Saturdays and the weekend are awesome! Naps in the middle of the day, and sometimes their lucid. I get to wander around with no shirt and eat stuff out of my garden. Recharge and relax, really. Make headway on my books, (trying to read three right now) and eating. I was going to write this big post and had the thing planned out, but then, nah. Just type duder. Just relax, meditate, relax, and take in. Make plans for the future, set goals, then take a nap and get started on them on Mondays. And sometimes, I just watch cartoons. No big bowl of cereal, but apperently adulthood means streaching out on the couch and just letting the world pass me by for a day or two and not panicking that I'm growing older and doing nothing. Weekends still rock.
P.S.
For a lazy lay around day, I've got stuff done. I have one more structural update that will go up, just a new background, and one thing that's more of an experiment to play with. The experiment will take longer, but the goal is to work on it and get it up.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Friday, August 1, 2014
Mathematics and music
So, I've been keeping this blog thing now for 2 years now, I guess. I started it as way to just get rid
of thoughts floating in my head, but no posts from that era exist (I don't have them at least). I deleted them, then used this as a way to chronicle my studies of thermodynamics, which transformed into me studying statistical mechanics. The thing is, this is very math light compared to what I want it to be. I have a few posts on statistical mechanics, and my A to Z posts have some pieces here and there on concepts. Well, I like to think I'm always working to improve something about myself and my work, so now this is over 2 years old and Philadelphia Math Counts is about a year old, it's seems to be time to work on more straight math pieces. Maybe someday I really will be an expert.
I think the two themes I've talked about here is statistical mechanics, for the reasons stated above, and music. As I've mentioned before in other posts, this is because in the physical world I will not shut up about music if people get me started. The history of music, all music, fascinates me; the stories of the musicians, where they got their inspirations, the creations of seemingly creative and spontaneous works of beauty. The act of listening to music and it's affect on psychology is so cool. Music can calm the mind and cause it to focus on a task, or it make the blood flow and elicit an excited state that causes people to panic, riot, and kill. Those silly artists can't make that claim, unless the emotional states are "bored" and "less bored".
I've stayed away from math and music for esteem reasons, namely because it's been done so well by other people. Vihart leaps to mind. Pythagoras had some ideas. Even musicians have done it better. Per Norgard is a god in this respect. Just, so, beautiful. And the music is written using some sort of matrix, and it ends up being based on mathematical concepts. Why shouldn't it? Math lends itself so well to music. Instead of dealing with visual vectors in space or abstract mathematical vectors, music exists as a forth dimensional vector. It is a pattern of sound, and as a vector as well as exhibiting patterns some of the basic geometry of Elements can be applied.
Ratios and rates of speed are applied here. With two separate repeating patterns of sound that approaches a limit in time, such as 4'33", then Zeno's fallacy of motion should be a problem here, shouldn't it? Let's use a simple round, like Row, row, row your boat. Every English speaker should be familiar with it. If not, here's a video:
Sung correctly, person two never catches up to person one. Anyone who has taught this to children has seen that person two can catch up to person two eventually. Music is expressed in time, which is a ratio, funny enough. We could either make children sing this song forever, which would be sadistic, or through the miracle of technology we could record one person singing it and loop it twice. Here's the first question I have on the subject, if music is vector that exists in time, can it act as 2-dimensional lines on a flat surface? Can we apply Euclid's "Elements" to music?
The five postulates (from WolframMathWorld) are:
Some fit though. Music is a vector of time, and given that hypothisis, a point in space would be equal to point in time. 0'00" would be point one. 4'33" the end point. Any reasonable point in time between them could be chosen as a point. And as mentioned before, the technology exists to extend this line into infinity, the round could be played as long as power lasts on the music player. For the point of argument, a musical vector exists with two different points: a point in time, as mentioned before, and a musical note. This allows us some freedom in that we judge speed as beats per minute, and we can compare vectors. Musical vectors can intersect and diverge at any of these given points. One piece could have an end point of 0'00", another may start at 2'30". They could end at different times. Note wise, they may start as random chaotic stews at the same time, with different speeds even, then converge at space of music with note of G#, stay together, then split.
3 and 4 give me problems because it describes geometry as a state of shapes, and not what they exist as in the world of abstract numbers and formulas. It may be possible that musical vectors exist in this way, since music can "loop", the music in this paper exists as lines and may be able to connect points in a loop thus making a strange musical triangle with angles. If the speed of an object can be given as a vector in space, and the definitions in this post are either accurate or are improved for accuracy, then music can be written as a vector in 2 dimensional space, and the angles of a musical work can be checked.
This post escaped from me. It was going to be something about primes. And there is so much more work I wan to do on this subject! What is the nature of musical vectors? How do they apply to other principles in "Elements"? Their relation to number theory and primes? You can find symmetry in notes and music, and differential equations can be applied to music. It acts as a vector. But I need to stop for the day. The exercise buzz is wearing off, and the coffee, and I'm actually supposed to be doing a job, I guess?
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 |
| This is note to myself, it comes from this website |
I think the two themes I've talked about here is statistical mechanics, for the reasons stated above, and music. As I've mentioned before in other posts, this is because in the physical world I will not shut up about music if people get me started. The history of music, all music, fascinates me; the stories of the musicians, where they got their inspirations, the creations of seemingly creative and spontaneous works of beauty. The act of listening to music and it's affect on psychology is so cool. Music can calm the mind and cause it to focus on a task, or it make the blood flow and elicit an excited state that causes people to panic, riot, and kill. Those silly artists can't make that claim, unless the emotional states are "bored" and "less bored".
I've stayed away from math and music for esteem reasons, namely because it's been done so well by other people. Vihart leaps to mind. Pythagoras had some ideas. Even musicians have done it better. Per Norgard is a god in this respect. Just, so, beautiful. And the music is written using some sort of matrix, and it ends up being based on mathematical concepts. Why shouldn't it? Math lends itself so well to music. Instead of dealing with visual vectors in space or abstract mathematical vectors, music exists as a forth dimensional vector. It is a pattern of sound, and as a vector as well as exhibiting patterns some of the basic geometry of Elements can be applied.
Ratios and rates of speed are applied here. With two separate repeating patterns of sound that approaches a limit in time, such as 4'33", then Zeno's fallacy of motion should be a problem here, shouldn't it? Let's use a simple round, like Row, row, row your boat. Every English speaker should be familiar with it. If not, here's a video:
Sung correctly, person two never catches up to person one. Anyone who has taught this to children has seen that person two can catch up to person two eventually. Music is expressed in time, which is a ratio, funny enough. We could either make children sing this song forever, which would be sadistic, or through the miracle of technology we could record one person singing it and loop it twice. Here's the first question I have on the subject, if music is vector that exists in time, can it act as 2-dimensional lines on a flat surface? Can we apply Euclid's "Elements" to music?
The five postulates (from WolframMathWorld) are:
- A straight line segment can be drawn joining any two points
- Any straight line segment can be drawn indefinitely into a straight line
- Given any straight line segment, a circle can be drawn having the segment as a radius and one endpoint as the center.
- All right angles are congruent
- If two lines are drawn which intersect a third in such a way that the sum of the inner angles on one side is less than two right angles, then the two lines inevitably must intersect each other on that side if extended far enough. This postulate is equivalent to what is known as the parallel postulate.
Some fit though. Music is a vector of time, and given that hypothisis, a point in space would be equal to point in time. 0'00" would be point one. 4'33" the end point. Any reasonable point in time between them could be chosen as a point. And as mentioned before, the technology exists to extend this line into infinity, the round could be played as long as power lasts on the music player. For the point of argument, a musical vector exists with two different points: a point in time, as mentioned before, and a musical note. This allows us some freedom in that we judge speed as beats per minute, and we can compare vectors. Musical vectors can intersect and diverge at any of these given points. One piece could have an end point of 0'00", another may start at 2'30". They could end at different times. Note wise, they may start as random chaotic stews at the same time, with different speeds even, then converge at space of music with note of G#, stay together, then split.
3 and 4 give me problems because it describes geometry as a state of shapes, and not what they exist as in the world of abstract numbers and formulas. It may be possible that musical vectors exist in this way, since music can "loop", the music in this paper exists as lines and may be able to connect points in a loop thus making a strange musical triangle with angles. If the speed of an object can be given as a vector in space, and the definitions in this post are either accurate or are improved for accuracy, then music can be written as a vector in 2 dimensional space, and the angles of a musical work can be checked.
This post escaped from me. It was going to be something about primes. And there is so much more work I wan to do on this subject! What is the nature of musical vectors? How do they apply to other principles in "Elements"? Their relation to number theory and primes? You can find symmetry in notes and music, and differential equations can be applied to music. It acts as a vector. But I need to stop for the day. The exercise buzz is wearing off, and the coffee, and I'm actually supposed to be doing a job, I guess?
__________________________________________________________________________________
Couple things. 1st, if I keep saying that I'm working on trying to change some structural things on my blog, it will get done. It's been put off, and it looks cluttered now. Just get rid of some things, emphasize others, add some code I've been wanting to try. Basics stuff I've been playing with in my free time during the week.
2nd, there are ads. Gonna put the money towards the Dog Lovers, Unite cause. Since I've had ads for about 24 hours now, I haven't really decided how much is going where. After a couple weeks or even a month I should know. So if you click ads here, the small portion that comes to me is going towards something good. Or you click here, the dog picture above, or the page tab and share and donate it.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
99, I think I love you.
Fun post. What's that mean? No thought, all fun, just stupid shit.
Muscle shoals is awesome. And swamp rock. It's not country, it's not blues, or soul really. It's got a great sound that is unique and isn't some dumb polished by a bunch of tiny-brained fools in over- sized hats. In fact, these will be the sound track to my movie.
The scene opens in black and white. A shot of a raven in a white room, on a black chair. It leaves it perch and flies towards the camera. As it draws closer, fractals emerge in its feathers. Fractals become cities, and the scene becomes a street. In black and white, a man leaves a building with a bulldog. It's silent, and there no sounds of the city, there is no foot steps. As the man and the dog walk down the street in one continuous shot as the credits roll, slowly color comes into the world. First the dog, then the man, then the scenery. And sounds come, muffled at first, becoming louder and louder. He walks out of the alleyway and onto the sidewalk, where we are hit with a wall of sound and acid-toned colors. Like, super bright oranges and greens and blues. Bordering on neon. And now the man is in an entrance, in a super-stylized art deco decor. People fade in on one end of the hallway, walk past, then fade out of existence. A woman he vaguely recognizes stops and chats with him about the price of food.
"I got a pound of bacon for only $1.50 the other day. Usually, those bastards downtown try to steal from me." Her eyes are vacant as she speaks. "No more. It's a scam. Then everyone tries to guilt you for shopping at the box stores."
"Shopping local does help the community." Our hero replies.
"You fall for that load? Oh, John, I thought you were smarter than that. Those people, they don't give anything back. I know their kids, you know them, and I've seen them smoking behind the old factories. That's what your money is going to, not helping the community."
She keeps talking, but he's lost interest. He doesn't walk off, as much as floats while the scene changes around him. Soon he's looking at a park from behind a fence. A couple men, one with a large top hat and the other with rabbit ears made from glowsticks, are hitting a ball, and the man with the hat looks over and sees him. He motions to him to come over. John reaches down and ties up his dog, then makes his way over. "What's the game, fellas?"
"To score a run, you need to hit 5 out 7 pitches. When you run, you need to touch second, then first, then third, then from the short stop to the first base coach, then home. The run only counts if you've run 640o. Unless, of course, the diamond isn't flat, then the degrees needed is determined by the curvature of the earth. One with the most points win, or the person who has hit 71% of all pitches made."
"Don't worry, you learn while you play." Interjects the man with the glowstick rabbit ears.
"Right. For an out, the passing pattern is based on irregular polyhedron. The direction of the pass is based on the runner's position with regard to the direction of the base, and which person you pass to is determined by who through to you and the speed of the runner. The runner's speed is determined by the log of the likelihood they'll be drunk later."
"First," chimes in the glowing hare, "It's time for warm ups! To the dugout and back!"
John starts to run. He reaches the half way point, and we see that dugout is the same distance as when he started. He runs a little farther, and the dugout shrinks into the scenery. After hours of running, familiar landmarks move past him. The white house, the statue of liberty, the windmills of Denmark. He stops, when he realizes he's too far away and he has forgotten his dog. He looks to his right and sees a train station. There's a lone teller, and a sign.
<Пришло время>, морж сказал, <чтобы говорить о многих вещах>.
John turns to the teller, played by Wilford Brimley.
"How much to go home?"
As Brimley speaks, a subway train comes rushing by. John reaches into his pocket and hands Brimley $1.44. After John boards the train, he sees the car is full. There's an empty seat next to a small woman with black hair with yellow highlights and a black coat with green spots. As he sits down, she starts to speak. John falls into a dream.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Muscle shoals is awesome. And swamp rock. It's not country, it's not blues, or soul really. It's got a great sound that is unique and isn't some dumb polished by a bunch of tiny-brained fools in over- sized hats. In fact, these will be the sound track to my movie.
The scene opens in black and white. A shot of a raven in a white room, on a black chair. It leaves it perch and flies towards the camera. As it draws closer, fractals emerge in its feathers. Fractals become cities, and the scene becomes a street. In black and white, a man leaves a building with a bulldog. It's silent, and there no sounds of the city, there is no foot steps. As the man and the dog walk down the street in one continuous shot as the credits roll, slowly color comes into the world. First the dog, then the man, then the scenery. And sounds come, muffled at first, becoming louder and louder. He walks out of the alleyway and onto the sidewalk, where we are hit with a wall of sound and acid-toned colors. Like, super bright oranges and greens and blues. Bordering on neon. And now the man is in an entrance, in a super-stylized art deco decor. People fade in on one end of the hallway, walk past, then fade out of existence. A woman he vaguely recognizes stops and chats with him about the price of food.
"I got a pound of bacon for only $1.50 the other day. Usually, those bastards downtown try to steal from me." Her eyes are vacant as she speaks. "No more. It's a scam. Then everyone tries to guilt you for shopping at the box stores."
"Shopping local does help the community." Our hero replies.
"You fall for that load? Oh, John, I thought you were smarter than that. Those people, they don't give anything back. I know their kids, you know them, and I've seen them smoking behind the old factories. That's what your money is going to, not helping the community."
She keeps talking, but he's lost interest. He doesn't walk off, as much as floats while the scene changes around him. Soon he's looking at a park from behind a fence. A couple men, one with a large top hat and the other with rabbit ears made from glowsticks, are hitting a ball, and the man with the hat looks over and sees him. He motions to him to come over. John reaches down and ties up his dog, then makes his way over. "What's the game, fellas?"
"To score a run, you need to hit 5 out 7 pitches. When you run, you need to touch second, then first, then third, then from the short stop to the first base coach, then home. The run only counts if you've run 640o. Unless, of course, the diamond isn't flat, then the degrees needed is determined by the curvature of the earth. One with the most points win, or the person who has hit 71% of all pitches made."
"Don't worry, you learn while you play." Interjects the man with the glowstick rabbit ears.
"Right. For an out, the passing pattern is based on irregular polyhedron. The direction of the pass is based on the runner's position with regard to the direction of the base, and which person you pass to is determined by who through to you and the speed of the runner. The runner's speed is determined by the log of the likelihood they'll be drunk later."
"First," chimes in the glowing hare, "It's time for warm ups! To the dugout and back!"
John starts to run. He reaches the half way point, and we see that dugout is the same distance as when he started. He runs a little farther, and the dugout shrinks into the scenery. After hours of running, familiar landmarks move past him. The white house, the statue of liberty, the windmills of Denmark. He stops, when he realizes he's too far away and he has forgotten his dog. He looks to his right and sees a train station. There's a lone teller, and a sign.
<Пришло время>, морж сказал, <чтобы говорить о многих вещах>.
John turns to the teller, played by Wilford Brimley.
"How much to go home?"
As Brimley speaks, a subway train comes rushing by. John reaches into his pocket and hands Brimley $1.44. After John boards the train, he sees the car is full. There's an empty seat next to a small woman with black hair with yellow highlights and a black coat with green spots. As he sits down, she starts to speak. John falls into a dream.
__________________________________________________________________________________
What started as a fun post and my chance to talk about music turned into some weird tribute to Lewis Carol. Can you spot the references? It took my mind off of some structural updates I'm doing to the site.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Mushroom Bonsai, and how to grow them.
Cultivation Of Ganoderma Bonsai - Alice G. Chen and Philip Miles; PDF
This first one is a scientific paper written on the matter. It's hard and dry for the general reader, but it's where I prefer to start when I'm looking for any information relating to mushrooms. For anyone outside of the mushroom industry without training and tools necessary todo the techniques listed here, then quite a bit will be useless. For example, growing tissue cultures obtained from the hyphae on Potato dextrose agar is not something I expect someone to know how to do. I didn't know how to do it or what all that meant until I started doing it as a job. But the average mushroom nut can buy Reishi kits online. Really, just google Reishi or Ganoderma kits and you can probably find a better kit for a better price than I did.
This paper shows pictures of the initial antler stages of reishi, and the think to focus on here is the technique given for the spawning, cold-shock, and casing stages. The paper is technical, but the substrate mix is very good (80% oak sawdust, 18% coarse unprocessed wheat bran, 1% sucrose supplement, 1% calcium, 67% moisture content), and it comments on how it can and should be mixed in the discussion section. The discussion section is by far the most interesting part, as it talks about how antler reishi is formed by CO2, and other studies on the affect of CO2 on reishi mushrooms. The bonsai can be kept refrigerated and alive for long periods of time as long as it's kept hydrated as well.
Simply put, the key to creating bonsai is to control the CO2 in the growing body. With experience, a grower can create interesting shapes from a combination of antlers and pileate (flat, plate like structures). This cobination comes from proper control of the growing environment. Alice Chen also has another paper online, Growing Ganoderma Mushrooms, which is written for the general reader, and has a ton of pictures. She mentions you need to autoclave materials, but if your supplement logs are the right sizes you can do it in a big pressure cooker.
Growing Reishi Mushrooms - North Coast Mushrooms Farming Cooperative; Website
Less of a how, more of a why. In case you're not sure what reishi is or why you should care, it's become the god-king of medicinal mushrooms. It's not eaten, but ground into a powder and made into tea. It's medicinal affects range from lung cancer prevention, raising or lowering blood pressure (which makes it a natural Viagra), stimulating liver action, and almost any other aliment you can think of. This site has plenty of videos and links to other sites for more information.How to Grow Reishi Mushrooms - Garden Guides.com; Website
Finally, a simple step-by-step guide to growing mushrooms. Using wood from a hardwood tree, the log is inoculated after three weeks. Dig a trench in your garden that is half the height of your log and 4 feet long. You drill about 50 - 60 5/16" holes about 2" deep and spaced 4" apart. Wedge the log into the trench and hammer your spawn plugs into the holes. Melt beeswax and brush it over the plugs to help seal in the mositure. Water every day and cover with plastic to keep the humidity high. In 6 months to a year you will develop mushrooms.This is good basic step by step guide, but it assumes that you have the correct climate for growing reishi and have access to hardwood logs. If you go to the bottom of the page, they have more articles on growing other types of mushrooms. Honestly, this stuff needs to get out more because I'm sick of every person asking me how to grow psilocybin. There is so many other mushrooms, America! And they are beyond healthy! It's more than just proper nutrition, but they have wonderful medicinal effects as well. Well, enjoy your day.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Goal update #2
I keep thinking my goal update is supposed to be the last Saturday of the month. I would be wrong though. Well, nothing to update with yet. I'm two months into this again and the same thing that kept me back last time wants to hold me back again. Namely, I want to start this as a charity to help Moscow shelters, but good god, the news makes me feel bad about the decision.
Why do I want to do it? I don't trust the government to deal with international relations. Not the government really, I just don't trust small groups of people making decisions for large groups of people. It seems like people will gravitate towards others with their same quirks and biases. I want to do something that finds common ground with a group of people that others see as enemies, and help build an international community. That's a huge, lofty, long term dream instead of a goal. So, I see a chance to learn more about a culture that was always called "the enemy". I like dogs and animals, and I see a chance to do something about it. Maybe I should start with someplace less controversial, like China, or Europe.
The news. Goddamn, the news. None of it seems to be 'the whole truth' to me. Everybody is putting their own spin on events, and it seems to be that the only way to figure out what's going on is to read and listen to everyone's opinions. When I start to do that, then I start to see people who really know what they're talking about. They understand what is happening historically, politically, and can make analytical connections between these events. And then there are others who seem to just trust their instinct, even though they have no knowledge of what's going on. It's nice when it's obvious, but most of the time the people who know nothing actually know how to make themselves seem really knowledgeable. You know what, though? If other people want to judge me for wanting to support animals in Russia, then fuck 'em. I just need to use all my skills and knowledge to convince myself I'm right, and work hard for years. I need to work not only to meet my goal, but improve my skills as well. Eye of the tiger.
What are the advantages to this? Personally, I build experience by learning how to advertise myself, manage money, and it builds my interest in international politics. The news about what is going on the world isn't just stuff happening to other people, it's stuff affecting my hopes, dreams, and goals. It goes beyond making me a better person by showing that I'm 'caring' and 'deep' and 'ethical'. It actually makes me a well rounded person. And my failures that are affected by things outside my control, I can see those things. I can't stop a war. I can't change how an entire culture feels about anything. I can see myself as small speck in the grand scheme of things, and in turn I can focus on the small things that I can control. I can recognize what mistakes I make and what successes I have and I can focus on improving them. But enough about me, how does this help the things I want to help?
Why should animals be the victims of the affairs of men? They cannot influence our decision making, they cannot participate in our government. They can just live, and rely on the kindness of strangers. A nice thought, perhaps. In order for them to get the medical care they need, it depends on us. They can't go out and get medicine and blankets. The same argument can be made about children and special needs people. And that's a tough question. Why focus on animals, and not on my own kind? Aye, there's the rub. Animals are innocents? Strays are a problem we created, breeding animals to be dependent on us, throwing animals away when they're no longer cute and allowing them to go out destroy ecosystems and other animals. Again, it's something I can work on. Why not focus on animals in my own country, or county? Because this is the international work I want to start. I want to buy things from local shops and support friends I have by buying their stuff, and I want to help animals over the world. The way to do that may be to volunteer time with an animal shelter, then I can meet real people in the real world who want to help, when I bring the stray cat in for shots, I'll ask. I volunteer my time to much already though, I need to find something I can help with that also gives me money.
Goals for the next month, keep convincing myself this is a good idea, try to figure out how to advertise this. That's the trouble. If you've made it this far, then you can follow me on twitter (@aristotlemstk), or circle me google+, or I'm on VK. I'm on facebook, but that's for people I know. I need to start a facebook page for this group. There's stuff I need to do and need to work on. Don't worry guys, I got this, but I can use all the help I can get.
Why do I want to do it? I don't trust the government to deal with international relations. Not the government really, I just don't trust small groups of people making decisions for large groups of people. It seems like people will gravitate towards others with their same quirks and biases. I want to do something that finds common ground with a group of people that others see as enemies, and help build an international community. That's a huge, lofty, long term dream instead of a goal. So, I see a chance to learn more about a culture that was always called "the enemy". I like dogs and animals, and I see a chance to do something about it. Maybe I should start with someplace less controversial, like China, or Europe.
The news. Goddamn, the news. None of it seems to be 'the whole truth' to me. Everybody is putting their own spin on events, and it seems to be that the only way to figure out what's going on is to read and listen to everyone's opinions. When I start to do that, then I start to see people who really know what they're talking about. They understand what is happening historically, politically, and can make analytical connections between these events. And then there are others who seem to just trust their instinct, even though they have no knowledge of what's going on. It's nice when it's obvious, but most of the time the people who know nothing actually know how to make themselves seem really knowledgeable. You know what, though? If other people want to judge me for wanting to support animals in Russia, then fuck 'em. I just need to use all my skills and knowledge to convince myself I'm right, and work hard for years. I need to work not only to meet my goal, but improve my skills as well. Eye of the tiger.
What are the advantages to this? Personally, I build experience by learning how to advertise myself, manage money, and it builds my interest in international politics. The news about what is going on the world isn't just stuff happening to other people, it's stuff affecting my hopes, dreams, and goals. It goes beyond making me a better person by showing that I'm 'caring' and 'deep' and 'ethical'. It actually makes me a well rounded person. And my failures that are affected by things outside my control, I can see those things. I can't stop a war. I can't change how an entire culture feels about anything. I can see myself as small speck in the grand scheme of things, and in turn I can focus on the small things that I can control. I can recognize what mistakes I make and what successes I have and I can focus on improving them. But enough about me, how does this help the things I want to help?
Why should animals be the victims of the affairs of men? They cannot influence our decision making, they cannot participate in our government. They can just live, and rely on the kindness of strangers. A nice thought, perhaps. In order for them to get the medical care they need, it depends on us. They can't go out and get medicine and blankets. The same argument can be made about children and special needs people. And that's a tough question. Why focus on animals, and not on my own kind? Aye, there's the rub. Animals are innocents? Strays are a problem we created, breeding animals to be dependent on us, throwing animals away when they're no longer cute and allowing them to go out destroy ecosystems and other animals. Again, it's something I can work on. Why not focus on animals in my own country, or county? Because this is the international work I want to start. I want to buy things from local shops and support friends I have by buying their stuff, and I want to help animals over the world. The way to do that may be to volunteer time with an animal shelter, then I can meet real people in the real world who want to help, when I bring the stray cat in for shots, I'll ask. I volunteer my time to much already though, I need to find something I can help with that also gives me money.
Goals for the next month, keep convincing myself this is a good idea, try to figure out how to advertise this. That's the trouble. If you've made it this far, then you can follow me on twitter (@aristotlemstk), or circle me google+, or I'm on VK. I'm on facebook, but that's for people I know. I need to start a facebook page for this group. There's stuff I need to do and need to work on. Don't worry guys, I got this, but I can use all the help I can get.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Friday morning and feeling mellow.
I've been listening to a lot of CAKE recently, and eventually that lead me to Frank Sinatra. They have the song:
and they covered at least one song of his. When it comes to Sinatra, I don't know, I just haven't listen to much of him. Love Sammy Davis Jr, and I grew up on a lot of songs from that era because my dad and my grandparents were both fans of the big band sound. I'm sitting here listening to the album, "Watertown" right now, and a funny thing happened. Old memories of my grandmother came flooding back. Suddenly, I could smell her car, the car that we sat in while listening to radio stations that played this music, radio stations I am still wondering how they existed in the 90's. I can taste the sandwiches she used to make, which always tasted so strange and so unique. Don't know why, to this day.
Memories are strange. We give visual portion of our brain too much credit sometimes. As I've studied ADHD and alternatives to stimulants, many suggestions involve using taste, smell, and sounds to help focus and memories. Things like chewing gum while you study, then chewing the same types when you take a test. My dad and I used to talk about the role of smells and memories a lot. He smokes a pipe, and a woman he worked with would always talk about memories of her father when he smoked around her. Those are simple little brain hacks that can be used to make your self smarter, something simple to keep your brain young and energetic.
Before I die, I want to make my own language that uses hand gestures and tries to engage other senses besides the auditory tracks. I hypothesis that people growing up with such a language would be more perceptive and creative than other languages. Just a dream. We'll see if it pans out.
Here's the album that put me into this mood:
Memories are strange. We give visual portion of our brain too much credit sometimes. As I've studied ADHD and alternatives to stimulants, many suggestions involve using taste, smell, and sounds to help focus and memories. Things like chewing gum while you study, then chewing the same types when you take a test. My dad and I used to talk about the role of smells and memories a lot. He smokes a pipe, and a woman he worked with would always talk about memories of her father when he smoked around her. Those are simple little brain hacks that can be used to make your self smarter, something simple to keep your brain young and energetic.
Before I die, I want to make my own language that uses hand gestures and tries to engage other senses besides the auditory tracks. I hypothesis that people growing up with such a language would be more perceptive and creative than other languages. Just a dream. We'll see if it pans out.
Here's the album that put me into this mood:
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Lucid Dream Sex
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| Art work by Dan Rohrmann. His artwork is bright, colorful and surreal. |
I don't think I've had a discussion about dreams and sex since sex education and wet dreams. Before we start with that, I need to make sure everyone knows what lucid dreaming is. The short answer is, they are the dreams that you have the ability to control!
- http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201212/lucid-dreaming-and-self-realization
- This is a bit more, professional let's say, than some of the other websites out there. Also, it turned out to be more informative than the typical websites. It's not a how to guide, but rather an answer to the question "what is lucid dreaming?" from an expert. A real expert, someone who has been doing it for years, has studied it, written papers on it and attends the conferences and everything.
- The word "Lucid" means clear, but a lucid dream is more than a clear dream. To lucid dream, the dreamer must be aware of the fact that they are dreaming. That's it. No control of the dream, but that's what attracts people to the concept. By that definition, I've had lucid dreams since I was a kid. I frequently had dreams when I was a teenager that I knew were dreams, and that was most of the fun of them. Telling each other dreams in my family was encouraged by my dad though, so that probably had a lot to do with it. Back to the article.
- The article does touch on a lot of the basics you'll find if you run your own search for the subject. What are the experiences of the expert? What can you expect from lucid dreaming? What's the best technique? Why I like this article is because the personal experiences of the expert is cool and it mentions a few other types of dreams that I've never heard of, mutal dreaming and psychic contents, as well as the experts experiences with both. The idea of eating fire is just so cool and creative and just, just, so fucking awesome. (Fuck it. Writing an article on dream sex means I'm giving up on "Family friendly". I don't think I'm cut out for it anyways.
- How to Have Lucid Dream Sex by Rebecca Turner
- This article is the inspiration for the post. I was lucid dreaming, was looking for some more information, and came across this, and it got me thinking about dream sex in general.
- The first thing I want to say is, lucid dreaming is like a canvas in your mind where you become a literal god. You not only create a world and bring whatever people you want into it while choosing the topography, you can change the rules of the world on a whim. So when given that omnipotence, people use it to have sex. Just. . . I don't. . . but . . . really? I'm not surprised, just exasperated.
- One more thing. Ethical? Philosophers have been arguing about hunting, free will, and war since classical Greek times, but I'm sure the real question that was on their minds was "is it right to have made up sex while I sleep?" It is a good personal question that may need an answer, just ethical may not be the right word for it. The thing that jumped out to me about this was the fact that initiating dream sex seems just as hard as initiating real sex. That sucks, really, because I was hoping to have an outlet for the celebrity furry/puppet fantasies I've been having recently. TMI, yes, but that sentence about giving up on family friendly should have turned you away.
- Halting on the article mocking, it does bring up some interesting things. The ethical ad progressive part to me is the idea of treating the object of your dream desire as more than just a sex object. In fact, the idea of using dreams to practice social interactions in general is pretty interesting. I'm just not sure about dream figures taking revenge on you by turning your "sexy dream into a lucid nightmare".
- Rereading this article, this whole thing serves as a decent example of what I don't like when I start reading about dreams. But, it did get me thinking about sex in dreams in general. Mostly, people I want to have sex with don't "transform into an ugly, withered being". They turn into fish, or a family member I don't want to have sex with, or it becomes a dream I really don't feel comfortable talking about, like sex with a family member who turns into Sasquatch when we cuddle.
- 10 Common Sex Dreams And What They Mean
- This falls under dream analysis, so this is not meant as a definitive answer on what weird sex dreams might mean.
- This article is presented as a starting point for why you might be having trouble initiating dream sex. It's not that dream people have a will of their own, but it might be your own hang ups that are stopping you. Things like self esteem, desires for power, and balance of animus/anima (fancy!) all come into the factor. It will all come down to the dreamer in the end, though, and the experience of lucid dreaming requires more than being conscious. As the first article pointed out, it requires a degree of awareness and it gives the dreamer the chance to point that awareness inwards.
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