A Cantankerous Spinster

I have seen her in many movies and British series but never paid enough attention to find out who she is... that is until I watched two entire seasons of Mulberry in one evening just to have my ears enjoy her elocutionary skills while eloquently wearing the character of  Miss Farnaby. I am now a loyal fan of Geraldine McEwan.

Child Of The Universe

Desiderata 

by

Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, 

and remember what peace there may be in silence. 

As far as possible, without surrender, 

be on good terms with all persons. 

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; 

and listen to others, 

even to the dull and the ignorant; 

they too have their story. 

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; 

they are vexatious to the spirit. 

If you compare yourself with others, 

you may become vain or bitter, 

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. 

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. 

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; 

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. 

Exercise caution in your business affairs, 

for the world is full of trickery. 

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; 

many persons strive for high ideals, 

and everywhere life is full of heroism. 

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. 

Neither be cynical about love, 

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, 

it is as perennial as the grass. 

Take kindly the counsel of the years, 

gracefully surrendering the things of youth. 

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. 

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. 

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. 

Beyond a wholesome discipline, 

be gentle with yourself. 

You are a child of the universe 

no less than the trees and the stars; 

you have a right to be here. 

And whether or not it is clear to you, 

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. 

Therefore be at peace with God, 

whatever you conceive Him to be. 

And whatever your labors and aspirations, 

in the noisy confusion of life, 

keep peace in your soul. 

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, 

it is still a beautiful world. 

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Sierpiński Gasket

The Sierpiński Gasket, is a fractal with the overall shape of an equilateral triangle, subdivided recursively into smaller equilateral triangles. What's more interesting is, it has a Hausdorff dimension of log 3/log 2 = 1.583... (as fractals exist in between whole dimensions) and has zero area!

The Busy Heart

The Busy Heart

by

Rupert Brooke

Now that we've done our best and worst, and parted,

I would fill my mind with thoughts that will not rend.

(O heart, I do not dare go empty-hearted)

I'll think of Love in books, Love without end;

Women with child, content; and old men sleeping;

And wet strong ploughlands, scarred for certain grain;

And babes that weep, and so forget their weeping;

And the young heavens, forgetful after rain;

And evening hush, broken by homing wings;

And Song's nobility, and Wisdom holy,

That live, we dead. I would think of a thousand things,

Lovely and durable, and taste them slowly,

One after one, like tasting a sweet food.

I have need to busy my heart with quietude. 

Take Me Into Your Skin

I met Trentemøller on Pandora radio by way of Mike Oldfield. The dark electronic music of this Danish composer pulled me into another mystical world I have not been to in a very long time. Very exhiliratingly refreshing indeed!

Unfiltered Human Thoughts

I just watched and was blown away by Mary Lou Jepsen's Ted Talk about the experimental work they've been working on to bring out mental imagery to a computer screen. It is very promising to see how close to perfection they are. Her proposal about using stronger magnets rather than larger magnets and utilizing complex magnetic field patterns to construct clearer images from our minds is absolutely brilliant! It is worth considering her questions and the implications of the potential answers:

"Could you imagine if we could leapfrog language and communicate  directly with human thought?" "How would we deal with unfiltered human thoughts?"

Science Non-fiction

A team of scientists from Australia, South Korea, Canada, Turkey and China  led by the University of Texas at Dallas found a way to convert fishing lines and threads into powerful artificial muscles that are capable of lifting a hundred times more weight and generate a hundred times higher mechanical power than the same length and weight of human muscle. Among the wide potential applications of these artificial muscles would be robots with superhuman powers to tackle tasks where humans fall short.