situation. Keep your nose to the mark. Keep your nose to the plow. Lay a bugaboo to rest. Let he who casts the first stone cast it in concrete. Let him be rent from limb to limb. Let him fry in his own juice. Let it slip between the cracks. Let me clarify my fumbling. Let me feast your ears. Let me flame your fan. Let me say a word before I throw in the reins. Let me take you under my thumb. Let me throw a monkey into the wrench. Let me throw a monkey wrench in the ointment. Let sleeping uncertainties lie. Let them fry in their socks. Let them hang in their own juice. Let's bend a few lapels. Let's get down to brass facts. Let's go outside and commiserate with nature. Let's grab the initiative by the horns. Let's kick the bucket with a certain amount of daintiness. Let's kill two dogs with one bone. Let's look at it from the other side of the view. Let's lurch into the next hour of the show. Let's not drag any more dead herrings across the garden path. Let's not get ahead of the bandwagon. Let's not hurdle into too many puddles at once. Let's not open the skeleton in that closet. Let's play the other side of the coin. Let's put out a smeller. Let's raise our horizons. Let's roll up our elbows and get to work. Let's set up a straw vote and knock it down. Let's shoot holes at it. Let's skin another can of worms. Let's solve two problems with one bird. Let's strike the fire before the iron gets hot. Let's talk to the horse's mouth. Let's wreck havoc! Like the shoemaker's children, we have computers running out of our ears. Look at the camera and say `bird'. Look before you turn the other cheek. Man cannot eat by bread alone. May I inveigle on you? Men, women, and children first! My antipathy runneth over. My chicken house has come home to roost. My dog was pent up all day. My ebb is running low. My foot is going out of its mind. My head is twice its size. My mind is a vacuum of information. My mind slipped into another cog. My mind went blank and I had to wait until the dust cleared. My off-the-head reaction is negative. My steam is wearing down. My stomach gets all knotted up in rocks. My train of thought went out to lunch. Necessity is the invention of strange bedfellows. Necessity is the mother of strange bedfellows. Never feed a hungry dog an empty loaf of bread. Never the twixt should change. No Californian will walk a mile if possible. No crumbs gather under his feet. No dust grows under her feet. No loaf is better than half a loaf at all. No moss grows on his stone. No one can predict the wheel of fortune as it falls. No problem is so formidable that you can't just walk away from it. No rocks grow on Charlie. No sooner said, the better. Nobody could fill his socks. Nobody is going to give you the world in a saucer. Nobody marches with the same drummer. Nobody's going to put his neck out on a limb. Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be. Not all the irons in the fire will bear fruit or even come home to roost. Not by the foggiest stretch of the imagination! Not in a cocked hat, you don't! Not in a pig's bladder you don't! Not me, I didn't open my peep. Not on your bootstraps! Now he's sweating in his own pool. Now the laugh is on the other foot! Now we have some chance to cut new water. One back scratches another. One doesn't swallow the whole cake at the first sitting. One man's curiosity is another man's Pandora's box. Our backs are up the wall. Our deal fell through the boards. Peanut butter jelly go together hand over fist. People in glass houses shouldn't call the kettle black. Picasso wasn't born in a day. Pick them up from their bootstraps. Pictures speak louder than words. Please come here ipso pronto. Pour sand on troubled waters. Put all your money where your marbles are. Put it in a guinea sack. Put it on the back of the stove and let it simper. Put that in your pocket and smoke it! Put the onus on the other foot. Put your mouth where your money is. Right off the top of my cuff, I don' know what to say. Right off the top of my hand, I'd say no. Roll out the Ouija ball. Rome wasn't built on good intentions alone. Row, row, row your boat, gently down the drain. See the forest through the trees. She had a missed conception. She had an aurora of goodness about her. She has eyes like two holes in a burnt blanket. She hit the nail on the nose. She looks like she's been dead for several years, lately. She makes Raquel Welch look like Twiggy standing backwards. She stepped full-face on it. She was sitting there with an insidious look on her face. She'll fight it tooth and toenail. She's a virgin who has never been defoliated. She's flying off the deep end. She's got a bee in her bonnet and just won't let it go. She's melting out punishment. She's steel wool and a yard wide. She's trying to feather her own bush. Shoot it up the flag pole. Somebody is going to have to take a forefront here. Somebody pushed the panic nerve. Somebody's flubbing his dub. Someone is going to be left in the church with his pants on. Sometimes I don't have both sails in the water. Speaking off the hand, I'd advise you to quit. Straighten up or fly right. Strange bedfellows flock together. Take care of two stones with one bird. Take it with a block of salt. That aspect permutes the whole situation. That curdles my toes. That curdles the milk of human kindness. That didn't amount to a hill of worms. That doesn't cut any weight with him. That job is at the bottom of the rung. That opens up a whole other kettle of songs. That problem is getting pushed into the horizon. That puts me up a worse creek. That really uprooted the apple cart. That solves two stones with one bird. That was a mere peanut in the bucket. That was almost half done unconsciously. That was like getting the horse before the barn. That was the corker in the bottle. That was the pan he was flashed in. That would drive him right out of his banana. That would have been right up Harry's meat. That'll take the steam out of their sails. That's a ball of another wax. That's a bird of a different color. That's a camel's eye strained through a gnat's tooth. That's a different jar of worms. That's a horse of a different feather. That's a matter for sore eyes. That's a measle-worded statement if I ever heard one. That's a sight for deaf ears. That's a tough nut to carry on your back. That's a two-edged circle. That's a whole new ballpark. That's an unexpected surprise. That's getting to the crotch of the matter. That's just putting the gravy on the cake. That's no sweat off my back. That's not my sack of worms. That's obviously a very different cup of fish. That's pushing a dead horse. That's the other end of the coin. That's the straw that broke the camel's hump. That's the wart that sank the camel's back. That's the way the old ball game bounces. That's the whole ball of snakes. That's the whole kettle of fish in a nutshell. That's the whole kettle of fish in a nutshell. That's their applecart, let them choke on it. That's water under the dam. That's way down in the chicken feed. That's when I first opened an eyelash. That's worse than running chalk up and down your back. The aggressor is on the wrong foot. The analogy is a deeply superficial one. The atmosphere militates against a solution. The ball is in our lap. The die has been cast on the face of the waters. The early bird will find his can of worms. The early worm catches the fish. The eggs we put all in one basket have come home to roost. The faculty has cast a jaundiced eye upon the waters. The fervor is so deep you can taste it. The foot that rocks the cradle is usually in the mouth. The fruits of our labors are about to be felt. The future is not what it used to be. The grass is always greener when you can't see the forest for the trees. The gremlins have gone off to roost on someone else's canard. The grocer's son always has shoes. The groundwork is thoroughly broken. The hand is on the wall. The horse is stolen before the barn even gets its door closed. The idea did cross my head. The ideas sprang full-blown from the hydra's heads. The initiative is on the wrong foot. The lights are so bright the air is opaque. The meeting was a first-class riot squad. The onus is on the other foot. The pipeline has ramped up. The restaurants are terrible \(em the town is completely indigestible. The sink is shipping. The up-kick of all that will be nothing. The viewpoints run from hot to cold. The whole thing is a hairy potpourri. The wishbone's connected to the kneebone. Their attitude is to let lying dogs sleep. There are enough cooks in the pot already. There are too many cooks and not enough indians. There are two sides to every marshmallow. There hasn't been much of a peep about it. There is a prolifery of new ideas. There is no surefool way of proceeding. There is one niche in his armor. There is some milk of contention between us. There was danger lurking under the tip of an iceberg. There were foot-high puddles. There will be fangs flying. There's a dark cloud on every rainbow's horizon. There's a flaw in the ointment. There's a little life in the old shoe yet. There's a lot of blanche here to carte. There's a lot of bull in the china shop. There's a lot of credibility in that gap! There's a strong over current here. There's a vortex swimming around out there. There's going to be hell and high water to pay. There's laughing on the outside, panelling on the inside. There's more than one way to skin an egg without letting the goose out of the b ag. There's no place in the bowl for another spoon to stir the broth. There's no two ways around it. There's nothing like stealing the barn door after the horse is gone. There's some noise afoot about the problem. There's some trash to be separated from the chaff. They are straining at nits. They are unscrupulously honest. They are very far and few between. They closed the doors after the barn was stolen. They descended on me like a hoar of locust. They don't like to dictate themselves to the problem. They don't see eye for eye with us. They don't stand a teabag's chance in hell. They fell all over their faces. They just want to chew the bull. They just want to shoot the fat. They locked the door after the house was stolen. They make strange bedfellows together. They rolled their eyebrows at me. They run across the gamut. They sucked all the cream off the crop. They sure dipsied his doodle. They unspaded some real down to earth data. They went after him tooth and fang. They wrecked havoc in the kitchen. They'll carve that spectrum any way we desire it. They're atrophying on the vine. They're colder than blue blazes. They're coming farther between. They're dropping his course like flies. They're dying off like fleas. They're eating out of our laps. They're germs in the rough. They're grasping for needles. They're spreading like wildflowers. They're very far and few between. They're working their bones off. They's chomping their lips at the prospect. They've beaten the bushes to death. They've got the bull by the tail now. They've reached a new level of lowness. Things are all up in a heaval. Things have slowed down to a terrible halt. Things keep falling out of it, three or four years at a time. This bit of casting oil on troubled feathers is more than I can take. This field of research is so virginal that no human eye has set foot on it. This ivory tower we're living in is a glass house. This office requires a president who will work right up to the hilt. This program has many weaknesses, but its strongest weakness remains to be seen . This thing kills me to the bone. This wine came from a really great brewery. This work was the understatement of the year. Those are good practices to avoid. Those guys are as independent as hogs on ice. Those guys weld a lot of power. Those people have no bones to grind. Those words were very carefully weasled. Time and tide strike but once. To be a leader, you have to develop a spear de corps. To coin a cliche, let's have at them. To sweeten the pie, I'll add some cash. To the cook goes the broth! Together again for the first time. Too many chiefs spoil the soup. Too many drinks spoil the broth. Too many hands spoil the soap. Trying to do anything is like a tour de force. Trying to get a doctor on Wednesday is like trying to shoot a horse on Sunday. Watch her \(em she gets on the stick very quickly. We are on equally unfooted ground. We are paying for the sins of serenity. We brought this can of worms into the open. We can clean ourselves right up to date. We can throw a lot of muscle into the pot. We can't get through the forest for the trees. We didn't know which facts were incorrect. We don't want to get enhangled in that either. We got another thing out of it that I want to heave in. We got on board at ground zero. We got the story post hoc. We have a difference of agreement. We have a real ball of wax to unravel. We have a real messy ball of wax. We have a wide range of broad-gauge people. We have achieved a wide specter of support. We threw everything in the kitchen sink at them. We're getting down to bare tacks. What can we do to shore up these problems? When the tough get going they let sleeping does lie. When they go downstairs, you can hear neither hide nor hair of them. When you're jumping on sacred cows, you've got to watch your step. You can make a prima donna sing, but you can't make her dance. You get more for your mileage that way. You gotta strike while the shoe is hot or the iron may be on the other foot. You have sowed a festering cowpie of suspicion. You put all your eggs before the horse. You really can't compare us -- our similarities are different. You've always been the bone of human kindness. Your wild oats have come home to roost. Mind your own petard! You're blowing it all out of context. Don't talk with your mouth open. Hands were made before feet. It's time to take off our gloves and talk from the heart. It's a useful ace in the pocket. THat's the whole kit and caboose. It's no skin off my stiff upper lip. Deep water runs still. He's a wolf in sheep's underware. That makes me as mad as a wet hatter. That restaurant is so crowded no one goes there anymore.

	2006.02.20  20.36 New Hampshire lechterers. One might meet lechterers under many circumstances. I've recently thought of becoming one after reading an article about the pro-fratenization policy of New Hampshire Uni "...come to New Hampsire... the weather is cold, but the students are warm...".

	2006.02.20  20.33 Another poem about camels. A poem about camels I like camels camels like me camels! See http://iq.org/~ocaml. Observe beautiful camel. Click on camel.

	2006.02.20  20.30 Camels prove the existence of Allah. A Special Animal in the Service of Mankind: Camel By Harun Yahya "Do they not look at the Camels, how they are made? And at the sky, how it is raised high? And at the Mountains, how they are fixed firm? And at the earth, how it is spread out? Therefore do thou give admonition, for thou art one to admonish." (Al-Ghashiya - The Overwhelming, 88: 17-21) Its beyond doubt that all beings reflect the endless power and Knowledge of their Creator. This fact is expressed in many verses of the Quran, constantly emphasizing that everything created by Allah is actually an evidence of belief and a lesson for admonition. The 17th verse of the chapter Al-Gashiya, which is Do they not look at the Camels, how they are made?, mentions an animal that has to be carefully examined and thought about: This is the camel. In this article, we will study this animal on which the Quran invites us to ponder. The exclusively specific characteristic of the camel is its body structure, which is not affected even in the most severe circumstances. Its body has such features that for many days, it can survive without water and food and can even travel with a bulk of hundreds of kilograms on its back. Many characteristics of the camel constitute evidence that this animal is created particularly for the dry climatic conditions, and put into service for the comfort of man. In the Quran, it is stated; Verily, in the alternation of the night and the day, and in all that Allah hath created, in the heavens and the earth, are signs for those who fear Him. (Yunus (Jonah), 6) The camel is specially designed for the conditions of the desert. As a matter of fact, each part of the animals body has to be investigated in order to understand how it is made by Allah. Feet for all types of land Its feet are donated with two toes connected to each other with a flexible cushion. This structure which enables it to firmly grasp the land consist of four fat-balls. These feet are totally perfect for all kinds of land conditions. Its nails protect the foot against any potential damage that may occur as a result of blows. Knees are covered with a structure called callus, which is composed of skin as hard and thick as horn. When the animal lies down on the hot sands, this calloused structure protects the animal from being affected by the extremely hot sand. The hump as a food store The hump of the camel is a mass of fats, and provides nutriment to the animal periodically in times of starvation. With this system, this animal can live 3 weeks without water, whilst it loses 33% of its weight. Under the same severe circumstances, a human being would loose 8% of his weight, but die within 36 hours, since, he would completely lose the water in his body. Heat insulating fur This fur consists of thick and felted hair that does not only protect the body of the animal against cold and hot climatic conditions, but also eliminates the water loss of the body. The Hecin camel can delay the perspiration of its body by means of increasing its body temperature up to 41 degree centrigrade (c), and thus prevents the water loss. With its thick fur, camels in Asia can survive high temperatures reaching up to +50 (C) in summer and falling down to -50 (C) in winter. Head sheltered from the sand The eye lashes of the camel are designed like two separate combs clamped together. In case of danger, they are automatically closed. With this special design, even a single grain of sand is not let into the eye. Nose and ears are covered with long hairs for protection from sand and dust. Its long neck enables the animal to reach and feed on the leaves, which are 3 meters high from the ground. In addition to the above features, the camel also has other specialized systems in its body. Actually, each one of these qualities of the animal gives it proficiency in the harsh conditions of the desert. These features may be categorized as below: Resistance to Thirst and Hunger Camels can live without food and water for 8 days under temperatures of 50 (C). During this period, it loses 22% of its body weight. However, it can survive even if it loses 40% of the water in its body, whilst losing just 12% would cause a mans death. Another reason of its endurance against thirst is a mechanism which enables the camel to increase its internal temperature up to 41 (C). Thanks to this, the animal keeps the water loss at the minimum level in the extreme hot climates of the desert. Camels can also decrease their internal body temperature down to 30 (C) in the cold nights of the desert. Improved Water Utilization Unit Camels can consume 130 litres of water almost in 10 minutes. This amount is approximately one third of their body weight. Besides, camels also have a mucus structure in their nose, which is 100 times larger in area than mans. Every time the animal breathes, air is moisturized by the mucus. When we breathe, we lose 16 mg of water vapour for every litre of air. However, with the structure of the mucus, camels can get use of the moisture in the air in a ratio of 66%. Maximum Benefit from Food and Water Most of the animals die when the accumulated urea in their body gets into the blood circulatory system. Yet, camels use this urea produced in their body, by filtering it through the liver continuously. Consequently, they use it as a source of protein and water. Both the blood and cell structures of the camel are specialized for enabling this animal to survive for long periods of time. The hump is another aide to the camel. One fifth of the camels body is stored as fat in its hump. The storage of the body fat in only one part of the camels body, prevents it from losing water all through body. This lets its body to use minimum amount of water. Although a camel with humps can take in 30-50 kilograms of food in a day, it is able to live one month with only 2 kg of grass. In addition, camels have very strong and rubber like lips that make it easier for them to eat thorns sharp enough to pierce leather. Furthermore, it possesses such a strong digestive system that it can eat everything it comes across like plastic plates, copper wire and reeds. The four chambered stomach of this wonderful animal gets used to everything, even things other than food. It is rather obvious how precious these features of the camels are in such a dry climate. Do ye not see that Allah has subjected to your (use) all things in the heavens and on earth, and has made his bounties flow to you in exceeding measure, (both) seen and unseen? Yet there are among men those who dispute about Allah, without knowledge and without0 guidance, and without a Book to enlighten them! (Luqman, 20) Now, let us think in the light of this information: Has the camel adapted its own body to the desert conditions on its own? Has it formed its own mucus of the nose or the hump on its back? Or has it designed its own nose and eye structure with protection against whirlwinds and storms? Has it arranged its own blood and cell structure based on the principle to prevent waste of water? Has it chosen itself the type of the hair covering its body? Has it converted itself to a desert ship on its own? Just as any other living being, the camel surely cannot execute any of the above listed features on itself. Moreover, it cannot make itself advantageous or beneficial to mankind. The verse in the Quran stating, Do not they look at the camel, how it is created? Explains the creation of this excellent animal in the best way. As the other beings, camel too is created with many characteristics and then placed on earth as a sign of the excellence of the Creator in creation. While it is created with such superior physical features, it has been given to the service of mankind. On the other hand, mankind is given the responsibility to see similar miracles of creation throughout the whole universe and know the Creator of all beings, Allah...

	2006.02.20  20.27 A poem about camels Cult of the She-Camel We are on a pilgrimage to forgotten corners of the world, and we've found the fabled home of the blue-nosed camel goddess. She stands in solemn dignity atop her amphitheatre. Beneath her sturdy feet, the terraced steps descend. We pause to pay our tribute, then hasten to the bottom. A low-slung tomb stands unadorned, its empty portal darkened. Ducking under the lintel, candles lit and trembling, we gaze in awestruck silence at the treasure spread before us. Gold and silver, pearl and opal; every rich material imaginable decorates the dark interior, each fine piece the image of a camel. A caftan made of camel's hair is kept inside a crystal box. The priestess who once wore it lies beneath our blasphemous feet. We retreat with utmost care, taking nothing but the memory of she who treads the lifeless sands with complete economy of motion.

	2006.02.20  20.26 Places to call home. St. Petersburg (Russia), Veitnam, Berlin, parts of Norway (e.g Bergen) and Canada and perhaps the Bay Area in the US were all places I could live happily. Siberia, Mongolia and some of the South China sea and the Australian desert are filled a fierce alien beauty that one might cling to in the night but never marry.

	2006.02.20  20.21 Nuke 'em! The recent increase in oil prices have made the nuclear option even less efficient. Construction and decomissioning are extremely expensive. Insurance is unobtainable so all reactors require state subsidy to over- ride legal liability. Ore extraction, concentration and shipment is oil intensive and the reactor super structure is likewise made from mining related products. Ionizing radiation causes structural defects to any metal it interacts with, hence most reactor components have a limited life and must be routined checked, replaced or decomissioned. Natural distribution and proliferation concerns limit supply to a few major players and shifting political arrangements mean cost-effective priced supply can not be guaranteed for many countries. Nuclear qualified employees are highly paid. Further, there just isn't that much yellow cake to be had. Efficiencies of scale (say 20x the number of reactors) will soon meet deficiencies of supply and although proliferation and security concerns are mostly hype, they are not all hype and they only go away with expensive engineering, personel and government subsidised monitors. If you re-cost coal fired power-stations to include the 3rd party effects of Co2, sulfer-dioxide, fly ash, radioactive isotope release etc then nuclear starts to look better, but there isn't the political will to do much of this. > "Greg" said: > Over the last few years I've come to the conclusion (like very many > people) that nuclear power generation is generally undervalued as a > source of electricity generation. Opponents to nuclear power point to > issues at almost every step of the process from the mining of uranium > ore through storage and disposal of spent fuel and other waste. Based > on the evidence of how many reactors are in operation or have been > constructed (in the U.S. at least) over the last 30 years, nuke > proponents have done a poor job of responding to those concerns. > > >From a technical standpoint, it seems to me that no alternative to > >nuclear power generation comes close to the value that nuke plants > >can offer in the face of the many societal problems created by fossil > >fuel energy sources. But nuke advocates have to have good answers to > >overcome the huge hit that nukes have taken in public perception > >since Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. I'm sure that reactor design > >and operating procedures have been and can be developed to adequately > >address the kinds of problems that gave rise to those two incidents. > > But it seems to me that two issues remain as legitimate problems and > therefore major stumbling blocks to more widespread use of nuclear > power. These issues are weapons proliferation and waste storage. Both > seem to call for structures of social control about which liberty > lovers and skeptics about government power and efficiency should have > deep misgivings. So I'm interested in the thoughts of those here on > the List about these two issues. What kinds of social and technical > mechanisms present the best balance between harvesting the obvious > benefits of nuclear power on the one hand and avoiding the problems of > inefficient and overly-intrusive social controls on the other?

	2006.02.20  20.17 Constructed mathemagical languages This is a really interesting idea! I don't know of any direct analogs but there is http://lojban.org and http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/7070/liva.htm Both of which have VERY ambitious goals. They claim to be "universal" in the sense that they're able to describe all things that a human language can though appropriate metaphor etc. But I think it's possible to construct something more efficient for a constrained context in "idea space" where the there is a lot of internal links and few external links and not so much need to waste phonemes on showing which context you're in. If you search for "constructed languages" there's lots of other interesting stuff. After WWI many European intellectuals claimed that the only way to prevent war was to get everyone to speak a neutral (thus constructed) language like Esperanto which still has many followers exposed during a less cynical age. A few years ago Damian Conway developed this: www.csse.monash.edu.au/~damian/papers/HTML/Pberligata.html ("perl in latin") although it doesn't seem to be particularly helpful it does show that you can structure your morphemes very precisely. The thing to do is bathe, say, predicate logic, in phonetic morphological bubbles, which doesn't sound too hard, and see what comes out. I *suspect* it's not likely to be much of an improvement, because predicate logic is so simple already. Hmm. Actually I recind this. I think you could represent mid-level structures like modus ponens and consequently develop fast & powerful verbal intuitions about how they operate. Complex numbers also seem to be about the right level of complexity to play with. Dan said: > > That's interesting. But arithmetic is kind of low-level... or high- > level... depending on your point of view(!). A few thoughts occurred > to me, so let me indulge in some wild speculation for which I have no > prerequisites, no real evidence or have thought through properly. > > We could presumably "phonemize" logic sentences, i.e. have different > syllables/consonants/vowels/inflections/whatever they call it in > phonology for concepts like "for all", "there exists", "not", "such > that", for variables, free and bound, for brackets and so on. I > vaguely recall hearing once that ancient Greek is full of small > particle words which might be a start of an approximation. Could you > make logical tautologies into linguistic tautologies (e.g. "not there > exists x such that not" sounds like "for all x" etc)? Could modus > ponens just become some sort of elision of sentences? There are many > fewer "words" in formal logic than 100 of course! (I suppose > mathematicians have sort of internalized this process, though English > is really bad for expressing > it.) > > Now I don't really have a deep understanding of syntax or morphology > either but my understanding is the brain's language processor > basically does algebraic manipulations of some sort, there is this > whole algebra of generative grammar or something. It would be very > cool if this processor could be harnessed to do logic. Well of course > it is sort of logical, otherwise language would just be nonsense. And > from my own experience it seems this happens anyway, you just want to > optimise language for the purpose. So I guess the question is, how > logical can language get? If you understand this "universal grammar", > how similar is it, structurally, to logic? Are there limitations? For > instance, we seem to have difficulty with quantifiers, converses, and > the contrapositive, for which we require the discipline of learning > mathematics to rectify! A product of poor language, or inherent in all > human-language-processor-compatible languages? > > Well beyond making language conform to a strict sort of formal logic > structure, we all recognise that in practice we also make > deductions/generalizations/specialisations from data and stimuli, from > pattern recognition, whatever the hell it is we do. Perhaps you could > notice logical/mathematical patterns from the way they sound. Group > theory would just be a stylized version of the language of boring > algebra. Category theory would be a yet more streamlined sound > pattern. Or something like that. We can only dream. > > Joy and bliss, > > Dan > > > > Dear mumsple, > > > > You may have learnt that the average person has a 7 digit short term > > memory. This isn't entirely true. The claim, on investigation > > becomes "the average person has a 9 syllable short- term memory" and > > consequently the number of digits remembered depends on the language > > the digits are thought in. Chinese for instance has one syllable per > > digit, so the average digit span for a Chinese speaker is 9. > > > > But we can refine this statement a little. If syllables representing > > digits have no long stops ("t", etc, which cut the flow of voiced > > air) or long vowels ("aye" "oo", "eye" etc) digit span is increased. > > Verbal thinking is suppressed articulation, so the faster you can > > say it, the faster you can think it. It seems this suppression > > reflects its evolutionary development. Suppressed articulation is > > suppressed communication. We still see remnants of this when > > people's throats constrict and tongues stutter in response to a > > tense situation INVOLVING OTHERS. This is the instinctive analog to > > the maxim "better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open > > one's mouth and remove all doubt". > > > > Not being receptive to such an aphorism, I must tell you that on the > > weekend I decided to create my own digital syllabery with minimal > > stops and long vowels. Along the way I realised you could do some > > interesting things such as having all even numbers sound a certain > > way, or 2x (x a digit) sound like x, or (5-x sound like 5+x) etc so > > digit multiplication or addition are akin to syllable concatenation, > > possibly reducing the digit times table to {1,3,5} plus some rules, > > which are perhaps too complex to be helpful. > > > > Can we increase digit span more than by just taking out the long > > stops and vowels? Going to base 60 would increase digit span and > > bring out many nice factors, but conversion is too involved. What > > about base 100? Are there 100 different syllables? Yes and we can > > encode these uniquely using one rule and only 10 (not 100!) base > > sounds (and no asian tones): > > > > For an example (vowels are short). Notice that each consonant AND > > vowel is unique: > > > > 3 4 5 8 > > go da me ri > > > > 45 = da me = d..e = de (first sound of da + second sound of de) 54 = > > me da = m..a = ma (as in "mat") 43 = da go = d..o = go (as in "got") > > > > What about 33? There is an ambiguity! > > > > 33 = gogo = g..o = go = 3 So instead we can refuse to contract on > > duplicates or better, convert repeated digits to long vowels: 33 = > > gogo = go.o = gO ("go") 88 = ri ri = ri.i = rI ("rye") > > > > So the MUMS room phone number, 8344-3385 becomes: rihodada-hohorime > > = ri dA gO ri = ri-day-go-ri > > > > How about.. base 1000! When presented with three digits, we now take > > the first consonant, second vowel and third consonant to make a > > syllable. > > > > MUMS room phone number again: > > > > 8344-3385 = 834-433-85 = rigoda-dagogo-rime = r..od - d..og - r..e = > > rod-dog-re > > > > So next time you call the MUMS room, call for a bit of roddogre. > > > > What about base 10000? > > > > I'm still trying to find digit phonemes which form the most > > memorable words on tripples. Ripping phonemes out of the most common > > words seems to be the way to go, since these words have been pushed > > by frequent uttrance to be easily distinguished from each other. > > Perhaps one could work backwards with a list of emotionally > > stimulating one-syllable words, "dog", "bit", "tit", "bum", "ho", > > "hat", "kil", "cat" till the first few hundred digits of pi become > > an indictable offence.

	2006.02.20  20.13 Cinematic Lutherism I have a particular film philosophy, which is, I want a film to embolden me. It should sharpen my mind, my tounge and comprehension of the world more than it distorts my view of reality. Films can leave one with the feeling "wow, I really experienced something amazing". But this feeling is not a good guide, because most of the amazement, the pleasure and beauty of learning new facts about the world, may be rapped up in the distortion of reality. In this case, the level of such feelings represents how far your mind has been turned from an understanding of reality to an understanding of something that doesn't exist. If it were only intellect that were squandered this might not be too bad, but people's emotions are also decalibrated. Anything with actors decalibrates a persons ability to detect lies, so even the most neutral work of film fiction carries a negative.

	2006.02.20  20.08 IP issues destroy brain chip Intellectual property is an absolute bane to creativity for reasons that must be, at the moment, all too clear. It's my experience that businesses do not successfully rip off untested ideas unless they are only a small perturbation on existing practice. Businesses are too involved in what they understand and do not like the risk of what they don't understand. Time to market is more important than patent protection. Other people will be evolving towards the idea and will get to the market first with their inferior product and once they do they'll prevent you from entering, patent or not. In the US one can file for patent protection upto a year after publishing results. Publishing prevents others filing for identical claims by establishing prior art. Due to an aggressive US state department, patent protection in the US affords patent protection in many other countries. I have seen many people loose their ideas because they spent their energies building walls around them rather than developing them. Additionally, among researchers, "playing companies" not only displaces energies and creates walls, but can generate bad blood, with each person questioning the fairness of everyone else's share allocation. Corporate structuring should probably be done democratically at the last possible moment when it's clear that the pie to be divided has something in it other than air. On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 14:14:09 +1000, "PKPKPKPKPKPK" <pk@> said: > > Actually, there is very little documented about the proposed "thinking > systems" grant application, and my feeling is the project has stalled > somewhat after an initial burst of enthusiasm. This may be because > many involved are academics and the end of semester is chaotic. There > is also a significant difficulty in that the contribution from this > end involves fabricating some hardware (an unconventional chip) which > has huge commercial potential (IF the wildly speculative and untested > premisses on which it is based turn out to be true) but the detail of > this can't be disclosed. The advice (from the research and innovation > office) to the engineer who came up the idea for the chip, is to keep > it strictly secret, since it can't, at this stage anyway, be patented. > So he and I are in a position of trying to convince the rest of the > network that this is valuable, even invaluable, component of the > project, without telling them much about what it is or does (other > than in fairly useless generalities). I know the guy at UNSW who is > coordinating their side (they are mainly neuroscientists working on > vision, esp. visual cortex) and he is unsure about how to move forward > as well - for a variety of reasons unrelated to our (unimelb) > involvement. So I really don't know if the "thinking systems" thing > is going to go ahead. If the proposal doesn't go ahead, XXXXX (the > engineer with the idea) is still going to pursue his interests and > will need cross discipline scientists so I will keep you up to date > about any opportunities.

	2006.02.20  19.58 Futher comments on the querulous. You quote Dickens, but if one must resort to fictional antecedents of querulous litigants and courts, then Franz Kafka's The Trial is surely THE book: "The Great lawyers?" asked K. "Who are they then? How do you contact them?" "You've never heard about them, then?" said the (litigant). "There's hardly anyone who's been accused who doesn't spend a lot of time dreaming about the Great lawyers once he's heard about them. It's best if you don't let yourself be misled in that way. I don't know who the Great lawyers are, and there's probably no way of contacting them. I don't know of any case I can talk about with certainty where they've taken any part. They do defend a lot of people, but you can't get hold of them by your own efforts, they only defend those who they want to defend. One of my Great Lawyers was Peter Faris QC, then recently resigned from the National Crime Authority but now a right wing nutter calling for the dealth penalty and in his capacity as head of St. Kilda residents association the removal of street walking whores. Something no-one seems to mention in the Spencer St. Soviet is that he resigned from the NCA when he was caught visiting a brothel(!) I think your paper under-estimates the consuming nature of litigation. Most intelligent litigants learn the language of the courts in their struggle to understand and control the new environment in which they find themselves. Those with good social as opposed to merely verbal cognition find soon enough that the judiciary and court administration, while accepting this language from its gowned courtiers and other hangers-on do not like to hear their ritual language flowing from the mouths and pens of uninitiated peasants. Cunning actors against the state develop a faux naivity to their pleadings or find a wig to sanctify them. Anyone afflicted with servants of justice will soon find themselves exposed to all manner of hypocracy, mendacity and incompetence. If one is foolish enough to demand fair redress for every new insult then it's possible to create a never-ending supply of injustice and so, in this manner, turn a small injustice into an injustice of unbound size. One must develop a certain cynical understanding that systems of people are careers and intrigues and necessary deceptions and that kind acts fall from the breasts of stray individuals as random acts of love and can not be systematized. The obviously vexatious (male) litigants I have encounted seem to have an interesting commonality above the paranoia and rigidity you document. They make many contacts with people in positions of power and status compared to their station in life. This seems to become the central status mechanism of their life and the vision of their litigation ending does not bring them relief but feelings of exclusion perhaps exacerbated by the collapse in their other relationships. They look to increase their self-perceived status by seeking precedent setting judgements in ever higher courts with higher status legal teams and defeating ever more powerful enemies in legal combat. Yet with the change of a single word we can remove the pathology: Lawyers look to increase their self-perceived status by seeking precedent setting judgements in ever higher courts with higher status legal teams and defeating ever more powerful enemies in legal combat.

	2006.02.20  19.52 Vexatious litigants and querulous complainers Comments of a draft paper of Prof. Mullens on vexatious litigants and querulous complainers. In your paper you mentioned the declining number of vexatious litigants and attributed this to the growth of complaint resolution proceedurs which provide the querulous with alternate avenues to litigation. I feel this must be true in part, but I'd like to propose an alternative hypothesis. The rise educational opportunities and consequent class transfer has taken them to a better place. The clearly vexatious litigants I have met have all come from working class, underclass or lower middle class families and were all shorter and less educated than their intelligence would normally reflect. These guys delighted in beating the silver spoon set at their own game. I recall one changed his surname to "President" to the mute horror of the judiciary who were then forced to utter the status transferring appellation "Mr. President" at least once in any proceeding he was a party to. Although this last example is rather extreme, I felt great pleasure at seeing Dr. Blow and other bedfellows of injustice flail under crossexamination so that despite my very young age and unusual upbringing lawyers filed in to watch and make statements like "that's the last court report gig that witness will ever get from here!". If it wasn't for the fact that I had a lot to lose and had already felt substantial power over the establishment in another world, I may have found solace in following the path of Mr. President whos action was in a culdesac although quite likely one of his own creation. Certainly at the time I didn't see his name name as pathological, but rather a delightful, spirited, but unwise, prank on those self-richeous throned and frequently incompetent pontificators who I did not respect, but to whom I was forced to sit, stand, bow, scrape and utter a raft of honnorifics and ego-salving platitudes because despite their many grandeqoluant claims of impartiality and gravitas, experience had shown they were sensitive souls and easily biased against those who were not first rate sycophantic grovelers. Perhaps it is this behavior combined with distal remnants of Arthurian code that is the source of the the well reported bias of the judiciary against male litigants in person. A judge doesn't need to bring a woman to heel, she is, after all not a threat, but a lovely object of desire or irrelevance, but any man worthy of the label rebells at such enforced kowtowing by his posture and tone and so must be ground down less courtiers see the weakening king and boldy make their move.

	2006.02.20  19.40 Rigidified flower stems Yesterday, when passing a cut flower stem, I noticed something interesting; a green wire wrapped around its girth and length. As it went from top to bottom and it made one revolution about the stem. Initially I thought this little green wire held the stem tight in its helical grasp by tensile forces, but not so, the wire was gentle and easy to bend, but not to stretch, and so was, for this discussion, a string. I picked up the flower and played with it and to my delight it became clear that this humble string does indeed hold the stem straight! Is there a body of theory about these types of strings? It's like geodesic embedded in an initially "minimal" surface with the constraint that it must make a full revolution (how might we derive this constraint from a more natural topology/metric?). When the stem starts to droop the surface deforms and asks the string to stretch since the surface was "minimal" and the string a geodesic within it. It seems like there is an interplay of many beautiful ideas in this humble string. e.g perhaps some surfaces can be classified by how many strings are needed to make them rigid.

	2006.02.20  19.22 Pure maths shows 'hot chick' application. Dear Hon. Dr. Nelson, I met you at the AMSI summer school, Jan 2004 Sydney UNSW where I met a hot music chick. I also attended the Jan 2005 ANU Canberra summer school, where I met a hot maths chick. No really, there are some, although admittedly they do all seem to be of Russian or eastern European extraction. I had previously been lead to believe that pure mathematics had no applications. I attach a beautiful counter proof and suggest increased funding for summer schools everywhere. [image elided]

	2006.02.20  19.22 Happy V day! Happy V day! V - for whatever, viciousness, virile vivisectionists, ventricular vapidity, venous vampires including viscount Vlad, vermin, verbosity, Voltaire and his virtuous vagabonding, vodka, vociferous vituperating versificationists, vainglorious visionaries, vasectomies, vesicles of vallium, vacuoles of viagra and vivacious viviparous vixen virgins, vociferous vitiating veto villainy, Valhalla, Volta, the Vatican, vulnerability and.. the vote. Aska and I have drawn this lovely card which expresses our romantic sentiments on this day of love beyond all love. May it be of some help to you all, especially you, Joanna.